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.

Friday, April 20, 2018

G is for Gift-shop Guns and General George

While he was at the Museum of the American Revolution shooting this morning's diorama for us, Terranova also shot a couple of items in the gift shop, indeed; Brian made it clear in the accompanying eMail that he shot ALL the stuff useful to the blog in an otherwise disappointing retail display - I'm imagining piles of coasters, posters, place-mats, graphical key-rings, paperweights and printed Irish-linen tea-towels?

Branded to the museum, this gun is too big for 54mm; Brian reports, but it may be fine for larger figurines, Elastolin's 70mm's maybe? It's almost a scale-up of the old pencil-sharpener 'standard' of museum gift-shops in the 1970's and '80's, albeit without the sharpener! But the decoration (a sort of antiqued bronze effect and gilded barrel) is very similar to those older novelties.

I'm rather intrigued by the hint of working, wooden cannon - off stage right! It's just what you need for 'Little Wars'.

Brian was equally disappointed by this lump of poured resin, which - conversely - is smaller than 54mm! As you know I'm no fan of resin, it's a cheap technology which ends-up in High Street 'jewellers' windows as over-priced series of 'adult collectables' and at $12.99 this is about ten-dollars more than I think it's worth! Paperweight?

However, resin has its place and I do show it from time to time (Brian's Kung Fu/Ninjas the other day and we'll be seeing another bear soon!) and if you were to find one in a junk shop for a couple of dollars it'd paint-up well; it's a reasonable sculpt?

And that was it for 'Toy Soldier'-related stuff in the gift shop. Thanks again Brian.

2 comments:

Terranova47 said...

Hugh, your 'imagining' is accurate. With such a great diorama the lack of follow-up by the shop was sad.

Hugh Walter said...

Not so much 'assumption' Terra' as a list of things in every museum gift shop I've ever been to!

H