About Me

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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.

Monday, January 18, 2010

C is for Cavendish Miniatures

Back's still hurting from the ladder incident the other day and now I have a cold so like most men, I'm monging about the house uselessly doing nothing, convincing myself it's worse than it is! So more larger scale stuff from the archive tonight...

Tony Kite's Cavendish Miniatures is one of those funny little companies that comes, contributes lots of figures in various materials to the hobby, and goes leaving lots of questions?

I'm not going to answer them here, just look one of it's products, the Beefeater or Yeoman Warder. Strange that apart from a few cartoony tourist keepsake key-rings and the semi-lunatic Charbens moulding (check his face sometime!) this is the only decent Beefeater made in plastic.

Top Row, left to right, Cavendish with separate metal axe; separate plastic axe (both; Yeoman Gaoler) ; the Chief Warder's 'Tower' staff, in real life the tower model is silver; the halberd or pike (known as a partisan), and finally; the later moulding with integrated pike. Note the similarity of painting style between the left-hand and right-hand figures, the metal accessories must have been a late addition, I'd always assumed they came before the plastic staffs?

The moulding was exploited by Hong Kong copyists and the two to the right on the bottom row are examples of the second version Cavendish in hard plastic, over to the left is one pantographed up to 60mm.

Cavendish carried these HK copies themselves after they'd stopped producing the ethylene originals, sold singly and in sets of various sizes, a large window box contained this figure, a Lifeguard, Horse-guard, Policeman and Guardsman with a copy of the Britains sentry box.

5 comments:

FIXED BAYONET METAL SOLDIERS said...

what else did they do?

Hugh Walter said...

A full range of plastic cerimonials, then the bought-in ones, there was also a range of metal figures, again most guards and cerimonial.

Also the famous Henry and his wives set in plastic sculpted by Stadden

FIXED BAYONET METAL SOLDIERS said...

can you make a list and post what you have. By the way I saw a fox in central london near the city when I was back after xnmas.My home is near the City

Anonymous said...

Hi
in 1998.cavandish miniature preduced some german ss band,and brown shirts + some luftwaffe and germn police , german high command[ hitler,goring,etc]
kind regards

Hugh Walter said...

Yes they did - from my archive's master list;

German Troops 1933/42, National Socialists (available as sets, singly or unpainted kits)
- Adolf Hitler (single figure matt-painted or unpainted kit)
- Herman Goring (single figure matt-painted or unpainted kit)
- German Police band
- German Police Colour Party
- Luftwaffe Band
- Luftwaffe Colour Party (as set with Herman Goring)
- SS/Gestapo Band
- SS/Gestapo Colour Party
- SA/Brown-shirts Band
- SA/Brown-shirts Colour Party (as set, with Hitler)
- Kriegsmarine Band
- Kriegsmarine Colour Party
- Wermacht Band
- Wermacht Colour Party

How's our friend from the newspapers?