Jurassic Car Park

 That Arco dragon reminded me of MoonBase Junior's Dino cars.

These pull-back Saurians are everywhere at the mo. Discounters, car boots, kids' collections.

What do you think? 

Lenin's Limo

 I saw this die cast car today in an emporium. 

Made in the USSR.

Is it called a Zul?

Top Gun on Four Wheels

Hi Woodsy

The latest addition to the Hot Wheels Top Gun Maverick line is this '71 Porsche 911, in the 2025 Pop Culture series. Being part of a premium line, it has a metal body, metal baseplate, Real Rider wheels, and costs at least three times as much as a regular Hot Wheels model.

The car has a silver body, and black interior, with fine tampo-printed detailing. All that metal makes for a heavy model.

The Porsche joins the F/A-18E Super Hornet jet in the Top Gun Maverick line. There have also been models of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, and Kawasaki Ninja GPZ 900R motorcycle, from the original Top Gun movie.

Plus a much larger number of Top Gun and Top Gun Maverick die-cast models from Matchbox. Plus Top Gun plastic kits by Airfix and Revell.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

PS. Do you like the Top Gun movies?

Matchbox Ground Grinder

Hi Woodsy

In recent years Matchbox have released a number of models in an unusual, and rather nice, light green. The markings are for the National Parks service or Forest Ranger.

Models carrying these colours have been included in the regular Matchbox line, Moving Parts series, Working Rigs (trucks), Hitch and Haul (vehicle and trailer), various multi-vehicle sets, Color Changers, and Sky-Busters (aircraft). I have not even attempted to collect everything.

Ground Grinder is a grader, and first appeared in 2013 (copyright date on the underside 2012). This 2025 version has National Parks – Maintenance Road Crew on the sides.

Only the green parts are metal. The cab and engine deck in black; and the underside, including the fixed grader blade, in grey are plastic.

The grader blade is fixed. The models come either on a card, inside a clear plastic bubble; or in a small cardboard box, with glued-down end flaps.

Do you like it?

Paul Adams from New Zealand

PLANES

I picked these up last month, a bundle of old metal planes and copters.

The green jet is Japanese tinplate, the rest are cast metal.

The small headless plane at the bottom is a cap banger I think.

Most of the cast models have the names of the planes on the undercarriage.

An interesting bunch.

We'll make You the Master of the Sharpies!

It always impresses me what Sharpie pens can do.

Both of the buses were scrappers. The front one has been Sharpie's.

Have you used them on your cars?

Das Haul

 We both enjoyed strolls from our stall today and bagged a few nice Dinge at the Flohmarkt.

Here's some of them.

See what you think.

A box of old Siku, Matchbox and a Hinshei. €5.

An old German pirate figure called Captain Wood Leg. €4

Four nice condition cars, Matchbox and a Hottie. €4

Five old big box German VHS videos, unrated. €1 each!

Our biggest purchase, for our daughter to sell on, Lynch's Tina. Priced at €25, the Missus bagged it for just €15.

My Older Bruder!

 Dropping off lots of old clothes, we took the opportunity to have a wander round the Diakonie again, the large German charity store. Here's some snaps.

As expected, tons of Playmobil, the national toy.

Soft toys and a Playmobil hospital.

Cabinet stuff. Not sure what that orange dragon egg is. You?

Games galore.

Old tech too like vintage cameras

And this toy motorbike in a cabinet. At 18 euro it must be something good. Any ideas?

The handful of bits I got were as follows: a lovely old West German skip wagon by Bruder. I love their logo. What is that font?

Also two unbranded cowboys, probably modern and three die-casts: a Majorette Gull Wing coupe 1975, a Hot Wheels Stingray 1979 and a modern Hot Wheels Aston Martin, which I thought was unusual.

What do you think of my meagre haul readers? 

King Marauder

I picked this lovely 1973 SpeedKing Marauder up today in a shop in Stamford, Lincolnshire. A very picturesque town and a superb car, which needs only a little sprucing up for its next test drive. Is it a car you had 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?

THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT: MATCHBOX BACKING CARDS

It has been difficult to get Matchbox toys in New Zealand for many years, and Hot Wheels are far more common. Only a few shops carry any, and then only a fraction of the range.

Two of my major sources are The Warehouse chain (a lot like Woolworths once was, before the name became attached only to supermarkets); and the Farmers department stores. For some bizarre reason The Warehouse sell their basic Matchbox models on normal blister cards (like Hot Wheels), but the Farmers sell them in little cardboard boxes, with glued-down end flaps.

In some counties Matchbox models can also be found on short cards, which do not seem to have made it to New Zealand. The actual models are the same, only the packaging is different.

The Morris Minor Saloon first appeared in 2023, but this green version is a 2024 model. There is also a 1956 Morris Minor tourer (convertible), which dates back to 2022.

I have no idea why the packaging varies this way. Hot Wheels do not, although you do get long and short card versions of the same models in different shops.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

THE MATCHBOX SPACEX FALCON HEAVY ROCKET

Not too many shops in New Zealand carry Matchbox toys these days. Even those that do still have Matchbox, only have a fraction of the range.

But I got really lucky recently, and picked up a new Skybusters model - the Space X Falcon Heavy rocket. It is just under 5 inches long, and comes with a black plastic display stand.

Over the last year or two Matchbox Skybusters have also been coming with a double-sided Playmat. This comes folded in half, and is four inches square, or 4 by 8 when opened out.

One side shows the Earth, with the Moon in the background, and the Space X name. The other side is looking down on a launch site.

For once, the model is mainly metal, with only the lower part of the rockets and nose section in white plastic, with the rocket nozzles in black plastic.

Tampo printing is red and black, with SPACE X along the sides in blue. Both the model and the stand are marked TM Space X, Matchbox, © 2022 Mattel, Made in Thailand, and SB158.

Despite the copyright dates, the model is part of the 2024 Skybusters line. There were two other Space X models in the 2023 range: SB159 Space X Starship, and SB160 Space X Dragon capsule, which I have not seen.

This is a really nice model, as are most of the Matchbox real space die-casts. The problem is that they all seem to be short-lived models, and there are never many around - grab them when you see them, or miss out.

Four photographs.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

*

and Kevin has sent in this snap of a different modern SpaceX rocket, the Dragon.

A BUNDLE OF OLD SCRAPPERS

 This old mixed bundle of Matchbox scrappers given to me recently by my Missus has kept me busy on the die-cast bench this weekend.

Here's before I got work on them.

Here's after.

It was a lot of fun trying out the different paint pens I have now.

Its always takes a little time to find the right colour.

I tried Sharpie markers, matt and gloss paint pens and metallic paint pens too.

I was pleased with these three as the finish came out really smooth. The Matchbox train took the metallic pen paint especially well.

It was a great mixed bag to do up.

Hmmm. I need more now!