T is for Thomas? Taffy? . . . Poplar! (PW8)

Hard to tell, harder to know, the last time we looked at a set of these they were Taffy Toys, but no one (in the 'old guard') seems to know whether Taffy were a Thomas subsidiary or a Poplar sub-brand, given similar generational differences between the PVC and Polyethylene space and pirate figures originally from Thomas, I would veer toward these being Poplar/Taffy, but can't rule out Thomas/Taffy! Or - with no maker on the box - someone else!

The box! Seen elsewhere on the Internet recently (in passing) the box artwork and contents/tray have a lot in common with the Taffy set already looked at here at Small Scale World, but as we also saw here; the similarities with Kleeware's SPG and Taffy's Tank, two gun versions and etc . . . mean there was such cross-pollination between these early plastic toy soldier makers (through copying, pirating and mould-share/licensing) it's impossible to fully call.

The gun and trailer ('troop carrier') are the same as the known-Taffy version, the Land Rover however (complete with plug-in wing-mirrors) has been previously seen (in civilian colours) as a 'believed to be' Tudor Rose beach-toy - or at least I think it has; I can't find it on the Blog, or on the dongles, but I know I shot it and it's not waiting in Picasa? I probably gave it a Kleeware/Lipkin and co., caveat anywhoos!

Now, I think the SPG (seen previously) appears in the US as Banner, Banner bought some of the rump of Bergan Toys (Beton) and some (or all?) Thomas (US)'s moulds, while over here Tudor Rose bought O M Kleeman, so the fact that all these similar AFV's have so many parents is explainable, if not clear, especially after the various mould-shares are taken into account!

The figures, in the set - as seen - the advertised 7th figure is a second officer, one wonders if it might have been meant to be the driver/stretcher bearer or the stretcher case? With neither fitting the Land-Rover in the same way they fit the - more common - Jeep; maybe they were subsequently excluded?

Note also with two light-sources; the plastic colour/shade variation.

More shots; the radio-operator is obviously damaged. I did put these on the Khaki Infantry page; after some umming and ahrring, but they don't really belong there, that page is for the direct piracies of the Britains and Timpo sets and their derivatives (mortar crews etc...), while these are cruder copies of Herald's finest, and I don't use 'crude' in the derisory meaning of the word, but to differentiate 'copy' from 'piracy'.

Cheers also to Adrian Little for letting me shoot this interesting set at PlasticWarrior's show in May just-gone.