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.

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

N is for Novelty Highlanders!

Let's get the oddities out of the way first!

Britains Copies; Britains Herald; Britains Herald Highlanders; Britains Highlanders; British Infantry; Dewar's Whiskey; Dewar's White Label; Fridge Magnet; Gordon Highlanders; Highland Bandsmen; Highland Pipes & Drums; Highland Toy Figures; Highlanders; Key Chains; Key Rings; Key-Fobs; Made in Hong Kong; Magnet Toy Soldiers; Magnetic Toy; Novelty Figurines; Novelty Key Ring; Novelty Pencil Sharpener; Novelty Stationary; Pencil Sharpener; Piracies; Scots Highlanders; Scots Troops; Scottish; Scottish Infantry; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; White Label Whiskey; Zang For Herald; Zang Highlanders;
Alongside the Dewar's Drum Major we've seen recently and included for sizing, we have a rather nice Hong Kong piper, based on the Britains Herald pose (as most copies are) but with the novel change of headgear to a side-cap, his pipes are also further spread with a thicker connecting sash (which probably has a special name but I don't know it!) sans tassels.

Then there are three versions of key-ring, the one on the right being a heavier sculpt in a softer PVC to the other two, along with a mini-key-ring version approximately 1:72nd scale.

Britains Copies; Britains Herald; Britains Herald Highlanders; Britains Highlanders; British Infantry; Dewar's Whiskey; Dewar's White Label; Fridge Magnet; Gordon Highlanders; Highland Bandsmen; Highland Pipes & Drums; Highland Toy Figures; Highlanders; Key Chains; Key Rings; Key-Fobs; Made in Hong Kong; Magnet Toy Soldiers; Magnetic Toy; Novelty Figurines; Novelty Key Ring; Novelty Pencil Sharpener; Novelty Stationary; Pencil Sharpener; Piracies; Scots Highlanders; Scots Troops; Scottish; Scottish Infantry; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; White Label Whiskey; Zang For Herald; Zang Highlanders;
The three larger key rings with the Herald donor; I converted the first one years ago, although a full'ish 54mm, with no base he always looked a bit smaller and hung around even while I was a small scale 'purist', I used to always cut the key ring away, I now realise this was a kind of sacrilege (unless you add a base maybe?) so now I leave the key ring - or whatever remains of it, as it the case of the other two!

Bog-standard tourist items in the 1970's and 1980's there must be quite a few of them or things like them around the place and I'm sure that away from our branch of the hobby there will be key-ring (-fob, -chain...) collectors with lots of paint/plastic/sculpt-variants and/or different sizes?

Britains Copies; Britains Herald; Britains Herald Highlanders; Britains Highlanders; British Infantry; Dewar's Whiskey; Dewar's White Label; Fridge Magnet; Gordon Highlanders; Highland Bandsmen; Highland Pipes & Drums; Highland Toy Figures; Highlanders; Key Chains; Key Rings; Key-Fobs; Made in Hong Kong; Magnet Toy Soldiers; Magnetic Toy; Novelty Figurines; Novelty Key Ring; Novelty Pencil Sharpener; Novelty Stationary; Pencil Sharpener; Piracies; Scots Highlanders; Scots Troops; Scottish; Scottish Infantry; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; White Label Whiskey; Zang For Herald; Zang Highlanders;
As I'm equally sure the eraser/novelty-sharpener collecting people have a few more of these? I don't know where the head came from but it doesn't seem to have come from the earlier Zang/Herald chap, who has the long tapes or ribbons at the back. And his legs have veered away from the donor's design!

Britains Copies; Britains Herald; Britains Herald Highlanders; Britains Highlanders; British Infantry; Dewar's Whiskey; Dewar's White Label; Fridge Magnet; Gordon Highlanders; Highland Bandsmen; Highland Pipes & Drums; Highland Toy Figures; Highlanders; Key Chains; Key Rings; Key-Fobs; Made in Hong Kong; Magnet Toy Soldiers; Magnetic Toy; Novelty Figurines; Novelty Key Ring; Novelty Pencil Sharpener; Novelty Stationary; Pencil Sharpener; Piracies; Scots Highlanders; Scots Troops; Scottish; Scottish Infantry; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; White Label Whiskey; Zang For Herald; Zang Highlanders;
No branding clue, just a simple 'HONG KONG', and again probably sold as a generic tourist trinket from the kiosks of Central London or the gift shops of lesser or second-tier museums and visitor attractions.

Britains Copies; Britains Herald; Britains Herald Highlanders; Britains Highlanders; British Infantry; Dewar's Whiskey; Dewar's White Label; Fridge Magnet; Gordon Highlanders; Highland Bandsmen; Highland Pipes & Drums; Highland Toy Figures; Highlanders; Key Chains; Key Rings; Key-Fobs; Made in Hong Kong; Magnet Toy Soldiers; Magnetic Toy; Novelty Figurines; Novelty Key Ring; Novelty Pencil Sharpener; Novelty Stationary; Pencil Sharpener; Piracies; Scots Highlanders; Scots Troops; Scottish; Scottish Infantry; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; White Label Whiskey; Zang For Herald; Zang Highlanders;
I also have this in the collection, although I ask myself "Why?" every time I see it! I guess I like the clever impression of depth-of-field attained by the laser-cut laminate glued to its own background - they even line-up the shadows! A fridge magnet; it's probably still around, or quite contemporary, although I've had it for ten years or more?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is the side cap head from the lone star highlanders. Know there was a drummer in a side cap and possibly a piper (or am I just wishing that?) Just a thought.

Hugh Walter said...

Pffffff . . . . it's a bloody good thought! I haven't shot them yet, but they are in the queue for next week maybe, I'll 'compare and contrast'!!!

Cheers
H