Old diecast toys - Dinky etc.
Discussion
I wonder if anyone out there collects/restores/modifies old diecast toys? I started collecting in my teens when most kids were giving up on such nonsense. Even then, when the hobby was just starting, I couldn't afford some of the prices so made do with repainting and repairing. A club started locally and I was able to make some pocket money from resurrecting models. I did a nice line in Dinky XK120 Jaguar coupes with the roof removed to make dropheads or roadsters. At university some years later I built some early white metal kits for local enthusiasts, again some useful cash. Over the last few years I've sort of taken up the hobby again, focussing mainly on Dinky toys of the 1950s. The advent of the internet has been great for information and sourcing parts, so that pretty much anything can be restored. And I'm still not forking out silly prices - I like to restore them and reflect that they were toys when all's said and done.
I also have a lot of Meccano from various eras, so models made with this are strangely battered and coloured - still great fun and lots of exercise in ingenuity!
I also have a lot of Meccano from various eras, so models made with this are strangely battered and coloured - still great fun and lots of exercise in ingenuity!
I've been delighted to read the responses to my original post. I have a few Spot On cars - they were always a bit more expensive as I recall, especially their range of commercials, and still seem to command a premium among collectors. I agree with the comments about scale, and it's entertaining to see a Spot On Meadows "Friskysport" lined up beside the giant Rolls Royce! Part of the appeal of Spot On was of course their sometimes weird choice of models - who in their sane senses ever bought a "Friskysport" anyway?
With my own collection, I now have nine of Crescent's range of ten 50's racing cars - these really are excellent models, as good as if not better than the contemporary Dinky range and including such wonders as a Connaught and a V16 BRM. The missing one is a Vanwall, which is both rare and expensive.
I recently bought a small job lot, mainly to get another Dinky GMC cabover from 1954. This was a big model with a trailer made largely from plastic, which often ends up broken or lost (probably both). Now I need to decide what to do - my wife puts up patiently with all this junk, and she suggests a circus lorry of some sort, complete with plastic tigers!
With my own collection, I now have nine of Crescent's range of ten 50's racing cars - these really are excellent models, as good as if not better than the contemporary Dinky range and including such wonders as a Connaught and a V16 BRM. The missing one is a Vanwall, which is both rare and expensive.
I recently bought a small job lot, mainly to get another Dinky GMC cabover from 1954. This was a big model with a trailer made largely from plastic, which often ends up broken or lost (probably both). Now I need to decide what to do - my wife puts up patiently with all this junk, and she suggests a circus lorry of some sort, complete with plastic tigers!
Really been enjoying the articles and the pictures here. The strip down of the fire chief's car has thrown up a couple of points : once all the paint is off, you can see any casting defects and clean them off with Swiss files and so on (remember that these were mass produced toys) and now you can do the same with minor damage caused by childhood crashes, for example on bumper edges and around headlights.
I agree with the comments about replacement rivets - I have come across some "mint" toys which aren't - I always just used epoxy glue. I'm also not sure about striving for perfect paint. Yes, I use a primer and so on, and you can end up with a brilliant finish. Then I look sadly at some of the (genuine) mint models and see how the paint is a bit thin here and there and occasionally has run a bit on edges, so a bit like some restored cars they end up better than new. Mind you, with some old cars this is just as well and not difficult to achieve.
I'm currently making a Bedford breakdown crane out of a Commer crane and a Bedford truck. If anyone out there is familiar with these models, they will know what I mean - the bits are interchangeable and the early Commers had the same slots for a tipper mechanism as the Bedford, so I've always imagined that the intention was there from the start.
I'm also in a slight quandary about another notion - I have a very decrepit Commer fire engine and a ditto Bedford "S" type tractor unit by Corgi. It looks as if I could make something very like a "Green Goddess" with some surgery, Any thoughts?
I agree with the comments about replacement rivets - I have come across some "mint" toys which aren't - I always just used epoxy glue. I'm also not sure about striving for perfect paint. Yes, I use a primer and so on, and you can end up with a brilliant finish. Then I look sadly at some of the (genuine) mint models and see how the paint is a bit thin here and there and occasionally has run a bit on edges, so a bit like some restored cars they end up better than new. Mind you, with some old cars this is just as well and not difficult to achieve.
I'm currently making a Bedford breakdown crane out of a Commer crane and a Bedford truck. If anyone out there is familiar with these models, they will know what I mean - the bits are interchangeable and the early Commers had the same slots for a tipper mechanism as the Bedford, so I've always imagined that the intention was there from the start.
I'm also in a slight quandary about another notion - I have a very decrepit Commer fire engine and a ditto Bedford "S" type tractor unit by Corgi. It looks as if I could make something very like a "Green Goddess" with some surgery, Any thoughts?
Thanks,52 Classic! Getting slightly off the subject of toy cars, but I agree with the comments re. comfort and so on. I ran a Rover P4 110 for some years - it came with a Weslake head as standard. I loved driving it, but my wife never took to it. Back to toy cars, my hybrid fire engine looks as if it will turn out all right - I found a photo on the net of exactly what I had in mind and have now joined the Bedford to the Commer.
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