Diecast Restoration Dinky Toys Bedford Fire Escape Ladder no/956. 1958/69 

A tricky one Martin to say the least. Love that you show us the restore warts and all. After all, we all get them!

great restoration Martin ,I am with you on the knots ,I am all thumbs ,you will get in the end

Great work as always . Awesome restoration. Full watch and share. Big like 👍

Fantastic restoration Martin 😊

Hi Martin. Beautiful job. The model regained its former glory. Congratulations 👍🙂

Excellent work as always 😊😊😊😊

Not the easiest of models, but you pulled it off brilliantly. Great result!

Nice one Martin 👍

Lovely restoration Martin looks fantastic

Love the videos never no whats gonna pop up to watch

Beautiful restoration Martin always top work well done take care 👍

Another stunning restoration Martin, superb detailing. It really does look fantastic. I admire your patience and perseverance with the ladders, hope you can sort out the knots. All the best. Peter.

Hi Martin Very nice restoration better than new 👍

The transformation is awesome. Nice work. 👍

Great Job Martin looks fantastic great work

Lovely restoration Martin looks fantastic mate 👍

Martin great restoration looks good with out the string another one to add to the collection.😊

Great job, Martin. I love fire engines. 🥐👌☕👍🤗

Absolutely outstanding! Beautiful finish! Fun to watch! What more could you ask for? 👏🏻👍🏻👌🏻 I did up a crane on a Bedford (I think) chassis for my grandson and had a similar experience trying to string that....... I invented a few new swearwords that time; one even grew wings and flew round the house for a month before I could catch it 🤬

Cool retro fire truck, there was a lot of work :). Well done Martin 👍👍🏆🏆😊😊

I managed to get one of these models for my self . They are great and what great work on your part

Another lovely resto pal

Terrific job, Martin: looks a peach! The sensitive washing and detailing on the ladder assembly is brilliantly handled - just enough to suggest, not too much to be in your face. I'd have been temted to string the ladders before mounting the unit on the turntable, but the threading can be a bugger - a bit like the belts on the Jeep conveyor (my aftermarket belts, btw, bought in the summer, have split after 5 months in a cabinet out of the heat and out of the sun! Go figure!) Nice one!

An exemplary restoration. 👍

Hi Martin, that's a beauty. Don't worry about your knot tying. I was a crane hitcher fror a few tears and I'm not great at them either.. Another job well done on your part. Cheers.

Martin you did the right thing. put it down and come back to it later and it still looks great.

That wasn't easy Martin, that ladder is a nitemare mate, great restoration, beautiful work, 😎👍

Great job Martin 👍🏻

This was a very difficult restoration Martin ,absolute nightmare but I did enjoy watching you struggle because that reminds me of my horrors on the bench ,immediately makes me feel like I'm not the only one! Will be nice to see the ladders working Martin .

Another masterpiece Martin, hope 2024 is going well🙏, all the best👍 Cheers🍺🍻 KC & CC 🇦🇺🤝🇬🇧😎✌👍

very nice restoration Martin, superb coat of paint and livery I'm sure you'll sort the sting from the comfort of the dining table all the best 👍👍👍

Great job done Martin a really nice model mate you are so right when you said to leave it if it's not going right and have another go later very wise mate, look forward to seeing the next one

Such a great restoration! (I really like fire engines) Don't feel bad about stringing the ladder. It's really complicated and tricky. Take your time and you'll get it. Thanks so much for all you do.

Excellent

Martin that was a very technical restoration and you did a outstanding job brother ❤

Great work as always Martin...Dont keep us sringing around lol...

Beautiful job Martin . I have a couple of these and the ladders are missing too .

That was a restoration with a lot of moving parts, it looks great! Take your time and do the knot tying when you feel up to it, or get some help if you can. You have a great day and cheers!😁❤👌🚒

A bit of a fiddly one this one, but you came through and once again you have done a superb restoration, I know what you mean about the fiddly knots, very hard to do on any model with string but this looks like one of the worst kind to get to grips with, good luck in getting it done! Another very enjoyable video, superb work as always, all the best, Nick🐸🐸👍👍

Nicely done ol buddy, looking forward to threading video, try the super duper. Cheers Don ✌️😎

Another excellent resto Martin, not to mention all the work in putting up the video. Much appreciated and inspires me to keep going with my own restos. I have also spent far too much time stringing this model without real success. Meccano used the same principle on the 969 BBC TV Extending Mast Vehicle. I wonder if a special non slip, non stretch cord and a special sailors knot is required. I also wonder if this ever worked properly even out of the factory. If you really want to knock yourself out, try the French Dinky 32d Delahaye Fire Engine. No pinch roller, just a friction roller and, would you believe it, elastic cord. Try getting the tension and knot right on that! If anyone out there has a tip for doing this right, please share!! Keep up the good work and all the best for the Channel this year.

