Shite in Miniature II

[flat4alfa]

Hmm... check out the moulding flaws

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174790989605

[flat4alfa]

1972 LONE STAR trade catalogue

[egg]

Ex @flat4alfa? resto.

[WillCarter]

23 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

I guess that's a big factor in whether or not the Corgi repros have much appeal - and I know you have a fantastic collection of original boxed Corgis!

I did have a fair few originals of those Corgis in the replica range, but they were mostly in poor to very poor condition. I got shot of them all a few years back, along with the Dinky, Budgie and Spot-On, as I knew I'd never get round to restoring them to a decent standard - and they weren't really in display-worthy condition as they stood.

They were also just random car-boot and charity shop acquisitions, which held no real personal meaning to me. So I figured they'd be better off with people who did want them, and it's given me a remarkable amount of pleasure to see them finally brought back to their former glory after several decades of being shunted in boxes from house move to house move.

I remember a few folks earlier on the thread discussing the UK Dinky repro range, and how they weren't interested in them because they had no 'soul'.

And that's quite an interesting point too - the extent to which originality influences our perception of an object, and the sense in which it has a 'story' - known or unknown. And that taps into all sorts of cultural concepts of 'authenticity'.

(Don't worry, I'm not going to start pontificating here like a sub-par undergraduate sociology thesis.)

I managed to find a fair few of the French Dinky Atlas repros a year or two ago, and while they were certainly very nice little things which I enjoyed viewing and handling, they didn't do a great deal for me, weirdly.

So I swapped most of them for some other diecast that was more in line with my interests (except for the little yellow Honda S800, which MrsDC took a shine to for some reason).

I guess this is maybe the same feeling - or lack of feeling - that others experience with the repro Corgi range.

The majority of 1/43-ish Corgis and Dinkys have very little personal meaning to me, as they weren't really a part of my childhood (other than a box of totally demolished 1940s Dinkys in Miss Finlay's P2 classroom, and they just made me feel sad as they were so broken) - and I think that plays a role in whether they float my boat nowadays.

The bigger 1/36 Corgis and Matchbox Superkings do have a significant appeal, as they were the ones I lusted after on the shelves of Woolworths and Stewart Millar back in the early/mid 1980s. So it's probably no surprise that those are the ones I've been buying up in recent years, with a heavy slant towards Corgi.

Late 80s and early 90s Corgi Classics and Matchbox Dinkys also generate the same feeling in me - maybe it's something to do with being a certain age, and staring into shop windows with a feeling of such strong desire, that it never quite goes away.

(Although, weirdly, Bburago and Polistil 1/18 and 1/24 leave me a bit cold these days, and I was obsessed with those whenever I was eight or nine.)

With collecting, there's very little rhyme or reason to what appeals and what doesn't - it's only ever going to be a gut reaction.

I've come round to the idea that Corgi Toys are kind of my 'thing', and while the later 1/36 are my preference, I guess I am interested in the smaller scale 50s and 60s stuff too.

Either way, I like opening the little cardboard boxes and popping out a new, shiny car - I know it's not the same as an original, and it doesn't have a history, but in a way that's no bad thing.

I guess maybe I can enjoy these repro Corgis more fully as the mass-produced play objects they were intended to be, rather than venerating them as valuable antiques - in much the same way that I sold off a lot of my original-release vinyl records a few years ago and replaced them with reissues.

On one hand, that might seem stupid and the antithesis of 'the collector experience' - but I'd realised that I didn't listen to them any more, as I'd become hyper-aware of how valuable some of them were. I got a good price for them, and now I don't need to get myself in a tizz about whether my desire to listen to a certain LP is enough to warrant the mild wear which playing it will inevitably cause, even with the best-adjusted stylus arm and dust control practices.

