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.

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

M is for More; Russian Rack Toys

Except I suspect most of them aren't actually Russian, and they may nearly all be actually from satellite countries, but they are from the Soviet 'collective' era, so; you know what I mean!

3rd October Revolution; Bulgarian Toy Soldiers; Demi-ronde; E. German; East German Toy Soldiers; Flat Figures; Hungarian Manufacturer; October Revolution; Plastic Flats; Poland; Polish Production; Progress Flats; Russian Rack Toys; Russian Toy Soldiers; Russian/Soviet; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Soviet Collective Era; Soviet Era' Flats Semi-flats; WWII Russian Infantry;
Chris Smith sent me a few shots as a follow-up to something posted here about a year and a half ago (the Russian/Soviet mini-season?), and I never got round top posting them at the time, in part because I'd had a thought on them. Some of the shots he sent are still waiting for another day, and a full follow-up on something-esle, but these were the others.

Now, it happens that maybe none of them are actually Russian, the four red ones have the look of Progress's flats about them which could make them Bulgarian or East German, who both had a Progress factory, but who either copied the Russian originals (Bulgarian factory's October Revolution cavalry flats, seen here passim) or made original designs (E. German factory's AFV's)?

While the two MG-gunners, have the same bases as Wild West and ancient Roman flats attributed to an - as yet - unknown Hungarian manufacturer, those distinctive 'Zulu shield' bases having been linked to Hungary by several commentators in the hobby, and most commonly found in the stock of Hungarian ebayer's? Although a Latvian seller on feeBay often has the same pointy-based figures? I think - size wise - these tie-in with the blue sailor set we've seen here from Rasnoexport at around 65mm, which would make them Russian.

So, the above could all be non-Russian production, in the meantime the thought I'd had on them was that "I've got some of those red ones somewhere?" . . .

3rd October Revolution; Bulgarian Toy Soldiers; Demi-ronde; E. German; East German Toy Soldiers; Flat Figures; Hungarian Manufacturer; October Revolution; Plastic Flats; Poland; Polish Production; Progress Flats; Russian Rack Toys; Russian Toy Soldiers; Russian/Soviet; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Soviet Collective Era; Soviet Era' Flats Semi-flats; WWII Russian Infantry;
. . . . except that when I'd dug them out a few weeks later, they (my sample, here) were clearly different, and while they can be called WWII Russian Infantry, have some of the signatures of Polish production; heavy bases and a more demi-ronde than flat sculpting, so may not be Russian at all!

At the time of writing (August 2020) there are two sets of these on feebleBay, both in a lovely shade best described as 'pastel heliotrope' or 'raspberry yogurt' , and both lot's consisting of the same four poses, so this may be a complete set? They are also both rather pricey, so clearly this would appear to be a 'rated' set back in the former USSR? 

3rd October Revolution; Bulgarian Toy Soldiers; Demi-ronde; E. German; East German Toy Soldiers; Flat Figures; Hungarian Manufacturer; October Revolution; Plastic Flats; Poland; Polish Production; Progress Flats; Russian Rack Toys; Russian Toy Soldiers; Russian/Soviet; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Soviet Collective Era; Soviet Era' Flats Semi-flats; WWII Russian Infantry;
Which leaves the silver guy we've seen before who happened to be left in Picasa for some reason . . . his flag reads 3rd October Revolution (I think?), and some have attributed his whole set to Poland, but they do fit the same 8-figure carriers as the Russian Napoleonics, which we know are Russian because the have the prices in kopeks and rubles marked on them in Cyrillic script! So he may be the only Russian in the post!

A size comparison with my may-be-Polish and a close-up of Chris's probably-Hungarian machine-gunner finish this brief look at a regular here - 'Soviet era' flats and semi-flats! To be fair, I really suspect the two MG's of being Hungarien, the rest probably are Russian in Origin!

A few days later - many thanks to Theo van der Weerden's wife for translating the flag, it actually reads -
"за власть советовъ" = 'For the power of the Soviets'

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