Where it all started

As a child I used to ride my pushbike to the local newsagent in Bundoora and blow my pocket money on comics, plastic models, view master reels and Matchbox Superfast cars (never Hot Wheels). I dont remember how much a Matchbox car cost, but I do remember paying 45 cents for a Sgt Rock comic. 

The newsagency had a separate room at the back which was just for toys and plastic models, and it was next to the Tattslotto counter. In the 1980's an arsonist set fire to the lotteries area, and then claimed he had a lotto ticket with all six numbers - and could the Tattslotto people please give him all the money. Forensic science disproved this, and the fellow ended up in Pentridge. Sadly, my local toy shop was gone! 

The business did survive though, and has moved about 50 metres to a newer building in the now named Bundoora Square Shopping Centre. The old shop is still there, it was renovated and subdivided. It is now a 'dollar shop' run by new Australians from the orient and is called the 'Yes Good Buy'. 

I also used to shop at Tim the Toyman at Northland. No photo of the store seems to exist online, but the photo above (from the State Library of Victoria online archives) has been taken from around the same part of the shopping centre in the late 1960's. It was my favourite toy shop and I last recall shopping there in the 1980's. When I was a very small boy, my Mum received a phone call from the police. I had managed to make my way from Bundoora to Northland, and could she come and collect me! Even as a toddler I was into road trips. 

Tim the Toyman may not exist as a storefront, but the business survives, as an importer and distributor of toys. 

These days I visit the local Toyworld in Fyshwick. They go to an effort to stock 1/43 and 1/18 diecast cars and I appreciate that. I also buy online, at swap meets and from supermarkets and places like Big W and Target. I also ALWAYS check out the dollar shops for obscure low end diecast. These stores have great names like 'Silly Willys' and 'Yes Good Buys'.  

And a shout out to Brad from Cobra Toys - who I have bought from several times always with great service. He is also a great source for SIKU. This post began as a response to a thread on the Matchbox Collectors Forum that Brad runs.

Collectors are not hoarders and they don't require intervention

Over the festivus break I visited my Mums place. She has Foxtel - hundreds of channels and several devoted to 'lifestyle'. One of the shows I watched was an English TV show that has this unique plot: 

• you are a collector (so must be a hoarder), 

• someone you know cares so much, they go to a TV producer instead of mental health professionals, 

• while you are out they clean out your house and then sell everything, 

• you are 'allowed' to keep three items. 

• you then get the 'chance' to keep more items if you can identify them after they show you 20 of them and then ask you to recall them. 

The episode I watched had a nerdy Irish guy in his late 30's. He lived on his own in a medium sized three bedroom home, with an attached garage. He collected the following: 

• Dr Who memorabilia, 

• comics, 

• Mini (the car) diecast cars and memorabilia, and one actual Mini Cooper, 

• Star Wars memorabilia. 

There were no doubt other themes in his collection of collections, but it was a one hour show, and with the endless recapping to address our limited attention spans, they only went with this subset. 

His home was neat, not overly cluttered, and not a 'hoarders house' with fossilised cats under piles of ten year old newspapers (There are other TV shows that specialise in this voyeurs delight). 

His sister, who didn't live with him, had contacted the TV producers. While her brother was at work they entered his home and cleaned it out. The burglars and his nutty sister did a tour around the home pre-burglary, and gasped at his nerdish obsessions. Tut tutting at a pointless original 1970's Kenner 'Millennium Falcon'. 

Mr Collector then arrives home - and is 'surprised' by his helpful sister and the TV crew. They then showed him around the newly burgled, sorry, emptied home. A smarmy orange tanned presenter made merry japes while this poor guy just looked at room after empty room, dropping his jaw and gasping for air. 

The collector was clearly stunned, possibly in shock. Acutely embarrassed. His sister kept saying things like 'I dont know why you want the wee car, you never drive it' and 'what does anyone need 3000 comics for'. She was an unfeeling, interfering busybody. The poor guy just agreed with everything this pair of idiots proposed. He was probably too embarrassed. His sister was relishing the whole event. 

The poor collector managed to keep a few of his most cherished items, but the rest were sold. Here is where it becomes even crueler. The whole premise of the show is that by clearing out this hoarders house and ridding him of his stuff, they will help him - with cash - after selling his collection. he had a 'dream' (according to his sister and the producers) to visit the magical United States of America. By selling his collection they would help him realise this dream. Except they didn't. 

These idiots carted his collections from Northern Ireland to some obscure middle-of-nowhere in England auction house and presented them to the public. The prices achieved were laughable. Why? Because they were auctioning collectibles to the general public who had no knowledge of or interest in the actual items, they were simply after bargain toys. Possibly to resell on Ebay. If the TV producers had any integrity they would have taken the items to a specialist auctioneer, like Vectis. 

The cruel irony - they raised barely 300 pounds. His collection gone, and not enough cash for a trip to the United States. He now goes home to an empty house - with only 300 pounds to show for a lifetime of collecting. His sister had a good time though - and hey she's been on the telly!  The TV presenter asked him if he had 'enjoyed the show'... he said 'yes, it needed to be done'. Im sure that was not his true belief, but hey the TV cameras are rolling. 

He should have called the police when he arrived back at his empty house, had these thieves arrested and a restraining order placed on his sister. I wonder how this man feels, now the dogs have barked and the TV caravan has moved on. 

Collectors are not hoarders, and they don't require intervention. Especially from TV producers. If you seriously believe someone has a debilitating hoarding illness, contact a mental health professional - not a TV show. 

The truth about diecast car collectors

I shamelessly stole this from the web and changed 'Toy Collector' to 'Diecast Car Collector'. I would love to know who created the original. If someone knows let me know and I will credit them.

Worlds smallest scale model car is resin

I once saw some model vehicles meant for the deck of a model aircraft carrier. They were tiny, but still identifiable as vehicles. My eyes probably aren't good enough to identify this model, without access to a microscope. 

Very tiny Indy Car model 

Photo from Wired 'Autopia' Blog

How small is this model ? It is 285 micrometers, or 1/100th of an inch. Smaller than a human hair or a grain of sand! It has been constructed by Austrian scientists using a very advanced form of 3D printing and uses resin as the agent to build the object with. They built this as a demonstration of the new technologies they are developing. 

Of course one has to ask why Austrian scientists in Vienna built a model of an Indy Car, when they could have chosen from any of the fine Austrian cars that have graced the autobahns of Europe. 

I'm not sure if they will be producing any other cars in this scale, or if this is a one off, but its an impressive demonstration of future scale model technology. 

If anyone can advise exactly what scale this is - I'd be grateful.

Canberra Downhill Diecast Dragracers - Round One

After constructing a Hot Wheels racing track - you need somewhere to race it. As a member of the Canberra Model Vehicle Collectors Club, I decided to take it along to the March meeting and set it up and have at it. Two other people had expressed interest - and I had two cars mailed to me by 'Model40fan' at the Redline Racing Forums. Four people is enough for a competition!

The track laid out and all components joined together.  If you look, you can actually see two little cars that have just exited the starting gate.

 There were a few kinks - such as this MAJOR one - and of course, I didn't have a stanley knife to trim it.

The towel is to catch cars that have exited the track after going through the finish line. You can see here where the vintage track meets the contemporary Hot Wheels track (the pieces on the blue painted plank).

Because of the kinks, including some sections where track joined, a few cars tumbled off the track - such as the Hot Wheels Volkswagen Type 181. It was a fast car - but the track needs some improvements.

Half Packid (US Import) vs Matchbox 'Tyre Fryer'

One solution on the night was to lower the track a little. I had the track elevated about a metre to start with, but too many cars came off the track, as gravity, a bumpy track etc caused them to exit the tracks... so we lowered the starting gate to chair seat level. This helped considerably. 

After watching us race, Sam decided to get involved - he had bought along some cars to swap/sell - and came over with this Matchbox Viper. It was pretty quick.

 Viper vs Half Packid (US import)

 Hot Wheels Corvette vs Majorette Morgan

 McDonalds Hot Wheels 32 Roadster vs Matchbox Dodge Monaco

 Hot Wheels Studebaker Avanti vs Matchbox Holden Ute

 Hot Wheels Corvette vs 'Blue Spruce' (US import)

Blue Spruce vs Matchbox Holden Ute

 McDonalds Hot Wheels Go Kart vs Hot Wheels Studebaker Avanti. 

This is the original configuration of the track, with the starting gate raised just over a metre. The starting angle also seems too steep. The other problem is that although there is one button to start races, some cars seem to 'hang' at the gate and not race away. Advice is sought. 

 Matchbox Holden Ute vs Matchbox Ferrari Testarossa. Cars are 'staging' off to the right. 

Lowering the starting gate and the angle of the track, was a partial solution to the problem with cars tumbling off the track. It still didn't stop some cars flying off when they encountered that large bump in the track. 

This is where the two main parts of the track - two 1.8 metre planks - are joined by a hinge, and the four lengths of plastic track join. If I'd had a Stanley knife I could have fixed this kink, but alas I didn't... The wooden guides are not decorative - there are holes drilled through them, into the plank at the front and pins hold the plank on the right in place. You can see some construction photos here.

Racing results (winners Bolded)

Half Packid (US Import) vs Matchbox 'Tyre Fryer'

Matchbox Viper vs Half Packid (US import)

Hot Wheels Corvette vs Majorette Morgan

Hot Wheels Corvette vs Matchbox Holden Ute

Hot Wheels Volkswagen Type 181 vs Matchbox Holden Ute

McDonalds Hot Wheels 32 Roadster vs Matchbox Dodge Monaco (both DNF)

Hot Wheels Studebaker Avanti vs Matchbox Holden Ute

Hot Wheels Corvette vs 'Blue Spruce' (US import)

Blue Spruce vs Matchbox Holden Ute

McDonalds Hot Wheels Go Kart vs Hot Wheels Studebaker Avanti (both DNF)

Matchbox Holden Ute vs Matchbox Ferrari Testarossa

Blue Spruce vs Half Packid

Matchbox Ferrari Testarossa vs Blue Spruce 

And the winner: 

Congrats to Model40fan and the visiting 3 inch sized American contingent!

(the car has a very cool resealable blister and its own printed card!)

Conclusions

1. I need to fine tune the track - remove the kinks, straighten the left hand track in one place.
2. The starting gate needs work
3. I need to experiment with a height to start the cars from
4. Narrow cars do not race well (Avanti, Monaco)
5. Cars with weight at the back do race well

Between now and the next race (probably the April meeting of the Canberra Model Vehicle Collectors Club ) I will work on improving the track. If anyone has advice - please post it in the comments section. 

Oh - Big thanks to Sue who raced around collecting cars that tumbled off the track and also returned cars back to the starting gate... even after her Corvette exited the comp! It was also her idea to lower the starting gate height!

And if you want to race - let me know! 

Diecast downhill drag racing track construction

In a previous post I asked if anyone was interested in racing Hot Wheels or other three inch diecast cars in Canberra. The response was underwhelming - but I forged ahead nevertheless! To begin racing you need a track. I thought about my options and experimented with new and old hot wheels and superfast track, and decided to build a dedicated track. 

I started by buying a 20 foot roll of vintage Redline era Hot Wheels track from ebay. I also used a vintage Hot Wheels starting gate and a contemporary Hot Wheels finishing gate. I then went down to the hardware store and bought four pieces of 10cm x 1.8 meter pine. 

You have to start somewhere, so i mocked up the best way to mount the starting gate - while also making it removable. I carved up a piece from a Hot Wheels criss cross crash set and screwed it down near the end of a 1.8 meter length of pine. 

 It slides neatly onto the connector sized tongue. 

I used standard Hot Wheels track connectors - which still fit the vintage redline track - and screwed them into the pine using countersunk head wood screws. I placed them at various places along the pine planks, and then slid the track onto the connectors. This holds the track in place pretty well.

