Oxford diecast... whats next?

[russ p]

From the Oxford website it looks like the only ADO16 1300 is the GT, a shame really as much as I love GTs they weren't introduced until 69 which is a tad late for me,though I may sneak one in as I am helping a friend to restore one in the same colour as the Oxford one. But I hope they release more as it was Britain's best selling car in the 1960s.I was also hoping for metro's and maestro's but would prefer 1/43 for those.

[mikeharvey22]

From the Oxford website it looks like the only ADO16 1300 is the GT, a shame really as much as I love GTs they weren't introduced until 69 which is a tad late for me,though I may sneak one in as I am helping a friend to restore one in the same colour as the Oxford one. But I hope they release more as it was Britain's best selling car in the 1960s.I was also hoping for metro's and maestro's but would prefer 1/43 for those.

Would a Minix 1100 fit your needs?

[russ p]

Would a Minix 1100 fit your needs?

Would a Minix 1100 fit your needs?

Aren't they a bit overscale? I've not seen one for a long time. They also did an 1800 I think

[PhilJ W]

AFAIK the Minix cars are spot on scale wise, in fact a change of wheels and in some cases the addition of an interior gives a very good model. The 1100 can be fitted with the wheels and seats from a Cararama mini which is a bit overscale at 1/72.

[russ p]

Just had a look at some on eBay, look like they would need a bit of work to get a decent model. Looks like they are mk1s

[SRman]

With a few touches, such as a lick of paint, blackening the insides of the window surrounds and wheel arches, flooding some very thin black paint into the chrome radiator grilles (better than the painted silver on the diecasts!), painting the tyres and widening the axles (in most cases), the Minix models come up very well indeed. the mouldings are usually quite sharp and the vast majority are indeed to proper 1/76 scale.

They are often available very cheaply at swap meets, although some types (e.g. the Austin 1800) are much harder to find than others, and consequently much dearer. I generally avoid the newer ones with unpainted plastic bumpers and black disc wheels; stick to the ones with chrome effect bumpers, grilles and wheels.

Common cars that are also still commonly available in Minix form include the Morris 1100, Ford Anglia, Vauxhall Viva, Triumph 2000 and Ford Thames van. There are others but those are the ones that come immediately to mind.

While that sounds like a lot of work, it isn't really that difficult and they do come up as more realistic models than many of the diecast models, IMHO.

That's not to say don't buy the diecasts. They do represent excellent value for money and also present many types that have never previously been available RTR.

[PhilJ W]

With a few touches, such as a lick of paint, blackening the insides of the window surrounds and wheel arches, flooding some very thin black paint into the chrome radiator grilles (better than the painted silver on the diecasts!), painting the tyres and widening the axles (in most cases), the Minix models come up very well indeed. the mouldings are usually quite sharp and the vast majority are indeed to proper 1/76 scale.

 

They are often available very cheaply at swap meets, although some types (e.g. the Austin 1800) are much harder to find than others, and consequently much dearer. I generally avoid the newer ones with unpainted plastic bumpers and black disc wheels; stick to the ones with chrome effect bumpers, grilles and wheels.

 

Common cars that are also still commonly available in Minix form include the Morris 1100, Ford Anglia, Vauxhall Viva, Triumph 2000 and Ford Thames van. There are others but those are the ones that come immediately to mind.

 

While that sounds like a lot of work, it isn't really that difficult and they do come up as more realistic models than many of the diecast models, IMHO.

 

That's not to say don't buy the diecasts. They do represent excellent value for money and also present many types that have never previously been available RTR.

The Hillman Minx is another very good one thats easily obtainable. I wish now that I'd bought these instead of the more expensive Dublo Dinky's when I was a lad.

[SRman]

The Austin A60 used to be fairly common at swap meets but more recently I can't say I have seen many of them around.

The Vauxhall Victor 101 and Ford Corsair crop up from time to time but have always been a little less common than the others mentioned already.

At one time, Hattons had heaps of Sunbeam Alpines available but those were of the later standard and didn't even have clear glazing. I have to say, though, that the Minix Alpines were not especially rare, and seemed to me to be a lot more easily found than the real ones!

 

I know this is getting a little bit away from Oxford Diecast, but it does illustrate that there are still useful gaps in the range that can be filled.

Edited January 23, 2015 by SRman

[ajaxjones]

A smart car would be nice, most seem to be HO scale

[PhilJ W]

A smart car would be nice, most seem to be HO scale

Kinder Egg made a set of Smart Cars, For2, For4, Roadster and Sport. Slightly overscale for 00 at 1/72.

[Jon Fitness]

Still waiting to see if they'll ever take the plunge and start producing 1:43 buses....  .

JF

[Invicta]

The Austin A60 used to be fairly common at swap meets but more recently I can't say I have seen many of them around.

 

The Vauxhall Victor 101 and Ford Corsair crop up from time to time but have always been a little less common than the others mentioned already.

 

At one time, Hattons had heaps of Sunbeam Alpines available but those were of the later standard and didn't even have clear glazing. I have to say, though, that the Minix Alpines were not especially rare, and seemed to me to be a lot more easily found than the real ones!

 

I know this is getting a little bit away from Oxford Diecast, but it does illustrate that there are still useful gaps in the range that can be filled.