If I have a bit of a handling mishap (and that's happened in the past), then I can buy myself another reissue copy of Nevermind or Dark Side Of The Moon at 11pm in Tesco; not very rock 'n' roll, but true nonetheless. Someone else gets to have a mint original press on their record shelves; and what they choose to do with it's their business. Once upon a time I was very scornful of reissues, and only an original disc would do - but now I've kinda shifted on that. I'm not sure why.

I know I'll never want to spend however many hundreds of pounds on an original boxed 1960s Corgi (though I concede that I might for certain boxed 1980s Corgi, so strong is their appeal), so I think this mail-order collection occupies a fair middle-ground for me.

I do like the boxes, and the artwork, and the catalogues, so I suppose it's all fairly well pitched for my level of interest. Corgi's inclusion of little cardboard dioramas and other knick-knacks adds an extra layer of interest to these repros too, since surviving originals with all the inserts intact are so scarce and they're things I've only ever seen in books.

While these aren't a direct line back to my childhood (and I guess the power of nostalgia is what management at the cryptically-named Blue14 2DC Ltd are banking on to keep the cash rolling in), they do give a nice context to the rest of my 1970s, 80s and 90s Corgis.

Hey, I suppose this breadth of different interests is what makes this thread work so well - if we were all after the same stuff, it'd just be a bunch of middle-aged blokes jealously guarding their diecast hoards...

Funny that you should mention records, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it on here but working in a record shop is actually what I do for a living and so I've gone from collector to professional (for want of a better word) and have definitely noticed the change in attitude towards them in myself. 

On any given day I'm surrounded by thousands of pounds worth of records and countless records both new and old pass through my hands on a yearly basis. They are essentially just a commodity that allows me to get paid at this point. However, on occasion, the 'right' record sometimes reveals itself and suddenly I'm a collector again and that buzz returns for a short while and I'm excited to be holding that particular record in my hands. It's that feeling that all collectors chase I think, and I don't think that ever leaves you entirely, however deep you are into collecting, the only difference is that we all have our own personal triggers.

[flat4alfa]

On 11/30/2019 at 4:02 PM, flat4alfa said:

All of these spares repairs swaps

Majorette Acadiane is missing a rear door

Edited November 30, 2019 by flat4alfa
Acadiane and Porsche sold to @egg from Kent

How did you get hold of the missing door?  I assume you bought another.  Which would mean you have a spare body without a door now?

[barrett]

I don't generally buy re-issued records as a rule, because it's far too easy a way to spend money when something is easily available, and modern, brand new 'things' of any type leave me a bit cold, but on the other hand if something's worth £200, or £500, or £2000 there is no chance I'm going to end up with an original and at the end of the day it's the music I'm interested in, so a £14.99 reissue is a worthy substitute. I've got lots of mid-70s 'blue label' Blue Notes which are a fraction of the cost of the OGs but sound and feel just as great.

I bought an Atlas Ford Galaxie because I've never even seen an original and it's a model I've wanted since I was a kid. It's very nice, but I'd definitely 'upgrade' if I found a cheap original. I think people who enjoy 'the chase' of collecting rare original whatevers are different from those who sign up to a mail-order 'collection' and enjoy getting a new whatever through their door every month, but I'm certain there's a lot of crossover between the two

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

Hmm... check out the moulding flaws

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174790989605

It's not bad for a home made copy. I reckon the price will drop if he puts enough of them on eBay, surely there can't be too many people after one (mind you I thought the same about Redline Evil Weevils)?

[eddyramrod]

These are not new additions, but I thought I should put them together for a shoot...

Cadillac hearse from Diamonds Are Forever, part of the Bond partwork; and Cadillac ambulance by Atlas Editions, which I think was for an Ambulances Of The World collection.

Two very pleasing models.

[egg]

59 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

How did you get hold of the missing door?  I assume you bought another.  Which would mean you have a spare body without a door now?

I did buy another, and my problem is now as you describe mon ami! Nay bother, it was cheap. Might sell the window insert on ebay to save another...the circle of life...

