About Me

My photo
No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

W is for World War One (Part 1)

I know I'm dragging the arse out of 'W' but I can't find the next 'V' I wanted to do!! Looking at a few bits from the First World War, prompted by a purchase at the weekend. After years in the wilderness, both WWI and the late 19th C colonial period are enjoying a resurgence, with Emhar, Hat and Strelets*R all providing pieces of the picture that were - like a second hand puzzle - missing! Top row are Clive Knight for Tradition, middle row are all Stadden's while the British Lancer is a Willie by Suren, an Airfix German feels rather inadequate while providing a size comparison! [See also; The two Prussians in the following post.] Sky Birds 'Boche', I thought there were three poses, but I only seem to have two, as it's a large sample from dozens of sources over the years, I must have imagined the third pose!! As if to confirm the false memory syndrome; I can't even decide if I'm imagining an advancing pose or a standing firing pose!!! Doh! Unless I've got some more somewhere else, I guess it's just the two, these go with Airfix, size wise but are chunkier and from a different - later - period of the war. The good old - complete with all faults - Airfix tank, made-up as per the instructions, with a couple of the Galoob Micro machines in the foreground. Airfix have in the last few weeks announced two new versions of this kit, with 'new parts' added, the female will NEED new parts, whether they will add new parts to the male, is another matter, and I think both will still have the rear steering wheels included. This is relatively recent Hong Kong/China production, based on (but not the same as...) the fictional WWI tank in the (2nd?) Indiana Jones movie. Loosely representing the Anglo-American Mk VIII 'International' of 1919, it's a very unusual and pretty unique design for a HK company to come up with, and it came with a similarly coloured/camouflaged modern USMC LVTP!! Both in a reasonably usable 1:76/72 scale...Bargain!

No comments: