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, April 21, 2010

Mc is for McSomebody-or-other?!

Looking for help with these. Marked LF Mc 1973 or 1974, for years I thought they were McEwan, only because the 'Mc' couldn't easily be applied to anyone else and I knew he'd done Sci-Fi figures in his Starguard series. Anyway the other day I thought I'd sort the question out once and for all and had a quick look on Google, well the first thing was the names don't match, the figures are marked LF and McEwan is J for John.

Left to right; Minifigs Mystical Earth; ME100 Cetaur, ME101 Pan;
Science Fiction; SF3 Aquila Death Angel, SF 4 Vertos Robotic, SF8 Aquila Starman.

So next thing was to contact Mr. McEwan and see if he knew anything about a similar range from the same period by a McSomebodyelse....He kindly replied that....he didn't! So next stop; Lost Minis Wiki where it was going to take a lifetime to find them, likewise The Miniatures Page (TMP) was going to take three-and-a-half lifetimes!

In the meantime I had gone through the other 'Unknown Metal' boxes, thinking I had some similar ACW, I didn't! But I did have some Ancients, Medievals and Colonial Zulu's, two of which had a better mark...

Clockwise from top left; Egyptian foot soldiers, Roman archers, Lombard style crossbowman, mounted Samurai archer and Zulu's.

The horse and the Roman in green tunic are both marked 'Leonard Frances McQuirk', so who was he? and for whom did he sculpt? The complete lack of info. leads one to assume they were released by a better known 'name'? There is a McQuirk who's working/worked for the dreaded Games Workshop, but this is not their style, however he might have started out making well-proportioned figures before taking the path of the 'Dark Side'. Some of these also have earlier dates, 1971 and 1972.

Most of the figures are between 22 and 23 millimeters, however the two taller SF figures are closer to 25mm.

Any help greatly appreciated, and if we can get a definitive I.D. on these I'll get them uploaded to the lost figures Wiki in order that they don't get lost again. One of the problems with both 'Lost' and 'TMP' is that they are listed by maker, someone with some time on their hands needs to start something for metals like PSR, that can be searched thematically as well as alphabetically? A mammoth task I'm not volunteering for!

PS - Can anyone suggest a source for the metallic pink/mauve used on the Sci-Fi 'Witch-doctor'? It's not Humbrol or GW, it's a gloss, and I suspect it's a colour-matched Railway livery by Gloy, Joy or Precision or some similar brand?

Xaltotun of Python from Kingdoms of Antiquity has identified the Egyptian as Minifigs 'S' range, but thinks they may have been marked by the owner?

And I've now found the SF stuff on Lost Minis as Minifigs, see designations above.

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