A door hinge connects two 1.8 metre lengths of pine. The connectors allow the track on each plank to join. 

This starting gate is from a contemporary Hot Wheels racing set, which i picked up at a garage sale. I had to lever it off the ends of the flimsy track it rolls out from. Then carve away on the interior so that two pieces of track would fit and allow cars to go through it. Its not perfect, but importantly - it indicates who actually won. The first car through triggers a tiny chequered flag. 

I painted a length of pine blue and screwed down some connectors and track. The actual gate itself comes off for travel. 

The starting gate. Underneath is another hinged piece of pine which goes to a stand. This didn't work too well so its also resting on the top of a chair back. Needs a bit of fine tuning...

Ready for travel. Two 1.8 metre planks, with track, hinges and starting gate. There is also a third 1.8 metre length which connects and a separate piece with the finish line.  All up its just short of 20 feet. 

Here it is fully extended with everything slotted together. I need to work on the supports and the track is a little wonky.

Licence to collect Matchbox (in the 70's...)

Excuse me Sir you seem  be carrying an unusually large number of transitional and Superfasts - can I see your licence please?

Very good, carry on...

Hot Wheels racing in Canberra ?

photo from this post on the Austin Diecast Drags

Is anyone in Canberra interested in racing their Hot Wheels cars ? 


See this site Redline Derby Racing for info and ideas on racing tiny cars down a plastic track at low to moderate speeds. 


I would like to form a Canberra based league - meeting semi-regularly, to race Hot Wheels and other small diecast cars down plastic tracks. 


I'm thinking several different classes:

• standard and modified Hot Wheels cars
• Matchbox cars
• vintage Superfast/Majorette/Corgi 

Cars would be raced Round Robin style. I might even throw in some prizes for winners. This would be a good way to get kids involved in diecast collecting as well as having fun. 




Email me or leave a comment here with contact details and I will organise a competition.

Canberra model vehicle Collectors Club - Nov meeting - Diorama Night

Tonight was the November meeting of the Canberra Model Vehicle Collectors Club, and it was an excellent turnout with over a dozen members - plus two new model collectors who came along (and may join). Held as usual, upstairs at the Eastlake Football Club in Kingston. 

 Its amazing how much time you can spend talking about Dinky restorations

 I took along the latest Revolution Models resin cars - they were the topic of much discussion. these are a series of Commodores - Clubsports, SV99 etc. 

 Dinky restorations

 Screwed baseplate of a repainted Dinky Morris Oxford

 Much neater restoration, with replica rivets used

 The quality of repaints/restos was another very popular discussion theme. 

This months 'theme' was officially 'Dioramas'. Nice use of plastic railway buildings here. The buildings had LED lighting in them, and the Hotel sign had alternate flashing letters. 

 I like this Chrysler a lot. Tomica?

 Star Wars diorama

 and of course - the Capital Diecast Garage wrecking yard...

Online forum now available

I post quite often to several online discussion forums that are diecast related. I have decided to set one up, linked to this blog.

The focus will be on Australian diecast and resin model car discussion, and of course small scale diecast from Hot Wheels, Matchbox and other brands.

Visitors will be able to read, but to post you must be registered.

Please visit the CapitalDiecastGarage online forum!

A boy and his toy cars on a sunny spring Canberra day

Canberra is a beautiful city, and spring is one of the best times to experience it. While walking through Garema Place in Civic last week, I saw a young boy playing on one of the numerous pieces of public art, on a beautiful sunny spring day. He had his Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars out, and was intently focussing on their movements. 

His mother was sitting close by so I asked if I could photograph her son. His name is Manu. 

 In his imagination they are going somewhere, all his cars are facing left.

 I think they have all reached their destination...

Being a diecast collector I did have a look over his cars. All three inch, largely Hot Wheels and Maisto, with one or two Matchbox. There were none I needed for my collection. His mum was fine with me taking his photo, I don't know how she would have taken to me negotiating a swap for a required car! Even though they are being played with, they didn't look too playworn. Manu seems to care for his cars. 

