Shite in Miniature II

[flat4alfa]

Popped out to stretch legs at lunch and accidentally* landed in the local charity shop.  I got: 

Hasbro R2-D2 that curiously speaks C3-PO voice phrases.  Maybe they stuck the wrong chip in.

Carrera Go! Spider Man slot car.  Handy for the SWB chassis.

Hot Wheels  '69 Mustang with stupid wheels

A pound was asked.  Perhaps they felt sorry for me.

[flat4alfa]

Apparently the R2-D2 is a 'Bop It!' game.

 

[bunglebus]

4 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Apparently the R2-D2 is a 'Bop It!' game.

Yes he is

I also popped into a charity shop, ignored a couple of past their best Matchbox but did buy these for 50p each

Matchbox Specials Porsche CK5 and (I think) a Tintoys Maserati Bora

[Datsuncog]

So then, let's rewind a little...

After slurping back my artisanal hand roasted latte beside the river like the poncey twat I am, I scooted back through the market again, but saw little to tickle me further, sadly.

It had just gone ten, and I had an appointment nearby at 11.

I'd mentioned last week that I would take a look in the Belfast branch of The Entertainer to see if they had any of the Matchbox Opening Parts models - and then completely and utterly forgot about it, until @Split_Pin's recent expedition reminded me.

So I toddled off to Castle Court...

And found...

...absolutely nothing in the way of Moving Parts. Or anything by Matchbox, actually.

Frankly, no. No I am not.

So I rage-bought a whole stack of Hot Wheels.

That'll teach 'em.

In fairness, I have been looking for the Volvo for a right while now; the Dodge van is also brilliant and I know would have propelled itself to the top of my 'favourite car' list when I was about ten. The Impala SS is a cracker too, and the Dodge Powerwagon looks like the spiritual successor to the old Matchbox 4x4 pickups of the early 80s. The Porsche and the Bel Air... well, it was three-for-two, wasn't it, and there were four I wanted...

So, Hot Wheels'd up, I returned to my appointment by a circuitous route, taking me past Cash Converters...

Not much in the way of buses in the market, but plenty here - I have a Creative Master Northcord, and it's very nicely detailed. But the shop window reflections kinda spoil it.

Bigger Corgi busage, too...

And I dunno who makes this, but it was £19 so no, I didn't.

I also poked my head inside, to find MORE buses...

Though £12 boxed, and £12 not-boxed, seems like an error...

Maybe I should have bought ALL Market Blokey's £2 buses last week and brought 'em in here?

Don't know if there's anything genuinely interesting to anyone in amongst this lot; they seemed to be all around the £12 mark, so if anyone's keen, let me know and I may be able to arrange something at a future date.

With time a-ticking on, I scurried over to the solicitor's office bang on 11... and then had to wait for 20 minutes for him to emerge, another ten minutes for him to explain a load of stuff I already knew, and then about five seconds for him to sign the bit of paper I needed him to sign.

Well, hot dang.

And with time a-ticking away, but the market in more-or-less a straight line between me and the car park, it seemed worth a very minor detour to see if the Maxwell bus was still there on the stall - and it was!

But as I was scrambling for coins, I noticed a familiar-looking box on the main stall...

...anyone else remember this one?

More to follow (and yes, I realise I'm tearing the arse out of this one - apologies!!)

[Datsuncog]

Crumbs, it's that there box of Corgi Rockets that I agonized over last year.

I was advised that they were £2 each - so with nine in the box, plus the Maxwell bus, a very even £20 was agreed and cash was exchanged...

Hnnngh.

Okay, so they ain't perfect, but c'mon - £2 each.

Mercury Cougar XP7 has a couple of chips, but retains the clip-on spoiler.

EDIT: TAKEN!!

Volvo P1800S has been touched up a bit, paint-wise, but is still pretty presentable.

Cadillac Eldorado is also suffering a little in the paintwork department, but hasn't lost its fragile bonnet at any rate.

EDIT: ALSO TAKEN!!

Morgan Plus 8 is one of those odd ones that I'd never seen before, not even as mainline Whizzwheels. Weird, as it was in the Juniors line-up for a while, after being demoted from Rockets status.

