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Shite in Miniature II


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Had a little shift around again today, so the contents of 1/43 display unit had to come out for a clean. Any excuse for a fondle! (And making the most of half term as the kitchen table will be given over to home schooling again next week...)

Apologies, most of these will have been seen before,

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Got one out of the loft that has been waiting to be added for a while. Like our own Eddy, I've got a (comparatively small and unimpressive) TV selection, with the Professionals Capris in silver and gold represnting both Bodie and Doyle's cars and a few Fords from the Sweeney.

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 A while ago, I upgraded the Daytona yellow Consul that I got from our own Skizzer, with a set of GT type steel wheels from a donor I had. Not a popular move on here, and I too love the look of the standard Consul base on its plain wheels and hubcaps, but there was a reason. I wanted to create a replica of the Consul as driven by the character Ted Hammond in The Brothers. "Who?" you say. "In what?" you say.  Probably with good reason...

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A massive favourite 'guilty pleasure' series of mine,  The Brothers was a BBC drama series, running from 1972-76, set loosely around a haulage firm. Largely forgotten about now, (mostly remembered by Dr Who fans for being the programme that shot Colin Baker to stardom) but in its day, it was one of the Beeb's most watched programmes.

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The premise was : Robert Hammond, chairman and founder of Hammond Transport has died. The series starts at his funeral and will reading. Eldest son Edward (who left school and helped his father build up the business from nothing) expects to inherit the company lock, stock and barrel. The two younger sons (who enjoyed a more privileged upbringing after the company became successful, and have no interest whatsoever in the haulage business),  Brian (well paid accountant) and David (spoilt college graduate and wannabe playboy living on the parents' fortune) are expecting a nice fat lump sum. 

So it's big shocks all round when the company is split between the brothers and a fourth share for Jennifer, the company secretary and the old man's PA...  who as it turns out, had been putting the 'personal' into personal assistant and was having it away with the old man for twenty years and bore his daughter... So the series went on. Gradually, the new directors of the company had to learn to work together, survive things like a disastrous share issue leading to one of the bank mangers becoming another board member (cue Colin Baker in a fantastic turn as ruthless financial whizz kid and proto-yuppie Paul Merroney), taking over a struggling air freight company, and, in a bit of weirdness, Edward falling for Jennifer (his father's former mistress) and marrying her, thus his half sister becoming his step daughter...

I got into the series through reading about it on the TV Cream website thinking a 1970s drama about trucking would be right up my straße, but in truth, it is more about  family melodrama than the trucks but there are regular tantalising glimpses of Seddon 16:4s, Bedford TKs, Ford D series, etc and a couple of Ford press fleet Transco's in the later series. The writers had done their homework pretty well, lots of references to things like Chinese sixes, D800s, drivers hours, etc and marking things happening in the haulage industry;  things like the then-new tachographs coming in, the threat of nationalisation, moving into European and Middle Eastern operations. Indoor shots were done in a studio in Birmingham but there was plenty of outdoor filming in a real haulage depot in Greenwich, London.

Car wise, lots of period early 70s shite on display. Ted always saw himself as 'one of the lads' despite being a company director and the founders son. In the first couple of seasons, he had a Mk2 Cortina 1600E (switching from a G plater in series 1 to a J plater in series 2). In series 3, Ford's press fleet seems to have got a foot in the door, as Ted now has a shiny new Consul in Daytona yellow. Despite being a lowly model it has a plush sliding sunroof and a set of fetching GT style sport steel wheels. This and the WOO reg number point to it being a Ford press fleet car (especially as the BBC police series Softly Softly Task Force had a GT-wheel equipped Consul registered WOO 929L)

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Hence the GT wheels on my Vanguards version, looks close enough.

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As the series went on, Ted was forced to allow the company to be floated on the stock market. As mentioned, this didn't go down too well, and the issuing bank was left with a large share of the company. Ted's attitude afterwards was that if he was going to be the chairman of a public company, he was going to act the part. So for series 4, he started spending money on expensive suits and the Consul was given the elbow in favour of a Granada GXL, complete with a carphone!

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Again, I have a very similar looking Vanguards version. Wrong grille, being a Consul, wrong interior colour and this has spotlights, but the Copper bronze paint, black vinyl roof and those wheels again, make it near enough.

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I need to find a few more cheap Vanguards Granadas though, as the Copper GXL was followed by a denim blue GXL and, in the last series, a Miami blue Ghia with the Ronal alloys.

The other cars featured included Brian's doom blue Arrow Minx,

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which lasted most of the show's run, being replaced by a gold Cortina 2000E in the last series. TW number plate so possibly Ford's press fleet at work again?

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David, being an aspiring racing driver, had a fruity sounding MGB in BRG with painted wires and racing mirrors. He sold that after an off screen crash, and after a Scimitar GTE, ended up with one of the pre-production LOE registered Rover SD1s.

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Jennifer had an extremely well kept MK1 Morris Mini for most of the series.

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In the last series this was replaced by a nice new Maxi 1750HL

Plenty of diecasts available to replicate most of these I reckon...

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@AndyW201: excellent summary of The Brothers there!  I remember it well, because all through my early teens we tuned in religiously.  My grandad had been part of the founding of Longton Transport in the 30s in Stoke, and my mum always said the series was clearly based on the Longton story.  It was influential in me wanting to drive lorries for a  living, which I eventually did.

As it happens I have a Daytona Yellow Consul so I reckon that will now go in the film and TV cabinet as Ted's car.   Can't believe I didn't think of it before!

