Oxford diecast... whats next?

[carltonf]

I am (sort of) with you russ p.  Austin Metro, Maestro and Montego are way overdue, but in 1/76 00 scale.  The Metro in the 80s was a huge seller, alongside the Escort.  I sometimes wonder about the Oxford target market and their marketing in general.  Surely OO gauge modellers are their main buyers, (or maybe not), but to see a Hong Kong Police mini in the range, but no Metro is very odd.  And there were the van variants for the Metro (and Maestro to a lesser extent) which could be adapted easily.

One other thing I note, are the colours chosen - cars in the 70s were very drab, greys, dark green, dark blue, and in the early 80s, beige was a very popular colour.  I well remember the first time my dad brought an Austin Princess (in Brown!) home.  Less common by far were Jade green.  I guess collectors don't want brown cars, but I reckon modellers do.

[John M Upton]

I have just been looking at the Massey Fergusson 135 tractor, I was raised in a farming community where these things were everywhere, even the local council had a 135 in yellow for mowing the primary school playing field.

 

Is it just me or does the cab look too tall?

[PhilJ W]

46 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

I have just been looking at the Massey Fergusson 135 tractor, I was raised in a farming community where these things were everywhere, even the local council had a 135 in yellow for mowing the primary school playing field.

 

Is it just me or does the cab look too tall?

They are assembled with the mudguards back to front. 

[Dunsignalling]

On ‎05‎/‎09‎/‎2019 at 16:23, carltonf said:

I am (sort of) with you russ p.  Austin Metro, Maestro and Montego are way overdue, but in 1/76 00 scale.  The Metro in the 80s was a huge seller, alongside the Escort.  I sometimes wonder about the Oxford target market and their marketing in general.  Surely OO gauge modellers are their main buyers, (or maybe not), but to see a Hong Kong Police mini in the range, but no Metro is very odd.  And there were the van variants for the Metro (and Maestro to a lesser extent) which could be adapted easily.

One other thing I note, are the colours chosen - cars in the 70s were very drab, greys, dark green, dark blue, and in the early 80s, beige was a very popular colour.  I well remember the first time my dad brought an Austin Princess (in Brown!) home.  Less common by far were Jade green.  I guess collectors don't want brown cars, but I reckon modellers do.

I only ever owned three 1970s cars, a '73 Vauxhall Firenza Sport SL in Bluebird, a '76 Renault 12 in white, and a '79 Renault 18GTS in what the logbook described as gold but was actually a light metallic green.

 

I generally keep cars for a long time once I find a good one, and the only '80s car I ever had was a 1985 Fiesta Popular plus in a pleasant approximation of RAF blue.

 

Not a mobile cowpat in sight.

 

The Fiesta was near mint, 7 years old with 13k on the meter, bought as a stopgap after my venerable 18 had started developing serial niggly faults with about 150k on the clock. God, what a revelation. Completely gutless and little short of dangerous on corners, even in the dry. It also drank almost as much petrol as the Renault which had been twice as heavy and three times as powerful.  That one I chopped in for a '91 Peugeot 205XS (white again) after two years and I've never even looked at another Ford.

 

My modelling doesn't require anything post-1962, so even a Mk1 Cortina is almost too new for me. My personal desires (in model form) would be a '61 Hillman Minx of the sort I learned to drive in, an Austin A55 (original and Farina, the latter being shorter than the similarly-styled A60), The little Hillman Husky (was it the first hatchback or just a sawn-off estate car? - discuss), and the estate version of the 105E Anglia. Also the E93A Ford Prefect (a Pilot wouldn't offend either). Wolseley 1500/Riley 1.5,  Daimler Conquest, Sunbeam Talbot 90 and an Austin Westminster please.

 

Also, Oxford have done a few sports cars in 1:43 that I'd like to see shrunk to OO. Jaguar XK150, Daimler Dart, Sunbeam Alpine for starters.

 

John

 

PS. I forgot one - the VW "splitty" van (etc) in OO to enable me to get rid of the HO ones that stick out like sore thumbs.

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Dunsignalling

[John M Upton]

11 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

They are assembled with the mudguards back to front. 

 

Typical Oxford Diecast build quality then!!  Still not forgiven them for the N scale James Bond 'Telephone Service' Sherpa van which had the radiator grilles upside down!!

[PhilJ W]

1 minute ago, John M Upton said:

 

Typical Oxford Diecast build quality then!!  Still not forgiven them for the N scale James Bond 'Telephone Service' Sherpa van which had the radiator grilles upside down!!

The 00 scale Consul Capri also had the grill and bumper upside down on the front cover of one of their catalogues last year.

