[shankar.balan]

A few more little 1:64’s which arrived just a moment ago..
I sadly missed the Red Ferrari 250 GTO but snaffled the Blue one. And then a nice 275 in Argento. Both grabbed off the ScaleArts sale and of a Chinese manufacture. Though they do look a lot like the Takara Tomy Tomica Toys. The of course I had to grab an additional little Kyosho Lambo Maura in White so that I can keep one in its box and take one out to display and play with occasionally.
I don’t care how old I get. I still love little scale model cars and will always play with them no matter what anyone may think.

[shankar.balan]

More little chaps arrived today.
All in 1:64 size.
A gorgeous Porsche JPS from the 1980’s
A little Wrangler- twin to the one I already have- one for the box and one to play with.
A lovely little Bentley Continental.

[shankar.balan]

Matchbox cars are hardly available any more in India.
Having come to Dubai for a few days with my Dad,
I saw these and just had to grab them.

[Dippy]

Add a couple of 1:18s to the collection last month:

!:18 Ferrari Monza SP1 and the 2022 new Lamborghini Countach:

[shankar.balan]

Some more little cars in 1:64 scale. Just arrived a moment ago.

The lovely Lancia Stratos - 2 cars because I will take-out and play with one.
The beautiful BMW M3
Superb Landrover 2020
The excellent little Ferrari 488
And the Aston DBS Superleggera

Little cars are truly such a joy!

[AKV10]

Hey BHPians,
Bought this gorgeous new 1/18 BMW 3.0 CSL by Minichamps' Heritage Collection from an eBay auction for 70 usd, and with shipping it was 90 usd, which is still cheaper than the other sellers selling it for 140-150 usd.
I was extremely eager and excited as I wanted this model since a long time. Received the package in the mail today and upon opening realised that it is damaged. The rear left wheel and the hinge holding the bonnet open is broken, the trunk is misaligned, the plastic of the underbody is cracked and lots of scratches here and there. Either there has been a blunder on the seller's end or from the Customs office, where it was lying for 2 weeks. Now the seller is not on ebay anymore and after reading a few BHPians' incidents with the customs dept, I'm fairly certain that this is the customs fault.
Any suggestions as to how I can fix this and avoid the customs officers tearing apart my models in the future?
Sorry for the long rant, please enjoy some pictures,

How it arrived:

First look:



In all its glory:



The broken wheel:




The underbody. Notice the crack in the bottom left and the scratched paint:

Marks on the window:

Finally, both my beemers together :

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by AKV10

Hey l Either there has been a blunder on the seller's end or from the Customs office, where it was lying for 2 weeks. Now the seller is not on ebay anymore and after re

The underbody. Notice the crack in the bottom left and the scratched

This is very sad. I surmise that the damages are almost certainly caused by poor transit handling and vicious customs inspection. There is no recourse.
I suggest that in future it is better to buy and have the product shipped to a friend who lives in that region or the US or UK or EU and then have the product properly re-packed in styrofoam and bubble wrap and then shipped.
Yes the cost of shipping will go up and there will be customs duty all of which will drive up the landed cost. But personally, I’d rather get my products un-damaged and in one piece than in broken condition which also breaks the heart of a passionate collector. The increased cost is worth it to avoid the broken product and consequent broken heart.

[shankar.balan]

Some more little chaps.
TinyTown was having a sale. And then one of my friends an avid collector was wanting to clear off a few of his little cars.
So here they are. All these turned up at home yesterday.
And yay! I’m also waiting on another couple of consignments, which should clock in any time.
Anyway, here are those which have already reached.
All in 1:64.
Citroen Cactus by Majorette simply because I like Citroen a lot
Jag E type by Schuco - the 1950’s and 1960’s must have been good fun if one were a rich playboy in London that’s for sure.

Then come the Americans. All nice cars by Johnny Lightning.
A Dodge Challenger 1970 and a Corvette 1970 and 4 lovely little Indy Racing Cars.
Ooh! They really look great. Especially in the special livery which adorns them!

Just can’t help being excited with these little cars!

[shankar.balan]

At 9 am one more eagerly awaited box arrived. This time from scalearts.
Here are the contents. Some 1:64’s and a couple of 1:43’s
(Mods pls merge the morning’s post and this one).

