Shite in Miniature II

[Amishtat]

And half of that within the last two years. Astonishing. 

[RoadworkUK]

17 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

EIGHT HUNDRED PAGES of tiny tat.

That is all.

This is the thread I make a particular beeline for when I can snatch a few recreational moments during the working day. I for one am immensely glad that there's something new on here every time I look at it

8 minutes ago, Amishtat said:

And half of that within the last two years. Astonishing. 

I suspect we have Mr D Cog's conquest of St George's market to thank for that in no small part...

[flat4alfa]

[Spottedlaurel]

Recent mention of the Doyusha kits got me digging this leaflet out of one of mine:

I have no experience of the bigger scale stuff, but it's fair to say that most of the 1:24 range promise more than they deliver. A shame, as they offer an interesting range which I believe came fom a variety of other makers, with some subjects not offered by anyone else.

The only one I've built so far is the Cherry X1-R:

Looks OK, but a little larger than 1:24 and the interior suffers by being shallow to accommodate batteries underneath. They've attepted to hide this with tinted glass, which doesn't really help the realism, nor do the ludicously wide wheels and tyres.

I've picked up a few others, with a bit of work the Cedric coupe could look decent and the scale seems about right. Just needs the interior made deeper, or maybe swapped in from something else for a generic but slightly more realistic look.

[egg]

Are the two highlighted anything interesting folks?

[Datsuncog]

Mmm, the black car looks to be a Matchbox Speed Kings K-64 AMX Javelin... not familiar with it in plain black, possibly a repaint?

Don't recognise the blue car (maybe elongated by lens distortion?), though looks like it might be a Hot Wheels... '67 Pontiac GTO, at a guess?

[egg]

@Datsuncog- thanks I'll see if I can collect them as part of an essential journey! 

[flat4alfa]

I can see pair of hood scoops and inset light clusters loved by Mopars

Hot Wheels '68 Dodge Dart

[flat4alfa]

The gold one is worth picking up, as although it is fantasy it is in the same vein and has the superb* name CCM County Club Muscle

Look at the grille and you might see a sleek Buick/Olds, after a squint

[flat4alfa]

I wouldn't bother with the green/purple rod though.  It's the McDonalds Happy Meal all-plastic variation of Surf Crate

[flat4alfa]

Black Javelins are quite a rare find

This boxed one went for £80

[egg]

Thanks guys, those 3 have been secured. Appreciated.

[flat4alfa]

Let's get this party started !

[bunglebus]

30 minutes ago, egg said:

Thanks guys, those 3 have been secured. Appreciated.

Black AMX is indeed a rarity, nice score!

[bunglebus]

Mine

[flat4alfa]

50 minutes ago, egg said:

Leaded windows?  Brrrr.....

[egg]

32 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Leaded windows?  Brrrr.....

Ah, just the one, by the front door...

[155V6]

I picked up the Buick today,not the best condition but it was cheap & didn't cost me anything to get there 😁

I got these two with it,the X1/9 Has a metal base which I've never seen before

[Datsuncog]

A parcel can brighten even the greyest of days...

Especially when it's filled with diecast tat, you'll agree.

Behold! A box of delights from @jon.k.

I've never had a complete example of the Matchbox MB 178 Ford Cargo skip truck -although a fair few have passed through my sweaty hands, they've always been missing their skip.

Well,  no longer!

Unlike Corgi and Majorette's plastic offerings, the skip is a weighty diecast thing and so swings and pivots correctly.

I'm ridiculously delighted with this.

Hours of fun. And I haven't even got into the flowerbeds yet.

Staying with small-scale, there was also  this Corgi AA Land Rover 110:

I've had a couple of versions of this casting previously, wearing Fire Brigade and Duckhams QXL decoration; I thought they always looked curiously squat and wide compared to the real thing:

I'm not sure whether there was a genuine mix-up with dimensions, or if it was deliberately tweaked to give it a lower centre of gravity for use on Auto City playtrack.

But detail is really good on this post-Mettoy model, and streets ahead of the trashy early 80s stuff. Not many Juniors-scale came with numberplates (though the Volvo 760 did, from memory). Better wheels would have helped, though - imagine how much more realistic it might appear with the dished wheels from the Cargo above!

Next up...

Phoar, more AA action - this time with the 1/36-ish Mk2 Transit wrecker. 

I had a pair of these before, both picked up at jumble sales, and both in much poorer condition than this. By the time I'd gone at them with my paint pens, they were pretty much ruined, which is why I punted them on a few years back.

This one still has its towing hook, which the others never did (despite some optimistic improvisation with bent paperclips). This also has a black towing arm and silver bed insert, whereas my two both had blue arms and yellow inserts.

The paper stickers were long since missing from my old ones, so I dunno if they were originally AA versions or not.

Front end is nicely proportioned - Corgi used the same cab and base castings for the milk float version, as well as a different chassis for the tipper version. Shame they never did a panel van, mind.

And lastly, this oddity...

I'd messaged Jon to ask him to hold over the Corgi taxi for me - only to be told sorry, it's not a Corgi - it's a Chinese no-name model.

Most curious. It looks very like a Corgi C435 Austin FX4 to me.

VERY like a Corgi FX4.

There's not much to tell 'em apart, going by the castings...

And if we look inside, the no-name even has the groove for Corgi's sliding partition, plus vestigial nubs for the fold-down jumpseats - both of which appeared on the genuine article, but not here.

And a look at the bases reveals some startling similarities...

Well, yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum, I reckon we're dealing with some diecast piracy here, folks - what think you?

Even the wheels are similar, though much cruder on the copy.

I think this is the first 1/36 Corgi pirate casting I've encountered (I know there's the slightly shrunken Playart Mazda B1600 pick-up; any more?) and I'm surprised how much it pleases me. Although the quality is noticeably inferior, and it's much lighter, it's still in excellent nick and I think it'll display well.

So! Cheers Jon, a most enjoyable parcel indeed!

[Split_Pin]

20 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Recent mention of the Doyusha kits got me digging this leaflet out of one of mine:

I have no experience of the bigger scale stuff, but it's fair to say that most of the 1:24 range promise more than they deliver. A shame, as they offer an interesting range which I believe came fom a variety of other makers, with some subjects not offered by anyone else.

The only one I've built so far is the Cherry X1-R:

Looks OK, but a little larger than 1:24 and the interior suffers by being shallow to accommodate batteries underneath. They've attepted to hide this with tinted glass, which doesn't really help the realism, nor do the ludicously wide wheels and tyres.

I've picked up a few others, with a bit of work the Cedric coupe could look decent and the scale seems about right. Just needs the interior made deeper, or maybe swapped in from something else for a generic but slightly more realistic look.

I had the Capri and still have the Cherry. Quite disappointing models but where else would you get a 100A Cherry in that scale.

[flat4alfa]

More Heller CLICLAC, sorry.

Audi Quattro in a sort of rally-marshalling guise.  In 1/32 scale, it would have come with stickers and extra spot lights, not usually looking quite so bare as this example

Dolly and Ken just can't stop larking about sometimes

[Spottedlaurel]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Phoar, more AA action - this time with the 1/36-ish Mk2 Transit wrecker. 

I had a pair of these before, both picked up at jumble sales, and both in much poorer condition than this. By the time I'd gone at them with my paint pens, they were pretty much ruined, which is why I punted them on a few years back.

This one still has its towing hook, which the others never did (despite some optimistic improvisation with bent paperclips). This also has a black towing arm and silver bed insert, whereas my two both had blue arms and yellow inserts.

The paper stickers were long since missing from my old ones, so I dunno if they were originally AA versions or not.

 

You got me pondering the Transits I've picked-up in recent years, quite satisfying, well-portioned things.

Police Rescue livery, did it come on its own or as part of a set?

Rear end for the breakdown truck feels like it would be more realistic with double wheels and some detailing on the rear panel.

Longer rear overhang on the milk float, achieved with a clip-on addition to the same chassis. What's the odd lump ahead of the rear axle meant to be?

[Split_Pin]

I think that's to house the ratchet mechanism for the tipper version. I have the milk float and a late 90s reissue of the tipper.

I've always wanted the recovery version as a pal had one as part of the AA set as a kid. Always too expensive for me to get though.

[jon.k]

Datsuncog and amishtat’s enthusiastic response to the models I posted inspired me to dig out some of my favourite toys. I do have others in better condition which I collected as I got older but these were some of the ones that got played with (not for sale!)

Last picture for early registration madness. (DLS 155R)

 

 

 

[flat4alfa]

Is the blue MPV a Majorette Monospace?

[jon.k]

11 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Is the blue MPV a Majorette Monospace?

Yes! I went on holiday to France (in a white 306 sedan) and being Peugeot mad it was all quite exciting. 

The leopardskin Range Rover is also a Majorette. When I was 3 or 4 I asked for "a Range Rover towing a caravan" for Christmas, and my dad recently told me that he'd spent hours ringing around toy shops to find one. I'm not sure if the caravan was in a set with it or came separately, but that got lost along the way somewhere.

[Split_Pin]

16 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

A parcel can brighten even the greyest of days...

Especially when it's filled with diecast tat, you'll agree.

Behold! A box of delights from @jon.k.

I've never had a complete example of the Matchbox MB 178 Ford Cargo skip truck -although a fair few have passed through my sweaty hands, they've always been missing their skip.

Well,  no longer!

Unlike Corgi and Majorette's plastic offerings, the skip is a weighty diecast thing and so swings and pivots correctly.

I'm ridiculously delighted with this.

Hours of fun. And I haven't even got into the flowerbeds yet.

