Corgi Kits

 

I was fortunate to find four #602 Corgi Kits last week. All are complete and probably had never been opened, with instructions, a membership form and unopened bag of pieces inside the original boxes. Whilst the contents are the same in each case, each box has some faults but nevertheless I would be happy to have any of them in my own collection and I'll keep whichever one remains.

The one above has creasing at one end.

This second one is the best and nearest to what we'd describe as 'excellent' with just very slight creasing at the bottom left.

The third box has one edge on which the glue has dried and a small piece of clear tape has been applied. There are creases on the two long sides and one crushed corner, with some marks on one side, maybe where a pen line has been rubbed off. 

The fourth box has one edge on which the glue has dried (but no repairs attempted) and there is a small crease where one corner has been slightly crushed.

Original instruction sheets can be hard to find now as they tend to get lost and I think I may make some copies. The paper may be hard to match but I will have a go and they may be useful to someone one day.

I can resist the temptation to keep one and make up the telephone boxes because I already have two excellent examples as part of my Garage Set. That reminds me - ever since I received the lovely layout mats for the Silverstone and Garage Sets I have not managed to find time to recreate the Garage Set display with all the pieces that I do have. Now that my wife is away in Ukraine and, even if she wanted to, couldn't get back very soon, it could be a good opportunity to do so without it being in anybody's way. So that will keep me occupied for a week or two - including finding the correct cars and building a couple of the garages - Model Club issues, of course, which are a perfectly acceptable substitute in my opinion.

Writing this has also highlighted the fact that I have not listed the Corgi Kits in the Catalogue at all! That's very remiss of me. I know that it took me a long time to get them all, and I never did get built examples of the Timekeeper's Building or complete Pit Buildings. However, I did have nice examples of complete sets in original boxes and should be able to find the pictures. Adding a section to the Catalogue should be easy enough as there were not any variations to worry about, or, at least, none that I am aware of and I can't imagine much that could have changed anyway.

The kits are great and original complete examples are expensive. You'll find my prices in the shop or just get in touch.

These AA and RAC Telephone Box sets that I have for sale are not cheap but the proceeds will go towards the money I am trying to save up for the any Silverstone Set buildings which I need to find again now I have the layout mat to display them on. Sets do appear occasionally but made-up buildings seem very scarce and, of course, not every owner was careful with the construction. It is a bit of a dilemma as I would probably prefer to make one myself and have my artist wife add any paint or decoration required. That does mean, however, spoiling a valuable original set, which bothers me. Now, if the Model Club were to reproduce all the Kits then that would be a marvellous thing! When you think about it, they have tended to want to reproduce the less common model variations on the basis that people would be happy to have a copy for £30 or so when the real thing maybe several hundred. (Let us let lie the matter of their seldom actually getting the specification right for these variations.) Reproducing Corgi Kits follows the same logic but with the bonus that the parts would be dead simple to make, being mere cheap plastic and they only need to pay some children in China or Bangladesh to put the pieces in a plastic bag, not build, paint and decorate as they have to do with model vehicles. They did the Batley Leofric Garage brilliantly. I wonder how sales went?

These mats incidentally, were produced for me by a chap called Wolfgang who regularly contributes quite authoritatively on various Corgi online groups. They're heavy duty plastic rather than fabric but have the advantage of laying flat and without any creases. Having said that they have been rolled up for a few years so I may have to encourage them to lay flat again. If he happens to read this perhaps he could let me know whether he can still get these made and I will provide a link for anyone who might like one. I should have an email address somewhere and will get in touch with him, if he doesn't respond to this, once it comes to light.

Now I appear to have given myself quite a few tasks. More news on how I get on to follow. What we really need are illustrations of the completed models and the layouts which I'll try and dig out or prepare.

