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.

Sunday, March 10, 2019

G is for Grey Guy's from Gidromana

Not much blurb as I ran out of time this week! Looking at a vacuum-packed 'envelope' of 50mm die-cast Russian infantry from the soviet era I picked-up at a small local evening show or car-boot sale about 20 years ago!

10 Pieces; 1989; Gidromana Toy Plant; Item No. EJ-085-02-75; Junior School Age; Melitopol Gidromana Technical; Melitopol Plant Gidromana; MGT; OTK 9; Plant Gidromana; Pre-school Age; Russian Flats; Russian Infantry; Russian Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; Small Soldiers; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Soviet Era Russian Infantry; Soviet Era Toy Officer; Soviet Era Toy Soldiers; Soviet Infantry; Soviet Russian; Standard 17-296-75; Technical Control 17-22-03-79; Toys for Children; Two Rubles; USSR Diecast Toy; USSR Infantry;
They didn't photograph very well so here's the two best shots much enhanced; to not much improvement! They are Semi-flat (Demi-rond) mazac/zamak castings of troops on parade; basically the USSR equivalent of parade 'toy soldiers', such as the Britains produced hollow-cast red-coats.

10 Pieces; 1989; Gidromana Toy Plant; Item No. EJ-085-02-75; Junior School Age; Melitopol Gidromana Technical; Melitopol Plant Gidromana; MGT; OTK 9; Plant Gidromana; Pre-school Age; Russian Flats; Russian Infantry; Russian Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; Small Soldiers; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Soviet Era Russian Infantry; Soviet Era Toy Officer; Soviet Era Toy Soldiers; Soviet Infantry; Soviet Russian; Standard 17-296-75; Technical Control 17-22-03-79; Toys for Children; Two Rubles; USSR Diecast Toy; USSR Infantry;
The insert was printed as two panels on one sheet which was folded in half and placed over the figures before the plastic sheet was vacuum-sealed over the whole; consequently it has been a bit scrunched-up!

10 Pieces; 1989; Gidromana Toy Plant; Item No. EJ-085-02-75; Junior School Age; Melitopol Gidromana Technical; Melitopol Plant Gidromana; MGT; OTK 9; Plant Gidromana; Pre-school Age; Russian Flats; Russian Infantry; Russian Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; Small Soldiers; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Soviet Era Russian Infantry; Soviet Era Toy Officer; Soviet Era Toy Soldiers; Soviet Infantry; Soviet Russian; Standard 17-296-75; Technical Control 17-22-03-79; Toys for Children; Two Rubles; USSR Diecast Toy; USSR Infantry;
Two similar figures to the right of a spare I have. The spare has traces of an overall layer of silver paint which has mostly worn-off. The gold figure is similarly coated and from a similar set, while the female medical soldier is from a more realistically posed set.

When I first discovered the Russian forums (about ten years ago) I spent an afternoon downloading all the images I found without knowing what I was doing, or which 'thread' I was in; due to my lack of Russian language skills.

I can therefore only say that there are quite a few of these sets and they are all slightly different, but as far as English-speakers go, we now know (thanks to Mimi) one of them was from the Gidromana plant in Melitopol - now in the contested (by Russia) area of Ukraine!

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