Shite in Miniature II

[flat4alfa]

Never mind all that

Anyone for Neeps and TATties Wednesday?

23 days late, but still

[bunglebus]

I did find one thing on my current mission to Wales

I have been informed that the lockdown there means you can only buy essentials, so I may not find anything while I'm there. Let's hope I don't tear my trousers as you can't buy clothes either

[flat4alfa]

Do you have a habit of tearing trousers when in Wales?

[bunglebus]

No but I did once tear the crotch of my shorts en-route to a job in London, so popped into Tesco to buy a new pair. Ripped the old pair off in the back of the van then realised the new ones were too small, so had to go back in holding the old ones closed to exchange them.

 

As you were...

[MorrisItalSLX]

On 16/02/2021 at 20:20, Jon said:

Word up Shiterz, I'm remiss of things to do temporarily, since I'm unable to travel to Auckland for work due to covid measures in place there. I've made some use of my free time but not as much as I should, as I keep getting side tracked with needless things, like this:

 

Reading this charming tome, which dates from 2002. Except, as the top left of the front cover purports to, it may be a little older than that...

 

Anyway, within the pages are all sorts of of fabulous cakey ideas, every single one of which is slathered in inch-thick buttercream. Behold:

Nightmare doll.

 

Fat turtle.

 

Seabrooks crisp-y duck.

 

Oblong mouse on rug.

 

Rickets bear.

 

Mechanic dog on curiously futuristic 16:9 telly.

 

But the subject which made me post here was this:

I've taken the liberty of uploading a larger res copy here, should anyone have shares in Stork and wish to make a copy. Beware though, the ingredients list is pretty substantial.

 

You'll need to be a Corgi and Matchbox enthusiast though to emulate this scene.

I think it's safe to say that this wasn't originally a 21st century publication.

 

My Mum has an original 1st edition of that, I had many a birthday cake from it.

[flat4alfa]

Today's Tat Wednesday Cancellation Oddball Offering.

Anyone heard of the FORD EXP?  A coupe with a squashed snout, based on a stretched US Ford Escort platform.  It was a strict two-seater, intended to be a 'sports-compact Ford Thunderbird'.  Production spanned 1981–88, so was around for a while and came in some 'hot' versions, especially the XP Turbo Coupe that compared with the European RS Turbo.   However, that and its sister car Mercury LN7 have been largely forgotten, despite selling over 260,000 units.  Until now!

 

Not a model seen very much as a diecast.  ERTL, Zylmex and Tootsietoy had a go but they are all small-scale ~1:60 efforts.

  

However, there are the long-deleted Monogram/Revell 1:32 and MPC 1:25 scale kits that pop up now and again to make good money.  But no, I won't be playing that never-will-be-made-boxed-kit speculation game.  I want to fuss about with one and use it - but for some time it has alluded.

 

Until!  A week or so ago, this already-converted 1:32 slot car appeared on the 'bay of dreams nightmares.  Looked complete enough in photos and was in a pair with a similar Fox-Body Mustang (more of the Mustang later, if you're still interested).  After a bit of coaxing, the motor ran.  Body was filthy with attic grime, so a careful scrub later, an oiling of all the moving bits and we had a decent runner - not bad going for £7.50 and it drives well enough too.  A little under-scale as it measures to 1:33 in reality.

Handy Hank popped over to take a look, earlier on today:

 Box ticked.

[bunglebus]

I had seen pics of the real thing before, but never a model of one

[eddyramrod]

Very nice!  Come on then, show us the Mustang!

[flat4alfa]

4 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Come on then, show us the Mustang!

Oh well, If you insist!

What I wanted all along (in real life too!) is an early pre-facelift Fox-body Mustang.  Before the mid-late eighties excess of body kit and bland identi-kit sloped noses.  A hark back to the seventies muscle car, rather than the pampered Rodeo Drive gym-membership look.

 

Worry no longer, I thought, they did do one in the scale I wanted and re-released it a few times too.  So, wait until one of those turns up!

Except they don't.  Well they do, but only over in the US, burdened by hefty postage cost for what is after all a few bits of plastic on sprue.

