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Friday, February 15, 2019

R is for Rasnoexport's Russian Renegades!

I believe I actually bought my loose set of these from Blog contributor Chris Smith about 12, maybe 14 years ago? Something like that! The bagged set came from JB, as I had started collecting larger-scale flats long before I went over to large-scale everything, and hoovered-up his ex-soviet stuff  in the 2000's.

15 Krasnoselskaya Street; 1917 Revolution; All Union Export Import Corporation; All Union Export Import Unit; Article no: 3207; B-140 Moscow; Made in Russia; Made in the Soviet Union; Made in USSR; Naval Infantry; Naval Landing Party; OTK 51; Pirates; Rasnoexport; Russian Flats; Russian Pirates; Russian Plastic Toys; Russian Revolution; Russian Toy Soldiers; Russianl Sailors; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Soviet Era Russian Marine; Soviet Era Toy Officer; Soviet Era Toy Soldiers; Soviet Infantry; Soviet Plastic Toy; Soviet Russian; USSR Infantry; USSR Plastic Toys; Раэноэкспорт
The graphics printed on the bag are of those blow-moulded cartoon animals any of you who have searched for ex-Soviet figures on feebleBay will have encountered in the search results. Note also how the bag is simply sealed with a vicious little tin-plate stamping which grabs the folded bag!

While the packing slip translates as;

All-[Soviet]-union
Export-Import-
Corporation (or; 'Unit'?)
"Rasnoexport"

           Moscow

                 B-140, 15 Krasnosels'kaya Street

__________________________________________

Pirates

Article no: 3207 (or; 'Item)

Control
               OTK
                51 (stamp)
Date 1-80 (handwritten) [January 1980?]

Made in USSR

Where OTK = QA/QC (quality assurance/control) and thanks to Mimi for the translation. They may be from another factory though, this mob seems to be a 'Party' mechanism for soft power with a shipper/jobber office in central Moscow, rather than one of the actual manufacturers, and with some dodgy history and several lost law-suits in Western commercial courts!

I have no idea why they are called pirates when they are clearly Russian naval personnel, but suspect it has something to do with the politics surrounding the 1917 Revolution; maybe the Navy went-over to the Bolsheviks or People's Parliament first and earned the ire of the eventually all-conquering communists? Or is it a proud nickname for the Potemkin's crew? Mutineer and pirate probably translate the same.

15 Krasnoselskaya Street; 1917 Revolution; All Union Export Import Corporation; All Union Export Import Unit; Article no: 3207; B-140 Moscow; Made in Russia; Made in the Soviet Union; Made in USSR; Naval Infantry; Naval Landing Party; OTK 51; Pirates; Rasnoexport; Russian Flats; Russian Pirates; Russian Plastic Toys; Russian Revolution; Russian Toy Soldiers; Russianl Sailors; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Soviet Era Russian Marine; Soviet Era Toy Officer; Soviet Era Toy Soldiers; Soviet Infantry; Soviet Plastic Toy; Soviet Russian; USSR Infantry; USSR Plastic Toys; Раэноэкспорт
Only four figures, semi-flat-to-flatish and quite big at around 65mm, and the same four poses in both my samples, a marine infantry or naval landing party, not sure they had automatic SMG's in 1917, so better for WWII, but that only re-raises the 'Pirates' question-mark. I like the stripy-shirt on the rifleman, and there's a hint of Tom in those tight-waist, bell-bottomed trousers!

15 Krasnoselskaya Street; 1917 Revolution; All Union Export Import Corporation; All Union Export Import Unit; Article no: 3207; B-140 Moscow; Made in Russia; Made in the Soviet Union; Made in USSR; Naval Infantry; Naval Landing Party; OTK 51; Pirates; Rasnoexport; Russian Flats; Russian Pirates; Russian Plastic Toys; Russian Revolution; Russian Toy Soldiers; Russianl Sailors; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Soviet Era Russian Marine; Soviet Era Toy Officer; Soviet Era Toy Soldiers; Soviet Infantry; Soviet Plastic Toy; Soviet Russian; USSR Infantry; USSR Plastic Toys; Раэноэкспорт
Ghosts in the machine!
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2 comments:

  1. Chris SmithFebruary 15, 2019 at 7:21 PM

    Don't think I ever had any bagged ones but think i sold you some loose ones. I've still got a few, there is a few slight variations (HMG and the ammo box) I think from different moulds. Older examples are darker navy blue plastic.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hugh WalterFebruary 18, 2019 at 2:57 PM

    It may well have been the other way round Chris . . . it was a long time ago . . . relatively speaking!

    H

    ReplyDelete

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