Innehållsförteckning för December 2023 från Diecast Collector

WIKING Allgaier Tractor SCALE: 1/87 PRICE: £16.25 REF: 087848 Wiking has reissued its Allgaier tractor moulded in orange plastic. The tractor has good detailing and a drawbar for attaching a trailer. www.wiking.de UNIVERSAL HOBBIES Massey Ferguson TH.8043 Telehandler SCALE: 1/32 PRICE: £94.92 REF: X993042206342 Well engineered and detailed model with steerable wheels, working boom and opening cab door. The cab interior is also accurately laid out. shop.masseyferguson.com/en BRITAINS ATV Quad and Sheep Trailer Set SCALE: 1/32 PRICE: £21.99 REF: 43358 Largely metal, the green ATV has a steerable axle, silver engine, black plastic racks and handlebars. The trailer has an opening tailgate. www.britainsfarmtoys.co.uk SIKU John Deere 8R 280 Tractor SCALE: 1/32 PRICE: around £35.00 LIMIT: 2000 models For this special edition show tractor has provided a driver and great detailing.…

Something very different for this December issue: all five models under the Spotlight this month have a lot in common. They share a commonality through the Californian S Klub LA high-end customising scene. They may unsettle purists and yet they are stunning! Before jumping to conclusions about whether or not they really are credible and whether or not they are sacrilegious, read on… As with all GT Spirit’s 1/18 and 1/12 sealed resin models the five are inspired by real cars from the amazing Californian radical resto-mod scene in which S Klub LA are leading creators. Basically, at its purest, jaw-dropping level, it takes the combination of customising and restoration to an almost extreme level of creative perfectionism. The scene is driven by the passion, vision and dedication of people…

The photograph aboves gives us a good introduction to the vast array of Morris vehicles coming out of the Binns Road, Meccano factory. In the background a train carrying gunpowder to the Army base can be seen nearing the end of its journey. On the Army base a number of young recruits are shown whilst being instructed on the important parts of three field guns. Behind the post box is a Dinky Morris-Commercial 6-wheeled CDSW vehicle, the Dinky version is a Reconnaissance Car, behind the telephone box are two Dinky Morris Quad Field Artillery Tractors. On the road, from left to right can be seen a Dinky Morris Cowley Saloon. The others are six Morris-Commercial vehicles: the Marusan Morris JVan, the Dinky Morris “Royal Mail” Van, the Dinky T2 “Royal…

Way back in the September 2003 issue of Diecast Collector we looked at a range of Garfield models produced by Ertl of the USA in the 1980s. As it turned out, a similar, but less well-known, range of products was produced by ESCI of Italy under its CB Toys brand. ESCI The Italian company ESCI (pronounced ‘Eshy’) has a very interesting history. It was founded in Milan in 1930 as Ente Scambi Coloniali Internazionali (International Colonial Exchange Organization) for the purpose of trading with Italy’s colonies in North Africa – Libya, Somalia and Eritrea. After the war the company restructured, and began importing plastic construction kits from Japan, which proved extremely popular. In the 1970s, ESCI began producing sets of water-slide decals that allowed modellers to complete their aircraft kits…

The Britains Lilliput Centurion tank has been described as 'tiny' in the past. Given that it is 1/76 scale, and 115mm long, it seems like a monster compared to thisWorldWar II Cruiser tank from another British firm, Crescent. At just 54mm long, including the rather over-sized gun barrels, it was part of a small series of military models from the early post-war years. There does not seem to be a lot of information around on this model; Ramsay’s British Diecast Catalogue simply includes it in a post-1949 listing, without giving an exact release date. It is certainly an obscure subject, but well worth a closer look. THE REAL THING The British Cruiser tank of World War II was similar to the Medium tanks used by other countries. It was fast,…

The earliest 1950s ambulance that I have chosen to feature is the Daimler, No.30h. It is amongst my favourite models and was released by Dinky Toys in 1950 and available until 1954. This vehicle is a basic model with a tinplate base and no windows or interior. It appeared in cream with red crosses and was re-numbered as model 253 in 1954. The same casting was also released as a military version and appeared as No.30hm (1950-54). This model retains that sturdy, dependable look of its civilian counterpart. The more traditional British design is also evident in the shape and appearance of the Matchbox model of the Bedford Lomas Ambulance No.14c. This very special little ambulance was released in 1962, and is a toy that many of us will not…

