Shite in Miniature II

[jon.k]

That’s really interesting, datsuncog. I’m glad you like it.

Have a picture of my other paramount model:

 

[junkyarddog]

I'll bet you couldn't help but make a "Psssst" sound in your head when you opened up that bus door DC,

I know I did when I saw it open🤣

[Datsuncog]

Errr... yeah. In my head. Not out loud. Definitely not out loud.

🤣

[bunglebus]

2 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Do have a thing about the '64 Impalas

That's rather nice - I have a model of a 64 Impala with opening doors that looks very similar - I've had it so long I don't think I even took pictures of it. I know it's in the loft so if I unearth it I'll take some for comparision

I did have the Corgi Plaxtons coach, quite an impressive beast bar the frankly terrible wheels and under-spec axles. Not being into buses and coaches it went on to pastures new

Today's arrival is this Corgi DeTomaso Mangusta (why are the names reversed on the base?)

Now while it is a very nice thing, it's not a patch on the earlier release. Unfortunately mine arrived like this

And is currently stripped for resto, needs new glass after brake fluid ruined the original. It will be magnificent once it's done though

 

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Mmm, what's the backstory on this one? Someone producing Code 3 repaints to order?

Looks well done - is there a backstory here as something you commissioned, or just a lucky find?

 

Corgi's take on the Plaxton Paramount 3500 is a really nicely done toy - good weight to it, and the opening door and luggage compartments are very nicely engineered. I'm really pleased with the example that showed up last month from @jon.k.

The crimped-on axles are really free-running - this thing's better than a spirit level when it comes to detecting slight variations from the horizontal, and I've had a number of, shall we say, Italian Job moments when I've just managed to stop it rolling off a table and taking a lump out of the wooden floor...

The manufacturing process seems to have involved tampo-printing to each side, and then stickers and mask-sprayed paint on the rear panel.

No rivets either - it appears that the two-piece body is held together by a pair of lugs beneath the back window, and the grille then pushes through as a retaining peg at the front to keep both halves together.

Detail is rudimentary in places, but as a modern coach of its time, it still has a lot of appeal.

The casting started off in the 1985 Corgi catalogue as the C769 National Express Coach, wearing National Express Rapide colours, although the glazing appears clear in the booklet pic but is blue on Jon's example - not sure if it's a change from the prototype, or if it only later acquired a tint. The wheels also changed between the dished two-piece wheels on the prototype to the flat, one-piece wheels on the production version.

It also appeared the same year as the more generic 'Holiday Tours' Coach, as C770.

I'm not much up on buses, to be fair, but I know the Plaxton persisted in the range for a long, long time, wearing a range of different operator liveries - and this stepped up once Corgi management bought out the Collectables side  from Mattel, Corgi's one-time owner between 1989 and 1995.

 

Mattel kept the tooling for the Juniors-size cars (and marketed some of the castings under the Hot Wheels brand for quite some years), but had no use for the larger 1/36 and similar castings since they had no US market sector, so these reverted to Corgi Classics. But, the problem was that under the terms of the buyout deal, the new Corgi Classics Ltd was barred from competing with Mattel by selling toy vehicles - they could only market adult collectables.

Not to be outdone, a number of former Corgi Toys were suddenly promoted to the 'Collectables' line - with the Plaxton, Routemaster and Metrobus castings all repackaged with more detailed liveries added to the basic castings. Equally, some older Corgi castings from the 1970s and 80s found themselves repackaged along with a fairly cheap-looking plastic replica manufacturer badge, to apparently satisfy the 'adult collectables' requirement - the Jaguar XJS, Ford Sierra, Rolls Royce Corniche, Ferrari 308GTB and Peugeot 205 Mi16, to name but a few. This was in addition to the expanding 1/43 Classics line, and the 1/76 Original Omnibus Company buses.

For the new Corgi company, it was a win-win: they could sell better-finished models at a higher price point than just 'pocket money' toys, and they were able to reuse old tooling which had paid for itself decades ago  - which, along with a shift in production to the Far East, allowed bigger profit margins.

Unfortunately I divested myself of all my 1990s Corgi catalogues a few years back as I thought I was done with diecast, which was a bit of a mistake... but I can definitely remember the Plaxton wearing the beige Wallace Arnold livery, amongst others, together with rather better wheels.

A nice one to have!

Hey cheers for that, I always wondered why the Paramount toy became a bit posher as time went by.

Midland Bluebird had a sizeable fleet of these up until about 2002 and I travelled regularly on one on the 38 to Edinburgh before I had a car and well before Edinburgh Park station was built.

The one on the left, WSV140 (A184UGB) used to be a regular on the service, I made this one in 2001on the then current First Edinburgh livery,  from a National Express Coach given to me by my friend Michael on the proviso  that I restored it. So I did!

The one on the right was GSU 339 in an earlier pre-FirstBus livery. I also regularly travelled on this one.

The middle one was bought from the Linlithgow bus station shop in the 1980s and is an even earlier  livery. Note wheel variation:

[sierraman]

I have the supposedly scarce Club Tropicana one. 

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Mmm, what's the backstory on this one? Someone producing Code 3 repaints to order?

