I recently realised that I am very obsessed with Minis - I have been unconsciously collecting them, without doing it on purpose, for over 15 years, more than half my life - that was quite a spinout. I decided to take some pictures and document them a little. I don't have many very special models, I have some that are a bit off-beat and unusual though...

Here are the first ones I bought when I was about 13, after Dad and I bought and then (sadly for me) sold our Mini K, I bought these with my share of the proceeds, they are Tomica models.

These are Corgi models, produced and sold in the 60's, the blue one has been repainted, but the others are in original condition. None of them are in great condition, they've all been played with, chipped, scratched etc. There is a '67 Monte Carlo winner, and a Mini Marcos

Here are my radio controlled Minis (except for the one BMW mini I have). Ranging from the big yellow 4WD petrol powered monster, down to the tiny blue hotwheels sized "MiniHeart" one, which I race around on my desk - my favourite is small the blue/white one with the black wheels, it is a very accurate model. I have taken the windows etc. out of it because I tried painting it and made a mess, then didn't get around to fixing it.

Here are my Franklin Mint model Minis, extremely detailed, beautiful models. My mum gave me the plain red/black one for my 21st birthday, and my wife gave me the other 2 for birthday presents over a couple of years. I have a feeling they copied heavily from the Tamiya plastic model kits, some of the details are very similar...

These are my Cararama models, dad bought me the blue one, I bought the others over time. The plain yellow one was hard to find, I ended up getting it in Japan. I wanted it as a replica of my Gold Cooper

Here are my Hotwheels models, all bought off EBay, except for the box set in the background, which I bought in Japan, then found in my local Target store. I bought a job lot of 12 of them from America, and I have given a few of them away to friends and friends kids. I really like the models, they are chunky and racey - a great feature is that the body comes off with a slide switch underneath. I have 4 of a special limited edition, which has rubber tyres and some other features, I took one of the yellow ones and painted it with the colour of my old Blue Cooper, and put it on the chassis of one with rubber tyres. It sits on my desk...

This one is very unusual, I found it on a work trip to Japan. I was looking for a present for my wife, when I found it in a department store - it's clockwork. You wind it up and as it drives, the winder touches the ground, making one side lift up and the car turns, so it drives on the floor in a triangle pattern, I love it...

This one was given to me by my friends at work when I was recovering from my accident. They bought the model and took it around the office and people wrote messages to me. Notice inside there is a small model, upside down with the roof crushed, isn't that sweet? hmmm :)

This one is a miniature, same as a Micro Machine, so about 3cm long. I have had the truck since I was a boy, and when I bought this model I dug up the truck to go with it.

These 2 are from the same manufacturer, they are cheap and nasty, but still Minis. The Mr Bean one was a promotion from Fiji film, buy a pack of films and get a Mr Bean Mini, the other one was in the supermarket I think - "the last boom town in America"?? huh?

There you have it...

Not discussed are a couple of others, a few pull-backs, a keyring, and I am building a couple of Tamiya 1/24 model kits, as replicas of my Cooper S's.

I also have 4 BMW Mini's, I'm not proud of it, but I will admit that I have them. One is a tiny pull-back that BMW were giving away when they were launched. It has a magnet on the bottom, so will sit on the fridge door. One is radio controlled and was $10 at Strathfield, and the other 2 are just models...