The Mossman Family Website
In a Wreck Truck theme for 2023, this vehicle benefitted from a fresh paint job, new hook, Esso stickers from Black Square Decals and wheels pinched off a cheap brand to replace the original Matchbox Superfast wheels. I reckon this vehicle dates from the early 1970s.
This Dodge Wreck Truck had seen better days (wrecked you might say), it’s a regular wheels (so pre 1970). It’s one of a pair I have been working on, the second is a Superfast model but I need to a custom hook for that one. This vehicle benefits from a new hook (yes I now if should be red), my own Decals and new axels, wheels and glass are originals.
This Matchbox No. 75 Ferrari Berlinetta was in the junk box at a toy fair, on sale for just 50p….
This Ferrari was purchased for 50pence at a toy fair, dirty, broken windows and no tyres. However, as the required parts were already in the spares box, it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
Aftermarket Window Unit, after market tyres, base polished (just love Basso!), fine wire wool to clean the wheels and axels, removing rust. The inside had a good wash and going over with plastic polish. This will sit well with other two No. 75’s restored some years back and now part of the collection.
Husky Ambulance was never going to be a mint model, but it has been considerably improved….
This Husky Ambulance was covered in paint, sadly not the paint applied at the factory in the 1960’s.
The Problem with Husky toys (and Corgi Juniors) is the bases are very fragile and difficult to remove. Using Dettol(c) to remove paint from plastic doesn’t work very well on bases, however, it did work well on the window unit which had become stuck to the body of the car. The original decal was under the brown paint which also revealed this originally the military version of this model. As green gloss paint was already mixed, it had an upgrade!
Matchbox No. 23 VW Camper Van Restored.
This No. 23 Camper Van had seen better days when it arrived from an eBay seller.
After removing the paint and respraying (Keeping the original wheels) we had much improved model.
This Hotwheels Baja Truck (which is the 2014 Variant of this model before being restored) was suffering from bent axels and less than smart paintwork.
After stripping and repainting, it had brand new axels fitted (original wheels) with custom made decals. These are my first attempt using Vinyl stickers, you can’t see the edges from when standing a bit further back!
Although not in a dreadful state this bus was a little tired. Having plenty of red buses, I thought I would go for a yellow bus. Yellow buses are common in Bournemouth. Just to make the bus current (and date in the future) I made a decal for the upcoming Top Gun film.
This is how the bus looked before I set to work on it.
Two Matchbox Thames Trader Wrecker Trucks restored, these both came with different issues, both were in a poor state – wrecked in fact.
I had to install a new hook (daming the end of the arm trying to get the stub of the old one off). I also found that the arm had been glued in, the paint stripper broke some very old glue. The axels were bent and the wheels had rusted to them. I reattached with 10ba screnw. The before pictures…
The Second Truck. The axels were also bent but wheels were free and the plastic hook reused. This must have been a later variant as the first model had the remains of a metal hook where as this came with a plastic one. I choose not to remove the hook having had problems with the first model.
This Ford Transit inspired ambulance had lost it’s sound and flash as well as looking a bit worse for wear. After removing the base and change the two batteries (not straight forward as these were not designed to be user replaced) it was a case of strip, paint and add my own decals to ready this ambulance for front line service.
Before
What started out as a smiple restore turned into a customisation project. When taking this model apart, one of the bottom rivets is loated just behind the cab making it too easy to drill through in the pick up bed. Once I had made this mistake, I decided to customise the pickup by adding Windows, a cab interior to allow me to screw the base on, some wooden blocks (“Builders Supplies”) to be delivered to a 60’s building site.
The Windows were made by cutting up the front of a HotWheels blister pack. The interior was taken from a RealToy car scrapped some years back so that it’s wheels could be donated to an earlier restoration project. A lot of cutting and filing was needed to shape the interior fo the J2 Cab area, plus allow sufficient clearance for the wheels.
After market decals and replace wheels and axels complete the project. Although not perfect, the model is displayable and looks good if you look from a distance.