[flat4alfa]

40 minutes ago, egg said:

I did buy another, and my problem is now as you describe mon ami! Nay bother, it was cheap. Might sell the window insert on ebay to save another...the circle of life...

Better still, fire up the Dremel and recreate the 'Aca-utilitaire'

Ce serait génial !

[flat4alfa]

At lunch, there was a gathering.  

Cowboy Colin sang his usual song and Leon the Legionnaire arrived a bit late as usual, but it was still great as Tiny Tom hadn't met either of them before

[Datsuncog]

2 hours ago, barrett said:

I don't generally buy re-issued records as a rule, because it's far too easy a way to spend money when something is easily available, and modern, brand new 'things' of any type leave me a bit cold, but on the other hand if something's worth £200, or £500, or £2000 there is no chance I'm going to end up with an original

In my case, it was mostly stuff that I'd bought on first release in the late 1990s/ early 2000s at standard shop prices, barely ever played and which had since become unfathomably collectable - I ended up realising £200 for my sky-blue vinyl pressing of The Killers' Hot Fuss, and £120 for my UK first edition of The Strokes' Is This It. 

Likewise, I managed to pull £90 for my copy of Bloc Party's Silent Alarm, and £100 for Super Furry Animals' Guerrilla.

None of which cost me more than £20 each when new, none of which particularly blew my mind, and all of which are now easily available in reissue format - but the main difference seems to be that there's a tiny '2016' down below the barcode, rather than '2001' or whatever.

I can appreciate there's a definite difference between original 50s and 60s albums and modern represses in terms of the whole 'feel' of them, but I'm buggered if I can make out much that's changed between the two Strokes LPs, beyond the date.

I know you can only sell the family silver once, so to speak, but in my case the teenage vinyl liquidation paid for our wedding - and that's not something I intend to do again. Meanwhile, someone who absolutely loves Bloc Party gets the record of their dreams... I'd like to think everyone's a winner.

If I had a full collection of mint boxed Corgis, I'm not sure if I'd be doing the same thing by selling the originals and replacing them with the replicas, though... it's kinda funny where everyone has their own limits and preferences!

[WillCarter]

25 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

In my case, it was mostly stuff that I'd bought on first release in the late 1990s/ early 2000s at standard shop prices, barely ever played and which had since become unfathomably collectable - I ended up realising £200 for my sky-blue vinyl pressing of The Killers' Hot Fuss, and £120 for my UK first edition of The Strokes' Is This It. 

Likewise, I managed to pull £90 for my copy of Bloc Party's Silent Alarm, and £100 for Super Furry Animals' Guerrilla.

None of which cost me more than £20 each when new, none of which particularly blew my mind, and all of which are now easily available in reissue format - but the main difference seems to be that there's a tiny '2016' down below the barcode, rather than '2001' or whatever.

I can appreciate there's a definite difference between original 50s and 60s albums and modern represses in terms of the whole 'feel' of them, but I'm buggered if I can make out much that's changed between the two Strokes LPs, beyond the date.

I know you can only sell the family silver once, so to speak, but in my case the teenage vinyl liquidation paid for our wedding - and that's not something I intend to do again. Meanwhile, someone who absolutely loves Bloc Party gets the record of their dreams... I'd like to think everyone's a winner.

If I had a full collection of mint boxed Corgis, I'm not sure if I'd be doing the same thing by selling the originals and replacing them with the replicas, though... it's kinda funny where everyone has their own limits and preferences!

To put it bluntly, there isn't a difference... or rarely. By that point virtually everything was being mastered digitally and therefore the notion of a 'first pressing' isn't the same as in the analogue days. So the only differences come down to the actual quality of the pressing, which quite often superior now that vinyl is 'thriving' again than it was when it was an afterthought circa 2000.

However, if someone wants an 'original' that was the period where the least vinyl was being produced and therefore fifteen/twenty years later are now far more scarce than an even the sought after albums of the sixties and seventies have ever been. Just comes down to whether you want to the convenience or the chase, which is where it comes to personal preference.

