BERSERKER!
We arrive at the Crescent 54mm Khaki
Infantry, and the 'Berserker' (a faintly daft pose bobbing for apples with a
biro stuck up the barrel of a pop-gun!) has come down from the attic and been
removed from the box, should have done it ages ago, but I'd sort of convinced
myself they were in storage!
As you can see my sample is a bit 'bitty', although
my Blue 'enemy' versions (issued in a boxed set with the rocket-launcher) have
increased from two to four since we last looked at them. The rest are a mix of
tatty to home paint.
Copied in small-scale, probably initially
by Blue Box, supplied to Tri-Ang for their Battle Space line of OO-gauge railways, they soon spread to many
other pocket-money/rack-toy pirates and there are many, many diminutive clones
of these fellah's, usually mixed-in with Britains
poses - the Flamethrower escaped the exercise.
I'm not sure about either flamethrower's
paint, I suspect they’ve both been mucked about with, and one day I'll probably
strip most of mine back (kneeling gunner is OK) to bare plastic just to improve
the overall appearance of them as a group . . . or just look out for some
better ones, they're not particularly uncommon.
The story used to be the blue ones were
issued with a gun, but I believe they came with the die-cast rocket launcher,
which we may have seen here? I'll add an old low-res feebleBay image below.
The flamethrowers again - not must to shoot
with such a small, tatty sample! I'm sure it should be bare plastic, the
trouble is the painting of most Crescent is pretty rigid, but the Wild West
range is all over the place, and the white tanks look like some of the
Mexican's paint, so maybe an over enthusiastic out-painters 'Friday flourish'?
No, it's a kid with idiot-fingers and a tin of Humbrol gloss, I know'sit!
I like this guy, nice pose, well executed
and believable, you can picture him in the bockage waiting for the order to go
through another hedge-line and see what's lurking on the other side.
As mentioned above, one of the boxed
versions of which got the blue figures. This also appears in primary colours
(red cab, BR-green body) as a more toy like thing. But in desert sand with
[panzer] black mudguards, it needed blue figures . . . Germans! Lacking from
the Crescent range for probably obvious reasons, they were snuck in later (by
marketing?), to escort a 'V2' across the battlefield! In army green it was
issued with 60mm helmeted 'commandos' as set 1202
First job for the newly liberated
Berserker! A found object; another of the Zuru
capsule toys (although now in blind bags), I found this guy in the street the
other day (obviously a rich kid's duplicate, poor kids don't throw away their brand-new
toys!). I think he's some sort of bad Spidey? You know my view of Marvel (my view of DC isn't much better but I prefer them to Marvel!), as a bad Spidey
he needs bayoneting by a berserker!
He'll join Mr. Burke's berserker in the photographic department here at SSW Towers, not all
the time, but from time to time as a 'sizer' in comparison shots - when I
remember to use him!
Interesting that you mention the Tri-ang Battle Space small version. Given the size of the Tri-ang range of toys, with the tin plate Minics for O guage railways, the larger Sherman and armoured car, the smaller plastic Minics as you recently blogged with the tank transporter/lowloader with armoured car, yet no toy soldiers?
ReplyDeleteHas there ever been an explaination of why this gap in their ranges?
No! . . . but I would imagine that is was A) they first (the grandparents) saw themselves as makers of 'traditional toys and plaything (hoops, dolls, bricks, puzzles), then B) the kids just felt is better to leave the field to Britains, and later C) the corporate body could see there was no point tackling Airfix?
ReplyDeleteAlso Lines was such a vast empire by the mid-60's they may be behind a figure maker somewhere - not necessarily in the UK? Taffy - for instance, remain enigmatic, but someone put some money behind the big boxed set!
H
Should read 'parents'!
ReplyDeleteH
I am going through the process of repainting these as well as the 60mm versions. You give the community a great insight into the hobby so was just wondering if you knew which colour the helmeted versions of both sizes 54mm and 60mm they originally came in? The Citadel Acrylics i use have come up zero so they must of been a Humbrol Gloss paint variant i am guessing. The 54mm versions also have 2 paint variants a green and a much lighter grey/green. Any help would be much appreciated. Cheers Colin.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest Colin, the person to ask is Paul Morehead over at PW, I know he knows of at least one company who definitely used Humbrol. My 20mm Lone Star wild west seem to be using the Airfix pinky-red, which may be a clue, but wrong company anyway, and there were lots of little hobby-paint suppliers back then, most with limited ranges . . . red dragon, gloy, joy . . . but they would have done custom stuff in bulk for a customer like Crescent?
ReplyDeleteTry Paul!
H
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ReplyDeleteI'm guessing you found the search bar and Tags (Click-on Index) Oliver? Thanks for dropping in!
ReplyDeleteH