new member - 80's scale 1/43 collector

[Guest]

When I first came across these diecast models in January/February I always wanted a black sierra mk1 with the smooth nose, as my father brought a brand new C-reg in 1985. I emailed corgi via their website asking for a black sierra with a smooth front and to be fair to them they replied swiftly:


“Thank you for your e-mail suggestion. Although we currently have no plans to produce this model this year, we do keep a record of all customer requests and product suggestions, which we do take into consideration when planning all future ranges.

Yours Sincerely”


A few months down the line and hey, they’ve announced for their next set of releases they are producing a black sierra!

However, recently I emailed corgi again asking them why they’re not producing either the maestro or montego even though they’ve been producing equivalent models from the same era but as of yet I haven’t had a reply. I sent the email about a month ago….

What I suggest is people keep emailing them – that’s right, the more people who do email them, eventually, with a bit of luck they’ll have to take notice.

[David3500]

[QUOTE=mg ork;135764]“Thank you for your e-mail suggestion. Although we currently have no plans to produce this model this year, we do keep a record of all customer requests and product suggestions, which we do take into consideration when planning all future ranges.

Yours Sincerely”QUOTE]

Word for word, this is exactly the same reply I got from Corgi after emailing them back in March.

I still think that it is worth bombarding them with emails to encourage them to think about producing a Maestro or Montego. I am guessing that the original castings for the 1:36 MG Maestro 1600 model with working headlamps is still in the possession of Matel, following the changes in management and ownership of Corgi in the late 1990s.

[G51 NAV]

If they had to re-cast it'd be no great loss. It wasn't exactly accurate, neither proportionally nor in detail. Neither was the Scalextric model.

[Guest]

That's quite funny, I was aware that they could have had an automated reply system but I honestly thought it was a personal reply!

Anyhow, I'm sure they or minichamps will one day produce a 1/43 scale version of the meastro and montego. Eventually they'll do it... there's only so many of the same make and models they can produce.

[Guest]

On a side note, if anyone has any scale 1/43 models with right hand drive that they don't want anymore, please let me know.

I'm just interested in the dashboard with right hand drive, irrespective of what make the model is!

[Guest]

I've ordered a gold coloured mk1 ford fiesta online, should arrive before the end of next week. Another conversion job required as it's a left hand drive. I'll change it to right hand drive and make it an X-reg model. This means I won't be buying the light blue coloured mk1 fiesta, I like the gold coloured version better.

I've completed painting three new ford sierras. Still awaiting the decals to arrive. Also I'm having number plates done for consistency with the original red version, hence the slight delay as the job will be done as one. The only things that remain are for the decals to be slid on on the front and back, and number plates to be stuck on.

The colours I've pained these in are bronze, silver and navy blue. Hopefully all the pictures will be up next weekend.

I want another sierra in yellow colour, if I can find a compatible paint then I'll do that as well.

[David3500]

I genuinely like your 1980s car park with the different makes and models of British cars that were popular back then. But it needs a tad more glamour and excitement.

What you really need is the Vanguards 30th Anniversary Rover SD1 Vitesse (actually launched to commemorate 30 years of the SD1's launch in June 1976) finished in Silverleaf and featuring the 'Vitesse' graphics on the door flanks. That, together with your SD1 Vanden Plas EFi finished in black, will really show Johnny Foreigner what-for, especially when it comes to an executive muscle car that was as equally happy on the road as it was on the race track winning British and European Touring Car Championship races. In other words, "we race, you win."

[Guest]

I see what you're saying but I am quite old-school in the sense that I like plain motors (if that makes sense) with non-colour-coded bumpers and extravagent logos etc. Which is why I like the red escort so much as it's purely an old-school British motor without any flash fog-lights, colour-coded bumpers or wing-mirrors, sunroof or dazzling alloys.

Of course the odd set of colour-coded bumpers are OK - as mentioned the white cosworth's colour-coded bumpers had to be sacrificed to make way for the smooth nose. I don't like the grilled nose and that and the bumper came as one unit, otherwise I'd have kept the white bumpers.

You might like the silver or navy blue versions of the sierras I've painted as both have colour-coded wing-mirrors and bi-pane spoiler. The bronze version is more basic as it has standard black wing mirrors and doesn't have a spoiler.

I remember the days when 99% of the cars had standard non-colour-coded bumpers and wing-mirrors. It made the rare motors with colour-coded bumpers and wing-mirrors really stand-out and something extra-special to look at.

[Guest]

Gold-coloured ford fiesta came through today and I've changed it to right hand drive, also making it a 1981 X-reg model. I'm also going to change my diorama slightly, instead of having the white brick-wall I will have a traditional brick-wall background, i.e brownish coloured bricks so it's more realistic. Ordered the sheet online from Canada! though it was really cheap.

Means I'll have to take pictures of all the motors again - I'll obviously do that once the background wall arrives along with the decals and number plates for the three ford sierras I've painted. Just have to be patient, if everything arrives by the end of the week then I can put the new updated pictures up on Saturday/Sunday, otherwise it may have to be in the weekend after.

[Guest]

Yes I am still alive... should have the new pictures up this weekend ie with the new fiesta and painted ford sierras along with the new background brick wall.

Still having difficulty finding that elusive yellow paint. Because it's a primary colour it cannot be made as otherwise I would have just mixed the other compatible paints together to make the yellow shade.

Really really want a yellow ford sierra with the smooth nose added to my collection and believe me, I WILL paint one in yellow - eventually!

[Guest]

Updated pictures - I've took pictures of all the models again as some have had new number plates and look better. I had quite a few waterslide plates done really cheaply so thought might as well replace the ones I did via microsoft word. The only additions are the silver sierra and the gold fiesta.

[Guest]

I've put new alloys on the silver painted sierra to make it slightly different from the original red sierra:



Next motor will be a light-blue coloured sierra I'm currently painting, it will be a slightly darker shade than the talbot sunbeam.

[Simon]

That's very impressive - well done! What method are you using to paint the cars?

[Guest]

Thanks.

It depends really, I've learnt to take all the components out so all that's remaining is the shell. You can actually unscrew the motor at the bottom, I didn't know this. The screw's hid behind a piece of plastic at the front, once you unscrew that you can obviously remove the windows etc which helps.

I like to paint straight onto the model, but sometimes you have to totally strip the paint off. For example with the navy blue one I painted, I was able to paint straight onto the red. However with the bronze version the original paint had to be stripped as it wasn't conforming. I don't use a primer, however some paints require two coats such as the bronze version I did.

The silver version didn't require the original red paint to be stripped off.

You can strip the paint off by leaving the shell in a container of break fluid oil for a day or so then easily scrape the paint off.

I use a brush which is supplied with the paint I purchase off of ebay. With spray cans you need at least three or four coats and tend to lose the finer details so it's actually better to use a brush.

Getting that conforming yellow paint is proving to be very damn difficult but as I keep saying I will get it!!!

[Simon]

Have you thought of using a small modeller's airbrush, used with thinned tinlets of modeller's enamel? I've used this method to really good effect in the past, and opens up the colour choice somewhat.