Shite in Miniature II

[Datsuncog]

Yes, market day once more...

...although nothing new to tickle our collective diecast fancies, I'm afraid.

Old Corgis and Dinkys now mostly down to the incomplete and bashed items.

Lesney and Husky items also just mainly down to the dregs.

No-name 1/24-ish Chevrolet was missing its bumpers and other bits:

Mostly complete Corgi Majors LaFrance still there, with £10 asking price.

Two Corgi Lotus Climax F1 cars providing a handy comparator to the remanufactured Chinese versions:

Missing drivers and windshields, but with exhausts still in place.

Original bases seem to be grey, rather than the green of the new one.

Suspension on these is taut and springy; not like the one that arrived yesterday. Dunno if I just have a dodgy one, or there's a 'good enough' attitude going down...

Yes, the Trainer King was already in attendance, resplendent in his blue Adidas, and yes, he had a dozen or so models already set away. I tried not to look, though I could see the Porsche Carrera 6 and the Marcos Volvo amongst them.

Market Blokey advised that next week there should be a significant influx of boxed buses, which he's picking up over the weekend, so just to give everyone a heads-up on that.

Not much to be seen elsewhere - the Charity Stall had nothing, although Paddy's Overpriced Market Stall had emptied out last week's plastic bag into a box, revealing some random oddities:

Trio of Mercedes SELs - with an MC Toy base on the blue one in the middle.

The orange one seems to be an even lower-res copy of the silver one.

I love the barefaced cheek of the pirated version adding '(c) 1988' on the base.

Unusual, but again no prices.

Terrible Mustang III also there:

It did have wheels, but they were mounted very far inboard.

So that was that...

And here's what I squandered my cash on this week:

@bunglebushad requested the other Corgi Camaro, which is just as incomplete and dusty as the one set aside for @flat4alfa...

So that's there for you if you want it, dude.

[**EDIT: SALE AGREED**]

I also picked up one of the Dinky #188 caravans, just out of interest.

Crayon daubings should clean off, hopefully. Good to know repro doors are available for these.

Some glazing cracks,but nothing major.

Available for the £5 paid.

Sticking with Dinky, I finally brought this  #113 MGB Roadster home:

It looks pretty rough, but it's structurally sound, all the missing bits are available, and it might restore pretty well.

I don't know why I like these, I just do. I've half a mind to restore this myself, but we all know I'll never do it, so it's also available at £5.

Lastly, that pink Corgi Fiat 2100:

While the rear blinds are pretty cool, it seems to have developed something of a lean...

I think one of the wire supports that holds the axles tight to the base has slipped out of place; I may be able to remedy that without needing to dismantle anything.

Notable as the first Italian car modelled by Corgi Toys (wot no Ferrari?),  it's suffered quite a lot of paint loss as well as its jewelled headlights - but may look fresher after a bit of a scrub to get the worst of the grime off.

Also available at £5.

[**EDIT: NOW SOLD!!**]

So that's that for this week - a bit of a hurried one, but ain't that just the way it goes these days...?

Til next time...

[Bren]

Got these for my birthday last month - 

[tom13]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Yes, market day once more...

...although nothing new to tickle our collective diecast fancies, I'm afraid.

Old Corgis and Dinkys now mostly down to the incomplete and bashed items.

Lesney and Husky items also just mainly down to the dregs.

No-name 1/24-ish Chevrolet was missing its bumpers and other bits:

Mostly complete Corgi Majors LaFrance still there, with £10 asking price.

Two Corgi Lotus Climax F1 cars providing a handy comparator to the remanufactured Chinese versions:

Missing drivers and windshields, but with exhausts still in place.

Original bases seem to be grey, rather than the green of the new one.

Suspension on these is taught and springy; not like the one that arrived yesterday. Dunno if I just have a dodgy one, or there's a 'good enough' attitude going down...

Yes, the Trainer King was already in attendance, resplendent in his blue Adidas, and yes, he had a dozen or so models already set away. I tried not to look, though I could see the Porsche Carrera 6 and the Marcos Volvo amongst them.

Market Blokey advised that next week there should be a significant influx of boxed buses, which he's picking up over the weekend, so just to give everyone a heads-up on that.

Not much to be seen elsewhere - the Charity Stall had nothing, although Paddy's Overpriced Market Stall had emptied out last week's plastic bag into a box, revealing some random oddities:

Trio of Mercedes SELs - with an MC Toy base on the blue one in the middle.

The orange one seems to be an even lower-res copy of the silver one.

Unusual, but again no prices.

Terrible Mustang III also there:

It did have wheels, but they were mounted very far inboard.

So that was that...

And here's what I squandered my cash on this week:

@bunglebushad requested the other Corgi Camaro, which is just as incomplete and dusty as the one set aside for @flat4alfa...

So that's there for you if you want it, dude.

I also picked up one of the Dinky #188 caravans, just out of interest.

Crayon daubings should clean off, hopefully. Good to know repro doors are available for these.

Some glazing cracks,but nothing major.

Available for the £5 paid.

Sticking with Dinky, I finally brought this  #113 MGB Roadster home:

It looks pretty rough, but it's structurally sound, all the missing bits are available, and it might restore pretty well.

I don't know why I like these, I just do. I've half a mind to restore this myself, but we all know I'll never do it, so it's also available at £5.

Lastly, that pink Corgi Fiat 2100:

While the rear blinds are pretty cool, it seems to have developed something of a lean...

I think one of the wire supports that holds the axles tight to the base has slipped out of place; I may be able to remedy that without needing to dismantle anything.

Notable as the first Italian car modelled by Corgi Toys (wot no Ferrari?),  it's suffered quite a lot of paint loss as well as its jewelled headlights - but may look fresher after a bit of a scrub to get the worst of the grime off.

Also available at £5.

So that's that for this week - a bit of a hurried one, but ain't that just the way it goes these days...?

Til next time...

The wear on the MGB does make it look like real Patina. Bit of rust in those spot and the missing parts would make a cool barn find looking car.

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Fiat also available at £5

Sod it - I'll take it on and crank out the pink aerosol. 

Thanks for grabbing the Camaro too

[bunglebus]

Had a couple of boxes o'tat turn up today. Interesting items include:

 Plastic Hong Kong truck with a card base and interior similar to type used on some of the Marx vehicles 

Guisval Seat but not a Ritmo - this one's a Ronda

I think this glow in the dark Matchbox is a US release going by the base

Road Blasters (I think) Mercury 

Majorette MK2 Golf isn't an easy casting to find - I have another en route though 

[egg]

5 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

While the rear blinds are pretty cool,

I wonder if it is exactly the same blind as found in the Corvair? Pic from Flickr.

[egg]

5 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

I don't know why I like these, I just do. I've half a mind to restore this myself, but we all know I'll never do it, so it's also available at £5.

If you're sure you won't do it, then yes please.

[Bren]

4 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Had a couple of boxes o'tat turn up today. Interesting items include:

 Plastic Hong Kong truck with a card base and interior similar to type used on some of the Marx vehicles 

Guisval Seat but not a Ritmo - this one's a Ronda

I think this glow in the dark Matchbox is a US release going by the base

Road Blasters (I think) Mercury 

Majorette MK2 Golf isn't an easy casting to find - I have another en route though 

The luminous pontiac came with a launcher. I had this when I was a wee lad.

[bunglebus]

14 minutes ago, Bren said:

The luminous pontiac came with a launcher. I had this when I was a wee lad.

Found a pic of one in its blister

And one with the launcher. Cool

[Burnside]

On 8/10/2021 at 4:45 PM, 2cvspecial said:

where did panda come from?

@2cvspecial the Fiat Panda is by Norev. I'd brought mine off eBay. 

If you want one though, my Brother has mentioned he has one spare in his collection that he might sell.

I can grab some pictures etc and post them up? 

Also I shall be doing another Diecast sale, as previously mentioned a while ago! 

Will be mostly 1:55 / 1:65 corgi / matchbox and alike. Should be within the next week or so. 

On 8/9/2021 at 11:00 AM, flat4alfa said:

In a fit of 'need-money clear-out' last year, this Darda sold for only £3.  I expected a run on it...

Bewildered and gutted.

@flat4alfa if your after a Darda. I think that I still have a Renault 5, with playworn paint but with a good motor ? 

Brought it as me and my Brother had a Darda Ford RS2000 set as kids. Mine was Silver and his was Met Red. Sadly it's long gone as it 'disappeared' after a house move. Suspect it was thrown away by family. Cars were pretty rough though, but the track was pretty much mint.☹️

So it's unlikely I'll do anything with it anytime soon, given how expensive the track is now. 

[bunglebus]

Quarter Mile Kings at Sainsbury's, but none I'd want and the Bugatti had been pilfered 

[2cvspecial]

17 hours ago, Burnside said:

@2cvspecial the Fiat Panda is by Norev. I'd brought mine off eBay. 

If you want one though, my Brother has mentioned he has one spare in his collection that he might sell.

I can grab some pictures etc and post them up? 

Also I shall be doing another Diecast sale, as previously mentioned a while ago! 

Will be mostly 1:55 / 1:65 corgi / matchbox and alike. Should be within the next week or so. 

thanks for the offer. off to look on EBay

[sierraman]

Any sign of the next tranche or Matchbox due into Tesco? 

[bunglebus]

Boot sale is hot and busy but there's a distinct lack of die casts. Unless you want Adventure 2000 or K-7 transporters missing the clear tops for £12. Nice old bike though

 

[155V6]

A few buys from this week.

The Welly StretKa came from @Tenmil Socket,I don't really buy 1/24 but couldn't resist this.

The Corgi Rockets Escort is something I've been after for ages at a reasonable price.This one had no front axle,& was about £14 posted from eBay 😀    

The rest came from a car boot which I haven't been to for years.The Britains truck I bought because we'd been nearly right round & I hadn't found a single thing 😂

The rest came from one seller.The Polistil Ford Consul is nice but missing the driver's door.The plastic Toyota Crown is by YCT,it has a broken B pillar but should be fixable.The Majorette pickup is one of my favourite castings ever,so I couldn't leave it behind

[barrett]

That Crown looks great! What's YCT then?

[155V6]

18 minutes ago, barrett said:

That Crown looks great! What's YCT then?

That's what's on the base

[bunglebus]

Not a lot at the boot sale today, bought this as it was so crap that I had to have it

Some odds and ends out of a huge box they were trying to sell me for £20 - I've got more than enough to get rid of already! Most of these are going in the projects box

They we headed to Saafend where I got these out of a 2p machine, mostly with change I found left behind

 

[egg]

Anyone know of reasonably priced display boxes for 1:25 diecast? Thinking about my Schabak Scorpio. Cheers.

[Mad Cyril]

Evening all,

I'm pretty chuffed with how my Escort is coming on. New wheels and paint have gone well but I've come up against an issue. The glass had gone a bit opaque so I tried various thing to brighten it up but it's now considerably worse than when I started and is completely unusable.

Any ideas where i can lay my hands on some replacement glass for it?

Anybody got a battered, decrepit, unwanted example sitting in the bottom of a box anywhere I can use for parts?

(This is a 'before' shot by the way)

[flat4alfa]

From antique shop on Honiton High St, (Devon)

Majority with repro boxes.  At those valuations, I think I'll just keep painting old tatty ones and be done with it

Some of you might like these though

[Amishtat]

59 minutes ago, Mad Cyril said:

Evening all,

I'm pretty chuffed with how my Escort is coming on. New wheels and paint have gone well but I've come up against an issue. The glass had gone a bit opaque so I tried various thing to brighten it up but it's now considerably worse than when I started and is completely unusable.

Any ideas where i can lay my hands on some replacement glass for it?

Anybody got a battered, decrepit, unwanted example sitting in the bottom of a box anywhere I can use for parts?

(This is a 'before' shot by the way)

Bunglebus is yer man for glazing resurrection 

[bunglebus]

It doesn't always work, depends whats happened to it. Surface scratches etc can be sanded and polished, yellowing can be reduced but sometimes the plastic degrades due to coming into contact with something it doesn't agree with. Dipping in self shining floor polish and leaving to dry sometimes works wonders though

[flat4alfa]

I bought a compound that came recommended off a modelling forum.  See www.glasspolishshop.com but got it through Amazon, not expensive

Polished with a light rotary power tool, a 12v USB rechargeable cheap 'dremmel' that came with polishing and cutting accessories

It is pretty good at finishing off (not unlike Doris)

[flat4alfa]

On 8/13/2021 at 5:03 PM, egg said:

I wonder if it is exactly the same blind as found in the Corvair?

This is a Corgi Chevrolet Corvair and a Corgi FIAT 2100, earlier this morning

It does appear to be the same blind, yes

The steering wheels are shared too, but the interior moulding is different and modelled off the real cars

I found this FIAT's front suspension was down at the front too, at both sides.  If you take a thin screw driver and probe into the wheel wells, you can lift the 'suspension' rods back into place quite easily.  On this FIAT model, at least

Looking at them together, you'd think the Corvair (despite being a 'compact') would be much larger and Corgi scaled them to similar size to fit packaging.  But in fact, in real life there is just 4½ inches difference in length and 3 inches width.  Which made the FIAT body a bit of a hefty car to be saddled with the 60bhp 1500cc petrol engine in the Taxi rank version...

The FIAT measures to 1:48 scale and the Corvair to 1:47 

The Corvair ought to get painted but the FIAT will stay as it is, despite the added Humbrol effort on the roof

[egg]

Thanks, a very similar pink to that Spot on Armstrong Siddeley I bought. You could have a go and gently removing that humbrol, but it might not be much underneath.

[barrett]

23 hours ago, 155V6 said:

That's what's on the base

Looks like it's a pastic copy of the Tomica Dandy Crown

Other YCT models I can find are also plastic Dandy copies. Interesting stuff!

[Datsuncog]

On 8/13/2021 at 5:03 PM, egg said:

I wonder if it is exactly the same blind as found in the Corvair? Pic from Flickr.

Just pipped me to it...

On 8/16/2021 at 1:28 PM, flat4alfa said:

This is a Corgi Chevrolet Corvair and a Corgi FIAT 2100, earlier this morning

It does appear to be the same blind, yes

The steering wheels are shared too, but the interior moulding is different and modelled off the real cars

I found this FIAT's front suspension was down at the front too, at both sides.  If you take a thin screw driver and probe into the wheel wells, you can lift the 'suspension' rods back into place quite easily.  On this FIAT model, at least

Looking at them together, you'd think the Corvair (despite being a 'compact') would be much larger and Corgi scaled them to similar size to fit packaging.  But in fact, in real life there as was just 4½ inches difference in length and 3 inches width.  Which made the FIAT body a bit of a hefty car to be saddled with the 60bhp 1500cc petrol engine in the Taxi rank version...

The FIAT measures to 1:48 scale and the Corvair to 1:47 

The Corvair ought to get painted but the FIAT will stay as it is, despite the added Humbrol effort on the roof

The Corvair was released in June 1961, and according to the Great Book Of Corgi, was the first model to feature Venetian blinds fitted to the rear screen. The Fiat 2100 followed in August 1961, and did indeed use the same blinds in the rear.

The Fiat 2100 was, unusually, an updated casting of the Fiat 1800, released only a year earlier in May 1960. It was reissued with a baseplate modified to read 'Fiat 2100', and gained the Corvair's rear window blind as a cheap and cheerful feature update.

I haven't yet compared them, but I think the Ford Thames Airborne Caravan (released in 1962) also used the same blind, as well as the same colours as the Fiat.

[Mad Cyril]

12 hours ago, bunglebus said:

It doesn't always work, depends whats happened to it. Surface scratches etc can be sanded and polished, yellowing can be reduced but sometimes the plastic degrades due to coming into contact with something it doesn't agree with. Dipping in self shining floor polish and leaving to dry sometimes works wonders though

Erm...well..yes..it's actually like this...erm...

The glass was a bit cloudy so I left it in a tub of tyre shine overnight, which seemed to make it worse not better.

Then I tried to T-Cut it, which made it even cloudier.

Next, I tried a bit of acrylic lacquer on an unseen bit which seemed to make it better so I thought I'd lacquer all of it, which made it even worse and was drying a bit creamy so I used a hot air gun on it for some reason I can't begin to comprehend and melted the windscreen.

On a positive note the rear and side windows actually look just about okay but the windscreen is probably going to be made out of an old cassette box and will look absolutely shocking I'm sure.

Harrumph.

[Split_Pin]

The Fiat is a great model. I had the same one years ago and I remember at the time (around 1990) there being about 6 or 7 to choose from, both in 1800 and 2100 guise. 

I also had the beautiful Dinky Estate version with  quad lights, opening bootlids and folding seats. 

Why did I sell both??!!?!?