Corgi's Popeye Models

Hi Woodsy,

Great job on your re-creation of the Corgi Popeye's Paddle-wagon. Corgi did four different Popeye vehicles, of which I have these two.

Regular large Corgi model [above left]

802 – Popeye's Paddle-Wagon, 1969-72. With Popeye, Olive Oyl, and Swee'Pea figures, plus the heads of Wimpy and Bluto. This 126mm toy is easy to identify as the anchors are part of the mudguards.

Corgi Juniors Extra

1008 Popeye Paddle-Wagon, 1971-72, smaller and simpler version of 802, without the mounted heads. The anchors are part of the boat hull, 70mm.

There were also two Corgi Juniors:

67 – Popeye's Tugboat, 1980 until the end of the line. A small open vessel that ran on concealed wheels. Plastic Popeye figure, 77mm.

79 – Olive Oyl's Aeroplane, 1980 until the end of the line. Open cockpit monoplane. Olive Oyl figure, 68mm.

I have the small Paddle-Wagon, and the Tugboat, and the photos are of my models. The other two are from Worthpoint.

Anyone else got any of these?

Paul Adams from New Zealand

My Home-Made Corgi Popeye Paddlewagon

 I needed a new project this week and I've always liked the Corgi Popeye Paddlewagon since having one as a young spinach gobbler.

I thought I'd make one. A Paddlewagon.

I found an old smallish car and consulted the Great Book of Corgi.

I scoured my bits drawers and began glueing stuff together. Popeye, Olive Oil, the lot.

After a while it was done. I just needed a tin of spinach and the car a lick of paint.

Finished! 

Hope Popeye's happy.

My POTA stunt rider turned up. I gave him a small rifle for his back.

Here's all three things I've finished this last two days.

Waddaya reckon readers?

Have you got a Paddlewagon?

Sunday Funday

Not bad at all at today's boot sale.

I picked up some cheap but unusual die-cast and plastic vehicles and a few other bits:

A G1 Optimus - Any idea how to whiten yellowing?, a Bandai Porsche ScaleRobo 1983 and a Popy Future Machine 1983, both grubby as they come.

A small batch of kit decals

A Four Feather Falls Jigsaw - battered box but my first ever!

Here's a closer look at the Popy Future Machine.

What do you think readers?

 

THE SHARP KNIGHT

 The other day I picked up a battered Corgi Batmobile in Wetherby for £1.

Straight from the Battle of Arkham it was missing its roof bar, three tyres, one axle, front blisters and the aerial. The rear blisters were falling apart too. It came with two spare tyres but not the correct size. All in all, quite good!

I started by re-colouring the body with a Sharpie pen.

I finagled a new roof bar and patched the rear blisters. I also tried a new technique for the front blisters; cutting out semi-circles of plastic and folding them into position. Tyres: I grabbed a few different ones from the bits box and axles are cocktail sticks. It runs - sort of - but it doesn't need to be perfect for me my cabinet. Time to move on.

Some focused bat work later it was ready for Gotham's grimy streets once more. See what you think Bat-fans.

Before

After

I painted the blisters metallic blue. No longer transparent, it'll do. The aerial is off a clothing price tag. The red light is temporary until I find a smaller better one. The body was re-Sharpied again.

Now where's Alfred and that cup of tea and a ginger nut?

Corgi Juniors Hot Rodder 1973

 I love this!

Pictures from Etsy.

Did you have one? I'm totally Shazam'd!

Santa, take note!

" Up in the sky... It's a Husky, it's a Corgi... I'm calling a Code 3!"

Apparently amongst the die cast Collector community, an altered original issue is called a Code 3. I've wanted to get a James Bond Mini Moke and repaint it and put it in a new package as a "Spy Who Loved Me" Stromberg Lipparus support vehicle. That would be classified as a Code 3 model.

Well, thanks to Woodsy's Chitty chitty bang bang adventures combined with my Husky toys fever, I've made my own Code 3!

Original Husky Chittys with complete family figures are going for stupid prices these days, so I got a new Corgi Mini version and sculpt 'n scanned my own Potts family! I won't go into that process here, as Moonbasers will have seen my Husky Batmobile and how I made replacement figures there.

1) The original Corgi Mini in it's package

2) The car with it's missing family and a slightly yukky shade of yellow metallised brass fittings.

3) I didn't like the lemon yellow wings (they should be more Chrome Yellow, but you work with what you've got...) I masked off the wing pieces, note how the translucent tape allows me to see the etched lines, so I can cut the lines perfectly.

4) Painting polythene is a nightmare. So I use ESP prep fluid to make the paint stick better and spray acrylic Graffiti paint rather than enamels or auro lacquers.

5) Peeling the masking off a perfect job is always edifying!

