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, December 5, 2011

D is for Detail

The real reason I grabbed the Japanese in the post below when I was at the unit the other day was because I thought I had the Japanese Detail figures missing from this lot; I didn't but we'll look at them anyway...

This rather grubby box was not a car-boot find, it came from the attic at Mums and consists of my Brother's childhood collection of Britains Detail, which as you can see is A) German heavy, and B) in a bit of a state brought about by 24 years or so in a poor environment, luckily they are PVC and will take a lot of punishment.

As can be seen some have a black 'bread mould' all over them, others a white bloom. They will clean-up with nothing more than a little mild detergent such as washing-up liquid or - as I used here - shower-gel!

Before and after shower-gel shots of the US Infantry. These are all early types with the separate arms, some would later be redesigned to have integral arms. The very earliest had brown bases, but they changed to green - as memory recalls - within the first year or so, the early Brits and Germans also got brown bases initially.

If you clean them in mildly hot/warmish water, you can also straiten any bent bits and get all the figures to stand-up properly at the same time.

There is a pose missing, as the officer in these shots has been removed from the recoiless-rifle base, yet without a catalogue to hand I can't remember the missing pose! The fact that they got a second set of new poses doesn't help...there was another advancing pose, a bazooka-man, a grenade thrower and others including another waving rifle (was he the other first series?) and a stabbing with bayonet.

Various arm-swaps, a paint colour variation (bottom left) and the rather tatty Recoiless-rifle given a new lease of life with a different figure. The rifle has been wedged in to the original slots! These guys are all missing their helmet stickers and while I know someone with German sticker sheets, I don't know anyone with the US stars (black on a red shield).

My brother has said in the past that I can have this box for my collection, but once they have been posted here there is no real need to keep them and I will clean them all up, give them a better container and put them back in the loft, he'll be glad I did one day...

6 comments:

peter said...

This summer I found some Wild West figures of this range on a flee market. I bought them for three euro together with lots of other figures.

That's a real treasure you're showing there.

Greetings
Peter
http://peterscave.blogspot.com/

Hugh Walter said...

Hi Peter

The Wild West tend to be undervalued, the number of sets, pose changes and colour variations actually means there are some quite rare ones amoung them, and a complete set will take half a lifetime to track down.

I have a few Wild West - mostly foot figures - and all from car boot sales and I like them, but after 40 years I still can't get my head fully round the metal bases!!!

peter said...

I think I bought four foot figures, as said with a lot of other old figures. And a fort!
And on the attick, I think I have some more, together with a complete Wild West town. All from the range "Germany" (I believe that's the manufacturer?)
So yo think I did a good deal?

Greetings
Peter
http://peterscave.blogspot.com/

Hugh Walter said...

Sounds like a good deal...'Germany' could be Jean (Hoefler) who also sold as Big, or Manurba (Manfred Urban) who sold in the UK as Tallon.

H

peter said...

That's it. Jean Hoefler (Höfler). I have a lot of them in different colors, painted and unpainted. The town and the fort are also from him.
It let me feel young again ;-D

Greetings
Peter
http://peterscave.blogspot.com/

Hugh Walter said...

I knew there was an umlaut in there somewhere!! :-)