M is for Mettoy Medics . . .

. . . and various other related figures!

This started life as a quick 'Follow-up' post on the other two vignettes I've mentioned as being in storage, but sort of grew as things came out of that storage pile and were brought together with more recent acquisitions.

Mau's beside manner was dimmed somewhat by his instance on reading from a tedious little red book of aphorisms! Meanwhile nurse Crotchet decided to take the bed apart?

This is the 'Ward' vignette; we looked at the Surgical Theatre last time. There's a wash-basin, bed, table and chair with a bedside locker, bowl and lunch/puzzle-doing tray!

The other scene is of the Convalescent Ward or Day Room and is populated with the walking wounded and Nurse Ratchet poking someone in his wounded shoulder because he dared to ask for more at tea!

Now, following my pronouncements on arks, origins of infant toys, Trojan paratroopers and the forthcoming posts on Charbens cake decorations, I feel I'm on a roll and would like to suggest the sculptor (in Hong Kong?) of the mono-colour passengers in Multi-Toy's wacky Love Boat was also responsible for these figures, the fluid, smoothed-off sculpting is remarkably similar for both sets . . . as it is on a slightly 'stag' golf-tee, I also have in the collection!

The chap with the crutch has been very cleverly manufactured to hold his crutch's pad in a pinch-point, yet from the rear it seems that at one time he was being designed to have two crutches, or the ability to wear the one under either arm? That second hollow has been filled in from the front, but remains at the back.

A comparison with the Britains wheelchair began the expansion of the post into something - hopefully - worthy of the sum of its parts, the undersides of the furniture (most marked 'Hong Kong') being originally the last shot!

A further comparison of some of the other nurses (or matrons!) shows Toyway's to be well over the odds at 60mm+ while the two painted Mettoy's are from another (earlier?) set from the Ward 10 licensed franchise, but seem to have been home-painted, a near-mint box appeared on feeBay a while ago, and they were all (+ two doctors and a patient) in predominantly white plastic, with a few painted highlights.

Despite the fact that O'Keefe's syringe kit was probably original paint, I used the occasion of having them all out to get the pair of them steeped in oven-cleaner for a couple of hours, then scrubbed them with a tooth-brush and I think you'll agree that the exercise was worth the effort!

I have no idea what the faintly disturbing lump down the front of her gown is, but it seems to be some kind of production problem thing as it's absent on others I've seen, yet it's not a shrinkage mark; she's otherwise perfectly formed?

It may be due to overly high pressure at the injection-heat forcing extra plastic into the mould, extending the solidification time to the point where it expanded upon mould release, or it may have been an attempt to suggest a towel held in her waist-belt, which was removed from a second version of the sculpt - because it was faintly disturbing-looking!?

And the sculpting on these suggests they were all-UK in origin.

I already had a third figure from the set; a doctor, 'un-doctored' by semi-gloss PVA , but recently picked-up the other little-one, it had had a frightening price on it (which I won't share with you has it may have come my way as a favour) and was described as Mettoy, however, I couldn't believe that they had a third line so out of scale with the other two? And - Yes, that is the colour of her lipstick!

But as the outer-box, which had the two medical tubs in, was the 'Civilian' box, I had also found the Police tub . . .

. . . where I remembered seeing another pair of brown-based dwarves! The reason they were in the Police tub is down to their dark uniforms! It's clear that the nurse has been repainted, but I won't be stripping her back to bare . . . ooo-err! . . . plastic as - apart from the mouth - she's bearable as she is.

A quick perusal of the likely suspect's various 'PW Specials' didn't get far because Speedwell comes before Trojan, Una and VP! So I only had to wade through one-and-a-half tomes (Kentoy!) to find them.

PW's appraisal is that they are "probably" Speedwell, but could be someone else, and while they are similar to the German soldiers from Speedwell, they are unmarked. Their box however (get the Speedwell Special!) is VERY Speedwell!

As I now had the Kentoy publication out and the police tub in front of me and because the ambulance men looked a tad familiar I shot this quick line-up of Norman Tooth's work and piracies of it! The reason there's trojan on the screen is 'cos I was working on the Para' Battalion article at the same time!

The Policeman (4th from left) was one of the first figures Mr. Tooth designed for Kentoy, the figure was similar to the one he had already designed for Timpo (1st) and the mould went-on to Cavendish, due to the quality of paint on mine I suspect Cavendish [12-03-19 - now suspect it's actually a Kentoys - matt paint base], but as they probably also took the remaining-stock, as well as the moulds; who's to tell!

The two Hong Kong figures may have been sanctioned - much later - by Tony Kite at Cavendish, and he certainly carried them in his business as a purveyor of finest tourist trinkets!

But with or without his say-so; they are copies in hard styrene against the polyethylene of the other four - British - mouldings, one losing a millimeter or two in the reproduction process, the other enlarged to 70mm. The smaller ones were sold in sets of five with similar copies of the household troops (Guardsman, Lifeguard, Horse Guard and Beefeater), while I believe the larger ones were sold singly as stand-alone figures.