Matchbox Steamrollers Mystery

4 Replies, 5920 Views

Hello all! Today I was looking around for some model Aveling & Porter steam rollers that I could use to represent George and Buster in my series. Unfortunately, there seems to be no easy perfect match. Everything would require some sort of modification or addition to the shape, or a great deal of repainting. A near perfect match shapewise is a steamroller called Bluebell, which my friend Patrik managed to get me some pictures of from his own collection and even compared it up against a TOMY Percy and Gordon.

It seems quite affordable in some eBay listings, but in order to repaint it from blue and gold to green, gold, red, and black, I would need to break it into individual pieces to paint each on their own... Which is a huge problem considering I can't seem to find any Bluebell models for sale with screws.
Patrik's model has screws and is dated 1987, but of all the ones showing pictures of the model's underside on eBay, they are also dated 1987 but have the same sort of pins that Take Along Thomas & Friends toys have, instead of screws.

Could anyone help me figure out this mystery? Is the screw version of Bluebell just super rare? Should I buy these other Bluebells instead? If so, how would I go about taking it apart and putting it back together?

ebay links and pictures for reference:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Matchbox-1894-A...SwEQFZraFc
[Image: 5re5r6ipTMaSrSBVV1mKmA.png]

EDIT: If anyone comes across a Y21 steamroller instead, that has screws on the bottom, which is something I'm unsure of the existence of, that would be even better, as less modifications and painting would be needed.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Matchbox-Yester...SwYIhWinZF
Creator of upcoming series "Sudrian Tales"
Amateur voice actor
Still haven't painted FFF's Daisy lol sorry my guy (i promise I'll get that airbrush kit soon)
[-] The following 1 user Likes Miksolo's post:
  • DalaGStanator
screws where rivets should be usually means they have been apart before either for customization or restoration. It's not always the case though but if you can't find another with screws then that's probably why.
[-] The following 2 users Like Ucwepn's post:
  • MuddyPoppins, Super
So are you saying that Patrik's version was probably once modified, and had the rivets replaced with screws? o:
Creator of upcoming series "Sudrian Tales"
Amateur voice actor
Still haven't painted FFF's Daisy lol sorry my guy (i promise I'll get that airbrush kit soon)
(This post was last modified: 02-04-2018, 04:51 PM by Super.)
Yes that's how customizers put them back together with a thread tapper and screws, or... it could be an older version before health and safety choking laws and it has screws from the factory.
[-] The following 2 users Like Ucwepn's post:
  • Miksolo, Super
Patrik said his was new in box when he received it, but I can't ask much more right now. When I get a chance I'll ask him about where he remembers buying it from and if the box or papers have any clues.
Creator of upcoming series "Sudrian Tales"
Amateur voice actor
Still haven't painted FFF's Daisy lol sorry my guy (i promise I'll get that airbrush kit soon)



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