Will's Hot Shots

Woodsy,

My Hot Shots. The yellow cards are 1971 and the blue cards are 1972. Definitely Redline era.

Will O

Anyone else got Hot Shots?

Does a Silhouette have a Shadow?

 For the first time in days I stepped into the garden today - to carry out some light duties  the Missus and me have been badly with the Grandkids' colds and they're always stinkers.

It's Spring in Blighty and the bees are out, so I thought I'd get busy too and take a few snaps in the sunny shade with my new Zylmex Bubble, Zee Toys' Silhouette, I bought last week.

Never Rush When Buying Old Toys

 My recent trip to a fab vintage toy shop was a salutary lesson in why you shouldn't rush. 

The Missus and me agreed I'd be in there twenty minutes, whist she mooched elsewhere. In hindsight, it wasn't enough!

I looked and rummaged among the thousands of items in the shop with a view to a couple of investments and maybe something for myself, perhaps even a Redline. 

The shop always carries a few sixties Hot Wheels in a locked cabinet. Once opened I made my choice, a nice Silhouette, not perfect, but one I could touch up a bit. Result! It went in the bag the assistant had open.

Next I chose a small Action Man soldier, which I guessed was a modern version of my beloved Little Big Man. The assistant opened the cabinet and having pointed at the little fella I walked off to look for more goodies.

This came in the form of an Action Force cruiser, a palitoy vehicle I'd not seen before. That went in the bag too.

With the twenty minutes up and a small discount applied by the assistant I went away a happy boy.

Until, that is, I got home! 

Alas, for some reason the assistant had put in a full-size modern Action Man skin diver instead of the little guy! 

 I was gutted as, with a bunch of original items I have (thanks Bill) I'd planned to relive past glories with my little big man!

But that wasn't all.

To some extent it got worse.

When choosing my Hot Wheels Silhouette Id simply assumed it was a redline since it was surrounded by .... Redlines.

Turns out it isn't a Redline at all!

Here's a proper Mattel Silhouette.

Here's what I bought.

It looks similar but .....

It's a Zylmex Bubble! A knockoff! 

Hot Damn!

I just hadn't looked at the wheels and the base, relying entirely on what birdwatchers call the jizz. How it basically looks! 

Well, I needed a beer after all this! Clearly twenty minutes just wasn't long enough in a sweet shop like that!

 But there is a sort of happy ending!

Speaking to my nephew the next day, it turned out that he was driving through Otley later that afternoon.

He offered to visit the shop and see if the little soldier was still there. Good man! 

He was!

 and once demobbed he drove back home to Moonbase!

😂

Have you any old toy shop horror stories readers? 

*

PS. The unbranded miniature man still remains a mystery. Any clues?

SURFIN' USA

 Since getting my ace new American redline Deora I've been after some surfboards to finish it off.

I want it to look like this complete one I saw online.

I touched it up with a green sharpie and set to on the surfer trail.

I considered alternatives like repro redline and corgi surfboards but they're all too dear.

I then thought of stuff we might have in the house; plastic, nail files and ...... pen tops.

My first attempt was a pair of shocking pink boards cut from some play-doh pot lids. I also cut off some pen top clasps to see how they looked too.

Not happy with these and really wanting the classic Deora pairing of a red and yellow board I went to Home Bargains in search of pens.

I found a packet of about ten coloured gel pens like these. I snipped off the clasps of the red and yellow ones and filed the cut ends. 

I liked the results I must say. See what you think ......

...... eh voila!

Time to hit the road and ride the waves!

Have you got any surfboards on or off a car?

Devil Reds

 I was lucky enough to pick up two lovely and original redlines this week.

A blue Hairy Hauler for Junior ( minus window) - his first redline too - and a green Deora for myself ( minus surfboards).

They came home with two gorgeous Zowies.

These red Zowies are Diablos, again one each for both of us. Again, Junior's first Zowie.

What do you think readers?

Rip Code: Stop Gap Quickie

 After my Rrrumblers Rip Code Oven disaster I wanted a quick win and move on to something else.

Using a sweets coffin box, an old bike and a painted rider I knocked this up in an hour.

Rubbish I know but I've moved on to another Revvers.

BONE TO BE WILD

 When I was making my copy Boneshaker below I came across quite a few boney bike toys.

Here's Mattel's glorious 1973 original Boneshaker.

Here's Mattel's Chopcycles Ghost Rider. Chopcycles were a motorcycle version of Sizzlers. I adore the flowing stylised ghost. Those Mattel designers were something else back then.

Further skeletons appeared on Hot Wheel's Scorchin Scooter in their City line.

A much more recent affair, I'm unsure when this City bonehead was released. I'd certainly pick one up if I saw one at a boot sale.

Like most things Hot Wheels, fans mess around and here's a really comical duo of the Rrrumblers Boneshaker with a Scorchin' Scooter rider!

and there's even more rib-tickling adoration in this replica by Hell's Dept I saw online. I'm not certain what this is made of but it looks really neat!

Last but not least in this ossifying outing is the legendary Ghost Rider by Fleetwood toys. Below's a loose one I saw online, which you don't often see, loose.

This basic plastic rack carded toy has attained grail-like status among action figure collectors and I'm amazed to say that I have one tucked away. I bought it at a good price decades ago on Ebay so that I could attract people to my old vintage toy stall at toy fairs in the Noughties!

More often than not this carded rider is encased in plastic with an AFA grading like this one on Hakes in the US. I'm unsure what exactly 60 means and whether mine would cut the mustard. Anyone know about AFA grading?

You can read more about the Fleetwood Ghost Rider on MC as its a bit of a blog legend. just click on the label below.

Have you any boney toys, skeletons in the cupboard or playthings of to-marrow readers?

ALL REVVED UP AND GOING CAMPING! MY HOT WHEELS CARAVAN FINISHED.

 My home-made Revvers Camper caravan is finished.

It's not that great at all but it was fun to do and something that I'll never own for real. Hope you like it.

Here's Mattel's super cool vintage original with the Nomad pulling, my inspiration.

Here's my home-made caravan with a Nomad rod.

The wheels are Lego with a redline drawn on.

To emulate the metal base I used baco-foil. I opted for simple stick-on 'windows' and kept it to a minimum. It was the last thing I did at midnight last night!

My wheels stick out a lot but I quite like the dragster look it's created!

Painting was an issue all round with this make. The matt lemon yellow is mixed with PVA to give a smoother finish .... that was the plan. Overall the model resisted me!

My spare tyre sticks out too but I've done this on all three Revvers re-makes now so why change when I'm camping.

I added some much needed colour with the lime green tow hooks. The front window isn't great but I ran out of steam.

Like all my 'copycats' they look better from a distance!

I'll be downing tools for a while. This was the last model I'm making for now, as I lack further inspiration and whilst I sort out my ever-growing pile of vintage tackle to sell on Ebay. I need to pay for all those choccy Easter eggs somehow!

PS.

I've just realised that Mattel's Revvers caravan reminds me of their wonderful Hot Line trains, which last got a mention here a whopping five years ago! How hot time flies!

This is such an obscure toy line. Anyone ever had Hot Lines?