I guess its easy as an adult diecast collector to forget that once I was like this little boy playing with his toys and creating a whole world in his imagination.

Detail Magazine - Brand new diecast magazine

Over the last few months a group of diecast tragics have managed to produce a brand new magazine called 'Detail' catering to hardcore diecast collectors. I am proud to say that I have contributed three reviews to the initial issue. 

Largely the work of Matt Hansen, it is an excellent read and pulls no punches. If a model has flaws they are reported on honestly. There are no puff piece articles in this magazine. 

I contributed three articles - reviews on the 1/43 Trax EH Sedan, the 1/43 Trax FB 'Golden Fleece' utility and the Models 56 'Captain Nitrous' drag car FJ. I'm amazed at what the production team have managed to do with my ordinary photography. Unlike a blog, I've been able to write expansively on each car - up to 2000 words in one instance. 

Download it, read it and let us know what you like or dislike about it. 

The magazine is called 'Detail' and can be downloaded from here. 

Inactivity and good news

Hello to all the diecast fans that view my blog, and apologies for the lack of activity recently. I will be posting a series of articles over the next week or two, which I hope makes up for the lack of quantity over the last month or so.

Why the inactivity ? Its pretty simple - I mislaid my camera! I found it again about a month ago, and have just taken some more photos of diecast.

The good news

I have been writing some articles which will be in a new online based diecast magazine. The first issue is scheduled for the end of June and I will post details on this blog when it is available.

Granville Diecast Swapmeet February 2011

 Setting up

Steve Maher is a comrade of mine from the Leyland P76 movement and knowing that I am a diecast tragic, has long recommended that I make the journey from Canberra to Granville for the regular diecast swapmeet that the Sydney Model Auto Club run. So yesterday I decided to drive up today and have a look. The drive up from Canberra was actually quite pleasant for Sydney traffic, and took less time than anticipated. The swapmeet venue is at a Catholic school in Granville, using their hall as the main trading area with tables arrayed quite densely, and tables also available outside the main hall. 

As I arrived early, I started spending money even before I went inside! Some of the vendors on the tables outside had cars I was looking for, and also cars I already have. I resisted, mostly... I wandered around the tables setup outside for a good 20 minutes before walking in - where an efficient but friendly gatekeeper arrested my passage and tapped his watch indicating I had a good 15 minutes to wait. This was OK, and I chatted to fellow diecast tragics also waiting. 

I was genuinely surprised at the great range of cars arrayed. Everything from tinplate to the latest 1:18 Supercars. There were quite a few professional traders and also a lot of people with a small table selling spares or a few bits. I was really pleased to see that one vendor had a few boxes of spare dinky, corgi and matchbox tyres. Now I know - I can take a few samples and fit out some of my cars that are up on tiny diecast blocks. 

Main area

Once inside it took me a good 90 minutes to make my way from the main entrance right around. You would be amazed how many tables and people you can pack into a school hall. I also went back to a few vendors a second time to pickup and scratch my chin and think about some cars I passed on earlier. The doors open at 6.45 PM, but all of the vendors arrive earlier, and I am in no doubt that collector/vendors probably swap or snap up a few choice cars before 6.45! 

It was interesting to note that the Hot Wheels XB GT Falcons are readily available at the Granville swapmeet with prices ranging from $4 to $25. The market in Yellow XB's appears to have been satisfied, red XB's are still scarce but a few vendors had them. Saw a few Matchbox VE utes as well. In general - if you want Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars - go to Granville. New in blister pack Hot Wheels - a buck. Mint loose - from 50 cents. Many holes in my collection were filled.  I doubt I will ever use Ebay to buy Hot Wheels ever again, if I cant find it at Granville i'd be surprised. 

I didn't spend a great deal of money, but I did manage to pick up a few cars I had been after for some time, and also a few that I thought were bargains. There were cars I passed on due to the vendors price, but overall I would say that prices were reasonable with haggling welcome. As I have already mentioned the range of diecast on offer was extensive. There was also some odd items - such as a timplate Zeppelin about 5 feet long.  