Bertone Carabo is still wonderfully iridescent; great colour choice, even if there are a few chips here and there,

Jensen Interceptor is probably the tattiest of the lot, but is still intact with the glazing reasonably clean.

EDIT: ALL THREE NOW TAKEN!!!

GP Buggy has its roll bar, windscreen and engine still attached, which is something of a rarity.

Alfa P33 concept has a bit of scuffage and a bent rear axle, but the purple paint still looks neat.

The dinghy and trailer ain't no Rocket, but... no time to think, I just grabbed, paid and skedaddled.

EDIT: ALL THREE ALSO NOW TAKEN!!!

Let's get the money shot...

Aw yissss. Rocket-tastic.

All available at £2 each, as paid.

Proper pics of the rest still to come!

[flat4alfa]

I like Cougars

[flat4alfa]

Cougar and Alfa please as I don't have those in Rockets flavour.

[flat4alfa]

Oh and looking at the ones here, my Jensen and Carabo have been vandalised in the glazing department

So Cougar, Alfa P33, Carabo, Jensen please.

[flat4alfa]

Would it be greedy to ask for the Eldorado too?

Mine is missing its C-chassis as that went onto the XJ6

[BigMac]

Buggy, trailer and Morgan if they are still available please.

 

[flat4alfa]

43 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

And I dunno who makes this, but it was £19 so no, I didn't.

Winross  http://www.winross.com/

USA collector market, not sure how it landed in Belfast.

[bunglebus]

That Rockets Cougars is the nuts. I Really REALLY like Mercury Cougars.

I have been a bit more selective about my eBay purchases lately, been keeping an eye on a few Zylmex Pacesetters but they're not often cheap - unless they're in a job lot like this Lambo

Also along for the ride was yet another of these no-name pull-back Maserati Boras, think I have three white and a black now

Thought this might be another Zee Toy, but it's a Sze Toy. Some funky stuff going on inside this one

In another box was something I have been trying to track down for some considerable time, even making a replica as I thought the chances of finding a real one were so slim...

Yes folks, a real, white Gus's Gulper. Of course I had to compare it to my version to see how accurate I got it

Only differences I can see are the scoop, and I think both kinds were available, and the rear decal, the placing of which I copied from another one...

This car pleases me greatly and has joined its pink brother and green cousin in the display cabinet

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

Oh and looking at the ones here, my Jensen and Carabo have been vandalised in the glazing department

So Cougar, Alfa P33, Carabo, Jensen please.

 

59 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Would it be greedy to ask for the Eldorado too?

Mine is missing its C-chassis as that went onto the XJ6

Yup, can do all five of those - will pop 'em in the box for you!

 

54 minutes ago, BigMac said:

Buggy, trailer and Morgan if they are still available please.

Sure thing, fella!

[flat4alfa]

47 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Thought this might be another Zee Toy, but it's a Sze Toy. Some funky stuff going on inside this one

Oo! Oo!  You've got an interior one!  

I have these, but each time the interiors have disappointed.  By not having interiors.

Didn't for one minute think the service vans, not just the custom vans by SZE, would have an interior and now you have given me a twitch.

 

[flat4alfa]

Notice that the base has the odd statement 'No.70½ U.S. VAN' across the range.

[bunglebus]

9 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Oo! Oo!  You've got an interior one!  

I have these, but each time the interiors have disappointed.  By not having interiors.

Didn't for one minute think the service vans, not just the custom vans by SZE, would have an interior and now you have given me a twitch.

 

Look into my eyes, not around the eyes...you know you want it instead of a Rockets Cougar

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

the northcords are rather scrummy aren't they?

i get a good price from Yardley Wood Bus Club

latest one is nx travel dundee for £43

 

oh and the stagecoach gold ones are fappin gorgeous!

[Datsuncog]

Now, where were we... all that hot Rocket-action has left me all of a lather.

Ah yes - decent pics of the rest of today's takings.

So, as shown earlier, the Matchbox Powertrack Corvette, with bonus mank:

Now awaiting translocation to Flat4Alfa's place.

 

The Solido Land Rover 110 Defender, in Alpine fire tender mode:

It's actually a pretty detailed casting, and a bit of contrasting paint to the grille and lights would probably make it look 1000 times better.