No. 41 Number 41 during the Lesney-era Superfast range comprises a couple of cars, all with a rather sporty nature, and an American-style emergency response vehicle. FORD GT Production: 1969-72 Catalogue: 1969 (2nd)-72 Box Styles: F, G The mighty Le Mans-conquering GT40, or rather one of its early sixties development models with its more pointy nose profile, had proved to be an very popular regular wheels release and, given the sporty nature of the speedster, was an obvious choice for early Superfast enhancement. Simply carrying on with the fairly realistic white body colour with red interior and subtle but exciting race-numbered nose striping, it simply sped off into the sales ledger. For its final year it appeared sporting a new metallic red paint job and new wider wheels. SIVA SPYDER…

I have always had a tendency to misunderstand things. If a statement is even slightly ambiguous, I will always opt for the least likely interpretation. Sometimes this is purely down to reading something literally; a sign with no punctuation for instance, like Dead Slow Children. Then there was the poster outside a church nearWimbledon dog track which I misread because I put the emphasis in the wrong place. It read ‘Jesus Christ. The same Yesterday, the same Today and the same Tomorrow’. Perfectly straightforward, unless you put an exclamation mark of Jesus Christ. This transforms the whole message into a complaint about the tedium of life, which is how I read it. For perfectly sound reasons, I have always believed the Bugatti to be a French car. The Yesteryear Type…

GET READY TO RACE WITH MINIATURES THAT ‘POP’ JUST arrived in the UK, available wholesale through Clevelands Diecast (www.clevelandsdiecast.co.uk), is a new brand adding to the fast-growing 1/64 scale. Pop Race is aimed at the premium end of the market, but is competitively priced with models starting from just £15.95 RRP. You can unleash your fascination with automotive finesse as Pop Race’s models feature intricate details, so prepare to be captivated by the meticulous craftsmanship that brings these miniature vehicles to life. Each model car in the collection represents a pinnacle of craftsmanship, capturing the essence of iconic automobiles from various eras, and is carefully replicated with precision and attention to detail. The Pop Race range already boasts authentic designs, including accurate body proportions, finely crafted interiors, and realistic wheels. CORGI…

Matchbox models steadily increased in size throughout the 1950s. This left the original releases looking rather small, so Lesney replaced many of their early models with larger versions of the same subject, but kept the original catalogue numbers. As the different versions of each model are often very similar, telling them apart can be a problem. This is usually easy enough if you have both versions in front of you, and can compare them, but a lot harder if you find just one on a table at a toy fair or swapmeet. After looking at a lot of photographs, I compiled a 'quick reference' list of the major differences, which I could carry with me in a notebook. This has proven very useful, and it has allowed me to expand…

Looks familiar, doesn’t it? This green and blue Guy flat truck is practically identical to the well-known Dinky Toy – except that it’s made of plastic and is driven by a friction motor. A Guy lorry had been available in the Dinky range since 1947 but, in 1958, Dinky replaced it with the more up-to-date Guy Warrior, which was produced until 1964 with either a flat or high-sided rear platform. The same chassis also served as the basis for a Snow Plough and, briefly, the very scarce red and yellow van in ‘Heinz’ livery. The practice of making plastic copies of British diecast models was a common one in Hong Kong during the 1950s and 1960s, but this example is fairly unusual as most tended to be scaled up in…

While there are numerous toys and models based on American newspaper comic strips such as Peanuts and Garfield, those from strips in other markets are much less common. Many other comic strip characters, despite being very long-running franchises, very rarely feature in any form of merchandising other than paperback book collections. While a number of UK comic books and newspaper strips have had spin-off merchandise and TV shows, this is rarely the case in smaller markets. Australia has produced a number of great comic strips over the years, including such favourites as Ginger Meggs, Fatty Finn, Bluey & Curley, and Air Hawk. Many of these strips were sold internationally, and some were adapted into TV shows and feature films, although there was next to nothing in terms of merchandise, other…

1970 PART 1 As Corgi Toys began to recover from the devastating fire and all the losses incurred as a result, 1970 saw the beginning of a new dawn – and it’s one that many earlier collectors see as a point at which they stop their collections with the adoption of the unrealistic Whizzwheels and the removal of some opening features brought in to compete with rivals and save costs. Personally, this is the era when my collection back in the day really began to swell, so I don’t really have a problem with these aspects, although I am obviously a big fan of the earlier models too. The new Whizzwheels ran on thinner axles and were fully-moulded plastic, with foil stamped hubs, replacing the short-lived ‘Red Dot’ versions –…

When I owned my first cars most other cars on the road were standard produced vehicles. Occasionally you saw a car that had some extra added detail or colour. These cars from the makers were to encourage you to exchange yours for this better model. There could be extra chrome work, a two-tone colour scheme, wing fins or flared wheel-arches as examples. The toy makers also adapted some of their basic models with added features and Dinky Toys thus provided new models for you to collect. The Dinky Toys Land Rover number 344 was one such model. In October 1979 they announced the Customised Land Rover (No.202) based on the earlier model’s casting. In the Dinky Toys News in the Meccano Magazine of October 1979 it says ‘The toys themselves…