It was a really good educational experience as well, with lots of tiny cars that I was interested in and was able to pick up, have a close look, ask a vendor a question. They all knew their stuff. They would also ask what I was interested in. Surprisingly I managed to find some Fun Ho! and some Streamlux.  As I am interested in 'pre-going broke and remade in the 80s/90's Fun Ho!' I found but passed on some others. 

As I am also interested in getting a Canberra Swapmeet running, I spoke to a few vendors about that as well, they seemed quite keen - which is a good sign. One in particular spent quite some time explaining how he operates, what he likes, what he doesn't like etc. Every question I asked him he answered with a carefully considered view or opinion, based on years of experience. Exactly the info I need. 

See those plastic boxes in the lower right corner... full of spare dinky/corgi/matchbox tyres!

There were also a few vendors from Canberra that I introduced myself to. Every one of them told me that Canberra used to have a swapmeet. I did forget to talk to a few vendors about it, usually they were in the middle of a transaction and I didn't want to interrupt them, or I got lost in a moment with a car trying to figure out if I had it already etc. If they read this I apologise to them for forgetting, it wasn't personal and I will try and speak to them about it next time. Or they can email me... capdiecast at gmail dot com

The only odd moment of the night for me was quite surreal. 

I bought some cars off a vendor, he had older pre 1970ish diecast and good stuff too. We haggled and he knocked five bucks off two cars. A good deal I felt, not cheap but reasonably priced.  I was chatting to him about my proposed Canberra swapmeet, he seemed interested - then I gave him my card and he looked at it, the cogs started whirring, and he remembered me - I had given him a neutral rating on an ebay transaction a few years ago and he was still furious! To say he went OFF would be an understatement. He gave me back my card, said I could insert it somewhere, he didn't want to talk to me, I wrote crap about Leylands etc. He was very emotional. I was quite taken aback. It all sort of poured out... I tried to reason with him, but it didn't help. Let me put this in perspective - I'm a qualified mediator - and I still couldn't even begin to reach a point where we could discuss the matter. Glad I didn't give him negative feedback!

Wow - I would have given neutral or negative feedback a handful of times. Seriously - very very few times. The incident he recalled quite clearly related to two Trax cars I bought from him - he did not mention in the ad that they had no boxes. They arrived. I was pissed off. I gave him a neutral feedback. 

He still felt very raw about it, so I apologised to him. He refused to accept my apology, saying he had to live with that damaged reputation for a year on his feedback profile. As I said - he was quite emotional, it had really affected him. Then he walked off on me and went to talk to someone else. 

When I got home I had a look through the emails relating to the transaction,  and I must admit he has a point. I perhaps should have emailed him after I received the cars and discussed it with him. I can understand why he was and still is pissed off. I was fairly new to ebay at the time, so I probably acted far too hastily. I guess I have to be honest here and recall the key thing I have learnt on how to deal with people that I have found to be truly effective - treat people how you would like to be treated. In this instance, I didn't. I was in the wrong. What can I do? I have already apologised to him in person, in private, but perhaps it should be public - like Ebay feedback.

I publicly apologise to Bob Williamson for affecting his Ebay feedback score. I should have discussed the matter with him before posting the feedback that I did. I was wrong to act so hastily before discussing the transaction with him.

Apart from that, the rest of the evening was tremendous. I had a long yarn to Steve about Leyland matters (all car clubs have politics and gossip), but was slightly disappointed he didn't have the prototype of the 1:43 resin Leyland P76 London-Sydney 1973 Rally car with him.   

The Sydney Model Auto Club organise and run the Swapmeet very efficiently. It had a good mix of professional stall holders and people selling off spares, with a great atmosphere. Everyone was knowledgeable and friendly, and really interested in what you collected when you talked to them. Its definitely worth the trip from Canberra. I wont bore you all with a detailed report on my trip back to Canberra in the XF V8 Panelvan in the rain with a wiper intermittently failing to wipe... but I did get back home in time to catch the Abu Dhabi V8 Supercar race  on TV.

See also: Canberra Diecast Swapmeet 2011?