 

I reckon it also illustrates just how right Triang got their choice of prototypes for the Minic range back in the 60's- Anglia, A60 Farina, 1100, Landcrab, Minx, Corsair, Triumph 2000 Mk1, Victor FC 101, Viva HA, Cresta PB, Imp  and the Thames van plus a fairly popular sportscar in the Alpine.  Apart from a couple of more left-field choices in a Simca and an American Rambler, it's a really nice cross-section of the early/mid-60's UK car market.

 

It's surprising how few of them have been duplicated by Oxford so far- if you were looking to come up with a good starting point for a model car range aimed squarely at the late-steam era railway modeller (with a few very obvious gaps like a Mini or Cortina), then you couldn't do much better

[PhilJ W]

Here's a bit on the new Oxford releases at the London Toy Fair.>>

http://www.mremag.com/news/article/new-road-vehicles-from-oxford-diecast/20451

[BG John]

I want an Austin A40 Somerset, preferably in light green. Every A40 except the one I grew up riding around it seems to be available!

[BernardTPM]

Just had a look at some on eBay, look like they would need a bit of work to get a decent model. Looks like they are mk1s

Here's one I did earlier:

 

Being styrene they are easy to alter around. The wheels on that one are Herpa that had hubs very like the 1300GT ones. Incidentally these Mk.II/Mk.III rear lights were also used on the FX4 taxi from around 1969. The earlier FX4s had winker indicators on the roof - I used to call them 'Dalek' taxis!

Edited January 26, 2015 by BernardTPM

[PhilJ W]

Here's one I did earlier:

 

Being styrene they are easy to alter around. The wheels on that one are Herpa that had hubs very like the 1275GT ones. Incidentally these Mk.II/Mk.III rear lights were also used on the FX4 taxi from around 1969. The earlier FX4s had winker indicators on the roof - I used to call them 'Dalek' taxis!

Never mind the 1100, where did you get the FD Victor?

[PhilJ W]

For 'bits' to improve your models these are good automobilia.de they are HO scale but many are suitable for use on 00 models as well. Their wheels in particular are very good if a bit fiddly to build, the wire wheels are made up of 7 parts!

Edited January 24, 2015 by PhilJ W

[russ p]

Never mind the 1100, where did you get the FD Victor?

They look excellent, is it a coincidence that you modelled a bronze yellow GT the same as Oxford are doing?

Did you alter the front grille to mk3 spec?

[BernardTPM]

Never mind the 1100, where did you get the FD Victor?

One of my own CARKIT-4 models done as a 2000SL sprayed in authentic Aqua Starmist. The underside is detailed too.

 

They look excellent, is it a coincidence that you modelled a bronze yellow GT the same as Oxford are doing?

Did you alter the front grille to mk3 spec?

I did that model in the mid-1980s, again sprayed with an aerosol of the correct BMC Bronze Yellow. For some reason that colour just says "1300GT" though they were available in other colours too. Yes, the front is rebuilt too, including removing the moulded centre strake on the bonnet top, correct for a Morris 1100 Mk.I, but not the 1300GT.  I still need to fit an interior and replace the rear window.

[russ p]

They were available in quite a few colours, I do think bronze yellow suits them best. I'm helping a friend rebuild on in this colour. His is a mk2 morris version

A few years ago I was at a car show in Cromer and they had a small auto jumble, I picked up a brand new old stock mk2 GT grille insert for two quid! This was very handy as my mate's had an incorrect mk3 grille fitted

Bronze yellow also looks good on early 1275gt's

[Norm81]

A word of caution on the new items and the eras they appear under on the oxford website, the ERF EC14 comes up on the 1980's grouping but I'm sure they weren't around until at least 1992...

[PhilJ W]

A word of caution on the new items and the eras they appear under on the oxford website, the ERF EC14 comes up on the 1980's grouping but I'm sure they weren't around until at least 1992...

They are often way out with the eras on their models. The worst example must be the Bofors gun. A wartime weapon that did not last much beyond the early 60's but described and listed as 1990's era, I always take their eras with a pinch of salt.

Edited January 26, 2015 by PhilJ W

[Dungrange]

They are often way out with the eras on their models. The worst example must be the Bofors gun. A wartime weapon that did not last much beyond the early 60's but described and listed as 1990's era, I always take their eras with a pinch of salt.

 

It also appears under the 2010 era (ie current day).  Nice to know that I shouldn't be considering a Bofors gun as a wagon load!

[Fat Controller]

They are often way out with the eras on their models. The worst example must be the Bofors gun. A wartime weapon that did not last much beyond the early 60's but described and listed as 1990's era, I always take their eras with a pinch of salt.

The ones at Dover Castle lasted as long as the garrison did, I believe, which would have been until the early 1980s at least.

[Guest nzflyer]

Over here in New Zealand we've been getting a lot of British mini-series which are typically thrillers set in the modern era (Prey, Happy Valley, Broadchurch). Very very good viewing and it lead me to think why there aren't more modern OO gauge police cars out there on the market especially the likes of the BMW M and X Series, Volvo, Kia, Hyundai, Vauxhall, Ford and Citroen. The other option I could think of is repainting existing models into white with brightly coloured Battenburg markings and blue lights. Setting a crime scene onto a layout with emergency vehicles would be something different I'm sure!