[steve1]

John,

 

The original Matchbox Farina and Wolseley 1500 are pretty much 4mm scale and could be turned into decent models with a little work.

 

steve

[PhilJ W]

3 hours ago, steve1 said:

John,

 

The original Matchbox Farina and Wolseley 1500 are pretty much 4mm scale and could be turned into decent models with a little work.

 

steve

They are both overscale for 00. The Farina is 1/71 acale and the 1500 is 1/67 scale.

[Mike Harvey]

On 06/09/2019 at 23:12, John M Upton said:

 

Typical Oxford Diecast build quality then!!  Still not forgiven them for the N scale James Bond 'Telephone Service' Sherpa van which had the radiator grilles upside down!!

That van is 1/76 not N. Easy mistake to make. :-)

 

[Dunsignalling]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

They are both overscale for 00. The Farina is 1/71 acale and the 1500 is 1/67 scale.

Thanks. I have got a Matchbox Minx from that source (Series II rather than my desired IIIa) and a Commer pickup, both freak survivors from childhood and which look fairly OK for size. Any idea how close they are to 1:76, please.

 

John

 

 

[PhilJ W]

37 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

Thanks. I have got a Matchbox Minx from that source (Series II rather than my desired IIIa) and a Commer pickup, both freak survivors from childhood and which look fairly OK for size. Any idea how close they are to 1:76, please.

 

John

 

 

They are both 1/64 scale, this becomes obvious when the pick-up is placed alongside the Dinky-Dublo Commer van.

[BernardTPM]

Perfectly scaled for S scale. I did up a Matchbox Minx for Jas Milham's Yaxley Branch.

 

The Matchbox Farina would do well as a load for the old Airfix 1/72nd Bristol Superfreighter.

Edited September 8, 2019 by BernardTPM

[PhilJ W]

The problem with Matchbox models is not only the 'fit the box' scales but also some very odd proportions. They are not alone in this, even Dinky Dublo models ostensibly to 00 scale had a very strange appearance from some angles.

[steve1]

7 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

They are both overscale for 00. The Farina is 1/71 acale and the 1500 is 1/67 scale.

 

I stand corrected  

 

steve

[Mike Harvey]

Quote

 

I have these two rather nice Tomica Isuzu Minx models - 1/64 I think.

[PhilJ W]

Many British cars were built under licence in Japan in the 1950's. Not just the Hillman Minx but the Austin A50 as well.

[Mike Harvey]

Oxford's new Globe magazine shows 40 new items being released this week - 11 in 1/148 (4 from new tooling), 4 in 1/43, and the rest in 1/76 (1 new tooling, and 1 dealer special).  End of September/beginning October will see the announcement of the first batch of new items for 2020.

[it's-er]

With the announcement yesterday of the new Land Rover Defender, I think we can be pretty certain that it will feature in the end September early October announcement!  Oxford cover many (all?) variants of Land Rover already - we benefit from this greatly - and I'd be surprised if the new Defender doesn't follow soon.

 

John Storey

[ianmacc]

Posted this in road vehicles but may have been better in this thread? The new 00 Sherpa minibus has no numberplates. This a mistake or deliberate decision. Retrograde step if the latter. 

[PhilJ W]

If its the plain white one yes, it doesn't carry number plates.

[friscopete]

I think Oxford do a better job of their  1/87Yank tanks than many of the 1/76 .They have great wheels  and a good shape where as many Brit cars have "chunky " wheels and dont sit right .

I will retire to my Anderson Shelter now to avoid flak ....bye

[BernardTPM]

They do vary a lot. The Marina is one off the best, even to the wheels, but there are some clunkers.

[PhilJ W]

48 minutes ago, BernardTPM said:

They do vary a lot. The Marina is one off the best, even to the wheels, but there are some clunkers.

The Mk.I Cortina is pretty awful. I found a Base Toys Cortina without the casting fault that most of them have and I swapped the interior and wheels over.

[ianmacc]

14 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

If its the plain white one yes, it doesn't carry number plates.

Thanks. Wonder why? Maybe it’s not based on a real vehicle for a change. Luckily I can fit my own but not something I hope they make a habit of...

[BernardTPM]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

The Mk.I Cortina is pretty awful. I found a Base Toys Cortina without the casting fault that most of them have and I swapped the interior and wheels over.

I don't rate the Mk.2 Cortina either (had to do a lot of work to mine to make it actually look right) though the Mk.3 isn't bad apart from the awful oversize wheels. The Base Toys Mk.1 has the advantage of being the more common 4-door too, not perfect by any means, but a good starting point. Luckily Rod Parker does a nice Mk.1 Lotus Cortina 2 door.

Edited September 29, 2019 by BernardTPM