kwakers wrote:Not intended to be a critical comment Moyboy, but why would you not keep such a unique model as this Modelers mockup?? Is it a genuine factory produced Lesney development piece, or simply the product of an outside modeler hoping to copy plastic molds to produce 'Rare' color variations on your Yesteryear models? I myself would display that one in pieces unless parts of it are Non-Lesney factory 'Fakes'. We have several pre-pro Regular Wheel models, and I have always considered them the centerpieces of our 50 year old collection. If only one is known like yours, would it not be the rarest Lesney model you have ever located by accident? I certainly would be buying all that same Seller has to offer in the hopes he may have had factory connections, and you may be able to buy some other design shop oddities to show us. To me, this Toy is not just a run of the mill Pre-pro odd color that you may not collect, it is in fact a 'Holy Grail' AND an Historical Lesney Artifact to bring a smile of envy to any serious collector's face.
kwakers
Kwackers
it will stay in the collection. The model is a mockup of the 2001 release in the 3rd Coke series. design is exactly the same apart from the fact this is 50% handmade. The body is a standard Y22 which came with a plastic roof and all metal chassis. On this one we have a resin base and a metal roof plus all the design is decals and hand painting. It is well known that moulds were lost on the move to production in China and a few of us guess that this is the case with this model. However the Y22 has been around a lot longer than this so why go to all this trouble when you could take a cheap Y22, pull it apart and make a new mould from that - this is the pondering question. No one is going to go to the expense of casting a new roof in metal, have decals made up and then make a resin base to produce what is at best a $30 standard model.
As to rarity, I would say factory produced 100% but that does not make it rare collectible wise. This collectible range was not greatly appreciated even though they were fine models so they are not as popular. At a guess I reckon the white Colman's van would be more desirable and would cost at least 3 times as much as this one. Don't worry as it will be going nowhere but in the lot were a lot of decal trials on Collectibles models which are out of my collecting field and these will no doubt end up on sale after I have passed on a few that friends have requested so they get theirs free.
The auction house had several lots and the one after mine contained at least 2 very desirable code 2 models, the Blue Hoover van and the B&O van, both high priced but it was impossible to see a lot of what else wa there, much like the lot I bought, due to the display photo so basically a good gamble on the 2 I did see and the next lot fetched a wee bit more than mine plus there were a few other lots with prepro models in which I already have so wasn't interested but who knows what was there. I suspect a collector had died and his family had dumped them on the auction house as there was no rhyme or reason as to how the lots were made up, something no collector would do if selling. Sadly there is no chance of contacting whoever had them originally.
decal trials are funny models as you see a lot on Ebay on MOYs and it is well known that when R&D closed staff took everything that wasn't nailed down and this included rolls of decals and labels - hence the amount of things like Capt. Morgan labels on bodies of every standard colour Y12 van you can think of, so unless from an impeccable source with a stack of provenance I don't usually touch these either.
On a serious note this is my ' Holy Grail' of all my models - an Aston Marti, probably mocked up by Ken Whetton, based on a Y5-2 Bentley and modified with brass sheet and resin to produce this true gem
As you can see from a photo of the actual car it is quite realistic and would have made a fine companion to the Y5-1 which is similar in size but it was not to be and never got made. I have had many 'Holy Grails' over the years and as one gets collected another will take its place. I still have many to go but they are rarely seen so onwards I go till I die.
