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.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

V is for Variations on a Theme

As per yesterday's third post, when I first sorted these out for last Friday's  'Jiggle-O-Chrome' shots, I ended-up with three piles, they have now all been re-united in one bag. Unlike the Wild West figures, these are all marked on the base, but in common with yesterday's set share an eclectic mix of donor-paths.

AIP; Airfix; Airfix marines; Airfix Paratroopers; Airfix Russian; Arco Rambo; Armymen; Atlantic Marines; BAR-gunner; BMC; Cherilea Modern; China Pirates; China Toys; Chinatroops; German Infantryman; Layla; Made in China; Matchbox; NATO 54mm Swoppet; Radio Operator; Rado; Reisler Wire-Cutting; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; WWII Japanese Figure;
So, the first pile was 'Armymen'; dark green, and included some figures taken from the old Arco set of Rambo figures, a Matchbox radio operator, Airfix running German infantryman and three prone figures of more original design, the left hand one is closer to the Atlantic Marine than the Airfix one, the middle guy might have a bit of Airfix Russian grenade-thrower about him, and the right-hand one looks vaguely European . . . Atlantic, Layla? I've seen those crossed ankles somewhere . . . Reisler? It is isn't it? The Reisler wire-cutting guy?

AIP; Airfix; Airfix marines; Airfix Paratroopers; Airfix Russian; Arco Rambo; Armymen; Atlantic Marines; BAR-gunner; BMC; Cherilea Modern; China Pirates; China Toys; Chinatroops; German Infantryman; Layla; Made in China; Matchbox; NATO 54mm Swoppet; Radio Operator; Rado; Reisler Wire-Cutting; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; WWII Japanese Figure;
The second pile was paler 'Armymen', and had the variant of the Airfix running guy who seems to have originated in a set of Hong Kong figures sent to France, I know mine come from Samewise (link), there's another Rambo pose and I'm not sure about the grenade thrower, the prone are again interesting with a BAR-gunner and another Reisler-like figure, while the two standing figures look familiar but I can't place them right this moment - coastguards?

It was looking like they probably belonged together with the first lot, but I try to be diligent in these matters and was at the same time building a third, smaller pile of . . .

AIP; Airfix; Airfix marines; Airfix Paratroopers; Airfix Russian; Arco Rambo; Armymen; Atlantic Marines; BAR-gunner; BMC; Cherilea Modern; China Pirates; China Toys; Chinatroops; German Infantryman; Layla; Made in China; Matchbox; NATO 54mm Swoppet; Radio Operator; Rado; Reisler Wire-Cutting; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; WWII Japanese Figure;
. . . bog-standard, Airfix umpty-something-generation copies in a third shade of green! Because they have been copied from already appalling figures, they do look a little different to the other two lots with a flashy join-line and lumpier detailing, but the base edge matches . . .

AIP; Airfix; Airfix marines; Airfix Paratroopers; Airfix Russian; Arco Rambo; Armymen; Atlantic Marines; BAR-gunner; BMC; Cherilea Modern; China Pirates; China Toys; Chinatroops; German Infantryman; Layla; Made in China; Matchbox; NATO 54mm Swoppet; Radio Operator; Rado; Reisler Wire-Cutting; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; WWII Japanese Figure;
. . . and they all have the same mark? So as with the Wild West set, I think they do all go together, and further, the CHINA is the same as yesterday's set so I'm guessing they are from the same source.

AIP; Airfix; Airfix marines; Airfix Paratroopers; Airfix Russian; Arco Rambo; Armymen; Atlantic Marines; BAR-gunner; BMC; Cherilea Modern; China Pirates; China Toys; Chinatroops; German Infantryman; Layla; Made in China; Matchbox; NATO 54mm Swoppet; Radio Operator; Rado; Reisler Wire-Cutting; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; WWII Japanese Figure;
All together and - again - from behind; is the grenade thrower from a WWII Japanese figure; BMC or AIP . . . Rado? And the Rambo rocket Launcher now looks a bit Cherilea modern/NATO 54mm swoppet!

I have heard several anecdotal (and not so anecdotal - from the horse's mouth) stories of rich Singaporean, Malaysian and Hong Kong collectors [or businessmen claiming to be collectors?] offering European collectors big-bucks for whole collections. Could that have anything to do with this sudden flowering of variety in army men pose-counts in sets which had been getting a tad tired through the turn of the century? Or are those Russians working with Chinese producers feeding their spare figures to the awoken very awake dragon?

More thanks to Peter E for another interesting and eclectic set of modern-production figures.

PS - I think all five prone figures are ex-Reisler sculpts? Brilliant . . . unless you're Reisler!

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