FAKE

[Bob/Ohio]

While walking through a flea market the other day I almost choked when I saw this sitting on dealers table. I first saw it from a distance, but upon closer inspection I realized it was a fake. The faded decals threw me off at first, and then the green paint wasn't quite the right shade, but the yellow looked close. The only thing that was right was the thin booms. I had to buy it for $3.00 just because I didn't have one with thin booms, and it is probably the closest I will ever get to a ''real reverse painted model".

Bob

[MatchboxFreak]

I’ll bet that really got your heart rate up!
Did the dealer specialize in diecast or was this in the midst of miscellaneous collectibles?
One flag for the ‘fake’ status is that the bed is chipped and faded but the cab and jib are so glossy. it was worth the $3, if only for the opportunity to examine it more closely.

Are there any traces of the original paint and color scheme?
Is that a trace of green paint at the lower right corner of the label?

Enjoy!

[Idris]

Does the baseplate rivet show evidence of tampering?

[DrJeep]

Well, it shouldn’t have labels but the paint on the bed does look really convincing to me, unlike the cab which seems repainted. Has someone restored an original? More pictures please!

[GHOSTHUNTER]

The crucial detail that defines a genuine model are the thin booms. If this model started out with thick booms then they have had to be filed down to represent the thin boom profile, but if not, then the thin booms are genuine and this means this could be a Code 2 on Nicks listing which is an extremely difficult version to find and a shame it has been repainted, if it is a repaint!!

More sharp pictures of the booms and baseplate may be of help. The booms would have been filed on their underside surface so close up pictures are needed of them but try a few angles and try and keep pictures sharply focused.

Ghosthunter.

[Bob/Ohio]

Kurt- The seller was not a diecast dealer, just misc. collectables. It looks like they stripped the model before paint as any chips in the bed or cab are bare casting. Hard to say if that is green paint around the label, could be. Labels were masked off before paint.

Idris - The rivets don't look bad, not drilled, but the base is loose.

Dr. Jeep - The whole thing has been painted, but the bed paint is closer to the original color.

Ghosty - The booms look perfect, if someone trimmed them down, they did a factory job.

I think this was made from two different models, because the base has the thin line between the axle and the rivet, which I thought was later. The axles, to me have been removed, probably for painting, as the ends look tampered with. The other thing that is strange in the ejector ring, which is slightly raised.

Bob

[Bob/Ohio]

More pictures.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Thanks Bob for the extra pictures. As suspected, the booms are wrong. Yes they are thin but whoever has done the work has gone too far down to the pivot point with the thinning process. They clearly did not have an original one (which does away with faking one if he had!!), or pictures to work from and has guessed the job.

Clearly those base rivets have been tampered with and the axle-ends are indeed not displaying a Lesney factory finish.

For the money nothing has been lost and as an earlier poster says it is nice to have as a point of discussion so on that basis, it does need to be kept for future discussion.

Ghosthunter.

[motorman]

I may be wrong but if this were genuine would we expect to see traces of green under the yellow paint?

[Bob/Ohio]

Thanks Ghosty for your expertise on this model . I have never seen a thin boom model, to compare the casting. I wonder how many times this model changed hands before I found it ? Someone went to a lot of trouble to do a crappy job making a fake model. Nice to discuss stuff like this, which this forum is all about.
I will add it to my collection, as I said before, probably as close as I will ever come to a "real one". Thanks Idris, Dr.Jeep, Motorman, and Kurt for your inputs on this also.

Bob