This Mercedes 600 SEL (W140) was a big car, looked bigger than any other Mercedes, so in Hungary its nickname was 'Bálna' means: whale. The Matchbox version is a fairly correct model, but a rarer one.
Originally it looked like this:
It got a dark red metallic paint and I detailed it, too.
And finally I made a custom box for her.
The Renault 14 looks like a shorter version of the Renault 18.
I found this Norev-made model still in 2021 autumn. It was quite naked, wearing no paint at all. Two original wheels were missing, too, so they had been replaced with Welly wheels.
I thought, it should be a nice metallic green car with the realistic details on.
I made a unique paper box for it.
This was not a restoration, but a repaint with new identity. This is my favourite car, the Volkswagen 1600 variant (Type 3), but how the Hot Wheels painted it...
I could buy it at a fairly good price - although it is a rare model in Hungary - and I thought, I will make another, much more attractive car from it.
I knew at once this German car must be a Milka chocolate delivery van. So after I removed the original coat, I painted it Milka-lilac.
The I assembled the parts and then made Milka-stickers.
I designed a custom box for her.
This time I wanted to do something weird, something new with this Majorette-made Renault 25. Why the rear window was a bit broken, came the idea: this car is shot up! It is a smugglers' car with booze and cigarettes, which was shot up, because it didn't stop at the checkpoint.
Originally the chassis was metallic grey, but I wanted it black, because it fits better to a gangster car!
I found some 1:72 scaled soldiers - from my former collection, still from the eighties - to complete the diorama:
It is always a joy to restore a Matchbox Mercury sedan Police car. It is not too easy to find a model for restore, but with good parts. Luckily in this case I found a proper one from the early SuperFast era.
As I disassemled it, I thought, I'd make not the usual Matchbox Police car.
The chassis was white and it is white - what else could it be - and the interior became light blue instead of the original cream colour.
It got a Missouri State Highway Patrol decor, not the known Lesney's Police car's stickers. I painted the details and the policemen, too.
I like this little Matchbox Lesney Fiat 1500 which had been issued in mint and red colour originally. I thought, I'd make something different, something new from it. So, it became a taxi!
The chassis and the widows were in good condition, only the roof luggage had to be replaced.
The new colour is taxi yellow - what else could it be?
And after assembling the car got its taxi-decor:
And last, not least, I made a custom garage for it!
A nice successor of the Renault 12 - is the 18. It was a nice, modern vehicle and not only the real car was very popular, but its small scale models, too. It was produced in 1:64 by Guisval and Norev, but the best version is made by the French Majorette!
It's always a pleasure to deal with this model car, so I bought one. As we can see, it was high time to restore it:
A general problem with this model is the hole on its roof. What is to be done? I simply filled it with some putty.
The new colour is the metalllic steel blue - of course with the details:
