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, January 29, 2019

News, Views Etc . . .

S is for seems I'm a lazy git! I started various things over the weekend, and carried on with some others, but didn't finish enough to post anything today, although I've posted something nice for tomorrow.

Missed - Show
Toy Fair!
Toy and Train Show - Westchester County Center, White Plains - January 27, 2019

The theatre - lovies!
In the meantime, if you are lucky enough to live in sunny Cali-forn-I-A and fancy a drive to La Mesa, there's a classic playing at the Lamplighters Community Theatre with Toy Soldiers as part of the central theme; “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie, 'till February 10th.

ACW
Interesting story and toy soldiers get a mention!

Return of the Soldier
A bit late - seasonally - but a good news story nonetheless!

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The Gods giveth and the Gods taketh away!

The above was written yesterday, prior to my posting todays little NZ surprise . . . which - of course - isn't here; because my laptop died on me! Seems to be a charging port come loose, but it means the battery is totally dead until I get it fixed which won't be for a week or so, so I'll be having  a little holiday!

I'll try to do the show dates on Friday, but it'll be a sketched skeleton of a listing, because with no laptop I can't edit at home and slot in pictures or upload anything useful to a dongle . . . hey-ho, the luck couldn't last indefinitely!

Friday, January 25, 2019

News, Views, Etc . . . Forthcoming Events

Well, on the day of publishing these dates, it will be a month since Santa emptied his sack! Hey; the oldies are the goodies - once a year and only down a chimney! And when these dates are spent, it will be the first of February, a month has gone by; we are a twelfth of the way through the year . . . where does it go?

I still haven't done the review of Plastic Warrior from December (issue 173) I'll try to get it written-up this coming week, I can tell you it was full of good stuff!

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Toy Fairs
 
Saturday 26th January 2019

Nothing, nada, nix, zilch . . . put your feet up or do a bit of admin!

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Sunday 27th January 2019

Barry (not '-Island') - Chris Dyer Fairs
Barry Leisure Centre, Greenwood Street, Barry, Wales, CF63 4RU
Tel. - 01643 702 757
Mob. - 07966 694 579
10:30-15:00hrs
Admission £2

Lincoln - J&J Fairs (John & Julie Webb)
The Exhibition Centre, Lincolnshire Showground, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN2 2NA
Tel. - 01522 880 383
10:00 - 14:30hrs Approximately
Admission £2.50p, seniors £2, 1st child £1.50p

Shepton Mallet - Bulldog Fairs
Royal Bath & West Showground, BA4 6QN
Tel. - 01373 452 857
Mob. - 07917 125 641
10:30 - 14:30hrs
Adults £4, under 16's free if accompanied, early-bird (from 08:30hrs) £10.

Wirral - Barry Stockton Fairs - Merseyside Hobbies & Model Railway Show
Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight, Wirral, CH62 5DH
Web. - http://barrystocktonfairs.co.uk/
Tel. - 01513 343 362
10:30 - 15:30
Admission - Adult £4.50p, Children £1

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Tuesday 29th January 2019

Garstang - Janet Pearson - Garstang Evening Fair
Kirkland & Catterall Memorial Hall, PR3 0H
Web-presence unknown
01282 439 009
18:00 - Finnish
Admission fee unknown

Tonbridge - SRP Toyfairs (evening fair)
Angel Lane, Tonbridge, Kent, TN9 1SF
Tel. - 07739 998 012 (Paula or Gerry)
18:00 - 20:00hrs
Admission £1.50p, Children Free

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Auctions

Saturday 26th January 2019

Elstree - Excalibur Auctions (day 2 of a 2-day auction, day 1: yesterday)
The Village Hotel, Elstree, Hertfordshire, WD6 3SB (venue)
Ciltern Buisness Centre, Woodside Road, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, HP6 6AA (office)
02036 330 913
Free Tea or Coffee
Collectables, posters, memorabilia

Note - not 'Aversham' as advertised elsewhere

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Tuesday 29th January 2019

Stockton-on-Tees - Vectis Auctions (1st day of a two day auction)
Fleck Way, Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 9JZ
01642 750 616
Dolls, bears and soft-toy sale

Stieff monkey

The Doll and Teddy Bear sale to be held on the 29th of January features two private owner collections. The North Yorkshire Rupert the Bear Collection, features 51 lots of bears, diecast vehicles, jigsaws, puzzles and games, pictures, books and annuals, figurines and collectables from the popular character; and The Joan Donachie Collection Part 1, includes 163 lots of miniature vintage animals and bears, including Schuco and Steiff and "Solider Bob" a soldier bear. The collection also includes British vintage bears from Chiltern, Chad Valley, Farnell, Tyford and Merrythought, plus others, as well as French, German and American bears. Other items in the sale include Artists bears, Charlie bears, Chic-a Boo, Sally B Gollies and Gills Gollies and teddies, plus hard plastic, vinyl and porcelain dolls from Palitoy, Pedigree, Zwergnase, Anette Himstedt and many others. There is a selection of dolls clothing and fabrics, plus wigs, accessories and magazines, and a number of trade boxes of Barbies.

Joan Donachie

You would be hard pressed to come across anyone who was more passionate about teddy bears than Joan Donachie. Her quaint cottage, nestled in Barmill, near Troon held a treasury of furry friends in all shapes and sizes; from exquisite early Steiff, Chad Valley and Terrys, Chilterns, Pedigrees and Merrythought to more modern Steiff limited editions, mohair miniatures, Russ, Gantz and TY Beanies.

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Wednesday 30th January 2019

Stockton-on-Tees - Vectis Auctions (2nd day of a two day auction)
Fleck Way, Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 9JZ
01642 750 616
TV and movie-related sale

The TV & Film sale to be held on the 30th of January features a large collection of Star Wars items, including carded, boxed and loose figures, playsets and vehicles, signed pictures, trade catalogues, graded figures and the black series 6" scale models. Other items in the sale include Action Man figures, vehicles, accessories and clothing, Dr Who, Batman, Gerry Anderson and many others. There are trading, cigarette and lobby cards, film posters, comics and annuals, books, computer games, Lego, jigsaws, Subbuteo and much more.
 
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Thursday 31st January 2019

Sheffield - Shefield Auction Gallery
Windsor Road, Heeley, Sheffield, S8 8UB
Tel. - 0114 281 6161

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Friday 1st February 2019

Bedford - W & H Peacocks
Eastcoats Park, Wallis Way, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK42 0PE
Tel. - 01234 266 366
Viewing - Friday 25th January from 09:00-20:00hrs; Saturday 26th January from 09:00-16:00hrs; Thursday 31st January from 09:00-18:00hrs and from 09:00hrs on the morning of the sale.
Collectable toy auction

Poole - Cottees Auctions Limited
Mannings Heath Road, Poole, Dorset, BH12 4NQ
Tel. - 01202 723 177
Viewing 10.00-17.00hrs on Thursday 31st (10:00-17:00hrs) and from 9.00-10hrs on the 1st of February.
Sale starts 10:00hrs
General toy sale

Two auction-sale's on the same day? Never a good sign if you are a seller at either, lucky for buyers though!

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Overseas Events

Sunday 27th January 2019

Orleans - Mini Auto 45 / GTO - 40th Toy Fair
Parc Des Expositions, Orleans, France
Tel. - +33 (0) 683 195 676
09:00 - 17:00hrs
Admission 5

Five Euros for browsing 350-odd tables? That's cheaper than any equivalent show in the UK . . . but it won't be after march 29th!

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If you are an event promoter/show curator/auctioneer and you want your toy, model, collectable or popular-/youth-culture type sale/exhibition/event listed here - FOR FREE - or linked to; please eMail me -

maverickatlarge[at]hotmail[dot]com

- stating the date/s of the event, address of event, contact details, opening/viewing times, admission pricing and any other relevant facts/details or features - parking, travel notes, disability access, availability of refreshments, event subject matter &etc.

And please mention any flyer-art or poster-/leaflet-scans but send by separate eMail, in case they go to the 'junk' folder, from where they can be recovered and marked safe, but only if I know they're there!

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London Toy Fair

I am working on the Toy Fair stuff, but that'll start publishing fully next week, nothing really exciting, Papo have a couple of new figures and some lovely big-cats, Airfix have announced the WWI figures will be re-issued this year just in time for the 100th anniversary of the year after the year the war ended, which is lovely timing! They also have full D-Day 75th celebration stuff, including most of the WWII figure sets in both small scale and 54mm

They also have most of the small scale AFV range back in the catalogue (everything except the lost SAM-2 'Guideline' I think, both recent sculpts and the older ones. Of more interest to larger scale modellers is a range of 1:35 AFV's, mostly German (including two versions of Hetzer), but they are still only sketched-out with CAD-drawings  in the catalogue, so given Hornby's recent history of announcements, we'll see what develops later in the year - don't hold your breath!

Both Airfix and Revell have re-issued their Apollo 11 stuff for the 50th anniversary of Armstrong's small step, both companies also seem to be carrying the same lifeboat model! Airfix also have a boxed set with both the styrene Lunar Lander Module kit and the ethylene figure set in one box. Revell's other military stuff is very disappointing, but a nice 1:72nd U-Boot was on their stand.

I encountered the MD of Schilling on the Tobar stand, they are American not German, they are importers/wholesalers, they do work with Supreme in China and Mr. Sell needs to understand that bullshit will always come-out and makes a mess if you're the one holding it.

Schilling have some lovely retro tin-plate robots in their lists this year and are shipping into the UK by Tobar, to whom Hawkins Bazaar are (as suggested here in the past) a wholly-owned subsidiary, but with their own buyer/stock regimen, beyond that which Tobar imports.

HGL (Grossman as was) are about to set the UK alight with trick fly-filled, dog-poo slime, look for it under similar importer/jobber labels in your own territories (Jaru, Postler?)! Not a Small Scale World thing (although the flies would go in the fly bag!), but a likely next craze/summer craze, so newsworthy and a 100% improvement on loombands, or even glitter unicorn-poop!

I had a good chat with the people at GaleForceNine (GF9), and after explaining I had waxed lyrical over their Sci-fi and Fantasy stuff a year ago, but struggled to say nice things about the AFV stuff the other day was told that figure sets are on the way for those 'real world' gaming systems, and by 'on the way', it was explained they are in a container on the high-seas as I write.

They also had pre-production test-shots of a new 28mm game based on the Alien franchise, which make Nottingham's Genestealers © (P) ® Reg. TM, look like . . .errr . . . the poor imitation rip-offs they always were! They also had news of add-ons for Firefly and Star Trek and are still hoping to expand the figure range for the Dr. Who game showcased last year.

Also on the theme of 'nearly here', the Oxford Rail British rail-gun we looked at here (which looked questionable months later) is apparently about to hit the market. I wouldn't hold your breath, but a modicum of excitement is probably safe! While parent; Oxford Die-Cast, have a lovely RAF Bloodhound set with a better Lanny' than the old Airfix one!

Amerang are shipping NJCroce's bendable figures this year and a re-boxing of the Eaglemoss readymade die-cast & plastic AFV's, which are now in Solido-branded packaging. Schleich had nothing to report really. Bandai had nice (but 'New Movie') Thunderbirds stuff, which I will send toMoonbase in a week or so.

Gibson's Games (one of our longest-lasting, independent, board-game companies) have a new game with figures; Crystal Hall, the figures, four each in four colours, are witches around the 25/28mm size, but sadly all the same, single design/moulding.

And that's it for the headlines, most of the above will get separate posts in the next few weeks, along with a few others things I thought were worthy of a few shots . . . or this time next year if Picasa hides them again!

I didn't take so many shots this year 270-odd (against 400-odd last time), and no video (light was too poor), but - with a new camera - I've deleted less, so it'll work itself out and it's all grist to the mill!

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Violence

Away from the show and across the pond, a nutter in Wisconsin took an axe to the family car when he thought his wife had damaged his action figures! WTF? He also destroyed the family's TV and laptop in his fit of rage. Police reported the 34-year old gentleman had been drinking prior to the incident - no shit Sherlock; I bet he voted Trump!

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Weekend

I don't think I'm going to post anything else 'till . . . probably Tuesday? Been a busy week and while I had the last of the Kiwi's and a bunch of Caveman stuff for the weekend I haven't got round to the blurb and will probably spend the weekend backing-up my Dongles, there's 12 of them and they each take about three hours which is a chunk of spare time I haven't really got!

Ryman's have been doing a January deal on Intergral Easyslide's; two x 32GB drives for a tenner and I've decided to replace all my Verbatim Pinstripe's after the problem over Christmas, with two new ones; a 'worker' and a back-up, but it means splitting the 64GB drives into two, which is four, all-in!

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CMV is for Curious Multiple Verisimilitudes

I suggested, perhaps a tad facetiously, at the start of the month that the gods were smiling on Small Scale World as the year began, and that was before a certain parcel arrived from Hobbiton! Not only did the arrival of that parcel confirm the largess of the amassed deities, but at the same time what had been one of the 'co-incidences' became a weird triple!

Normally this would go on the Khaki Infantry page, but as there's more of a story to tell and as it's a while since we touched on CMV here, I thought I'd blog this here and tweak the images for the KI page another day.

54mm Toy Soldiers; Britains Herald Khaki Infantry; Britains Khaki Infantry; CM Toy Soldiers; CMV Toy Soldiers; CNV Toy Soldiers; Copies of Britains Khaki Infantry; Copies of Crescent; Copies of Herald Khaki Infantry; Copies of Lone Star; Crescent Khaki Infantry; Herald Khaki Infantry; Hong Kong Copies; Hong Kong Plastic Toy; Hong Kong Toy Soldiers; Lone Star Paratroops; Made in Hong Kong; MV Toy Soldiers; Old Toy Soldiers; Plastic Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
The string of connections began when Chris Smith sent me these shots, ostensibly for the KI page, as 'just' three more CMV's, early in the New Year and while I was yet to catch-up with all the emails and such like. One-each taken from Britains Herald, Crescent and Lone Star sculpts with a nice background made from plastic flat or semi-flat trees from three, four; maybe five companies.

54mm Toy Soldiers; Britains Herald Khaki Infantry; Britains Khaki Infantry; CM Toy Soldiers; CMV Toy Soldiers; CNV Toy Soldiers; Copies of Britains Khaki Infantry; Copies of Crescent; Copies of Herald Khaki Infantry; Copies of Lone Star; Crescent Khaki Infantry; Herald Khaki Infantry; Hong Kong Copies; Hong Kong Plastic Toy; Hong Kong Toy Soldiers; Lone Star Paratroops; Made in Hong Kong; MV Toy Soldiers; Old Toy Soldiers; Plastic Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
Less than 48-hours later, Brian Berke sent me another CMV shot of his sample of four ex-Britains Herald, three ex-Crescent and the same Lone Star sculpt, unpainted (there were paint remains on two of Chris's) and in (or 'photographing in'; see close-ups - below - for truer colours) a bright apple-green - above with the Crescent original 'Berserker' for size.

Brian also sent a couple of marking shots, one of which seemed to show a clear CNV, now my original manuscript notes describe them as 'CM/CMV, see also ABC and HK' which was how we looked at them in three adjacent posts ten-odd years ago, so I asked Brian if he could shoot the bases of a couple of others to confirm it wasn't just a squashed 'M', which he kindly did.

54mm Toy Soldiers; Britains Herald Khaki Infantry; Britains Khaki Infantry; CM Toy Soldiers; CMV Toy Soldiers; CNV Toy Soldiers; Copies of Britains Khaki Infantry; Copies of Crescent; Copies of Herald Khaki Infantry; Copies of Lone Star; Crescent Khaki Infantry; Herald Khaki Infantry; Hong Kong Copies; Hong Kong Plastic Toy; Hong Kong Toy Soldiers; Lone Star Paratroops; Made in Hong Kong; MV Toy Soldiers; Old Toy Soldiers; Plastic Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
The upshot of which was that we got an MV as well as a clear shot of several CMV's leading to the conclusion that the N is an N! Now it's obvious that the M has been lost under the rough-machining round the edge of the base and a look at some CM's will probably reveal similar marks where the V should be (not the M-in-a-C's of the original posts though - they may be someone else!), while the M and N punches sit together in the little metal box the engineer carries them around in so it's easy to see how the other 'mistake' could have been made.

Note how these have photographed in a range of shades not hinted at in the group shot, this happens sometimes with plastics, there are different colours of Airfix 1:32nd scale US Infantry (to the eye) but trying to show it with flash-photography is bloody hard!

54mm Toy Soldiers; Britains Herald Khaki Infantry; Britains Khaki Infantry; CM Toy Soldiers; CMV Toy Soldiers; CNV Toy Soldiers; Copies of Britains Khaki Infantry; Copies of Crescent; Copies of Herald Khaki Infantry; Copies of Lone Star; Crescent Khaki Infantry; Herald Khaki Infantry; Hong Kong Copies; Hong Kong Plastic Toy; Hong Kong Toy Soldiers; Lone Star Paratroops; Made in Hong Kong; MV Toy Soldiers; Old Toy Soldiers; Plastic Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
Close-up's; we've looked at similar errors here, Kong Hong is another, along with mirrored letters when the wrong set of punches is used; inverted or back-to-front letters are another fault you often find with these cheapies, and there's nothing terribly exciting about it all, but if you only find one and it's a first for your collection; the thing to bear in mind is that the manuscript note now reads 'CM/CMV/CNV/MV....'!

54mm Toy Soldiers; Britains Herald Khaki Infantry; Britains Khaki Infantry; CM Toy Soldiers; CMV Toy Soldiers; CNV Toy Soldiers; Copies of Britains Khaki Infantry; Copies of Crescent; Copies of Herald Khaki Infantry; Copies of Lone Star; Crescent Khaki Infantry; Herald Khaki Infantry; Hong Kong Copies; Hong Kong Plastic Toy; Hong Kong Toy Soldiers; Lone Star Paratroops; Made in Hong Kong; MV Toy Soldiers; Old Toy Soldiers; Plastic Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
By this time I had let both contributors know of the synergy of their two submissions, and Chris (correctly guessing the make-up of Brian's sample) sent this as a follow-up - the same eight poses (upper shot) in a similar green but these are unmarked, the lower shot compares the three CMV's with their pose-counterparts, and it's a pretty sure bet they are pantographed sub-piracies being both slightly smaller, and slightly 'blobbier'.

Thanks to both Chris and Brian for what morphed into an interesting look at some Hong Kong rack-toy stuff, which I could have saved for RT Month; but with the collection here now, there shouldn't be a problem filling August!

And today's title? I not sure it actually makes sense, but it looked good, sounds 'clever' and sort of gets the point across!!

Thursday, January 24, 2019

NZNAM is for New Zealand National Army Museum Figures - Reds on the Bed!

So, more 'New to Hobby' figures, although - I'm sure - known already to other Antipodean collectors, hinted at earlier this week, here, and not my discovery; but sent to all of you reading Small Scale World by Glenn Sibbald, who then had to draw my attention to certain aspects of them - long after I'd taken the first set of shots for this post.

I'd clocked that they were a bit special, by dint of them not being mentioned in the original 1978 supporting paperwork, but I hadn't noticed the obvious differences, even when editing the images, apart from the runner being complete.

Airfix; Les Collier; Les Tolmer; Lincoln; National Army Museum; New Zealand; New Zealand National Army Museum Figures; New Zealand Plastic Soldiers; New Zealand Toy Soldiers; NZNAM; Old Plastic Figures; Old Toy Soldiers; Pierwood; Plastic Toy Soldiers; Plastic Warrior; pp.22/23; PW Issue 162; Reds On The Bed; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Toltoys; Vintage Plastic Figures; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
A quick look at the figures first; reds are a bugger to get right, photographically speaking, but a green background seems to help, as do neutral beiges! I angled them slightly to get the semi-flat nature of the sculpts across. And shot to match the order of the earlier issue - which is chronological.

Airfix; Les Collier; Les Tolmer; Lincoln; National Army Museum; New Zealand; New Zealand National Army Museum Figures; New Zealand Plastic Soldiers; New Zealand Toy Soldiers; NZNAM; Old Plastic Figures; Old Toy Soldiers; Pierwood; Plastic Toy Soldiers; Plastic Warrior; pp.22/23; PW Issue 162; Reds On The Bed; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Toltoys; Vintage Plastic Figures; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
Not only were they absent from the original competition paperwork and the collector's magazine review, turning up later on the secondary market, but they have had a cavity-shuffle with regards to the order in the injection-tool, and must have been sold in a different format as they don't carry a flyer and haven't had their runner's end trimmed-off to fit the original bag-sealer's setting.