[flat4alfa]

A while ago I put my 'original' circa early-seventies Apple Abbey Road pressing on a mission to prove it would sound better than the reproduction found in the DeAgostini set from 2018.  The part-work is excellent quality, not like throw-away mass-produced rubbish, both in sleeve/label print quality and the vinyl pressing itself.

However, somehow I was expecting the digital remastering to have removed some of the harmonics outside of the digital frequency range.  But with a glass of wine in my hand in a typical living room, running through a typical mid-budget* analogue set-up, I just didn't find them.

So I kept the reproduction, flogged the original and bought some more die-cast toys instead.  Then went to the pub.

 

*late-nineties Nakamichi amp, Technics early-1980s direct drive turntable, recent new £60 Goldring cartridge, bi-wired B&W twin-cone speakers owned from new c.2000.  In case you were asking.

[Datsuncog]

It's a circular economy, here.

Back in 1996, I was working in a model shop and rushing out at lunchtime to blow my wages at Underground or Kosmos Records round the corner.

Fast forward 25 years, and I'm selling those same records to buy models which originally came from the same shop I used to work in.

Go figure.

It's a krazy business, this collecting malarkey...

 

EDIT: The main benefit seems to be that the LPs are now worth rather more than their original RRP, while the models are costing me substantially less from the market stall than their sticker price when new. Winning - I guess?

[WillCarter]

5 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

A while ago I put my 'original' circa early-seventies Apple Abbey Road pressing on a mission to prove it would sound better than the reproduction found in the DeAgostini set from 2018.  The part-work is excellent quality, not like throw-away mass-produced rubbish, both in sleeve/label print quality and the vinyl pressing itself.

However, somehow I was expecting the digital remastering to have removed some of the harmonics outside of the digital frequency range.  But with a glass of wine in my hand in a typical living room, running through a typical mid-budget* analogue set-up, I just didn't find them.

So I kept the reproduction, flogged the original and bought some more die-cast toys instead.  Then went to the pub.

 

*late-nineties Nakamichi amp, Technics early-1980s direct drive turntable, recent new £60 Goldring cartridge, bi-wired B&W twin-cone speakers owned from new c.2000.  In case you were asking.

I'm not sure if it was DeAgostini or another similar company but there was a part work series a few years back which was a Jazz collection. The records they were using for it at the time were the same pressings as the ones we were selling in the shop but at a lower price than we could even purchase them for let alone retail them for. They were a fantastic way to dip your toe into the world of Jazz really.

[flat4alfa]

NEW YOUNG POSTLAD WEARING SHORTS HAS DELIVERED THIS TODAY

So was it worth £10 plus P&P ?

Will get back later on this.

[flat4alfa]

7 minutes ago, WillCarter said:

I'm not sure if it was DeAgostini or another similar company but there was a part work series a few years back which was a Jazz collection. The records they were using for it at the time were the same pressings as the ones we were selling in the shop but at a lower price than we could even purchase them for let alone retail them for. They were a fantastic way to dip your toe into the world of Jazz really.

Looked it up, would it be this 70-piece set ?

https://www.discogs.com/label/605960-Jazz-33-Giri?page=1

https://www.deagostini.com/uk/collections/jazz-vinyl/

Looking at the list, I inherited off my old Dad a few of these - originals, that is.  But I have no time to enjoy properly all the other 101 hobbies!

[Amishtat]

Think I might sign up to that for mercenary reasons.. There's only two repros in my collection, the Atlas Galaxie and Dodge Royal and both because I'd been fruitlessly looking for originals ( and in the case of the former, because DC offered it so reasonably I couldn't resist). There's nothing on that list someone kindly posted the other day that I'd want or don't already have. You have reminded me that I have a few mid nineties indie/pissypants/shoegazey singles on coloured vinyl knocking about. They've been damp at some point so some of the sleeves are a bit wrinkly. Must dig them out and see what's there. 

