Grit Spreader color

[Idris]

Hello Mark, now you have shown more detailed pictures, I have to say that I suspect the model has been tampered-with. That rear rivet looks so Iffy to me and a repaint is looking more probable...

I concur.

[fixer]

this just shows how important the camera is in our hobby , to the naked eye these clues would probably go unseen
unlucky Mark s I know the feeling so well

[johnboy]

this just shows how important the camera is in our hobby , to the naked eye these clues would probably go unseen
unlucky Mark s I know the feeling so well

It's quite surprising the things a good close-up picture can pick up that you can miss with the naked eye or even a lens sometimes.

[Mark S.]

No big deal. I took a shot. Looked pretty good at the show in the poor light. Didn't pay much. Now I will have to check the other model I bought from the same guy. He had a number of MB. Now the big question is why would someone go to all that trouble of removing the dump and repainting it an off color to sell it for peanuts. Of course I do not know that the guy repainted it himself. He could have bought a lot from someone and this was in it. But the question still remains.

I will put this in a "special" spot in my display.

[kwakers]

Everyone is missing the 'perfect' front rivet on this model, and also the very rough looking rear casting which almost looks untumbled to me. Both rivets would have to be modified for a re-paint, and the second front rivet looks very factory perfect and absolutely tight to me. The rear rivet is clearly botched, but look over this whole model carefully Mark. Some of the prototype shop and paint trial models that have escaped the factory turned out quite crude, so I would not write this one off just yet. How does the color of your back match up with the green pre-pro at Nick's variation site Mark? They initially looked damn close in color to me, but I do not have your model in hand to actually compare it with Nick's pictures. kwakers

[nearlymint]

The colour is not the same as the colour trial, model has red paint on the wheels from what I can see. Would have to say a repaint as well on this one, if you take a picture of the bases with one of the others it will be easy to see the base rivets have been tampered with.

[nickjones]

The rear axle has also been sprayed red, It has been well done but it is still a repaint to me.

[kwakers]

I did see the red on both the tires and the axle, but I had originally thought they were just flash reflections rather than actual red paint. The rear rivet is a mess, while the front rivet looks O.K. to me and even Mark S in person. Perhaps the rear rivet was butchered first, but then the model was hand painted completely assembled, leaving the front rivet stock and tight? Maybe just a careful re-paint of the rear Grit Spreader, but they seem now to have gotten sloppy with some red chassis paint that I completely missed. The youngsters have beat the old man in the Cave once again........ I hope I have better luck at our Albany N.Y. Toy Show in the morning kwakers

[Mark S.]

I noticed the red tint in the photo. It must be reflection as I cannot find any red on the model. I have taken a few more photos and will try to post them shortly. Front rivet looks fine. Rear is as everyone has said. Cannot see how it could have been painted without disassembly as there is paint behind the wheel wells and on the underside when looking in the chute. But cannot see how front rivet could have been removed. Paint is pretty crude. Almost like stripper was used and not all the paint residue removed.

[kwakers]

At our Albany N.Y. Toy Show I carefully looked over every single Grit Spreader I could find for factory assembly techniques and 'Errors'. When checking a perfectly stock looking one that was probably the fourth one I found, the rear rivet in question was also found to be spun down so small it could be moved almost through the rivet hole in the chassis. The spin was nicely done, unlike Marks that looks butchered and very suspect, but just as on Marks the front rivet was perfectly spun and tight enough to have helped the used Spreader survive all these years of play. In the heat of my usual detailed variation search, I smiled, never even thinking of buying the example to show here on this thread, and quickly moved on in my very productive day. If I found the same defective loose rear rivet spin so quickly in my local search of a handful of these Spreaders, I reasoned more of us could have examples similar to Mark's within our collections?? The front bed rivets were very solidly spun because of the bed being a good base under machine pressure, and possibly longer original rivet material was available there to spin out wider? Just a kwaker thought for further research using models in our own collections, and also possibly a base picture of Dave Rodger's factory pre-pro model to compare? I still believe the rear paint color on Mark's to be similar to Dave's spreader box. Someone sharp like Ghosty can easily prove I may be mistaken on that belief with comparison photos.
The Old Man in the Cave is very Happy this morning to read that the 'Red' on Mark's model is a reflection (as I had guessed) rather than paint. Always the optimist kwakers survives trial by fire on Mark's very interesting model FOR NOW....