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.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

F is for Final Post - on Blue Box WWII...

...for now!! Finishing off the images I took a while ago now, with the last of the Blue Box World War Two figures (50mm Farm and Medieval still to come), These are both small samples, and while it would be nice - for completism - to think there were only three poses in each set, the unpainted officer hints at more.
It's weird; the GI's and Germans are quite common, the Ri-Toys copies of the Aussies and Japs are very common, yet the Blue Box originals of both, along with the ones we are looking at today are really hard to get, doesn't mean they are rare, but they are not that common.


So, the British Infantry and the Russian 'Red Army'; three of each here, with original paint. The unpainted green officer is to be assumed the British officer until someone says otherwise, and points to later unpainted issues as with the US and German figures. He is quite similar to the Russian officer next to him and the Germans had one of their two officers waving a pistol, so clearly a favourite pose of the sculptor Blue Box were using!

The entrenchments (more; 'revetments'!) are interesting, they are copies of the Marx 'HO' [30mm!] copies of the Hillco/Cherilea (?) mouldings, and further evidence the link between Blue Box and Marx I've mentioned before. I think the green ethylene ones in the foreground were the earlier, the later blow-moulded one lies behind.

4 comments:

MSFoy said...

Hi Hugh - I've sent an email to the address on your blogger profile - if you can get back to me with a postal address I'll get the Historex sheets to you asap. Cheers - Tony

Hugh Walter said...

Hi Tony, I've left a thank you on your post and an offer to supply all the docs as scans should anyone want them.

Your email hasn't arrived but I thing Blogger may have a conflict with my mail addresses as I had to create a gmail one for work and the aggregating software at Google has assumed it's me and replaced the Hotmail on the login screen without asking me?

It's all a bit 'Big Brother' actually (Orwell not C5!)- each time I log on to the gmail it asks me if I'd like to import all my messages from the hotmail address!!

If you want to try the other, it's;

maverickatlarge[at]gmail[dot]com

Thanks again
Hugh

agaist all banners said...

I will like to suggest for 40-50 mm scale Blue box original data picture to contact me if like x some update and information, your link is interesting in many aspects but there some confusing /mix data regarding BB company of which I owned most of their modern/western and medieval/else sets.
The aussies listed as BB original are not BB.The one marching poses is neither from original BB set of six poses.Rado did sold a cloned full set of original BB aussies as you had listed.
BB partisan were done in 45-47 mm scale ;and few other detail.
All my collection come from my childhood and is true to the point.
I had done 3 visit in past to original HK facilities of BB as well now Chinese factory and RADO office still in HK.I do travel to china often and my main idea is to supply the right information base in my experience. In past PW magazine had published several of my works/find base on it and else. In case interested you may contact me as you like.
thank you best regards,
Erwin

Hugh Walter said...

Hi Erwin - I'm guessing something got lost in translation here! Thanks for the offer, but I've pretty much covered Blue Box now until I get the boxes and sets out of storage.

I've put the original Australians (with the late Ri-toys copies) on a separate post, click Blue Box down the right-hand side of the page and you'll find all of them!

There is a persistent rumour of the French Resistance/Partisans being done in the larger size, but nobody seems to have seen them and when Opie put his collection through Bonhams, there wasn't a set as far as I recall. I have done the small ones, again the tag-link will take you to them.

I must of read you articles so well done for them and the factory visits.

Thanks for passing.

H