Those big Gift Set play mats

 

Every Corgi collector would love to have these wonderful Gift Sets but if they want one complete in a box then they'll need several thousand pounds. So not many of us do have one. Thinking about it, if I did have one, I have a feeling that it would all almost certainly stay in the big box and, apart from an occasional peep inside to show friends or as a reminder of where all that money had gone, that's where it would stay.

I am quite happy to forego the big box, the paints, brushes, glue and even the packing and boxes inside. Because what I really want is to have the stuff displayed - probably initially as closely as I can manage to how it appears in the catalogues! That would be something, indeed. So what I really want, and which may be somewhat more affordable, are the cars and buildings. The cars will be easy. The buildings, ideally, would be well-made items which someone has taken a bit of care with and which have all the transfers in the right place. Not so easy finding them, though, so it may be necessary to find some kits and make them, or finish myself. Still not easy but feasible with a bit of research and patience and a few hundred readies. A few hundred, though, not a few thousand.

Oh, there's something I've forgotten isn't there? Yes, the mat. The big green and brown and white thing that everything needs to be placed on. Without the mat the display really doesn't work at all well. Until a little while ago, those mats were a non-starter. I mean, no-one has one other than those fortunate people with the whole set. If one did turn up then I have a suspicion that it would have a permanent fold mark or three and would refuse to lay flat. It would probably have a faded appearance apart from one or two rectangles which had never seen the light of day until I opened it. So even one turning up might be a disappointment and I felt as if I would have to forget this idea of making a couple of displays after all.

Then along came someone who had every little piece of a Garage Gift Set 25 and who had made a wooden base which was not a bad interpretation of the play mat. I bought all his bits and the board and it looked pretty good. It wasn't quite right, though. Those incorrect dimensions spoilt the overall impression so I started looking around for a reproduction mat which the chap said he had heard someone in Germany was making.

After a lot of searching I came across Wolfgang and, sure enough, he gets a printer to make these heavy duty plastic-of-some sort mats which are exactly the right size and spot-on with the areas and colours printed on them. Postage from Germany to the UK was a lot and they weren't cheap either but they are good quality and look like they'll survive a good few years without fading or scratching.

I now need to find the buildings for the Silverstone layout and just three individual garages for the Garage layout (and maybe one or two cars). It will still take some time but I do feel this is something achievable and actually something that other people will get to see and appreciate too.

Whilst I am happy to recommend the plastic mats, you may like to print your own on some card as a cheap and cheerful way of making a start on a project like this. I am thinking, therefore, about making a good PDF copy of each mat available by download from my web site. If you're interested in having one or both of the files then let me know. I don't think I can provide them free, though, so tell me how much you'd be prepared to pay. I say this because, with a decent quality file, a professional printer could quickly knock out mats like the ones I have purchased or even create something very much like the material one included with the original sets, a range of items which could appeal to many collectors, even those who don't get round to getting the buildings or all the bits and pieces.

The illustrations below are just low resolution screenprints and would be ill-defined when printed at the correct full-size dimensions but I include them as many of you may never have seen them other than partially covered at an angle in a catalogue and have wondered, as I did, what they actually looked like.

This is the Silverstone track section from Gift Set 15

This is the Garage Forecourt layout from Gift Set 15

Corgi Kits from Batley to Chalet

I have been looking at the kits that were available, mostly between 1961 and 1969. As well as being components of the two big Gift Sets that every collector would love to acquire but which few will ever even see, the Silverstone Racing Layout and the Garage Layout, they were sold individually.

The plastic pieces required painting and gluing together so if we do find any that have been made up now the appearance of the product is very much down to the skills of the youngster who made it. Buildings ought to be OK but I'm not so sure about the telephone boxes. The later public and police boxes came with characters that needed to be painted and they would be quite difficult to get right for most of us. I can see very few of these kits for sale in made-up form in my early searches. I guess that those listing them on Ebay, for instance, will not necessarily know they are Corgi or even kits so perhaps by using those two search terms I wouldn't get a great many anyway now I think about it.

