Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

Been sent this

 

[sierraman]

But still no Matchbox in Tesco!!!!!

[bicycle repairman]

these 3 beauts came 2day i wont restore gold cortina and it seems a shame 2 paint the other 2 lol,i love the holden in the loop get restored

[eddyramrod]

A box of Bond partwork cars arrived today.  Don't tell MrsR!  I'm still in communication with the seller and may be expecting further deliveries in the near future...

[bicycle repairman]

she like mine must be obayed at all cost

[eddyramrod]

Totally!

[TheOtherStu]

10 hours ago, morrisoxide said:

Thanks. Yes I use a Airbrush with Pebeo brand acrylic paint from Hobby Craft, thinned down with Asdas own screen wash. Then two coats of lacquer on the Volvo and Galaxie.

My latest source of decent quality alcohol is covid grade hand sanitiser. Usually 80%+ and clear.

It's excellent for cleaning stuff too.

[bunglebus]

Another arrival I haven't shown before. Was this a standard release or a giveaway with X amount of Duckhams?

 

[flat4alfa]

6 hours ago, D.E said:

Shouldn't this MoY Leyland have decals and a different type of wheels?

Run-out model for 1960 when the cast wheel dies were worn. 

How much did you want for it?  I don't have that one

[flat4alfa]

1 minute ago, bunglebus said:

Another arrival I haven't shown before. Was this a standard release or a giveaway with X amount of Duckhams?

The clue is the tow hook

It was in the F1 Surtees TS9 set with the yellow trailer.  Around the same time the JPS Lotus Elite set, same trailer casting

[flat4alfa]

6 hours ago, D.E said:

That was... a bit more than expected. If the auctioneers would take better photos instead of "here's a picture of a box full of cars, good luck!" maybe they would get higher bids. Oh well, I won't complain. In a more orderly fashion, and some highlights:

The gawky plastic F1 car in the middle looks to be one of the old Carrera slot cars.  Is the motor and slot guide still in it?

I haven't got one of those either...

If the guide is missing no matter as it would need modifying anyhow

[bunglebus]

13 hours ago, sierraman said:

But still no Matchbox in Tesco!!!!!

No - and no label where they should go either. Are we now limited to the UK edition packaging ones only? I really hope not

[bunglebus]

Armed with some Clubcard vouchers, I decided to grab one of the 9 packs, because I wanted the Field Car 

Quite liking this, I'll dig out an original for comparison. 

Chevelle 'vert in an exclusive colour is about the only other one that interests me

Unless you're into camping trailers?

[bunglebus]

On 21/09/2021 at 12:13, junkyarddog said:

Never seen one of those early green Matchbox transporters with the doors intact yet!

It's an illness I'm sure

[andrew e]

As @bunglebus said HW restocks out there (Sainsbury’s in this case).

[D.E]

18 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

The gawky plastic F1 car in the middle looks to be one of the old Carrera slot cars.  Is the motor and slot guide still in it?

I haven't got one of those either...

If the guide is missing no matter as it would need modifying anyhow

I just took a closer look, motor is there (no idea wether it is any good), slot guide is there but one of the braids is missing.

[flat4alfa]

Thanks.  Guide is in fact broken off

Are you going to keep it or sell it?

[Spottedlaurel]

18 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Another arrival I haven't shown before. Was this a standard release or a giveaway with X amount of Duckhams?

It was in the standard range AFAIK, I've had one complete with trailer and Surtees since I was young. Although the latter two have survived the years reasonably well, the Ferrari has suffered with the headlight cover broken and stickers removed. So, if ever you're looking to rehome that one.......

[sierraman]

Wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve phased them out completely, it can’t be worthwhile selling to a market as small as the U.K. and selling through one retailer. Tesco have managed to make an even bigger balls up than Asda did. I’m not sure it’s even a supply issue, there are baskets full of Hot Wheels.

Mattel have this really bizarre tactic of limiting supply on products they know will be popular which is difficult to make sense of, but then trying to reason with the mind of an American is a non starter. 

[flat4alfa]

[sierraman]

I have progress, supposedly Tesco have said by the end of the month we should see Matchbox in store again. We’ll see...

[flat4alfa]

23 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I have progress, supposedly Tesco have said by the end of the month we should see Matchbox in store again. We’ll see...

Oh!  Did you take hostages again?  Excellent.

 

Quote

 On 5/19/2021 at 8:08 PM, sierraman said:
Plan of attack now, hit the Tesco in Dinnington on the 22nd when I’m assured by the note on the shelf is getting a delivery Saturday 22nd. If that fails I’ll go to the Chesterfield one which usually turns up trumps. If that fails I’m going to have to start taking hostages. 

[bunglebus]

16 hours ago, sierraman said:

Wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve phased them out completely

 

[sierraman]

I’ll drop by the Tesco Saturday. 

[flat4alfa]

On 5/14/2021 at 9:33 AM, Datsuncog said:

Big Lucky Toys rip-off of the Matchbox Gruesome Twosome; bit playworn, but not too wrecked.

Lucky Toys 'Massivesome Onesome' has been fiddled with.  All 16cm of it.

Front axle would not move due to broken holder tabs.  Fixed* that with a bodge adaption that Roadkill would be proud of.  Axle now rotating.

Rear friction flywheel motor removed, oiled and now free-wheeling properly.  Reseated housing in base and axle now at proper riding height.  We have a runner!  Albeit quite growly.

Now to do a compare with the Matchbox 1-74 original

[D.E]

19 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Thanks.  Guide is in fact broken off

Are you going to keep it or sell it?

This is going to be sold I think, I don't do much with slot cars myself so it's probably better off with someone else.

[AndyW201]

Got excited when I nipped into Tesco yesterday morning and found fresh stocks of  Matchbox mainlines on the pegs. Alas, they were all from the last case. But at least I got the blue Mini Cooper, Fiat 500 Abarth and modern Honda Civic I missed last time around. 

Not even anything new with Hot Wheels lately, Smyth's was a waste of time last weekend and local Morrisons regularly restock but with stuff from 2 or 3 cases ago.

[2cvspecial]

feeling really ill , so this is cheering me up

 

[Datsuncog]

On 9/24/2021 at 9:20 AM, flat4alfa said:

Haven't seen The Trainer King around for several weeks now, as it happens... not sure if he's also given himself a metaphorical tummyache too, from guzzling too many diecast goodies, and has now put himself on a strict Dinky-free diet - or if he's been stricken with COVID-19, and is currently at death's door.

I know he annoyed me a bit at times, but I deffo don't wish that on anyone.

As it happens, I was at the market last week, and this week too - last week because I had a flu jab booked at the pharmacy on the corner, and today cos I had a bit of time to spare before attending a funeral. I wasn't there for early-early doors, but headed in around 8.30 or so (usually the time when The Nemesis was still nosing around).

You may be relieved to learn that you diecast-crazed cats haven't missed very much: there's been no 50p tat box lately, and in fact no old toys anywhere to be seen. Just some giffer-magnet Days Gone, '80s Corgi Classics, and Matchbox MoYs.

Is anyone's pickle particularly tickled by this lot?

No, I thought not.

It's possible that this blurry snap of a boxed Siku airport fire appliance and a Sapeurs Pompiers water tender by Solido might have garnered a flicker of interest - but not at £10, I wouldn't have thought.

This piece of retro gaming was quite nice, though I didn't open it to see what was inside.

Some great box illustrations, anyway.

No diecast of interest on any of the other stalls, so could it be that Tat Friday has naturally run its course in Belfast, anyway?

It's possible.

But... I did buy something.

Something with wheels.

Something which I'd been semi-jokingly threatening to buy for years now - pondering aloud on occasion about exactly at what point I'd finally crack, and open my wallet for a Matchbox Model of Yesteryear.

Friends, today was that day.

But be sure, it wasn't just a lightly chipped metallic peuce Daimler, or a zingy yellow Spyker (with all the plastic seats fallen out).

Nope, this was something I'd secretly coveted for a long, long time.

Look at that. Special Edition and all.

I know.

Not just a model - a legend.

Ringing any (fire) bells?

That's right, it's this monster.

It's from way back when Matchbox (under Tyco's leadership) decided that selling models in shops was old-hat, and in future they'd offer their collectables via mail order instead.

Around this time, the impressionable teenage DC would receive bumf through the door every few weeks, extolling the exemplary virtues of Matchbox Collectibles' latest 'Beers of the World' collection (various old castings hacked into brewer's drays and vans), or their 'French Heritage' collection (the same Citroen Type H van with different logos like Yoplait, Président Brie and Taittinger Champagne - cruelly press-ganged and painted up at the last minute from what should have been a Matchbox Dinky collection model - the missing DY-34).

And then there was the Fire Engines Series.

Now, as a general rule, I'm not particularly interested in fire engines.

Which makes it all the more perplexing that I can't seem to stop buying the fuckers.

But even then, back in 1994, the sight of the flagship model from the MoY Fire Engine series, the Ahrens Fox Quad, atop the marketing guff with all its breathless sales patter, was quite enough to make me want to toddle down to the TSB and empty out my meagre PassBook funds, in order to write a very large postal order for the entire series. Just so I could have that one model.

I didn't, though. Sensibly*, I waited a few years before liquidating my assets in order to buy a fucked MkV Cortina with no floor.

Ask me about my Dogecoin investments.

But I never stopped wanting the Ahrens Fox Quad, for reasons that still aren't really all that fathomable.

So today, a 27-year old dream came true.

Well, kind of.

Is it as good as I'd hoped?

Of course not. I mean, it's detailed and all, like the marketing flyer assured me, but the interim decades of collecting Vanguards has kinda pushed the envelope a bit for what 'detailed' looks like - and it's a bit beyond a separate steering wheel and chrome-effect handbrake, these days.

Still, it is very nice, and genuinely pristine - not a mark or even a speck of dust on it, so it's clearly been kept boxed all these years. All the hoses and pressure valves seem a bit fragile, so for this to be fully intact is a bit of a bonus.

I'm sure I'll grow bored of it, but at least it has the all-important Certificate of Authenticity. So that collectors know it's the real deal, authentically mass-produced in a Chinese sweatshop, and not something I've cunningly whittled in my shed.

Maybe I'll make my tenner back one day, maybe not. But I'll enjoy fondling this one later, for sure... when Mrs DC's not around to become irked at the sight of it.

A very good Friday, to one and all.

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Maybe I'll make my tenner back one day, maybe not. But I'll enjoy fondling this one later, for sure... when Mrs DC's not around to become irked at the sight of it.

The best MoY in the world. ever?

Gob smacking TBF, never knew of this one

I'm putting my hand up with that tenner back, to be the first in the PCF queue (post-Cog-fondlers)