CALL IN THE PROFESSIONALS WITH THE LATEST CORGI PREMIUMS CAPRI The popular TV show, The Professionals, has led to several releases by Corgi over the decades since the show first aired on British television. Produced for London Weekend Television (LWT), The Professionals aired on the ITV network from 1977 to 1983. Spanning five series, a total of 57 episodes were made, filmed between 1977 and 1981. Focusing on a fictitious law enforcement department known as CI5 (a cross between the rea-life MI5 and CID), the storyline was that it was to use any means deemed appropriate to deal with crimes of a serious nature that fell outside of the remit of the police, but were also not suitable for the security services or the armed forces. In the February 2023…

The Rallye Monte-Carlo, the official event title given to it by the organisers, the Automobile Club de Monaco, was first held in 1911. In the beginning, it was more of a social meeting than anything else. But, there was a final classification table, and it was headed by Henri Rougier, driving a Turcat-Mery. The rally soon transformed from a social gathering to a professional sports event and, along the way, it became a very famous and popular occasion. It is the best-known leg of the World Rally Championship series and, for many drivers, it is possibly the most difficult of them all. During the early years, just making it to the finish was a feat in itself. Even today, it can still can surprise many an experienced driver. Lancia’s mighty…

In this two-part series focusing on the smaller commercials made by Corgi Toys, the aim is to feature some of the significant vehicles of the 1950s and 1960s. Naturally, we can’t consider all commercial vehicles but by concentrating on the smaller toys – about the same length of an average Corgi car – we can at least cover the changes and developments that took place in a decade or so. Corgi released the first small commercials in its initial year of production,1956. This early group was all manufactured in a 1/44 scale and is shown displayed together in The Great Book of Corgi (p35). They were released in the familiar blue boxes and were essentially basic models with windows, tinplate bases and well-finished paint schemes. The ‘M’ after the model…

Nobody saw that coming. At least, nobody from outside Fiat group. The Lancia Stratos HF dominated the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 1976; there was no other car that could fight it on most surfaces, whether that be tarmac, snow or gravel. The team got to the end of the season with another title in its pocket and a total of 112 points, against second placed Opel that only harvested 57 points. Fiat, with its ageing 124 Abarth, only managed a lowly seventh place overall and 32 points, in the final championship standings. At this point Lancia had won back-to-back manufacturers titles in 1974, 1975 and 1976. However, top floor management at Turin decided it would be better for the business to have a rally car that looked like something…

The release by Auto Cult of their modern rendition of the unique Royal Air Mail Service Van doubtless touched quite a number of nerve endings, nice nerve endings that is. These days the vehicle is probably as famous as anything for having been very neatly modelled by Dinky in their earliest years. In 1929 Imperial Airways began a scheduled service to India. In London in June 1930 there appeared the first eleven special air mail letter boxes. These offered a later collection time with their distinctive blue livery acting as a constant reminder of the growing service. There were eventually 139 in London and 174 elsewhere. They were usually serviced by blue vans, otherwise standard Post Office issue and almost invariably of Morris manufacture. Things were ramping-up quickly and by…

As a long standing supporter and member of the RNLI, I was tempted to include one of the 6 RNLI models in my collection – especially the lifeboat. Irony is never lost on me!! I never dreamt that choosing just 5 models would be quite such a challenge, so I decided to consider why I had bought different models in the first place, and that narrowed the choice. I was born and raised in North London, and although I have moved to Staffordshire via Wiltshire and Warwickshire, the Londoner has never quite left me, despite leaving in 1973. The London connection is clear to see in my choice. MATCHBOX NO.5 ROUTEMASTER BUS Last time I counted them, I had over 170 models of London buses in my collection that goes…

This issue covers four more manufacturers from the second letter of the alphabet; clearly, having a company name near the start of the lexicon paid dividends… BIZARRE CHOICES Yes, I know. Bizarre shouldn’t really figure in this survey, since its output is resin-based. The same goes for its parent, that of Spark. But… but, if like me, you are keen to seek out the weird and the wonderful, then the above brands will satisfy that particular craving. Both 1/18 and 1/43 scales are catered for and, needless, to say, quality is the company’s long suit. With Spark, the range is truly huge and mostly focussed on track and competition cars, both contemporary and classic. GOING DUTCH But let’s get back to the diecast scene. Across the English Channel lies Holland.…