I would like to get hold of examples of all of them now but suspect this could take a while. I can find most of the unmade kits in nice original boxes but I wouldn't want to spoil those - and, anyway, they're extremely expensive!

My spreadsheet lists now include the kits 601 to 611. I think that's all of them. Here they are for quick reference:

601	Batley Leofric Garage
602	AA and RAC Telephone boxes
603	Silverstone Pits
604	Silverstone Press Box
605	Silverstone Club Hose and Timekeeper's Box
606	Lamp Standards
607	Chipperfields Circus Elephant Cage and elephant kit
608	Fuel Station Building
609	Fuel Forecourt Accessories
610	Public Telephone and Police telephone boxes
611	Motel Chalet

Below I include illustrations from the 1961 and 1965 catalogue pages. As and when I can find some decent complete models then I will add those too but I fear that could be some time. Of course, if anyone happens to find some reasonable models, or even part-completed items, that they can let me have at a modest price so that I can feature these things better, do get in touch.

Silverstone and Garage Characters: All Present! Hopefully Correct.

The final character arrived today, a year or so after I wrote about these in this article. So I hope I can describe them as all present and correct. There are a couple of similar-looking chaps but a colleague drew my attention to the position of his arms being different in one set to the other. Interestingly, I see boxed sets for sale with quite the wrong people in - and that didn't help my search! I had to trust only those illustrations where every character remained attached to his or her sprue.

I hope that someone will now find these illustrations useful. I shall, in due course, provide individual pictures too.

1501 Racing Drivers & Pit Mechanics

1502 Silverstone Spectators

1503 Race Track Officials

1504 Press Officials

1505 Garage Attendants

Silverstone and Garage Layout Gift Set Characters

I had intended to write about the many characters who appear in the five packs which were available either separately or several were included with the big Silverstone Race Track and Garage Gift Sets. I was waiting until I had acquired them all but some are hard to find (at a modest price!) so I'll do what I can with what I have rather than delay any longer.

There are five sets of six characters. That would be thirty in all although one chap appears in several places in slightly different clothes or pose!

1501 is  the set of pit mechanics and drivers.

The three missing characters are shown below.

1502 is the set of spectators

I have all of these.

1503 is the set of race track officials.

These are the most difficult to find intact. Most carry a post which gets broken or the paper flags get lost. There is also a broadcaster chap whose aerial usually gets broken. There are two similar-looking chaps holding flags in black leather coats and blue trousers but one has a yellow tie and the other a red tie. Update 30 September 2019 - I now have a complete boxed set with original flags still attached too! So those illustrated above are available now.

1504 is the set of press officials

There are three missing

You may see that this last odd-looking fellow is the one who appears in the garage attendants set below. Or maybe he has a twin.

Update 30 September 2019 - I have now learned from someone with sharper eyes than mine that the ugly chap in the brown leather coat is not actually the same as the ugly chap in the brown leather coat in the garage attendants set after all. Here is the correct ugly chap in a brown leather coat.

You'll see he has both arms free from his body and extended a little. So I do need him and he's not an identical twin.

Here is 1505, the set of garage attendant figures

With the 'twin' who I now see is not an identical twin, my set is complete.

I am not entirely sure which sets came with which Gift Sets. I had originally thought that the Silverstone Set came with all five but those I have seen for sale only have 1501, 1502 and 1503. I can't imagine that 1504 wouldn't have been included, though, as there is a Press Box kit in the big set. So I think it is only 1505 that was not included and, I think, you'll find that in the big Garage Gift Set.

The two chaps in blue overalls in 1505 also came in the box with the 1142 Holmes Wrecker model and the one who looks like he's changing a wheel also appears with some farm conveyor models. Update 30 September 2019 - again I have been advised that the Holmes Wrecker guys are slightly different!

If anyone reading this happens to have duplicates of any of the characters that I'm missing then do let me know. Otherwise I hope these illustrations help collectors figure out which they may need and who fits in where.