Military bits and pieces here, not everything, just a round-up of a few things not covered above, and/or photographed in the big session last year.
Mostly
1-75 Series small 'box-scale' stuff, I don't know when the
Stingray fish-thing was made (there's probably a date on it but it's back in storage) but it must be before
Carlton had the franchise in the late 1980's? Metal to plastic wheels, metal to plastic hooks, the ambulance lorry is a repaint, the
Stalwart is missing its cover, a late trailer and dump-truck...all a bit of a mess but this stuff is sub-scale and not on my main radar. Indeed about half the above are left-overs from my childhood that somehow refused to die through adolescence and house-moves! Oh, and a
Jurassic Park dinosaur tow-truck!
These are
Matchbox Collectables from 1995, not sure if the mouldings have appeared elsewhere (
Altaya, 21st Century, Del Prado?), this would have been some
Universal or
Mattel marketing thing with
Dinky copyrighted on the same boxes!
They are rather nice models, compare the
Battle Kings Sherman with the MC one. Die-cast and plastic parts, good level of detail and the finish is realistic, something always absent from the
Battle Kings! Like the same-generation
Corgi stuff there's a ratio of 5 parts packaging to 1 part model!
It was a short-lived venture going to clearance with a year or two and I missed out on a couple of others by not acting quickly when Andy from
Harfield's got a few in the late 1990's!
Colour variations of the standard 1:76 scale boxed figure sets, with 'European Theatre' grey-blue
Afrika Korps (top left) and grey NATO Para's (top right), I think they ARE grey now but these were a few years old a few years ago!
And - below them - the mad bright blue German Infantry I bought while visiting friends in Berlin in 1994 which must have been an early run under the
Revell ownership? By which I mean there was/is a very small
Revell graphic on the box but it was a year or two before you could get re-issues of
Matchbox figures in the UK under the
Revell banner.
The dreadful PVC offerings of the 1990's, least said - soonest mended, but...those images aren't distorted, the figures are that shape!
Nice post Hugh, I have often wondered about picking up a few Stalwarts for my Cold War Brit's but not having handed one I was unsure how the scale match would be.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work.
Regards Paul
I used to have tons of the matchbox vehicles, great Little things..mud and being dropped resistant
ReplyDeletePF - Toward the end Dinky did a cheapie in a set of three with a Ferret and a DUKW, it was a bit big, but for War Gaming if you're not fussy...they are big vehicles...out of the water they were very tall.
ReplyDeletePB's - Yes they were a nice little range, I live in hope of finding a loose Saladin with the barrel intact, but they were prone to braking and the boxed ones are silly money!
I wonder if my mom stil has our old matchbox cars...
ReplyDeleteYou can but ask! Cheers for passing DSD.
ReplyDeleteHugh