Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

£3 each, same charity shop that had the James Bond Lotus a while back. Tatty boxes

[flat4alfa]

Anyone have the 1:43 Zylmex Ford Mustang II Cobra

[flat4alfa]

On 6/21/2021 at 4:46 PM, flat4alfa said:

Apart from the Aston Martin DB6, Rolls Royce Silver Cloud and the Jaguar MK10; there was a Batmobile, the Spectrum Saloon Car from Captain Scarlet, Bentley S3 with a canoe on the roof, Ferrari 500 Superfast, a boat on a trailer and a horsebox.  And a horse.

 So either as a standalone car or a sort of a 1:40 scale Minic Motorway

Hooray!  Finally have a TRI-ANG MAGICAR 

Not only that, it's the Aston Martin DB6 'police car', just like I had (second hand) when a boy

It's all-plastic, about 1:34 scale, so bigger than I remember.  The later MAGICAR MOTORING slot car version and for once, NOT BROKEN

Got the motor freed-up and oiled its gearing....  IT LIVES

Notice the slot guide pin.  It can now drive about the track, getting in the way by coming the opposite way...

...so ideal for the lane-changing Digital Scalextric track japes

Seller didn't know what he had and surprisingly I nabbed it for a bid under £8.  Adventure over

No base markings.  Just states Made in Great Britain

@Sudsprint

[Motown]

On 11/7/2021 at 8:10 PM, outlaw118 said:

Went to Brands Hatch for the last BTCC event of the year a fortnight ago, and whilst mooching around the various stalls and shizz I found what was labelled as a "British Touring Car Champions" A40 model (made by Atlas).

Seeing as Fatha_Outlaw had one when I was smoll, I purchased it for £25. I've just taken the cellophane wrapper off as it was a bit tatty, and taken a peek. 

It's a feckin' SD1 Vitesse.https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/384446541715?hash=item5982ccaf93:g:RM0AAOSw~JBfHaBV (Not my advert)

Anybody want it? @Motown @Bren? Any other Rover fanz?

Not looking to make a profit, just would like my money back, or as close to as possible. Postage will be about £3.50. PM me PLZ

 

Thanks for thinking of me but ive got one. Ive also got the Scalextric Metro and SD1 😆

[bunglebus]

10 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Anyone have the 1:43 Zylmex Ford Mustang II Cobra

Not yet. Best I can offer is this Fox Mustang 

 

[flat4alfa]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Not yet.

Wait until you see the front !

[flat4alfa]

Went charity shop

Came back with a Kylo Ren, a radio-control Tow Mater and a Rey Skywalker.

Not the typical visit.  Apparently all the newly stocked 'toy cars' were bagged-up and sent to another one of their shops in another town.  That's 25 miles away...

I don't understand charity shop mentality

[Datsuncog]

9 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

I don't understand charity shop mentality

My understanding is that salaried managers for charity shops are constantly meddling in long-standing processes to justify their position - so they can report to area managers that they're finding efficiencies through sending one sort of product to a specific shop elsewhere, in order to free up space in their own store and maximise the overall stock turnover for the charity.

Next month they'll bring them back again, to diversify their offering.

MrsDC volunteered for a while at a local branch of a well-known national charity.

I can almost understand some of it - I know Oxfam have specific shops that handle designer clothes, and others that stock mainly books and music, and that almost makes sense; especially if there's very rare or valuable stuff, the chances of someone wandering into the small suburban shop it was donated into and buying it is quite unlikely.

But sending toys to another town just seems weird, especially as most of them will likely be well-used Poundland cheapo items.

It's been quite a while since I bought anything from a charity shop; there really isn't much there anymore to interest me. And I'm not sure whether it's just that the good stuff's being cherry-picked by the shop volunteers (I know one person who 'volunteered' one afternoon a week to 'help' price the LPs at a hospice shop - in practice, it meant all the vinyl was set aside for him in the storeroom and he got first dibs on everything for buttons), or if decent stuff just rarely gets donated.

The last bit of vaguely interesting diecast I found in a charity shop was a terrible Made in China rip-off of the Corgi Juniors Martin Walter Ford Transit camper, wearing fire brigade transfers. Must have been around seven years ago, now.

[Tenmil Socket]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

My understanding is that salaried managers for charity shops are constantly meddling in long-standing processes to justify their position - so they can report to area managers that they're finding efficiencies through sending one sort of product to a specific shop elsewhere, in order to free up space in their own store and maximise the overall stock turnover for the charity.

Next month they'll bring them back again, to diversify their offering.