6) I wanted to use clear plastic jewels for the head and taillights, but the only suitable ones in my wife's findings box were the traditional glass cut cones, so I'm grinding out recesses in the headlights using a 3mm twist drill in my Moto-tool.

COURAGE, LITTLE ONE!

7) 3D modelling the spare tyre with tread patterns to match the other tyres was a bit fiddly. Here I've painted all the wheel hubs red. I've also overpainted the the brass pieces with Tamiya clear orange to get a nicer brass tone and filled in the empty windscreen with PVA glue (next time I'd use a piece of celluloid as this result isn't fantasmagorical)

8) The end result -Even nicer than a Husky original if I do say so myself!

I'll sign off now, Moonbasers, tune in again when I go crazy with an Edai Grip style package for this little baby!

Looey

Oz Base

BATS ON THE FREEWAY!

Hi,

Having just seen Terranova47's neat diorama of the 1940s Batmobile stuck in traffic, here is my 1960's one taking advantage of the new motorway system for a fast and easy journey!

Drive safely!

Kevin D

UK

THE HARDY BOYS

Hi 

Moonbase mentioned The Hardy Boys cartoon series, and a die-cast model of their car earlier in the year. I thought you might like a little more information on this series, which I dimly remember, but only just. I probably watched it well before discovering the Hardy Boys books.

     Frank and Joe Hardy were the teenage sons of Private Eye Fenton Hardy, a former New York Police detective. They too were detectives, and began their careers in a series of books in 1927. This was three years before the first Nancy Drew book appeared.

     There were some early television adaptions on The Mickey Mouse Club in the 1950s. Then came The Hardy Boys cartoon series in 1969, which ran for just 17 half-hour episodes. The boys were now part of a band, but still solved mysteries, and had a 1912 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost for transport. There were two separate stories per episode, and some songs. The title song is performed by a live-action group at the beginning of each episode. According to some references, there were also live-action songs within the show, but these do not appear on the episodes I have seen on You Tube. Frank is the one with dark hair, Joe has brown hair.

The Hardy Boys (1969 TV series) - Wikipedia

The Hardy Boys Cartoon Show: What Happened At Midnight (1969) - YouTube

The Hardy Boys Cartoon Show: Hunting For The Hidden Gold (1969) - YouTube

 As a tie-in with the cartoon, Corgi released a die-cast version of their car (using an existing model from the Corgi range), with plastic figures of the main characters. These could be fitted to a stand that could be mounted on the roof rack. Frank was on guitar, Joe on Saxophone. The model came in a long window box.

The model had blue mudguards, a yellow bonnet, red body, and yellow roof rack, with gold trim. This does not exactly match the colour scheme in the cartoon, which is mainly yellow, with red mudguards. Corgi Chief Designer Marcel Van Cleemput does not speak kindly of this model. It went on sale in the USA in 1970, and later in Britain, but sold only 40,000 units. It was withdrawn in 1971. Model number 805.

The 1912 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, had appeared in 1966, and sold 199,000 models, plus an unknown number in 1969 (a factory fire destroyed company records for that year). Model number 9041 was part of the small Corgi Classics line of veteran and vintage models. Corgi re-used a number of the Classics models for various TV tie-ins.

Photos from Worthpoint.

Paul Adams

New Zealand

PAINT THE TONE RED

 

Picked up this nice old red Corgi at the weekend. I think its a Peugeot. A little reddening and its come up trumps.

One of its headlights was missing so I cut a bit of plastic to size and stuck it in.

Silvering next and then vroom!

Where would you go in a new car readers?

JUNIOR BAT PATCH-UP

 I was keen to jazz-up another Batmobile after my last two.

This Corgi Junior did the trick this week.

Before

After

Holy Sharpies!

SCREEN AND SCREEN AGAIN

I picked up these two old motors t'other day, a Superfast and a Corgi. Both had a window/ windscreen either missing or broken, the red one at the rear.

Tempted to call Autoglass, who offer free screen repairs on TV, I had a bash myself.

See what you think. Not perfect but not bad I feel. Some paint spots added too.

WHEN THE WINDSCREEN MELTS ITS TIME FOR A BEER

In my quest to patch-up Superfast cars I recently made things worse for one vehicle, a Porsche painted black all over by its previous owner.

To remove the black paint I placed it in a bath of turps.

 

I forgot that the turps would melt the windscreen too, which it did and the windows just poured out like honey when I got it out! Doh!

The windowless Porsche was nevertheless promptly painted midnight metallic blue, along with this Corgi car.

I left one door as it was on the Porsche as a reminder of its history.

This lovely bronze Superfast racer came my way for touching-up too. 

This is before I got my orange pen out.

and after.

Now the work station is ready for another car.

I may try this red Corgi.

But perhaps not continue painting it orange! Yuk!

Metallic silver might be the chosen hue.