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.

Friday, September 28, 2012

A is for Arnold

This was sitting with the far more common Tri-ang tinpalte jeep on Adrien's stall (mercatortrading) at Sandown the other week, and while I kept meaning to shoot the other one as a comparison, I never got round to it. Luckily I could see the quality of this one and shot it immediately, as it sold before the doors opened!

 I'm assuming most of you are pretty familiar with the Tri-ang one as it is to be spotted at most shows (sometimes it seems - most stalls!), it is a nice little tin-plate model, usually adored with an Allied star and...er...that's it!

This on the other hand is absolutely exquisite, and while I have seen one or two over the years; I've never seen one with all three composition crew, the spare and Jerry-can, the windscreen intact etc...Made by Arnold, who went on to make the Rapido range of N-gauge railway stuff when I was a kid.

It is in a different league to the Tri-ang one, and most similar models, I have the Penguin jeep in Vulcanised Rubber somewhere and it too - is crude next to this.

A couple of three-quarter views, I could wax lyrical for a while on this, but I'd bore you, just click on the images and add it to your 'Wants List'!!

Cleaner ones with different crew; Here and Here

5 comments:

johnpreece said...

Dear Mr Collecting,

I wonder if you would mind a question that has nothing to od with your last post?

I am collecting a large number of civilians for the inter war years. These will be used with metal '20mm' figures for wargaming so I am looking for the larger railway style figures. ie the Airfix railway workmen set are fine but the railway accessories set are not. I know the great Charles Stadden did many figures for gthe railway collectors but all I have seen are smaller in scale (HO?).

Do you know of any figures that would fit my bill since ebay is flooded with useful looking stuff but I have no idea how big it is.

Thank you for indulging my Saturday morning ramble. May I say I think the nature posts are a welcome addition and envy you the access to the New Forrest through the autumn months.

best regards and thanks
John Preece

Hugh Walter said...

Hi John - What! You mean to say you came here with the express intention of not commenting on the lovely Jeep (TM) (R)? Shocking, I'm not sure I should should ever converse with you again after such a blatant social faux-pas!

In the meantime...you ask a question for which there is no good answer. The old Airfix 'Station Accessories' are certainly the easy way to go short-term, as they can be found, and while the originals are getting brittle, Dapol did re-issue them both as old ex-Airfix stock in cream polyethylene and latter in a grey styrene, and they are easy enough to find.

I wouldn't recommend the latter set of Airfix 'civilians' as they are more 1960/70's in general garb, although a few of them will paint up as earlier.

In plastic therefore; you would need to look at the smaller Merten, who are set in the 50's and will pass quite well for the inter-war years, Preiser tend toward more modernity?

Authenticast (Comet/Gaeltech) issued a nice set of HO civilians in that inter-war 'uniform' of suits and pleated skirts (albeit with the more casual or rakish headgear of our American cousins!) which I covered here; Second Image Down, but I don't know how easy they would be to track-down in numbers.

Then there are dedicated railway figure makers, Scale Link are one and these might be they; Third Image From the Bottom.

Other than that...I'd try a Model Railway forum?

As to the New Forest - I'm back in North Hampshire for a few weeks, so I've mostly got station-stop messages wafting over the gardens from the tannoy at Fleet station!! Ah! The sounds of Autumn..."Our services may be subject to change between now and the end of October due to line-conditions beyond our control...please listen out for announcements or consult our temporary timetable"

"We're Southwest Trians, and we really love your money...er...I mean...we really love our Government subsidy...No!...No, I mean - We really, really love you!"

Cheers - Hugh

Hugh Walter said...

Humm...re-read you comment and Station Accessories are out! As are Merten?

Larger figures, are really going to be Hornby and Triang types, all old and collectable, which translates an expensive!

The figures that come in handfuls on evilBay are pretty generic, modern, and not very animated, so you're looking at a lot of work to get them looking right.

Again, Marx did larger figures but hard to find now, likewise the Bachmann 'Plasticville'.

Have you looked at the 'refugee' sets that Preiser have started making in the last few years - I think they are 1:72'ish...try PSR (Plastic Soldier Review)? And one of the resin guys is doing similar 'vignette' sets in polyurethane vinyl.

H

johnpreece said...

Hugh,

thank you for (both) answers.

That is very useful information. I am constructing a 6'x4' area for a Spanish city in 1936.

I have a number of metal from Irregular Miniatures who do Spanish civilians and other refugee type figures.

In plastic I have a few figures from such sets as Imex pioneers or Red Box Gangsters, but I need a couple of hundred just standing around civilians. Of them all the Airfix (Dapol) Railway workmen set gives several useful figures in caps. But variety is very welcome.

I will try your suggestions and especially the Preiser refugees that I was not aware of.

Thank you very much.

John

Hugh Walter said...

Pleasure - I will be covering the Hornby stuff over the coming weeks...
H