One of the doormirrors is missing, annoyingly. But if anyone fancies it, £2 will take it.

 

The Corgi Classics Cortina, in Very Blue:

Also spoken for, this one is about to do what so many did in the 1970s - become the basis for a custom project!

 

Siku Mercedes Sprinter is reasonably detailed, and proportions aren't bad.

But we all know real Sprinters have huge festering rust-buboes weeping brown tears at every possible point, plus back doors that are being eaten alive by rust.

Siku could have done much better on the realism stakes by dipping these in acid before packaging them, I reckon.

This one's still available at £2.

 

The Corgi Bimmer does indeed have its rockets still tucked away, though one of them doesn't want to come out (and you can be sure that if I wiggle it, I'll get hit in the eye or something).

Very detailed underside and all; Old Man Van Cleemput would surely have approved.

And, lastly, the peculiar little Maxwell bus.

Stripe seems to be a waterslide transfer, rather than paint.

I hadn't realised at first, but one side of the casting is definitely on the wonk.

And I've never seen another manufacturer peen their rivets like this, to go over the baseplate rather than through holes in it.

One of the wheels seems to have taken rather a hard hit from a pothole...

Definitely a curiosity! That'll be making its way over to Senor Bunglebus at some stage soon.

 

While up in Belfast, I got myself a pasty from one of the wee independent city-centre bakeries that I haven't seen open since, well, last March... so that was good too.

Overall result: not a bad Tat Friday.

Cheers all!

[flat4alfa]

I think the photos were eaten, along with the pasty

[Datsuncog]

Nope, they're back now - because I find it a ball-ache typing on a phone, I tend to put the text in first on the laptop and then fill in the pics from my phone. It takes a few minutes to position them, just.

The USB ports are ruined on my cheapo laptop, so photographs have to be bluetoothed over, and that takes me yonks.

There probably is an easier way to do it - but if I liked things to be easy, would even I do things like Tat Friday?

[bunglebus]

14 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

the peculiar little Maxwell bus

It's funny - I don't get excited by PSVs but show me an oddball and I'm all over it. I mean who else would slam a Corgi Mini bus?

I really hope my plans for this don't exceed my skills, as it always looked wrong to me with all those seats inside, to my mind it looks more like a people carrier than a bus - so the interior is gone, replaced by bits of plastic sheet and hopefully a few buckets going in instead...

[Datsuncog]

That's got a pretty decent-looking Gerry Anderson vibe going on!

Can't wait to see that one finished, it looks ace so far.

Corgi castings tended to always be pretty decent, but the wheels did sometimes let them down quite badly...

[flat4alfa]

15 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Nope, they're back now - because I find it a ball-ache typing on a phone, I tend to put the text in first on the laptop and then fill in the pics from my phone. It takes a few minutes to position them, just.

The USB ports are ruined on my cheapo laptop, so photographs have to be bluetoothed over, and that takes me yonks.

There probably is an easier way to do it - but if I liked things to be easy, would even I do things like Tat Friday?

Apple or Android?

[flat4alfa]

34 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

?

[Datsuncog]

You utter bar-steward.

I can't un-see that now, can I?!

  

12 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Apple or Android?

Android phone; cheap Acer laptop that's knocking on seven years old and had the USB ports fixed to the main board.

A recipe for disaster.

[vulgalour]

8 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

These were definitely kicking around early last year - Chrysler Alpine, Austin Allegro, Toyota Starlet and BMC 1100/1300 are under the rather excellent Maestro one (actually, I wonder if this holds any interest for @vulgalour?)

 

I already have one, but thanks for thinking of me :)

[flat4alfa]

4 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Android phone; cheap Acer laptop that's knocking on seven years old and had the USB ports fixed to the main board.

That probably rules-out iCloud then.  Do you have an Outlook/Hotmail account?  Google account?

[flat4alfa]

29 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

You utter bar-steward.

I can't un-see that now, can I?!

[barrett]

Hey, is that pasty as big as it looks?

[bunglebus]

28 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Completely off-topic but that is one of the films with a scene that makes me laugh even before it's happened, involving the insertion of a musical instrument where it really doesn't belong. The TOOT when they get interrupted has me in tears every time 😁