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, October 10, 2018

U is for Unknown Wild West Flats - 1 - 'Wild West' (Flats!)

The reason for these posts (there's four of them) is actually a return to the figures in the next post, but I thought I'd get the boxed set out of the way first. Because it's a few weeks now since I sorted out most of the two lots of flats I can't recall if these were here or in Basingrad, nor can I remember whether we've had them on the Blog yet or not? No matter, if we have . . . here they are again, if we haven't; here's some new flats for the blog!
 
Boxed Flats, Boxed Toy, Boxed Wild West, Cowboy Flats, Cowboys and Indians, Flat Cowboys and Indians, Flat Figures, Flats; Indian Flats, Polystyrene Figures, Polystyrene Toys, Small Scale World, smallscaleworld.blogspot.com, Unknown Flats, Unknown Plastic Figures, Unknown Toy Figures, Unknown Wild West, Wild West, Wild West Flats,
These could be European, they could even be Hong Kong, they may well be British, but from the nature of the box-art; a RCMP 'Mountie' and a First Nation chap being all friendly (The native has a war-bonnet on and inside the box has got his knife out!) I wonder if they may be from Canada?

Apart from the piece of artwork you can see on the lid; there is nothing, anywhere else on - or in - the box, liner or tray to indicate anything about anyone or anyplace, so still very 'unknown'.

There is some damage to most of them; either the Indians knife/knife-hand or the horses tails, mainly caused by the warping of the tray over time . . . but there are one of each good enough for close-ups!

Quality is better than Hong Kong, bases are deeper than Nosco and squarer-cornered than any European margarine premiums, so . . . British or Canadian? But 'Far West'? A bit odd for Mounties . . . maybe they are Hong Kong!

4 comments:

Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com said...

We called it the Northwest rather than Far West but the international border is there between the two which is why Sitting Bull led the Sioux over the border after the whole Custer thing. Which could easily be the inspiration. (Of course being more subtle, our politicians just starved them out once the buffalo supply ran low and then sent them home)

Anyway, they box looks familiar in style from my childhood but that really means little in a context of where they were made though in those days there were still some made in Canada toy soldiers.

(lousy mountie hat btw but he is in tunic and knee boots so not a cowboy)

Hugh Walter said...

Cheers for that Ross, I thought maybe early Reliable or Tudor Rose, both of whom seem to have operated both sides of the pond?

H

Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com said...

Reliable toys I had, especially the Fort McKenzie set. My first play set. I still use the ladders from it! It wasn't a US cavalry fort but rather some sort of armed trading post manned by Lido-like semi-flat, no base, plastic cowboys and their Indian enemies! But I loved it.

Hugh Walter said...

It's the love 'then', that keeps us collecting 'now' Ross!

H