Until!  A week or so ago...  bundled with the EXP... making it just another £7.50.   Was very surprised there was no other interest, even though the auction ran for a week 

Eagle Eye Eric popped over to check it over.

@bunglebus has very likely already spotted the hood adornment - not part of the kit, it's one of Matchbox's SpeedKings finest.  

The over-wide rear axle will also have to go, as will the daft Fandango rear wheel pair. 

BUT IT RUNS!  After a fashion.  Frame chassis is a bonus.  Measures to a correct 1:32.

Decals are just about surviving, but hastened the grime scrub-down effort.  Plans would be to paint in that red shown above, match the blacked-out detailing; then just use it.

Second box ticked.

[bunglebus]

As soon as I saw the pic I thought Gus's Gulper/Miligans Mill

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

As soon as I saw the pic I thought Gus's Gulper/Miligans Mill

Winner! 

Ah well I think Bandolero.  Double the fun

[bunglebus]

Looking from the side, the engine must be at an interesting angle...

[155V6]

On 2/16/2021 at 10:59 AM, bunglebus said:

I also have arrivals. Deciding that the chance of finding the new Flying Customs in a shop was approximately nil, I ordered one from Modelmatic

As I was over at the sorting office collecting it, I popped into Sainsbury's and found this

There was also a solitary Premium, but just the card as some little oik had pinched the car. Interesting to know  they sell them, Sainsbury's is normally pretty crap for toy cars. I think I got the best one in the set

Their website shows the Car Culture premium vehicles but the one I saw wasn't from this set

I saw these two in a Sainsbury's today,they were the only ones there & £7.00 each

[bunglebus]

At least you found some Premiums

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

I think Bandolero.  Double the fun

Just found a Bandolero ...missing its engine scoop.  What are the chances, eh?

[flat4alfa]

On 2/14/2021 at 7:02 PM, flat4alfa said:

Brunhilda on the reception desk got back to me and I went over (after getting a permit) to collect this 

CLIFFGRÜN is tempting.

Brunhilda was right!  It does look better in green

Trabant Travesty is now fitted with an adapted chassis, motor and axles.  Needs more work to mounting points, but coming together.  Fussed about with wheels for way too long, but decided on these.

To do:  fix the chassis mounting points; polish glazing; finish 'interior' and add driver; paint and fit grille and bumpers.  Lights..... dunno yet, as headlamps are a bit of a mess and the rear is missing a cluster.  Pondering painting a DDR flag on the roof.

Box almost ticked.

[bunglebus]

Fus Vom gas! seems to translate as Foot Off the Gas!

[flat4alfa]

9 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Fus Vom gas!

 

[RoadworkUK]

Demonstrating just how rapidly time passes in Lockdown, it was over a year ago that I shared my Matchbox Masterclass Lamborghini Diablo. I also mentioned that there were two other models in this little known 1/24 series. One, the Porsche 911, I don't really give much of a toss about. The other, though, I very much do.

Because it's the Jaguar XJ220.

Like, I suspect, most of you, supercars don't exactly get me salivating, perhaps because they're generally irrelevant and exist in a parallel realm that has nothing to do with real life. The XJ220, though, is something special. A veritable cathedral of a car, arriving in 1989 to represent all that was possible in Great British engineering — or some such bullshit. Of course, as tends to be the way, what was to be V12-powered and four-wheel drive ended up with rear wheel drive and a V6 related to that of the Metro 6R4, but to eight-year old me and his thirty nine year-old descendent, it's an improbably gorgeous spaceship of a thing, compromises notwithstanding.

I've shared the sad tale of my 1/18 Maisto rendition, but the tragic reality is that — despite its impressive detail — it's actually a bit crap. There's something about the organic shapes in the XJ220 that modellers seem unable to capture. The Maisto 1/18 is way too slabby and angular, the Maisto 1/12 is a bit better but still miles off, and even more recent sealed resin models, such as the 1/18 by Top Marques make a right old hash of the rear end.

Remarkably, I reckon this 1/24 effort is better than all of them.

It's not perfect; the rear quarter window is still a bit off, the roofline looks a little bit tall and the wheels seem a tad undersize, but the crucial details that make it an XJ220 are all pretty well realised.