MrsDC volunteered for a while at a local branch of a well-known national charity.

I can almost understand some of it - I know Oxfam have specific shops that handle designer clothes, and others that stock mainly books and music, and that almost makes sense; especially if there's very rare or valuable stuff, the chances of someone wandering into the small suburban shop it was donated into and buying it is quite unlikely.

But sending toys to another town just seems weird, especially as most of them will likely be well-used Poundland cheapo items.

It's been quite a while since I bought anything from a charity shop; there really isn't much there anymore to interest me. And I'm not sure whether it's just that the good stuff's being cherry-picked by the shop volunteers (I know one person who 'volunteered' one afternoon a week to 'help' price the LPs at a hospice shop - in practice, it meant all the vinyl was set aside for him in the storeroom and he got first dibs on everything for buttons), or if decent stuff just rarely gets donated.

The last bit of vaguely interesting diecast I found in a charity shop was a terrible Made in China rip-off of the Corgi Juniors Martin Walter Ford Transit camper, wearing fire brigade transfers. Must have been around seven years ago, now.

A camper with fire brigade transfers? 😆

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

a terrible Made in China rip-off of the Corgi Juniors Martin Walter Ford Transit camper, wearing fire brigade transfers

Are you referring to my beloved Zylmex?

[Datsuncog]

^^ That's the one, more or less - the one I found didn't have an emergency light up top, as far as I can recall, but was otherwise quite similar... no Zylmex markings or evidence of any other branding on the base, so possibly a copy of a copy?

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

Went charity shop

Came back with a Kylo Ren, a radio-control Tow Mater and a Rey Skywalker.

Not the typical visit.  Apparently all the newly stocked 'toy cars' were bagged-up and sent to another one of their shops in another town.  That's 25 miles away...

I don't understand charity shop mentality

They’re crazy in those shops sometimes. The best ones are the type for something insane like the Donkey Sanctuary or whatever, where everything is piled up like a jumble sale. I think the gist of what happens is one day a Middle Aged middle class individual turns up armed with a Millers Guide and tries to turn it into an antiques shop.

Then a big internal civil war goes on between the volunteer and a manager that is there simply because their lack of interpersonal skills means they would be unemployable in any other sector. I get that the money supposedly goes to a good cause but the heart foundation near us sells furniture that mostly I would skip, I’m talking MFI Formica topped bedside cabinets in really tatty condition but about 80% of the price of a new clean item in Ikea. But because it’s charity it’s ok to rip people off....

[flat4alfa]

On Saturdays I pop by the big BHF shop.  By 10am all the new furniture is tagged SOLD

I'm sure 'dealers' or 'property renters' sweep the place at 9am.  In fact I know they do as I've spotted them buying in bulk with no care for anyone else in the store.  One time I was looking at a small cabinet stand perfect size for what I was after and while measuring up I was pretty much pushed out of the way and it was tagged SOLD

Must be back-handers aplenty

[Spottedlaurel]

I've never found much in any of the local 'big name' charity shops, but in town near us there's an excellent independent one that supports the air ambulance and a variety of small charities. As well as lots of books and postcards (the latter at 10p each) I've picked-up some decent diecasts there. Admittedly they've moved-on from when I got a Corgi Rockets Jensen out of the 20p toy box, but I've bought a few tidy 1970s/80s Matchbox/Corgi/Majorette from the £1 each, 3 for £2 display.

[bunglebus]

I've been itching to have a play with the Hot Wheels Mazda RX-3 ever since it came out. Found a spare

[flat4alfa]

In other news

Some more shonky HONG KONG plastics arrived the other day

In the shape of a 1950s/60s W198 Mercedes-Benz Roadster with a Hard Top ideal* for Tefal Heads

Very likely mid-1960s and has the ubiquitous friction flywheel motor.  Dunno, might be 1970s after all.

It has an OPENING THING that confirms the 300 SL six cylinder, rather than the 190 four

Complete with missing luggage rack, but that's about it, as it even has the headlights still fitted

The silver-chrome paint does not photograph very well, so here is its detailed under crackers instead

It's approx 1:32 in scale and the motor sounds like it's as dry as bone.  Unfortunately this one is all glued together so will worry about that later

Another fiver.  Why do I do it?  Just because...

[barrett]

This thing was lingering on ebay with no bids, looking a bit sorry for itself. If not I, who else would feel pity of an Obscure Italian Diecast(TM)? So I had a bid and now I own it, despite not really having any interest...

This is Politoys Penny no. 201D, Fiat 124. Interesting* for two reasons - I think it's the very last issue in the Penny series of 1/66 toys, which I suppose were the Italian version of Matchbox cars. Secondly, I think (though not 100% certain) this is the ONLY Penny which wasn't also modelled in larger scale by Politoys, for reasons unknown.

It's quite sweet really, and fairly well detailed given its size, but I don't really want to get in to collecting these things. I suppose when I've ticked off all the 1/43 Politoys that I want to find, it would be nice to have the 1/66 versions to go with them, but that's really going down a road towards a weird-old-man lifestyle I'm trying to avoid for the timebeing. I could definitely have bought something more useful/satisfying for the tenner it cost me but whatever. I blame this thread.

[UltraWomble]

https://www.norev.com/fr/exclu-web/10009-mercedes-benz-190-e-1984-vert-metallise-exclu-web-200-pcs-only.html?utm_source=Norev&utm_campaign=4cafd6da45-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_11_10_09_50&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_569238289f-4cafd6da45-507085830

Heads up die-cast pervs...

 

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, barrett said:

weird-old-man lifestyle

Still not collecting toy cars then?

[barrett]

25 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Still not collecting toy cars then?

absolutely not

[flat4alfa]

Need number 23.

[Datsuncog]

Speaking of arrivals, I've been busting to share this lot with you for a week now, but have been sidetracked rather by 1:1 cars...

A most unusual form of packaging, prompting quizzical looks from MrsDC...

And very comfortably packed within, too.

Behind the foam packing and bubble wrap we have...

Boom! This little lot, from the @Tenmil Socket collection.

Star of the show is, of course, the minty Ford Sierra 2.3 Ghia Pace Car, in Tesco Auto Club packaging:

Part of the attraction here is that I don't have anything in this packaging, which was an exclusive tie-in to Tesco - similar to the 1970s partnership between Corgi and Marks & Spencer.

Northern Ireland didn't get Tesco stores until the very late 1990s, so these are never-before seen to me.

£1.75 in 1985 equates to £5.42 these days, so it was an affordable enough toy, but not cheap cheap.

But the main draw was that I had one of these new in 1985, and thought it would be nice to have a box-fresh example to compare to my much-loved/abused original.

As I recall, my Sierra was bought from a toy shop while on holiday in Portrush in the summer of 1985, and immediately afterwards we called into a seafront cafe next door to get some lunch.

I'm not now sure exactly how it happened, but upon leaving its box in the cafe the Sierra immediately got sat on, shearing off the lightbar on the roof.

So I've never really had a complete one of these.

Black vs beige interior is one difference, of course.

Clearly, the lack of lightbar didn't stop it from going on many adventures, which were enough to see it lose its tailgate and part of the D-pillar, plus a fair bit of paint.

I'd thought that my original had come with white wheeltrims rather than silver-plated, but maybe I'm misremembering.

A peek at the base shows just how horribly discoloured the underside has become. Also, it seems that my original came with a towbar fitted.

Wow. Deliriously pleased with this one, it has to be said.

In the same large-scale Corgi range, there arrived an unexpected bonus Mk3 Escort van - custom, no less!

This pleased me nearly as much as the Sierra; it's an excellent rendering of the kind of mild custom van popular with the local Max Power crowd in the late '90s, with the big wheels and cannon exhaust.

The additional enhancements, such as adding glazing to the back doors and the paint detailing, are very nicely done.

I don't have an Escort van in the collection, so this not only looks great but also fills a gap. Excellent, thank you!

Moving into smaller scale stuff, here's another nostalgia blast:

Yup, a MB12 Matchbox Superfast Citroen CX estate.

I already have one of these in blue, but I dimly remembered having one in yellow when I was very small - and sure enough, the CX estate was produced in yellow for the 1982 catalogue year only, before the casting was converted into an ambulance.

I also thought that mine had some writing on the bonnet, and wondered if maybe this had somehow lost its decoration - but a quick browse online indicates that the all-yellow CX was the MB12 mainline model for everywhere outside the US, while a 'Team Matchbox' tampo-print version was made available as one of the Twin Pack sets, also for 1982 only.

I don't remember the motorbikes and trailer, but I guess that must have been mine, then.

I don't know what happened to my original, but nice to have another one!

I also recall being bought a Corgi Vauxhall Nova while out shopping when I was maybe four or five, and the thrill of opening it... it's still upstairs, but in a fairly well-used state. This is a much tidier version, with the same black panel on the rear hatch.