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5 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Prices tweaked for these and couple of additional models added. They're going on ebay next time it's free listing, so let me know if any are of interest in the meantime. 

MB Lotus Europa £1.50

All vans £3 each  (Golden Eagle van sold to flat4alfa)

MB Ford Sierra XR4i £4

MB Superkings Ford Sierra XR4i £7.50

MB Superkings K6/11 £4 (sold to flat4alfalfa)

 

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If I’m not too late, could I purchase that Superkings  XR4i, please?

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1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

That reminds me...

Is the blind Transit ready for a new owner yet?

Nope! After thirty-odd years and multiple repaints, that one's the only one of my childhood Dinkys I've kept.. I'll be getting the necessary glazing and rear door replacement bits once things reopen, and I have paint selected for it too. There are plans!

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10 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

Had a little shift around again today, so the contents of 1/43 display unit had to come out for a clean. Any excuse for a fondle! (And making the most of half term as the kitchen table will be given over to home schooling again next week...)

Apologies, most of these will have been seen before................................

 

 A while ago, I upgraded the Daytona yellow Consul that I got from our own Skizzer, with a set of GT type steel wheels from a donor I had. Not a popular move on here, and I too love the look of the standard Consul base on its plain wheels and hubcaps, but there was a reason. I wanted to create a replica of the Consul as driven by the character Ted Hammond in The Brothers. "Who?" you say. "In what?" you say.  Probably with good reason...

Great to see them all. My own 1:43 collection is very small and completely random. If I started I'm not sure whether Id know where to stop.....

The Brothers is a completely new one to me, I would have been  just a touch too young for that - I enjoyed your summary of it. I have just found out about Public Eye and I'm watching old episodes of that, although the car content is limited in the ones I've seen so far.

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Let's look at Mustangs...

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Back Row, in box, the 90s pre-magazine Corgi Bond car.

In front: Century of Cars issue, and with figures, the partwork Bond car.

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90s issue removed from box; note the much lighter red than the other two.

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As you can see, the Century of Cars version is the Corgi in a different shade of red.  The bases are identical.  The Bond Collection partwork, although almost identical in size, carries much more detail underneath.

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What I am particularly lacking is a green one for comparison.  If there's one kicking around the forum I would be most grateful.  Any condition will do as long as it's intact.  I can paint, that's no problem.  In fact I would like a spare to paint yellow, as Eleanor.

Meanwhile the CoC version has joined my "car show" which is now up to 28 exhibits.

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Those Bond partworks are frustratingly hit and miss. The View To A Kill Renault 11 (in its entirety... the "half" car version is also offered) is really, really nice. The Living Daylights Audi 200, meanwhile, is horrible — its proportions are hopeless. And, while the little dioramas they're packed with are quite fun, it's a bit of a shame that the cars are modelled to suit the scene that the diorama is based on. So my Mercury Cougar has a damaged front corner and wing, the Maserati BiTurbo from License To Kill is modelled with its boot open, etc etc etc.

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2 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Let's look at Mustangs...

2 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

What I am particularly lacking is a green one for comparison.  If there's one kicking around the forum I would be most grateful.  Any condition will do as long as it's intact.  I can paint, that's no problem.  In fact I would like a spare to paint yellow, as Eleanor.

 

I had two, but I think I sold the less-good one. I'll check the projects box next time I'm passing

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I'm sure there are differing versions of at least the later Corgi Mustang which were discussed before, but I couldn't find the posts. I also couldn't find any pics of the red one in my collection - I eventually realised that's because I kept losing the auctions I bid on, so never had one in the first place...

 

 

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On 2/16/2021 at 7:49 PM, flat4alfa said:

Saico also do this smart enough Police Car variation.  All are cheap and found in Toy Master etc.  

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You can see the hub caps I was on about now. Looking again, they are way too big

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Not converted this one yet, probably never will. But if it does go that way, it will be probably named Dixon of Dogging Green

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Anglia is by Saico

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8 hours ago, Frogchod said:

Here's another Buick

This time a Franklin Mint Riviera.

They've packed a lot of detail into this 1/43 car.

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It's just a shame they couldn't make the doors fit :(

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I'll just display it with the doors open...

To be fair it does look like it weighs a ton. I've always wanted a Franklin Mint model, I remember seeing them in my mums old Readers Digest and that they were so expensive you could take a payment plan!

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On 2/21/2021 at 8:12 PM, RoadworkUK said:

Those Bond partworks are frustratingly hit and miss. The View To A Kill Renault 11 (in its entirety... the "half" car version is also offered) is really, really nice. The Living Daylights Audi 200, meanwhile, is horrible — its proportions are hopeless. And, while the little dioramas they're packed with are quite fun, it's a bit of a shame that the cars are modelled to suit the scene that the diorama is based on. So my Mercury Cougar has a damaged front corner and wing, the Maserati BiTurbo from License To Kill is modelled with its boot open, etc etc etc.

I agree, things like the open boots (at least two of them) and assorted damage are annoying.  I've just won three more on ebay, one of which is the Dodge Monaco police car, which carries some damage.

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7 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Bonus scrapyard diorama 

Yup, one day. I have in mind them stacked on an overgrown bit of ground at the back of a garage building. The latter would be a cutaway, so a lift or two and WIP/finished cars could be displayed.

I need to learn some weathering techniques first. I ended up watching this the other night:

Looked fantastic. I wouldn't do something that extensive at 1:24 (it'd be huge!) but it certainly gave me something to think about.

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