Airfix; Les Collier; Les Tolmer; Lincoln; National Army Museum; New Zealand; New Zealand National Army Museum Figures; New Zealand Plastic Soldiers; New Zealand Toy Soldiers; NZNAM; Old Plastic Figures; Old Toy Soldiers; Pierwood; Plastic Toy Soldiers; Plastic Warrior; pp.22/23; PW Issue 162; Reds On The Bed; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Toltoys; Vintage Plastic Figures; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
As well as changing the order of the figures, the short channel-runners leading from the main frame-runner to the figures have been spaced more equidistant to each other and directed into the undersides of the bases, rather than the offset 'kissing the rims' (Ooh! Matron!) of the older tool's configuration.

Yet, the flattened terminal 'blob' where the 'real' sprue came in, is the same on both samples, so the outer components of the tool and the main frame-runner are unchanged.

One suspects they were actual National Army Museum stock and it seems the obvious conclusion, but why they chose red for the re-issues is anyone's guess as it's a bloody-odd choice? I suppose it's colourful - helping to attract kids in the age of action-figures and movie promotional toys (1980's or even 1990's? They've only turned-up on the secondary market this century), sparking a bit of pester-power at the gift-shop's checkout tills perhaps?

Airfix; Les Collier; Les Tolmer; Lincoln; National Army Museum; New Zealand; New Zealand National Army Museum Figures; New Zealand Plastic Soldiers; New Zealand Toy Soldiers; NZNAM; Old Plastic Figures; Old Toy Soldiers; Pierwood; Plastic Toy Soldiers; Plastic Warrior; pp.22/23; PW Issue 162; Reds On The Bed; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Toltoys; Vintage Plastic Figures; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
Now we come to my bit of 'spanner in the works'. Although they are clearly by different sculptors, it seems to me that the less skillful sculptor on the NZNAM figures had at the back of his mind (at least) the slightly more consummate sculpts of original 'early-Airfix' figures, the similarity of pillar-like statuesque, casual, upright poses, the small 'penny' bases - I don't think it's accidental, and it's definitely food for thought? Of course photographing all the reds together -rather [falsely?] reinforces the idea!

Further - I think I'm right in recalling Lincoln (who made the NZNAM figures) used to issue Airfix kits in that part of the world - there can't be that many tools of a Sunderland Flying Boat? If Lincoln had a relationship with Airfix, they might have produced the set we saw this/last Monday, borrowing the mould before or after Pierwood? More mind-food!

And if you don't like the idea of Lincoln being behind the earlier figures, we learnt from Les Collier's article in Plastic Warrior (Issue 162, pp.22/23), that the head/founder of Lincoln was a chap called Les Tolmer . . . of Toltoys . . . further sustenance for the grey-matter?

I shall leave these three paragraphs hanging here until more is dug-up and it all becomes clearer!

Airfix; Les Collier; Les Tolmer; Lincoln; National Army Museum; New Zealand; New Zealand National Army Museum Figures; New Zealand Plastic Soldiers; New Zealand Toy Soldiers; NZNAM; Old Plastic Figures; Old Toy Soldiers; Pierwood; Plastic Toy Soldiers; Plastic Warrior; pp.22/23; PW Issue 162; Reds On The Bed; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Toltoys; Vintage Plastic Figures; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
Finishing with another close-up, this is the dismounted Mounted Rifleman from the South African campaign.

Many, many thanks to Glenn Sibbald for all these figures (he sent the only pack with an original price label!), I can't thank him enough, and I hope you've all enjoyed these three posts, along with the early Airfix/Pierwood/whoever posts on Monday, the finalising of the board game pop-stars and  . . . .there's still an couple of Antipodean posts to come, with an NZ-angle!

And if you want some - he's still got a few on the runner, along with loose; sets and figures, contact me and I'll pass your eMail on (maverickatlarge[at]hotmail[dot]com).