Hats off to Matchbox on the teeny weeny leaper's face badge and the bi-coloured indicators and side-lights. No working headlight covers (the Diablo doesn't have functional pop-ups, either) but the shut-lines around them are crisply realised, and those of the front boot are deep enough to make it look like an opening panel. It isn't.

Round the back there's a cracking set of Rover R8 rear lights concealed behind an open grille, through which — and as you can just about see in the model — the engine bay is open to the air. Just like the real thing. That's one of the radiators you can see in the middle foreground.

It's almost a shame that, having modelled R8 rear lights, they didn't extend the Masterclass series with a 1/24 214i, but you can't have everything.

The interior, as it was with the Masterclass Diablo, is pretty damn stunning. Yes, there's carpets. Yes, things are accurately shaped and styled. Okay the dials, radio and HVAC controls are a bit cartoonish, but there's not a lot to criticise in here. The steering wheel is particularly impressive. It seems to be a damn close approximation of reality.

I can't see a lot to condemn under the engine cover, either. The engine is probably the best bit of the Maisto 1/18 and I reckon the Matchbox 1/24 is just a little behind the bigger one in terms of absolute fidelity, but it's definitely a legitimate "model", this. As if it's intended to be appreciated by people who really care about the car it depicts.

I actually began to chase one of these soon after posting about the Diablo. There's never been loads of them on the 'bay; those listed are frequently priced beyond all reason, and the majority seem to be sans wing mirrors. I was a bit cheeky with this one; it came up for £20 plus postage at a time when I really didn't need to be paying £20 for what is basically a pointless trinket... but it was a pointless trinket that I'd wanted for about thirty years. I only had to buy it once. So I sent a note to the vendor and haggled the cost of postage off the purchase price, expecting my miserly request to fall on deaf ears, but when he said yes I was compelled to buy.

When it arrived and turned out to be absolutely mint, right down to still having the original tissue paper beneath the transparent shell in the box, I felt a bit sheepish.

Tune in this time next year when I'll probably have bought the  911, which I really don't want but will probably end up powerless not to complete the trifecta.

[eddyramrod]

Well, another day, more arrivals.  Two days, in fact.

Yesterday a Matchbox Dodge arrived...

In a livery I hadn't seen before!  Thanks to @morrisoxide I now have a National Park Police unit.

Ah, but wait...

I was in Tesco this morning and they actually had stock!  So I spent a fiver I shouldn't have spent and now I have two of the Merc w123 station wagon.  One will be repainted blue to match one my friend used to have; the other has gone on display already, minus packaging, among my smaller-scale film and TV collection.  This model, in this colour or close enough, was the household utility car in Hart To Hart back in the early 80s.  I already have the Ferrari and Rolls Royce painted up appropriately.  The black car at the top, I haven't seen a word about: it's a 1962 Plymouth Savoy.   Unfortunately a two-door; I would have liked it with 4 to match Spencer Tracy's unmarked copcar in It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.  Oh and, er, another NPP Dodge.

Today's purchase has abandoned its packaging in favour of my Project Box.  It's either going to get the classic black-and-white livery, or lose the rooflight and become a civilian car.

My ebay wins have started to arrive too.

1966 Dodge Charger, 1/18 scale, mint and boxed.  It was a bit more than I really would have liked to pay but this model comes up very rarely.  This one won't be coming available again before I'm in the ground.

[Datsuncog]

Just to follow up on this...

...which I'd popped in the fridge on Tuesday, thinking that it while was very kind of shiters unknown to sub me a late Burns Supper, I wasn't quite sure what to do with a bag of room-temperature offal now entering the second week past its use-by...

But! What's this?

Tamperage?

Oh!!

It's not a haggis at all, it's our very own diecast equivalent of a sack of chopped lamb's lungs - a Lledo Ddays Ggone!!!

I... genuinely did not see that coming.

Suddenly, the hammer graphic makes sense...

But, as I'm a sentimental old mug, I won't be doing that. This appears to be a DG26 Chevrolet Delivery Van, in Ever Ready colours.

And the cat has already shown a strong interest in a van that smells of haggis...

But stay! What's this?

