Restoration on a mini scale...

[3xpendable]

Before I had the real thing, I used to collect model cars and still have quite a lot of ones from my youth. I want an example of every classic I have, or have previously owned. Vanguards do a nice 105E Anglia in 1:43 scale already in the right colour so I have one of those and the MG club sold me a 1:18 scale MGB GT that takes pride of place in my cabinet (Ideally I want them all 1:18 but some weren’t made that size). So I have been looking for a 1:43 Hillman Imp model for a while now to replicate the one the family is restoring and I came across one on eBay that had the right colour interior but not the body (which was badly chipped anyway) so I won it and looked up how easy it would be to respray it and restore.

Firstly, I was suprised at the market for diecast models that are very tatty. Is it because they are rare or is there a lot of people who actually enjoy restoring model classic vehicles? Secondly I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of spares and parts you can get for thise cars, from reproduction number plates to new tyres and bonnets etc. I have bought a few other cars too to practice on as I think it would be very motivational to see a shiny bright restored model, especially for my actual car restorations and I will document them here when I do them if there is enough interest.

Anyone else into fixing up model cars?