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A friend om mine asks me if this model is fake or not (not his model but a friend off him)

All looks good to me...

Ejector circle on the winch box.
LESNEY around the tyre side walls.
Large axle-ends on the near-side (if on a UK road).
Thin booms.

All appear to be there, but shame the water-slide decals are both missing and we can not see the silver trim on the front.

Ghosthunter.

I don't think there is actually any silver trim to the front of the model - also the area around the rivets looks a little suspect

This coupled with the small photos and the lack of decals sound all the alarm bells to me.

To me this is likely to be a repainted early model with thin boom and grey hook - Nick Jones code 2

But then I could be wrong

Sebastian

Click on a picture and you see it bigger. Will ask for a picture off the front.

Sebastian10 wrote:To me this is likely to be a repainted early model with thin boom and grey hook - Nick Jones code 2

The problem with that theory is that Nick's variation code 2 is currently only known from box art. Mick (SMS88) found a normal thick-boom model with the non-boom casting component having been factory-oversprayed from the reverse colour. It therefore seems likely that variation code 2 exists (or existed), but is is much, much rarer than the reverse-colour variant.

With a little patience, it's easy to create (recreate) the early boom. From what I see (or don't see) there's no silver trim.
Paint test required.

OK, so no silver trim painting on the front, what can this be telling us now!!

Ghosthunter.

The lack of silver trim and side decals is suspicious. I would not proceed with a purchase without additional supporting evidence (such as Tinman's suggested paint analysis).

would a model like this...a short run...that had silver trim applied have some that they on purpose not apply silver trim too...the decal couldve been applied and removed by some one or worn off...also the base pic there looks to have a cast line in front of the rear axle...the line is faint but there looks to be one to me...anyone else see it?