Conflicting product origin labelling? Non-compliant customs documentation error? Incompatible trans-frontier UPC registration?

I should probably just give myself up the feds now, before they come for me in the night...

 

 

Can't believe I put a Days Gone in the fridge.

🤪

[Remspoor]

So in other words a Days Gone past the use by date. 🤔

[bunglebus]

See, it all makes sense now!

The trouble I had finding a Haggis in Essex, they don't roam free around here

[Datsuncog]

12 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

See, it all makes sense now!

In a world where not very much is making sense, an anonymous parcel containing a Days Gone disguised as a haggis is probably the closest to sanity I've managed this week...

Well played, sir. Well played.

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Can't believe I put a Days Gone in the fridge.

Oh I don't know...

I had no idea the lighting was so good for photos!

This could be the next big thing in eBay sales portfolios.

[Datsuncog]

Getting back to reality, cheers all for the payments received for the most recent batch of mini-tat offloaded - my venerable spreadsheet's hit something of a glitch, so I'll be contacting folks with more detailed orders just to make sure I've got the right stuff packed for you before I hit the post office!

(My already old and senile laptop woke up thinking it was 23 September 1603, and for some reason my Tat Master Copy had reverted to a November version of itself).

You may also have seen the latest news...

Looks like we could be waiting a while for any new Market Tat, kids. Soz.

 

Goes without saying, if anyone's desperate for their Tat Box now to bust dem ol' Lockdown III blues, happy to get your stuff parcelled up and sent while I'm planning a Post Office run this weekend! Just hit me up and I'll check what I have you down for.

[Amishtat]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

See, it all makes sense now!

The trouble I had finding a Haggis in Essex, they don't roam free around here

You should have said, we're overrun with the buggers in Moray.. Mind you, they take some catching.. 

[warch]

On 2/16/2021 at 9:20 AM, Jon said:

Word up Shiterz, I'm remiss of things to do temporarily, since I'm unable to travel to Auckland for work due to covid measures in place there. I've made some use of my free time but not as much as I should, as I keep getting side tracked with needless things, like this:

 

Reading this charming tome, which dates from 2002. Except, as the top left of the front cover purports to, it may be a little older than that...

 

Anyway, within the pages are all sorts of of fabulous cakey ideas, every single one of which is slathered in inch-thick buttercream. Behold:

Nightmare doll.

 

Fat turtle.

 

Seabrooks crisp-y duck.

 

Oblong mouse on rug.

 

Rickets bear.

 

Mechanic dog on curiously futuristic 16:9 telly.

 

But the subject which made me post here was this:

I've taken the liberty of uploading a larger res copy here, should anyone have shares in Stork and wish to make a copy. Beware though, the ingredients list is pretty substantial.

 

You'll need to be a Corgi and Matchbox enthusiast though to emulate this scene.

I think it's safe to say that this wasn't originally a 21st century publication.

 

   Mrs warch was very pleased to see this, she is Australian and assures me that most of these cakes are a familiar fixture from childhood birthday parties. Her brother had the figure of 8 racetrack cake for his eighth.

[Jon]

1 hour ago, warch said:

   Mrs warch was very pleased to see this, she is Australian and assures me that most of these cakes are a familiar fixture from childhood birthday parties. Her brother had the figure of 8 racetrack cake for his eighth.

Funnily enough, I have a vague memory that my Mum had a copy of this, or at least a similar tome, as I remember she made me a birthday cake, likely for my 8th or 9th birthday, of a boxy car, daubed in a very blue shade of buttercream icing. The wheels were those round liquorice 'catherine wheels' or some such and I remember making a mental note that them being tacked onto the sides of the body, rather than tucked beneath sponge cake wheel arches was not entirely accurate. Still, it tasted good and the leftover icing stayed frozen in a clingfilm parcel for years after. In fact, they still have the same Bejam chest freezer, so it may still survive!! 

Should Mrs warch be craving some hearty Aussie tucker, I'd be very happy to post the book to you!

[bunglebus]

Looking for pics of my old birthdays cakes (failed) did ID one of my Christmas presents as a Nikko Mighty Ranger though, which seems to have been sold under various names