MARX BRISTOL 188 TOY RESTORATION BY KEVIN D: PART 1

Hi MB,

Don't know if you'd be interested in this, but I thought I'd show you a toy restoration project as I did it [ Ed.]

I'm not actually that much of a collector of toys outside of Anderson related vehicles, but when I saw Scoop's post on the Bristol 188 toy by Marx, I thought there was a toy I'd really like! I'd never even heard of the aircraft before (and I'm interested in that sort of thing!).

Anyway, I did a quick ebay search and found one. It was battered beyond belief but I thought it might be fun to try to rescue it. Nobody else thought so, as I was the only bidder. (£10 but that seemed ok to me?). It arrived, looking as it did in the listing, most of the chrome gone, a gaping hole in an engine intake and no nose wheel. Incredibly, despite all of that, the drive worked!

So, onto restoration. I have some chrome sticky backed plastic, so decided to use that, cutting out panels and sticking them on. I have done the wings and engines so far and it seems to be working. The hole in the intake I repaired by cutting out new panels in clear acetate and painting them in clear red paint. The white part between them I cut from a piece of plastic that fell out of the toy!

The nose wheel I used was from a wrecked Dinky Harrier, I cut it down, drilled out the stump on the model and just push fitted it in. It is not accurate, but it is robust and allows the toy to steer.

Take care,

Kevin D

CAPTION COMP!

Caption competition time readers! I used to post loads of these so here's a new one. Here's our dog Blue staring at one of my space books, but what is he thinking?

C'mon readers, the funnier the better!

YELLOW STRAKER'S CAR BY DINKY

One of the items I picked up at the recent Doncaster toy fair was an unboxed  and  slightly battered yellow Straker's Car made by Dinky.

I already have a gold version which I've had since new and have remarkably managed to hang on to the box, but when I saw this yellow version I thought it would be good for the collection.

Also making a cameo appearance on the little diorama I created for the photos are a couple old style Dinky road signs which I also picked up at the fair.

KEVIN'S CLIFFORD GEMINI CAPSULE

Hi MB,

Having seen that ad in a recent blog post [ below. Ed. ] here are some pictures of my Clifford toys Gemini. I had one of these as a kid, so was really pleased to get one off ebay a few years ago. This is a stunningly accurate toy, all of the detail on the surface shingles and the orbital module seem really right to me. Mine is missing one crewman sadly, but they hadn't really worked out all of the problems with EVA in those days.

Take care,

Kevin D

ACCENTUATE! Andy B takes on a Dalek

Following my Return to Skaro post about the 'lego' daleks, Andy B took an off the shelf one and converted it.

"I don't like the new Dr Who, or gold daleks much, so I decided to do a little redating. The result isn't 100% accurate, but I can live with that. On the eyestalk, I thinned down the stem a bit where it meets the head (or should that be lid?). I figured if it was too thin it would snap, so its a compromise. I also trimmed the eye part down so it was smaller, but left the ribbed bit at the centre as it was -couldn't face recarving this. On the head/lid I cut down the socket so it is more like the eye mounting on the earlier daleks. The lights on the dome were cut down, they are now a little large for the earlier version, but once again, it's a compromise. The main arm was too thick. I cut out the part behind the sucker and shaved down the main part of the arm so it was a little thinner. Then I inserted a piece of wire to form the thinner part. It's actually a part of a large safety pin rammed into the sucker and the remaining part of the arm. The proportions aren't 100% correct, but I think overall it looks more to scale. I also cut down the rear of the gun slightly, as I think it projects out too much. Apart from filling the slots and holes with Milliput putty, that's it. The whole thing was painted mid grey, then brushed with graphite (ground pencil lead) to give it a metallic look and pick out the details.

It now sits on my workroom shelf, together with some Spacemen (thanks Bill) and various small spaceships and other ephemera (including a Golly badge to be seen in the background!) All the best, Andy. "

KEVIN'S DOCTOR WHO 'SIXTH DOCTOR' PROP FROM MARK OF THE RANI

Hi Woodsy

Just finished this prop replica of the time distortion tracer that the 6th Doctor uses in 'Mark of the Rani'. It was made from a Mettoy walkie-talkie toy, as was the original.

Take care,

Kevin D

Return to Skaro

After seeing Scoops Dalek saucer on the blog recently, I was pleased to see them on offer in a national discount chain. Oddly enough, during the visit to Doncaster toy fair, a number of stallholders had clearly been shopping there too, but adding a very substantial mark up to the discount price. I managed to pick up the last one from a local shop and was seriously impressed by the quality.

As a die-hard Lego enthusiast, i'm always wary of buying 'look alike' building toys. Mega Bloks are an especially poor product, with ill fitting and sloppy cast parts, but Character Building seemed to have got the knack. Besides parts which were indistinguishable from standard Lego elements, there were a number of nice custom parts in the set too. The saucer was a trying build though, the base unit was a series of small panels held together in a loose fashion, until it was complete and pressure could be applied to secure them. A lot of repetition in building sections made it a tedious job, but the end result was superb.

In the set were two Dalek Drones in a nice bronze colour, which could pass for Rolykins.
All in all a very desirable piece, so if you have a Home Bargain store nearby, check the stocks quickly...

KEVIN'S THUNDERBIRDS MONORAIL SCRATCH BIULD

Hi MB, just finished my latest project, a Thunderbirds Monorail train. This is in scale with model railways. Take care,Kevin D