Review of Replacement parts & decals (and sources)

[Tinman]

Can i butt in please (thanks) looking for 2b dvr.
Gary

I have a 2a driver but not a 2b.

[ClOwY]

Thank you for your time to look and answer
Gary

[Tinman]

Well, I am looking for a painted repro driver for the 19A MG Midget.

I might have and extra of that one, I'll have to dig into my stock over the upcoming weekend and I'll let you know. Are you looking for the 19a or the 19b driver?

Edit: Silly me, you list 19a right in your post.

I do have one painted 19a drive that's available!

[SupraBob]

Thanks for your help. I needed several other parts so I ordered a 19a driver as well. I am assuming he should be approximately the same color as the brown Land Rover driver.

I also wanted to report that Black Square has both the small 10mm and large 13mm Esso transfers.

[Tinman]

I am assuming he should be approximately the same color as the brown Land Rover driver.

Good assumption. I mix my own color using a stock color "sand" paint with a dab of yellow. It's very simple to get a nearly dead-on color match.

[SupraBob]

That dab of yellow makes all the difference. I was having a devil of a time trying to match the brown on the 35a ERF horsebox. My daughter, the graphic designer, took one look and said to add some yellow. Came out great!

[Squid]

Apologies for reviving this thread...but I've acquired a Corgi with some badly knackered tires. As much apparently has changed since this thread was started (see the reproduction parts fails, I'm doing some due diligence before ordering a set. Who would be suggested as the best source for new tires: Steve Flowers, Recovery, or...?

[Tinman]

I'm doing some due diligence before ordering a set. Who would be suggested as the best source for new tires: Steve Flowers, Recovery, or...?

Tony Howden (RecoverToy) gets most of his parts from Steve. So, unless your in Australia, your best bet is to order directly from Steve and skip the price mark-up and more expensive shipping. I don't have an educated opinion on who is the best supplier for tires in an overall sense (especially for brands other than Matchbox or Dinky).

[Tinman]

I'll add this:

Besides the sites I mention (and list the URLs) in the "spare parts review," there are others. The dinkyclub.com sells tires and reproduction parts for several brands of diecast.  They are in the UK.  Also the Dinky Club Canada dinkyclub.ca but they are out of stock of most everything and currently closed due to Covid 19.

There is the Die Cast Toy Guy. He's out of Canada and runs his business out of an ebay store.  Then there are various resellers who mostly buy from Steve Flowers or one of the Canadians and mark up everything to silly amounts. They sell on ebay.  There is no USA dealers for spares (outside of ebay resellers) that I know of at this time.

The other problem with most of the ebay resellers is that they have to ship at parcel rates to get tracking. So you pay inflated shipping prices for decals and other small parts that could be shipped in envelope or a padded mailer. If you, or anyone else, has other sources, please list them here along with their website URL. But no need to list ebay resellers as they all pop right up when you a simple ebay search.  Ebay resellers are what's known in the business world as a "non-reliable vendor" because they come and go along with whatever stock they have at the moment.  So only those with a website and direct sales are places I consider when looking for spares.

There are many sources for Hot Wheels customizing and spare parts (and associated modern 1:64 and larger scale models) in the USA. There used to be a source for Vintage Matchbox decals here in the USA but he has converted his entire production from water slide to plastic stickers (peel & stick vinyl).

[Squid]

Considering all that, I'll go right to Steve Flowers. More than likely I'll order several sets of Corgi Mini tires to help ease the hit of international shipping.