The other is slightly darker, and has a weird partial stripe up the side; it also has a glazed rear hatch, which the other one doesn't.

I think my original was badged as a Nova underneath, but these are both blank.

I also had a yellow one with a diecast base badged as an Opel Corsa, and of course I had a couple of the silver 'Visco-Static' versions given away by BP in the mid-80s.

They're a lovely proportioned little model, and I really do have a soft spot for them. The more the merrier.

Although, going from the sublime to the faintly ridiculous...

Heh, it's the smol Corgi Austin Mini Metro.

(Or 'miniMetro', to give it its original idiosyncratic name).

I'd assumed that this was a Datapost racing Metro that had been put back into civilian clothes with the aid of some Tipp-ex, but on leafing through my Bill Manzke book it appears that they came with a spray-masked blue bonnet and roof, so I'm not sure what this started off as?

The black surround and bumper detailing (possibly done with a permanent marker?) are very nicely executed.

Like its larger stablemate, these were produced by Mettoy under strict secrecy from BL, and both versions suffered slightly from some odd proportions, since no-one in the Corgi drawing office had access to a real-life car to check their model against.

It looks a little under-wheeled in general - and positively enormous next to the Nova.

It's a pity that Corgi didn't make it just a little smaller, which might have made the wheels seem a little more in proportion - but it's a bit late to gripe about it forty years later, hey?

All in all, this box has been a fantastic nostalgia burst from a long long time ago - all thanks for shipping these over, dude! Very very pleased with this haul.

[junkyarddog]

I've got the juniors version of that Sierra in the same livery.

[Jon]

Lovely stuff @Datsuncog. I had the Nova with the funny half stripes and glazed boot lid and remember living in Catterick at the time, which dates it to 1984/5. For some reason, I cut out the tiny corgi dog logo from the packet and blu-tacked it to my bedroom wall, as I didn't like the idea of the poor doggie being thrown away; I would've been 3 or 4 at the time!

I'm alsmost certain that the Tesco Corgi issue you have there isn't of the same vintage as your OG example. Rather than fading base, I wonder if your was just originally beige? Certainly, my much loved yellow Corgi 1/64 Sierra was yellow with brown bumpers.

Back to the Tesco rendition - those box graphics scream early 1990's to me. Certainly, I remember picking up a Porsche 924 in a Tesco, circa 1991/2 and then immediately finding one of these, e few spaces down the aisle:

However, I must've been acting up that day, as my Mum wouldn't advance me the 99p (!) price to buy it, nor exchange the 924 I'd already picked. Only ever saw them once, so either that Tesco had a timewarp long lost delivery of 1980's castings left ina Tesco depot somewhere, or for a very brief period Corgi touted their obsolete wares to Tesco, which perhaps they found lurking in their storage depot, somewhere?!

 

On the Metro front, I did wonder whether it may be a Kays catalogue issue? Please see attached tiny, tiny Ebay listing images, for reference:

However, I don't see any Juniors versions, so it's probably a no.

[Jon]

Actually, could it be one of these?

[Justwatching]

Various Ford Model A vans with period product advertisements on the sides. CBA taking individual shots. Matchbox, 1979. 

Boxed Atkinson model D steam truck from Matchbox 'Models of Yesteryear'. 

[andrew e]

Could it be one of these @Datsuncog ?

[bunglebus]

2 hours ago, Justwatching said:

Various Ford Model A vans with period product advertisements on the sides. CBA taking individual shots. Matchbox, 1979. 

Definite contender for most produced/most variations I reckon. Is there anything that hasn't been advertised on the side of one? Majorette didn't really get in on the act with their version very much

 

 

 

[Split_Pin]

12 hours ago, Jon said:

Actually, could it be one of these?

I had that and as was common back then, the tampos could easily be scratched off with your fingernail.

I still have mine but its now a van.

Thanks for the memories there too Tim, I had various Sierras as a kid, together with a plethora of Novas/Corsas and several Metros in both scales. 

The 1/36 Corgis are robust but all the ones I had when I was very young, under 4 years  old, fared terribly at my hands, especially the Sierra.  Thankfully they've all been replaced now. Weirdly, the smaller scale Corgis, despite having ostensibly similar levels of play wear, survived intact. The paint was really thin and chipped easily, the finish on Matchbox cars of the same era was much tougher. I remember taking my blue Juniors Metro to Tommy's barber shop in Clarkston in about 1983 and he said "I'll just pit your wee motor over there" as he placed it on the shelf under the mirror so as not to get it covered in hair. The things you remember.

[flat4alfa]