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.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

O is for Out of Ammunition!

When in doubt; get the rope and clubs out! More of a box-ticker this one as I don't have many examples of either pose, so I've shoved them together into one post

Britains - original on the left; I suspect repainted, it's not clear but he's a bit glossy and I don't remember seeing any other old ones with that shade of blonde! That shade, however, is used by Hong Kong on the final, separate-base version (right-hand figure) that's also so colourful he can only be clowning rope-tricks at a Rodeo!

In the middle is a mid-issue PVC, just after the Hong Kong production move, he's not bad as a colour-way.

Straight copies - They seem to be Speedwell, Una, Speedwell and Hong Kong going from the left. The Hong Kong one is assumed, compare him to the kneeling firer (last week) and you can see the same gloss paint and glossy plastic, and while some of the late Trojan's are glossy plastic they are also wackier plastic colours, and less glossy paint?

Trojan based their guy on a Lone Star version (or was the Lone Star after Trojan?) by replacing the lasso with a whip. The old rope-end has been left as a rudimentary or 'vestigial' pistol!

The clubbing bloke is never a priority and as a consequence I've only shot four, two held here and two a few years ago. These are the local two, a late vinyl Britains from HK to the left and Speedwell to the right.

Two more; one of the base-marked Speedwell's in a soberer grey plastic and an 'unknown' in black, with a thinner, unmarked base, he looks to be one of these 'Early British' figures, and the boots painted to match the base is a trope we see with Speedwell Khaki infantry, is he a Speedwell variant? Unmarked UNA (the thin base matched the small Indians?) or unattributed VP?

Or another company altogether; Kentoys haven't been linked with Wild West (and the quality's poor for Kentoys), but then there's this Best Model Sets newly re-discovered by Plastic Warrior magazine's members; JG Garratt credits BMS with 'Westerners', his term for Wild West, might this be a BMS figure, which would make the likelihood of some of the unknown Khaki Infantry being BMS greater too? So far all the BMS finds have had heavier bases though?

Close-up's to compare the different base styles. The black one is a three-part mould to Speedwell's two, with the split-line round the edge of the base rather than straight-across it but it's a much cruder, simplified figure, a copy of a copy, if it wasn't for the matt paint and khaki infantry link; you'd think - maybe Hong Kong.

No comments: