Kitting out your collection - part 1
Popular in the 1970s with some of the major manufacturers, Rick Wilson has bolstered his collection with many of these over the years. First up is a special limited-run set from Corgi Toys.
Rick Wilson gets busy with some DIY diecasts from Corgi Toys.
In the first of three parts of this mini-series, I turn to Corgi Toys here, with its only dip into the realm of build-at-home releases – the GS30 Grand Prix Kit Set. Comprising three standard releases in kit form plus one exclusive livery on an assembled car, the set was completed by three figures and a bag of 16 marker cones.These were all packaged in a superb box that featured an excellent, dynamic piece of action artwork to the rear.
Back in the May issue, I briefly mentioned that I’d just acquired this in my Keeping it clean article about the CorgiYardley McLaren gift set, so here it is in all its glory. Still largely shrink-wrapped, the set is completely mint, save for a little creasing to the outer box that obviously occurred in the factory thanks to some over-tight wrapping – but in my
mind this just adds to its story.
The wrap has been pierced at some point to allow access to the extra model – the special Norrisliveried version of the Surtees T.S.9B, exclusive to this set – but the three kit boxes had never been removed. Until I got my mitts on it anyway. Some very careful and selective opening of the wrap allowed me to get at the boxes, whilst still leaving it largely intact.There is something rather exciting about knowing that you’re the first person to open these after the best part of 50 years!
As you can see from the photos, the contents of the kit boxes are, of course, still in excellent unassembled condition.That is as far as my tinkering will go, as I have the standard made-up models of the cars as released at the time too.All kit components are exactly as the standard models, save for the colour of the Surtees T.S.9, which is a lighter shade of blue.
Released in 1973, this set was never actually shown in any catalogue, presumably as the decision to put it together and release it was taken after the 1973 catalogue was finalised.There was only a short production run, so there was no point in it being in the 1974 catalogue either. Just 13,000 of these sets were made, 3,000 of which went to the USA.
The models included were No 150 Surtees T.S.9 as No 1500 in kit form, No 151Yardley McLaren M19A as No 1501 and No 154 John Player Special Lotus as No 1504. Plus there was that exclusive version of No 153 Surtees T.S.9B.The kits were individually boxed with their own styling, featuring colourful striping to the sides and assembly diagrams to the rear.
The artwork to the rear is worthy of framing in itself and is very evocative of Corgi’s ‘look’ in the early 1970s. Having been after one of these sets since I was about 9 years old, this is one of my most pleasing purchases in recent years – even if I’m not going to make the kits up!
Next month, in part two, we cross The Channel and look at a few of the lesser-known offerings in kit form in the UK, issued by Solido in the late '70s and early '80s. For part three, in the September issue, it will be the turn of Dinky Toys with its impressive selection of Action Kits. I have rather a lot of these - will I be able to resist the temptation of actually assembling and painting some?