Recently-released diecast and resin models for collectors

Mike Neale selects his pick of recently-released diecast and resin models of vans, pick-ups, ambulances and a Mini Moke.

Oxford Diecast
The third version of Oxford’s 1/76 scale Austin K2/Y (nicknamed ‘Katy’) Ambulance is in grey-blue National Coal Board livery, selling for £17.95. Around 13,000 of these rear-wheel-drive ambulances were built at Longbridge between 1939-45, with bodywork developed by the Royal Army Medical Corps and coachbuilder Mann Egerton, consisting of a wood frame covered with painted leather-cloth, and fitted with a 3,462cc, 60hp, six-cylinder engine. After the war many of the surviving examples found new uses outside the military, in this case attending mining accidents. The model is, as ever, well finished with the grille nicely represented.

In the same scale is Oxford’s Volkswagen Type 2 T2 ‘bay window’ pick-up in white over poppy red, priced at £8.95. A thin chrome strip separates the two colours. The model represents an early T2A ‘bay window’-type introduced in August 1967, with the low-mounted front indicators, rounded bumpers and small taillights, and it has a 1969 registration of VUK 324H.

Vitesse
From Vitesse comes a 1/43 scale diecast and plastic Mini Moke in green with a green canvas hood, retailing for £41.99. It has the civilian British registration WGX 149G, from a real preserved vehicle dating from 1968, and comes with two military-looking figures, one seated and one standing looking through binoculars. The first Mini Moke prototypes were built in 1959, fitted with 938cc engines, and were tested by the Army, RAF and the Royal Marines. They largely deemed it unsuitable, due to small 10in wheels, low ground clearance and two-wheel drive, so BMC decided to market the Moke as a civilian vehicle, fitted with the standard Mini’s 848cc engine, from 1964. By October 1968, when British production stopped, just over 14,500 had been built, not helped by HM Customs and Excise deeming it a passenger car not a commercial, so incurring purchase tax. Around 90% were exported. BMC Australia began assembling the Moke in March 1966, with a 998cc engine. Production continued there and, from 1968, 13in wheels were fitted, with raised suspension, until 1981. The Moke was then built in Portugal from 1983-89 and, later, from 1991-92.

Promod
Promod Ltd of Stafford, set up by Graham Ward in 1982, produce a range of 1/43 scale white metal and resin models of commercial vehicles, with Royal Mail and Telephones vans featuring quite prominently in the series. Its latest release is a brand-new white-metal casting of the Austin Maestro van, available as a limited production run of built models, the first two being in red Royal Mail livery and yellow British Telecom livery, the latter with a roof mounted ladder.

Just 100 of each version have been produced, selling for £38.95. Door mirrors are packed separately for the purchaser to fit (not fitted on the models photographed). The model can also be bought as an unpainted kit for £28.95. Go to: promod-diecast.com.

The Austin Maestro was announced in 1983 to replace the Maxi and Allegro, with the van version launched at the 1984 Motor Show and fitted with the metal bumpers as used on the basic Austin Maestro City, rather than the moulded plastic one-piece bumpers used on higher-spec Maestro saloons. There were 500kg and 700kg payload variants, the latter with uprated suspension. You could have either a 1.3- or 1.6-litre petrol engine, or a 2-litre diesel from 1986. British Telecom bought lots of them.

Whitebox
Whitebox has introduced a 1975 Fiat 125P pick-up in green in 1/24 scale, with an RRP of £35.99. The Italian Fiat 125 saloon was launched in 1967, with the first Polski Fiat 125P built later in the year, but using the older 1,295cc engine from the Fiat 1300, with a bored-out 1,481cc option from 1969. Fiat in Italy never offered a pick-up, but FSO launched one in 1975 with a 400kg payload, from which point all 125Ps were face-lifted with a matt black plastic grille and wraparound indicator/sidelight units. Production of the 125P range came to an end in 1991. A fair few Polski-Fiat 125p pick-ups were sold in the UK in the 1970s and ’80s, due to their low cost.

The models illustrated can be found online and at various model shops, such as RM Toys (rmtoys.co.uk), Model Car World (model-car-world.co.uk), Flâneur Automobilia (flaneur.co.uk), Sheffield Transport Models (pufferwillies-stm.co.uk) or Diecast Legends (diecastlegends.com). See also oxforddiecast.co.uk.

This feature comes from the latest issue of Old Glory, and you can get a money-saving subscription to this magazine simply by clicking HERE