This one seems to have landed in Czechia

https://aukro.cz/lledo-bus-colchester-corporation-j-d-b-repaints-limited-edition-6978178795

[Amishtat]

I don't know a lot about this, other than I've had it since about 1986 or so. My Dad has always been a bit of a bus licker and it's possible this was an attempt to inculcate the interest in me. Unsuccessfully, as it turned out but you can't blame the man for trying. Next time I speak to him I'll ask about it, I'm sure he had some other stuff from J. D. B. repaints, whoever he is or was. Hedingham are still going to the best of my knowledge, certainly it's not unusual to see buses thus liveried around North Essex. RoadworkUK will know more I imagine. From its condition it doesn't appear that I played with it very much, possibly it's one of Dad's collection which has ended up with me at some point. Shame about the box, but it's quite a nice little local curio all the same. 

[DoctorRetro]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Today's arrival is this Corgi DeTomaso Mangusta (why are the names reversed on the base?)

Maybe they thought the 'Robin Reliant' trend was going to take off? 😂

[bunglebus]

@flat4alfafound it! No fancy suspension but the steering wheel works. I used to leave the transit screw in the base so it sat like it was three wheeling

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a 63 not a 64

[flat4alfa]

What's that, about 1:25?

It is a bit special in that green.  409 on the licence is a indication of the engine in it

[bunglebus]

Yeah it's a bit of a monster, I'd forgotten how large it is

 

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Corgi DeTomaso Mangusta (why are the names reversed on the base?)

Count yourself lucky!

I've one from Hong Kong - that is spelt in French !

It measures to approx 1:34 in length, so larger than the Corgi(s).

MANGOUSTE DE TOMASO, it states.

Bought it for a couple of quid for its body shell.  Bit ratty, but seen these for silly money.  No other spanner has done a slot car of the Mangusta, which was the idea.

 

The word mangusta is Italian for mongoose, the animal that can kill cobras.  Because De Tomaso fell out with Shelby.  But you knew that anyway.

[155V6]

I like both versions of the Corgi De Tomaso,although the Whizzwheels version would go better with the cars I already have.I'll make do with this Inter-Cars version for now

 

[Datsuncog]

It's incredible how many toy manufacturers had a crack at the Mangusta - despite being pretty niche, it must have really captured the public imagination on its release to garner such a strong appeal.

The non-Whizzwheels Corgi captures the shape well, and looks good on those wheels. I only had the Dinky version, which had great-looking wheels but looked a little flattened overall.

[sierraman]

Here is my Spanish Shite collection. Guisval Opel Kadett

[sierraman]

SEAT shite. I love these, just common or garden shite you’d have seen in Spain in the late 80’s. 

[sierraman]

Renault 21 Savanna and a 14. 

[sierraman]

Nova action! Followed by a Maggy Deutz

[sierraman]

Found these as well, my first Sikus. The blue Jaguar was my favourite car for a quite a while. 

I knew I had a Mira Fiesta somewhere!

[flat4alfa]

On 5/8/2020 at 12:04 PM, Datsuncog said:

Thompson Mongoose, by Dinky. 

The famous Market Blokey's Thomson Mongoose is with me now

Must get a donor trunk lid sorted

[sierraman]

Quality had gone down at Mira by the late 80’s.

[sierraman]

Knew it was somewhere @Split_Pin Guisval Seat Malaga!

[andrew e]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

It's incredible how many toy manufacturers had a crack at the Mangusta - despite being pretty niche, it must have really captured the public imagination on its release to garner such a strong appeal.

The non-Whizzwheels Corgi captures the shape well, and looks good on those wheels. I only had the Dinky version, which had great-looking wheels but looked a little flattened overall.

I wonder if De Tomaso actually courted/chased the diecast manufacturers? There seem to be lots of models out there - maybe they were free and easy with the blueprints?

[andrew e]

Some crackers (well not the last 3!) there @sierraman 👍

[sierraman]

10 minutes ago, andrew e said:

Some crackers (well not the last 3!) there @sierraman 👍

I’m quite sentimental about the Malaga, got it on holiday in the late 80’s, it lived at my grandparents for a while in their cupboards under the stairs then it came home and I used to play with it in the garden hence it’s battered condition, it’s definitely done some miles under those wheels! 

[Split_Pin]

54 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Knew it was somewhere @Split_Pin Guisval Seat Malaga!

Probably rarer than the 1/1 version! 

Guisval are weird, some lovely items like the Renault 12 TS and the OPEL Kadett E and then some others which can be a challenge to ide tidy like the Datsun Patrol and this.

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

Found these as well, my first Sikus. The blue Jaguar was my favourite car for a quite a while. 

I knew I had a Mira Fiesta somewhere!

Love all of these, nice one for keeping them for so long.

Gone all light headed at the sight of some hot Mira and Guisval action.

Goodness knows what happened to Mira. My 5 door Peugeot 205 is unbelievably shite but the Citroen CX which is about 6 or 7 years older is the nicest small diecast toy car I have ever seen. Polished metal base, near perfect proportions, cast badges and opening doors.

[bunglebus]

Dinky version is cool

But the Zylmex is coolerer

 

[sierraman]

I think Mira ended up focusing on a very good range of 1/24 and 1/18 scale. Back in the 80’s they were probably best known for the Pegaso lorries they did in 1/76 scale. 

Guisval also did a decent toy like range of 1/24 with some good subjects like a Mk3 Granada and Opel Kadett GSI. One thing you wouldn’t get away with these days is advertising fags on toy cars!