CORGI 1/76 LEYLAND PD3 QUEEN MARY OPEN TOP BUS - PEOPLE'S PROVINCIAL

This is Leyland PD3 Queen Mary Open Top Bus - People's Provincial, registration WOW 993T, fleet number 202, route 99C Solent Sea-Line (HMS Alliance, Stokes Bay, Lee on Solent, Bridgemary, Elson, Gosport Ferry). The neat open top Queen Mary casting looks good in the Gosport based fleet's 80's livery. Shop here

CORGI 1/50 MAN TGA FELDBINDER - JOHN MICHELL GRANGEMOUTH ROAD TRANSPORT

John Mitchell started the business in 1956 with one vehicle operating from Grangemouth in central Scotland. The business expanded over the years and in 1973 moved to a purpose built 3 acre haulage depot with new offices workshop and storage facilities at Earls Road in Grangemouth. Continued growth saw the acquisition of an additional site in Grangemouth in 1990 this is the Thornbridge Depot - a 26-acre site with 150000 sq ft of covered warehousing and storage capacity for over one thousand freight containers. The haulage fleet also expanded over the years and now stands at around 100 vehicles. The haulage operation is still based at Earls Road and a further seven acres of adjacent land was purchased recently for container storage. The Company is still family owned and managed by Iain Mitchell - Managing Director and his sister Catherine Weir - Company Secretary. Shop here

CORGI OOC - PLAXTON EXCALIBUR OXFORD LONDON EXPRESS COACH

The Volvo B10M Plaxton Excalibur is a striking coach, and it looks very impressive in Oxford CityLink livery.

Corgi has gone to a lot of trouble to reproduce the complex livery. There's an enormous of detail in the tampo printing. As well as the 'E' emblem and obvious Oxford London Express livery, the Oxford Bus Company logo is well done. And you can even read the details of the Five Star luxury Coach: 'double glazed windows, full air conditioning'

With the exception of a bit of a white smudge on the passenger door, this is certainly one of the most intricate and best executed liveries we've seen. Shop here

HOT WHEELS - STREET ROADDER

This was a small, simple, but very typical, model of a stripped-down and hotted-up 1932 Ford. It was nicely made and well finished, with a white body and a flame tampo in red and orange on each side. It had a metal chassis, grey plastic interior, windscreen and grille, plus a huge engine in chromed plastic.

HOT WHEELS - FORMULA P.A.C.K.

The formula racing car was the bizarrely named Formula P.A.C.K. It was finished in black, with attractive orange and light green tampos, and an unpainted base, engine and interior. The model was deleted in 1978, but revived in 1982 under the name of ‘Malibu Grand Prix’ with the lovely Real Rider wheels. It was again re-release in 1984 in yellow and called ‘Lightning Gold’, but by then, this type of racing car was looking pretty dated.

SIKU 1/55 MERCEDES BENZ ACTROS

In the big 1/55th scale series we can expect a nine-axle extending boom mobile crane, which should complement the two earlier lattic mast outfits released over the last couple of years. To complete the heavy haulage side there is a Mercedes Benz Actros tractor hauling a new five axle draw-bar low loader with O&K bucket loader for cargo. Shop here

CORGI 1/50 DAIMLER GREEN LINE UTILITY

The Daimler CW is released in Green Line livery. It's as well moulded and detailed a body as any from OOC so far. Nice details include the noticeable ribbing between panels characteristic of the Utilities, the moulded battery box at the front and some careful detailing around the driver's door. It's plastic detail that makes the model, however. The interior seat moulding capture quite nicely the slatted seats that made such an impression (on their behinds) to war-time and post-war travellers.

The handsome Daimler fluted radiator is sadly black rather than gleaming metal this is totally authentic of course, the bus being delivered in 1945 when austerity measures were in full effect. The bus modelled is a CWD6 with a Duple body and smooth Daimler engine, rather than the Gardener engine of the earliest batch. Particularly to be commended is the tampo printing. The Green Line symbols are very nice done. Shop here