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oh yes this one definitely has a half round brace which as I read was only on later issues

it's probably just my photos but the green is very close to the green in NJ's pictures.
I can't find a spot of original colour on it so it has been rather well done.
The decal on the back seems too small and under magnification has obviously been cut out by hand, did this ever happen?
I don't understand the axle crimping, is it easy to crimp an axle yourself from an uncrimped on?

As a fake its worth nothing to me but as a learning tool it's worth the money!

If it proves to be fake and has not cost you lots of Money, it is worth keeping for the very reasons that you have secured it's future and stopped it getting in to the wrong hands again and you can use it as evidence in further discussions on fake models when they crop up with new members yet to join the forum. As soon as you destroy it (if you are that way inclined), it would suddenly be a valuable tool and you would regret not having it any more, so for little outlay it is worth keeping.

Ghosthunter.

Yes good point GH. It will never go on display but kept aside. I'm pretty convinced it's fake but if anyone else has thoughts let me know please before it vanishes out of sight!

Not only is it the wrong casting but it was not issued with a ESSO decal on the rear of the tank, big or small.

George T.

I have always found crimped axles very difficult to reproduce unlike the domed ends. Lesney had a peculiar finish to them with a curved end that was flat on the outside and a curved crease where the flattened section met the original round axle so the tool must have had a round finish to it somewhere. I suspect they were done with hydraulic pressure or compressed air at the time but have never seen the real process which must have involved flattening and cutting at the same time.

Is it safe to say tampered with crimps will look like this?

upload pic

screen cap

and crimps not tampered with will look like this?

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Those crimp photographs look like excellent examples of genuine and non-genuine Lesney axle ends.

Totally agree, good demonstration pictures.

Ghosthunter.