That ladder stringing definitely wasn’t a easy task as you well demonstrated Martin , I have seen model ship builders use tweezers on rigging of sails🤯🤯🤯,(to me that’s easier said than done also)🤣🤣😆, Always Enjoyed watching your restorations 👍, you take care my friend 👋😎🚒🚗🚙

Hi mate it always amazes me how such a small diecast vehicle can come to life with a bit of new paint and some attention to detail just magic, excellent job. Bit of a tricky job looks like MRS Dare might have to give you a hand to juggle those ladders while you tackle the knots. Good to know the flooding river isn't giving you trouble. Here in Australia in Victoria they are wearing snorkels to walk around outside. In Queensland they have a saying...Beautiful one day perfect the next. They may have to change it to...Beautiful one day six foot under water the next. Nice and dry here in SA.....Well where we are anyway. It's starting to warm up here in the 30s this week time to get the shorts out and blind the drivers on the road with my white legs.🦵🏻🦵🏻😂🤣 Catch you next week mate.👍🏻

Awesome restoration Martin. Too bad about the string. It's only a problem if you give it to a child to play with. Cheers Timo

Another kool restoration Martin cheers mic😂

Martin try running the string in opposite direction, by tiring the string at the end of the main ladder, then hook the line into the other little piece, then what ever you do for there. Other words start at the end and work yourself to the start of the line. I'm just guessing from what I saw on the paper. For some reason that doesn't work, get a cup of tea and a biscuit and relax. Great video, I enjoyed it. Thank you

Nothing to apologize about...you'll get around it...

Noice job mate

Nice restoration on the Fire Escape , Fire engine Martin , looks great . Yeah tying that fiddly cord , l'll pass on that mate , lm all fingers and thumbs just thinking about it 🤔 😂😂

That's Knot a bad resto Martin. Knot something to take lightly hey! Knot only that but chilly finger's do Knot work well. Cheer's JV

Diecast Restoration dinky. Toys. Bedford. Fire. Escape. Ladder

Proper job that Martin, it's always difficult to know when to stop the camera rolling when encountering problems, you feel obliged to show as much of the resto as possible but sometimes it's best to walk away and deal with it off camera. I'm sure you will stop the ladder from stringing you along.🙂

Hello Martin great paint work most of my restoration s do not work l just like my models to look good in the cabinets hope you and your family are keeping well regards Glyn

Im fixing mine up Marty , arnt they lovely

Beautiful restoration of a beautiful model, but with a pesky string-system... what a nightmare. I wonder how they did these at the Dinky factory? Maybe they had some special tools, but I guess we'll never know.

Hi Martin and this couldn’t have come at a better time for me as I was thinking of doing the same model but was unsure of the process of dismantling it - now I know! The end result looks fantastic and I can only hope that mine will come out looking half as good as yours. Brilliant video mate, we’ll done! 👏👏👏. Cheers. Graham. PS. Did you receive an email I sent to you the other day?

looks nice and shiny again! good thing the ladder was't squeezed into oblivion as it so often happens with these pressed tin ones... and why not markign it as a truck from the fire station down the street? nice touch. ^^ "Knocking the bells off" sounds like a slang term meanign either something naughty, or something involving pints of beverage with too many RPM... XD aside that, the stringing looks awfully complicated; no wonder you grew frustrated. I know the feeling. say, I would have assumed the string would make a loop around the handle, because like this it can't function to draw the ladder up and down. is there something at the back end of the main ladder the string could go around? maybe I'm missing something.

Great job. Martini how did you fix the wheels back.

Well that was a sod wasn't it. Yeah throwing your toys out of the pram \ or shed 😂 isn't wise . Nice job 👍

Where did the decals come from mate ?

What brushes do you use?

Can't comment too much on this one Martin, Internet playing up.😢

I wanted to hear a few good ol' fashioned swear words. When you said 'Here's the offending piece of s...' I thought here it comes - but then you finished off with 'string' . Boooo! Nice work though