Staying with small-scale, there was also  this Corgi AA Land Rover 110:

I've had a couple of versions of this casting previously, wearing Fire Brigade and Duckhams QXL decoration; I thought they always looked curiously squat and wide compared to the real thing:

I'm not sure whether there was a genuine mix-up with dimensions, or if it was deliberately tweaked to give it a lower centre of gravity for use on Auto City playtrack.

But detail is really good on this post-Mettoy model, and streets ahead of the trashy early 80s stuff. Not many Juniors-scale came with numberplates (though the Volvo 760 did, from memory). Better wheels would have helped, though - imagine how much more realistic it might appear with the dished wheels from the Cargo above!

Next up...

Phoar, more AA action - this time with the 1/36-ish Mk2 Transit wrecker. 

I had a pair of these before, both picked up at jumble sales, and both in much poorer condition than this. By the time I'd gone at them with my paint pens, they were pretty much ruined, which is why I punted them on a few years back.

This one still has its towing hook, which the others never did (despite some optimistic improvisation with bent paperclips). This also has a black towing arm and silver bed insert, whereas my two both had blue arms and yellow inserts.

The paper stickers were long since missing from my old ones, so I dunno if they were originally AA versions or not.

Front end is nicely proportioned - Corgi used the same cab and base castings for the milk float version, as well as a different chassis for the tipper version. Shame they never did a panel van, mind.

And lastly, this oddity...

I'd messaged Jon to ask him to hold over the Corgi taxi for me - only to be told sorry, it's not a Corgi - it's a Chinese no-name model.

Most curious. It looks very like a Corgi C435 Austin FX4 to me.

VERY like a Corgi FX4.

There's not much to tell 'em apart, going by the castings...

And if we look inside, the no-name even has the groove for Corgi's sliding partition, plus vestigial nubs for the fold-down jumpseats - both of which appeared on the genuine article, but not here.

And a look at the bases reveals some startling similarities...

Well, yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum, I reckon we're dealing with some diecast piracy here, folks - what think you?

Even the wheels are similar, though much cruder on the copy.

I think this is the first 1/36 Corgi pirate casting I've encountered (I know there's the slightly shrunken Playart Mazda B1600 pick-up; any more?) and I'm surprised how much it pleases me. Although the quality is noticeably inferior, and it's much lighter, it's still in excellent nick and I think it'll display well.

So! Cheers Jon, a most enjoyable parcel indeed!

No pictures sadly as both are long gone but I had a Playart copy of the horrible Superkings Daimler DM Fleetline 'Londoner'.  The copy was in China Motor bus livery. Both original and copy thankfully now long gone.

What is strange is that the Superkings was based on the very first batch of DM/S class Fleetlines with the headlights closer together but the Superfast version is of the post 1971 version with the lights further apart. I've had the latter since a very young child and it's a delightful wee casting, really detailed and accurate. It even has a flight of stairs inside.

[Datsuncog]

18 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Front end is nicely proportioned - Corgi used the same cab and base castings for the milk float version, as well as a different chassis for the tipper version. Shame they never did a panel van, mind.

 

16 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

What's the odd lump ahead of the rear axle meant to be?

 

16 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I think that's to house the ratchet mechanism for the tipper version. I have the milk float and a late 90s reissue of the tipper.

I've always wanted the recovery version as a pal had one as part of the AA set as a kid. Always too expensive for me to get though.

Aha, that's good to know... I'd thought that the Transit tipper had a different chassis, for some reason - based on dim memories of the shop stock from twenty odd years ago, which I sneeringly dismissed as kids' toys and roundly ignored, instead blowing all my wages and staff discount on 'adult' Vitesse and Corgi Classics 1/43s.

Well, who's crying (and blowing all their wages on eBay) now?

I had the Dairy Crest milk float too, which wasn't in bad shape considering it was from a car boot sale. Unfortunately, ten years of shelf display left it with dreadful UV yellowing to the plastic, so it also got rehomed a few years back.

Incidentally, I do sorta regret not buying a complete boxed Corgi AA set at the market over the summer - it was £20, though the box wasn't in great shape with flaps missing and only barely hanging together.

Through some logic fail, I reasoned that while I'd have happily paid that for just the loose models on their own, a trashed box that was no good for display and would still need to be stored somewhere made it less appealing to me.

So I left it.

Well, durr, as the kids used to say.

Interestingly, the Transit  in the set above has the blue jib and '24hr' stickers to the side, which I think was the same as my older versions - not the 'AA Relay' side stickers, like Jon's. So there must be two slightly different versions of the AA Wrecker in circulation, just to further test the patience/bank balances of the completionists among us...

[Amishtat]

I only thought to take the one picture of my set back when I rediscovered it last year but it's definitely got a black jib. And a pretty fucked box. 

[bunglebus]

I've not yet got my hands on any version of this MK2 casting, other than an inspection of this one that I mentioned previously