R is for Raphael Lipkin Ltd.

This post is due in no small part to the Littlewoods catalogue page that Bill 'Wotan' posted the other day over on the 'Moonbase' (link to left). One of my favorite vehicles of all time top ten favourite vehicles 'Mate', messieurs's Backman, Turner and the Mighty Antar Overdrive!...did I say I do a lot of greeate work for cheearitee?...!

Three shots of the Raphael Lipkin Mighty Antar Tank Transporter with both it's own load; a Conqueror, and the Jimson copy of the Airfix 'Attack Force' Patton Tank I fell for at the PW show two years ago (where does the time go!).

Raphael Lipkin were a small London based company that produced a lot of the toys recognisable to people of a certain age...namely; people like me...oh, 47 all right!! But they didn't always mark them, or the packaging, so they go quite unsung, I know a guy who collects them as a speciality/side-bar to a wider collection of early British plastic, and while I've never seen his collection, I did see what he sold as swaps a few years ago and Lipkin featured.

If they are marked it's a little stick-man logo that spells RLL, but looks like it's trying to say LRL

The catalogue page courtesy of Moonbase's 'Wotan' Bill, along with the Hong Kong 'No.975 Armoured Car Friction Powered' which looks like Telsalda or Lucky but is in an unmarked box, showing the trailer stand/legs. Also the Tractor unit being used as a recovery platform.

The tank is polystyrene while the truck is polyethylene, the colour match being down to the use of neutral granules of each material with the same staining compound.

We used to make - here in the UK - toys that were worth exporting all over the world, toys that were worth every penny they cost and toys that kept people like me happy for a whole rainy August (apart from the odd fight with my brother! - some things never change), now they get bored with the three-billion things their iPod can do and torch the local High Street instead!

The value built into this is pretty 'special'...a four-piece tool set and winch handle, stored in lockers with secure doors. Working ramps and support-legs on the trailer, it's quality man!

Another excuse to check out the Triang Conqueror and also a look at the Airfix Antar with the sand version of the Patton Tank.