Shite in Miniature II

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Anyone heard of Kiko before? Apparently they used various manufacturer's castings or moulds to reduce costs in Brazil.

There are loads of Corgis in colours we never got

https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/subjects/corgi-kiko-juniors-series

Yeah, Kiko's a weird one - the story seems to go that in the early 80s the Brazilian government slapped hefty tariffs on imported toys and - facing the effective loss of that market - a number of European toymakers instead chose to sell some of their obsolete tooling to Brazilian manufacturers, including Kiko.

No-one seems quite sure exactly when the deal with Corgi was done - either before or after Mettoy hit the skids - but a load of 1970s Whizzwheels tooling made its way over to Brazil, along with some more recent stuff like the SD1 and Metro.

Corgi had the foresight to run off a substantial quantity of Juniors castings before selling the dies, which were put into storage to paint, assemble and sell through in the coming years.

Kiko did alright selling the Corgi Toys with their own colours and stickers - Corgi had always been popular in Brazil - but before long policy was reversed and the tariffs were dropped.

With the Brazilian market now open again, the recently formed Corgi Toys Ltd took the opportunity to buy back some of their former tooling - though exactly what came back to the UK is still unclear. But rumour has it that those 'US Vans' found with no maker's name on the baseplate were made using repatriated tooling, where the Kiko name was machined off but there wasn't enough tolerance left to add the Corgi name back on...

I didn't know until tonight that Majorette and Siku had been in on the same wheeze, but Kiko Corgis seem to command a definite premium and I'd guess so do the others.

[Sudsprint]

I love all this back history stuff..

[bunglebus]

Found another of the Alme MK1 Golfs with the filler cap on the wrong side

 

[sierraman]

Inbrima used to sell licence made copies of Matchboxes in the early 80’s. It would say ‘Made in Manaus’ underneath. 

[hennabm]

21 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I've got a couple of those Escorts but not in as nice condition. There are several different colour interiors etc but the one I really want is the Daily Mirror version with exterior roll bars - got outbid on just the body of one recently 

May I ask what these are going for now in a similar condition to the photo?

[bunglebus]

One on eBay with a more worn card for £100

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Corgi-Rockets-Ford-Escort-Mexico-Daily-Mirror-World-Cup-Rally-Boxed/402616881631?hash=item5dbdd611df:g:540AAOSwKFhf334e

A really mint one was listed for slightly more and went for an offer price

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Corgi-Rockets-Ford-Escort-DAILY-MIRROR-WORLD-CUP-RALLY/303618737169?hash=item46b1164411:g:xGMAAOSwJi9fBxwi

[Frogchod]

I seem to have strayed from my original plan of just collecting Buick Electras.

Might as well collect Rivieras too, here's another one from Neo. Very happy with this one especially as it was

a quarter of new price, just because there was no box.

 

This white monstrosity is a Buick Sail. Popular in China apparently.

Looks like a Zafira to me...

[155V6]

Today's arrival was the Corgi Lunar Bug

 

I remember someone had one of these at Infant's School in the early seventies.I thought it was a bit daft 😂

Fast forward nearly fifty years,I think it may have been one of the catalogue scans on here that reminded me of the Lunar Bug so I started looking & found this one.

The back drops down for loading

Loaded up

Wings out,ready for take-off

Flight mode!

[bunglebus]

I bought this a while ago, it's a generic casting from the kids TV show Fast and Furious Spy Racers

I thought it had a bit of Datsun 240Z/Renault Alpine about it so thought I'd do a custom .Despite being a brand new casting for 2020, the metal was pretty rough, got rid of the spoiler and smoothed the sills out which was fun... a nice new lick of Ford Azure blue, chrome paint on the bumpers/spotlights and a bit of interior detail and I'll call it done

Might paint in the bonnet lights and hood scoop opening when my hands feel really steady

[155V6]

A Facebook Marketplace buy I collected this morning 😎

[bunglebus]

Bid on something locally before we got put into tier 4. Luckily I could still collect. Any guesses what I paid £1 for?

he had a few other in a box so I paid another squid each for this one (easier to ID)

and this which doesn't have reg. plates so I'll just show it

Majorette Pontiac Firebird

[Split_Pin]

The first one looks like the Kew Dodge D600.

[sierraman]

Second is a Safari Rolamatics, I must have got 10 of them in varying states of disrepair

[bunglebus]

13 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

The first one looks like the Kew Dodge D600.

I thought that was the difficult one. Not bad for a quid?

has suspension on the box that I've only seen on the Husky Commer walk-through vans before 

[bunglebus]

17 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Second is a Safari Rolamatics, I must have got 10 of them in varying states of disrepair

Yep. I have a few but for a quid I thought it was worth grabbing

[bunglebus]

A few weeks ago I entered a giveaway on a new YouTube channel (TWYCE diecast) and I only won! These just arrived

 

[Cord Fourteener]

Package received from @Datsuncog

That's Christmas trinkets for the kids sorted.

I'm leaving the paper on the Dyane and the Volvo 200 estate because they are wrapped well enough, I'll wrap the Typhoon and the V70 rozzer special before the day.

Thanks. Great seller, great items. Would recommend 👍

[bunglebus]

One more arrival. Having found the Playart lorry the other day, of course this lot appears

also came with a second tractor

Not so long ago I couldn't find the Playart pickup at all, well not at a price I thought was reasonable anyway. Now I have three of the buggers and two matching lorries that I didn't know existed until I saw the flatbed one a few weeks ago. 

at least this one has an intact towhook.

I do have a couple of things en route that I'm quite excited about, maybe they'll arrive before Christmas? 

[Split_Pin]

That Scania looks like a Tekno copy.

[Datsuncog]

7 hours ago, Tim_E said:

Package received from @Datsuncog

That's Christmas trinkets for the kids sorted

Hey, glad it all showed up safely - I was becoming mildly concerned as I'd heard all sorts about postal worker shortages and mail being shovelled into warehouses until the New Year!

These little tat box escapees haven't had much love in recent times, so it's quite nice to think they'll be putting in a turn on Christmas Morning... enjoy!

[Spottedlaurel]

Finished this Silvia on Sunday:

 

Got one more car in this batch of builds to complete, and I've just started on a '67 Impala.

I've completed 17 kits this year, some of them long-term projects that date back to the early-mid '90s. Don't think I've ever finished that many in a year before.

[Split_Pin]

In a couple of those pictures the Silvia looks real.  Lovely, no, perfect job.

I have asked Santa for the 1/24 MK2 Transit in The Gas Board livery and a motorway Police Range Rover. Hoping to hone my skills in 2021!

[FakeConcern]

Mrs Concern has added the tree to the front wheel drive sleigh and displayed it in a Kilner jar with snow...

[Split_Pin]

I love that! I wonder if my wife would let.me display something like that.

[bunglebus]

6 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

I've completed 17 kits this year, some of them long-term projects that date back to the early-mid '90s. Don't think I've ever finished that many in a year before.

I was thinking along similar lines about how many die casts have been rejuvenated here this year. Really like how you photograph your finished kits, hard to tell them apart from the real thing sometimes 

[bunglebus]

Found one of these

so I can do this

Think the tracking needs attention 

[bunglebus]

If you want a yellow Volvo T5, you'll have to find it as a premium model next year

But look at that Amazon!

[Spottedlaurel]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

I was thinking along similar lines about how many die casts have been rejuvenated here this year. Really like how you photograph your finished kits, hard to tell them apart from the real thing sometimes 

Thanks It's not due to being furloughed or anything, just not doing so much when I'm not at work and also motivating myself to get some kits finished that were painfully near completion but had stalled for whatever reason.

That long period of decent weather helped too.

[bezzabsa]

Has anyone got the Cab to the Jennings cattle truck, or anyone needing the trailer??

I'll attempt to slap a pic up in a bit 

I also have a Sierra 2.3 ghia in white, tow hook complete...and a plod SD1 rover (rough no blue lights and body half off)  that I'm willing to deal with..

will take pics and add to post later

[bunglebus]

I've been meaning to pull these two out for a WDIB for a while - Matchbox and Husky Studebaker Wagonaires.

I think the Matchbox is far crisper, like the opening tailgate on the Husky though.

Lead me to wondering why certain cars are chosen to be miniturised and some aren't. The Stude is an interesting design but can't have been a big seller, and would be virtually unknown outside of America at the time. Yet Lesney chose not to make a MK3 Cortina or a MK1 Escort, both hugely popular at the time. Maybe they were too busy playing catch-up with Mattel's Hot Wheels?