Mr. The Right Honourable the Lord Glenn,
Sir 'Sibby' Sibbald of Poly-Mer, currently of the parish of Morrrdorrr, the
Shire, Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains, Rivendell, Rohan and the Ridermark and
the lands of Gondor, has only gorn and went and sent the Blog (for free,
gratis, asking for nothing in return) a 'New To Hobby', mint as it can
be after 65-70-years, New Zealand issue of the Airfix/Pierwood cellulose acetate figures . . .
. . . looking like the figures were shot
yesterday in a factory in Camberley and rushed-over here, by courier,
still-warm! Not an easy colour to photograph and the shots on the Airfix page are marginally better, or
easier on the eye.
Normally when I post these they go straight on that Airfix page, with a
link-back here, but due to the importance of these and my desire to do them
justice, I'll post them over there at
the same time, with new pictures.
All eight poses, arranged - top left to
bottom right - differently to the listing on Pierwood's card (to be seen in the Plastic Warrior magazine Early Airfix'Special') but sharing their adjusted figure-descriptions, as I was still waiting to
locate the 18thC fusilier/pirate and both the pilot and the
Japanese/infantryman, it's lovely enough to have them all in one shot, but the
real treat today is the packaging.
The box; it has a small tear at one end I
will fix eventually with a near invisible mend. It is a single colour
litho-printed graphic with no brand or maker clues anywhere. However there were
a bunch of plastics firms that came and went in the 1950's/60's in New Zealand,
while the possibilities; least-likely first - are that
- Airfix supplied the product, bulk - for repacking
- These predate Pierwood with the tool moving on to Oz.
- Pierwood supplied the product
- These are post Pierwood with the tool sold/lent to NZ
If they are New Zealand-produced the
further question raised is: was it an independent company or an Airfix subsidiary - they had many? While
I would love it to be New Zealand manufacture, I fear - from the like-for-like
figure titles - that it's the third option?
As we will see later in the week, there is
a slim possibility (and it's very slim) that there's a link with Lincoln and/or Toltoys, but - from the dates - one more of inheritance than
production, if any at all.
Tantalising hints of other colours (E is
the 5th letter of the alphabet), although the '8' is probably referring to the
figure-total and obviously the correct figures were in the 'Red' box. Does this
mean the other boxes were coloured for their contents - Pierwood also did yellow, silver, bronze, white and blue; I think,
although the NZ-sent figures from Norman Dunckley on the Airfix page may well
be/probably are NZ figures, not the previously assumed Australian-made ones,
and they have a fawnish-grey/tan!
Also the figure graphic on the long-side
(same both sides) clearly show the 'Lemon Squeezer' of New Zealand troop's
service dress, not the Australian slouch-hat with its pined-up side. I love
that it's called a lemon-squeezer! The Americans have their 'Smokey Bear', we have
the 'Boy Scout' . . . what do the Canadians call theirs?
There's only so much you can waffle-on,
about one little set, and I'm wont to stop, but all good things come to an end
. . . I can't thank Glenn enough for this kindness both on my own behalf (I get
to see them every time I go in that Airfix
box!) and for the Blog, which only benefits from getting such treasures in the
tag-list for all of you to enjoy.
There are other treasures to come from
Glenn's parcel, but this was very-much the 'icing on the cake'.
6 comments:
Cool looking minis. I wish there was more NZ manufacturers today. Would be cool to buy some. Which reminds me I need to find out what is my local store closest to my current location.
I think the RCMP refer to their Campaign Hat as a Biltmore or at least the hat manufacturer does.
Cheers Gowan, glad you liekd them, more NZ stuff in the pipeline!
Cheers Terra', nice that they don't use the lemon Squeezer one!
H
I'm in Canada, I thought it was a Montana hat, or a Stetson. But the RCMP shop does indeed refer to them as the Biltmore.
I think it's a Biltmore (brand) stetson (type) with the crown crimped to a Montana style.
NB: Mounties wear it with a dimple front and centre, some other groups wear it with a ridge front and centre.
The RCMP hat has not always been modelled well with 54mm figures either metal or plastic.
Now that there are a number of women in the ceremonial RCMP troop, they may switch them to a more female style hat like the one HMQ used to wear for Trooping the Colours.
Both - fascinating, who knew . . . who knew a felt model of a grapefruit-juicer could have a whole science and nomenclature, not to mention alternate wardrobes!
Gisby - I posted four of the Deetail ones once, I think I may have lined the hats up the wrong way! Doh!
Terra' - I'd be surprised; the US female drill-instructor staff-sergeants take pride in their Smoky-bear's I think, feminising bits of uniform in bi-sex units is rather frowned-upon these days as a form of discrimination! Although I think our lady-officers still have a fairy-tale princess dress as their mess-best, albeit with a skirt?
...
I've just Googled it and actually they're looking more and more like the men, but still with a long skirt!
H
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