One more lovely Ferrari 250 GTO 1:64 - I like this car so much that I just had to have one more.
2 Beautiful 1:64 Singer 911 Porsches one in Grey and one in Green
A nice little Pangea Green 1:64 Landrover new Defender from HKM
A superb little 1:43 Suzuki SJ410 metal hardtop Jimny/ Gypsy in Olive Green.
A nice old 1:43 Jeep commercial van from Argentina - 1967 by IXA

The Joy from these little cars is indescribable.

[shankar.balan]

A Kinsmart 1:34 Jeep Wrangler 3 door.
I wanted the Dark Green or the Camo but they only had Red or Blue on Amazon. Slightly high price but a good specimen.

[Sanidhya mukund]

For the last 1.5 years, my Mahindra Scorpio scale model had broken ORVMs. I was not able to find the same model again because Mahindra had discontinued selling these. I did think of sticking the mirrors with fevi quick, but given my past experience, fevi quick often leaves white stains after drying, so I had not fixed the mirrors and left them as such.

Now, there is this watch repair shop in Khan Market that has been my one stop solution for watch repairs, strap replacements and watch/clock batteries for the past 15 years.

I had accidentally dropped one of my watches, as a result of which, the glass had shattered and all the metal markings inside had got displaced. I gave it to this shop for repair and they did an impeccable job of repairing it. I loved the precision with which they had glued all the metal pieces, with absolutely no glue residue. This gave me an idea: The next day, I took my Scorpio scale model and requested them to help me with the broken ORVMs. They were happy to help and did a great job here as well!

Delhi NCR BHPians can try them for such jobs, though it is not what they do ordinarily, their primary business being watch repairs.

The watch that got a new lease of life and the shop that did it:





My Scorpio scale model that got its ears back after 1.5 years:

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

A Kinsmart 1:34 Jeep Wrangler 3 door.
I wanted the Dark Green or the Camo but they only had Red or Blue on Amazon. Slightly high price but a good specimen.

Maybe OT, but I would be really interested to see how you store or display them. Nothing less than a proper garage would do I guess, given their sheer numbers!

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Maybe OT, but I would be really interested to see how you store or display them. Nothing less than a proper garage would do I guess, given their sheer numbers!

I am very bad at displaying my car collection. When it comes to my Scale Models, I am actually a bit like how Tolkien’s Gollum (Smeagol) is, with his ring.

I lurk around them upstairs and gloat over them and take out one or two occasionally and play with them and make Brrrm Brrrm noises etc. Since I am now past 50, some of my non-car-enthusiast friends consider me to be a slightly mentally defective person in this respect.

I have 4 cupboards full and they are packed 6 deep in multiple tottering piles of cars, all of which (except a few) are in their original packaging/ cards.

So here is one more lovely scale model I just got in Ooty yesterday evening. It was kept at the store by a collector who is a friend of the store owner and who wants to sell off his collection slowly. This, being a rare beauty from Schuco, in 1:43, I paid the expensive price and bought it.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I lurk around them upstairs and gloat over them and take out one or two occasionally and play with them and make Brrrm Brrrm noises etc. Since I am now past 50, some of my non-car-enthusiast friends consider me to be a slightly mentally defective person in this respect.

+1.
I am over 60 and I do exactly the same thing with my scale model aircraft. You simply cannot take the boy out of the man!!

Originally Posted by Sanidhya mukund

For the last 1.5 years, my Mahindra Scorpio scale model had broken ORVMs. I was not able to find the same model again because Mahindra had discontinued selling these. I did think of sticking the mirrors with fevi quick, but given my past experience, fevi quick often leaves white stains after drying, so I had not fixed the mirrors and left them as such.

Now, there is this watch repair shop in Khan Market that has been my one stop solution for watch repairs, strap replacements and watch/clock batteries for the past 15 years. ..... They were happy to help and did a great job here as well!

Delhi NCR BHPians can try them for such jobs, though it is not what they do ordinarily, their primary business being watch repairs.

Thank you. I will use them for a broken nose wheel on my Tupolev Tu-142M aircraft which is so tiny that for 2 years it has defied my attempts to fix it.

[shankar.balan]

Three more little 1:64’s in time for Diwali.

Landrover Camo - Royal Military Police
Lamborghini Huracan Red
Porsche 911 Singer in the lovely classic Martini livery

Always loved the Martini Livery specifically and of course the Marlboro and JPS and Rothmans liveried sports cars of the 1970’s, 1980’s and all. Sadly those days are consigned to the scrap heap of automotive history.