[flat4alfa]

2 minutes ago, Amishtat said:

They've been damp at some point so some of the sleeves are a bit wrinkly

You'll find one of these using plain paper as a barrier works wonders

No need to ask me how I know

[Amishtat]

I mean at some point about twelve years ago but I'll give that a go. 

[andrew e]

Remember this gruesome twosome?

 

Well some spit polish and autoglym later and their sparkling! Sadly* the musty smell has gone too!

They really are lovely castings - 3 cheers to @Datsuncog  for rescuing them. Obviously I have no idea what to do with them, but hey ho 😂

[bunglebus]

Is it too late for Tat Wednesday? Postie must be on this thread as he seems to hoard all my parcels and bring them mid-week. 

It's a nice day so I photographed them outside, had to use quite low angles due to the hour - and there are about 30 more less-interesting ones I haven't papped yet, but my back now resembles a freshly cooked lobster, so they can wait

First up this. I have been hunting for this car, in this colour and in good condition for an age, to replace a long-lost childhood favourite. This was was mint on an unpunched card, but on the journey the blister fell off. Sort of a shame, but also means I'm the first person to touch this car since it was made decades ago

I mentioned I was bidding on this on the eBay thread, typically after attracting no interest, when it was re-listed someone else bid. Still, I won.

It's lost a mirror but the Spirit of Ecstasy straightened up OK

I also mentioned I'd already won another auction from the same seller - for this

Other boxes contained this Corgi 240Z in need of a good clean

And an oddball - Kees Saab 9000

This one's faster, because it's red

BRB with the smaller stuff...

[flat4alfa]

On 3/31/2020 at 2:26 AM, flat4alfa said:

Who will win the drag race, out yonder on the south road out of town?  The winner wins a pink slip; the loser gets a popsicle off Wolfman Jack.

On the left lane we have a Matchbox '41 Willys 'White Heat'

On the right we have a Hot Wheels Neet Streeter '36 Ford in 'Oldie But A Goodie' livery

Once Toad finds his flashlight, we can get going.  Hang on. wheres Toad?  Where's he gone now?  Toad!

[ Neet Streeter does have the hood scoop, but it's fallen inside.  Well I have owned it for 40 years... ]

Cor, a brand new Neet Streeter !

My old one quoted above

[bunglebus]

The other box contained several job lots of 1:64ish stuff from the same seller, all cheap and 50% chinesium poop.

These made up for it though, Corgi Vita-Min

Corgi Rockets Todd Sweeney

This came with it, wheels say Hot Wheels, base says not

Another Rockets - like @flat4alfa,I love a Cougar

Notable mentions for these few Matchbox that came along for the ride

I've got a pile of Zylmex, Hot Wheels and no-names to look at tomorrow

[bunglebus]

15 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Cor, a brand new Neet Streeter !

My old one quoted above

Yep, very pleased to find it. I have a couple of other really nice ones but the metallic red in near perfect condition had eluded me 

Almost anything else, I'd be happy with one like this

 

[155V6]

Postman bought these today.From FB Marketplace,I bought them for the front row mainly.They're all pretty much mint although the Supra has a chip which was shown in the ad

[WillCarter]

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

Looked it up, would it be this 70-piece set ?

https://www.discogs.com/label/605960-Jazz-33-Giri?page=1

https://www.deagostini.com/uk/collections/jazz-vinyl/

Looking at the list, I inherited off my old Dad a few of these - originals, that is.  But I have no time to enjoy properly all the other 101 hobbies!

The second link looks about right, I remember A Kind of Blue being the first one at least. 

I've probably derailed the thread enough now anyway 😂 back to the tiny chod.

[bunglebus]

35 minutes ago, 155V6 said:

Postman bought these today. From FB Marketplace,I bought them for the front row mainly. They're all pretty much mint although the Supra has a chip which was shown in the ad

Are they Matchbox World Class?

[155V6]

1 minute ago, bunglebus said:

Are they Matchbox World Class?

Yes 😀