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.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

A is for Antipodean and African Action Men!

More box-ticking and I still haven't found a hunter! Two sets in one with this mob, as they got themselves a second paint-job at some point and jointed the King's African Rifles, but they got their start as ANZAC's, although I think they were called Australians by Lone Star, the two national contingents of the Corps were similarly dressed and equipped and usually served side-by-side, so I'll go with ANZAC!

African Toy Figures; ANZAC; ANZAC Forces; ANZAC Troops; Australia New Zealand Army Corps; Australian Toy Figures; Australian Toy Soldier; Colonial Defence Force; Colonial Infantry; Colonial Toy Soldiers; Colonial Troops; EAR; East Afrikan Rifles; Harvey Series; Harvey Series ANZAC's; KAR; Kings African Rifles; Lone Star; Lone Star ANZAC Infantry; Lone Star Harvey Series; New Zealand Infantry; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Vintage Plastic Figures; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Figures; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
Ten ANZAC's from Lone Star, showing a variety of paint in hats and webbing and all the standard 'toy soldier' poses covered except 'casualty' where some makers are keener than others to represent the negatives of making war, although LS's khaki infantry have a lovely stretcher-team as we saw last year.

African Toy Figures; ANZAC; ANZAC Forces; ANZAC Troops; Australia New Zealand Army Corps; Australian Toy Figures; Australian Toy Soldier; Colonial Defence Force; Colonial Infantry; Colonial Toy Soldiers; Colonial Troops; EAR; East Afrikan Rifles; Harvey Series; Harvey Series ANZAC's; KAR; Kings African Rifles; Lone Star; Lone Star ANZAC Infantry; Lone Star Harvey Series; New Zealand Infantry; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Vintage Plastic Figures; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Figures; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
The KAR (King's African Rifles), same figures but with darker skin-tones and a typically; a darker green for hats and socks than the ANZAC's. Although - as he's snuck into the shot - the prone'ish Bren-gunner (front left)is an ANZAC with the darker greens of the KAR's. I don't know how he ended-up in the shot, there is a dark-skinned gunner, but clearly I wasn't paying attention!

African Toy Figures; ANZAC; ANZAC Forces; ANZAC Troops; Australia New Zealand Army Corps; Australian Toy Figures; Australian Toy Soldier; Colonial Defence Force; Colonial Infantry; Colonial Toy Soldiers; Colonial Troops; EAR; East Afrikan Rifles; Harvey Series; Harvey Series ANZAC's; KAR; Kings African Rifles; Lone Star; Lone Star ANZAC Infantry; Lone Star Harvey Series; New Zealand Infantry; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Vintage Plastic Figures; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Figures; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
Closer comparisons; showing typical Lone Star base-type variations. I suspect the larger bases are a later change to the tool, it's easier to make a component larger than to reduce it? However it's not totally clear as while the larger bases on the unpainted figure and/or KAR might suggest logically a later issue . . .

African Toy Figures; ANZAC; ANZAC Forces; ANZAC Troops; Australia New Zealand Army Corps; Australian Toy Figures; Australian Toy Soldier; Colonial Defence Force; Colonial Infantry; Colonial Toy Soldiers; Colonial Troops; EAR; East Afrikan Rifles; Harvey Series; Harvey Series ANZAC's; KAR; Kings African Rifles; Lone Star; Lone Star ANZAC Infantry; Lone Star Harvey Series; New Zealand Infantry; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Vintage Plastic Figures; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Figures; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
. . . here we find the KAR is the smaller base! A situation mirrored in . . .

African Toy Figures; ANZAC; ANZAC Forces; ANZAC Troops; Australia New Zealand Army Corps; Australian Toy Figures; Australian Toy Soldier; Colonial Defence Force; Colonial Infantry; Colonial Toy Soldiers; Colonial Troops; EAR; East Afrikan Rifles; Harvey Series; Harvey Series ANZAC's; KAR; Kings African Rifles; Lone Star; Lone Star ANZAC Infantry; Lone Star Harvey Series; New Zealand Infantry; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Vintage Plastic Figures; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Figures; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
. . . the kneeling firer. Assuming the grey-green bases were even later, would leave the conclusion some bases got bigger, while some got smaller? I know this has been pored-over elsewhere in the past, with an equal lack of a firm-conclusion, so I'm not going to try calling it, suffice to say there are a lot of variations out there!

Also I suspect the officer on the right-hand end of the rank has been home-painted/re-painted, but it's not clear.

African Toy Figures; ANZAC; ANZAC Forces; ANZAC Troops; Australia New Zealand Army Corps; Australian Toy Figures; Australian Toy Soldier; Colonial Defence Force; Colonial Infantry; Colonial Toy Soldiers; Colonial Troops; EAR; East Afrikan Rifles; Harvey Series; Harvey Series ANZAC's; KAR; Kings African Rifles; Lone Star; Lone Star ANZAC Infantry; Lone Star Harvey Series; New Zealand Infantry; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Vintage Plastic Figures; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Figures; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
Some more comparisons (they're not rare!). Black grenades seem to be less common and may be earlier, but one gets the impression Lone Star's out-painters had a freer hand than say Britains' did?

I have two unpainted figures in the sample; this advancing chap and the officer above, who (or which?) may have been stripped of paint by previous owners, but are more-, or as-likely to have snuck on to the market from factory-filches or old, forgotten, out-worker's stock?

African Toy Figures; ANZAC; ANZAC Forces; ANZAC Troops; Australia New Zealand Army Corps; Australian Toy Figures; Australian Toy Soldier; Colonial Defence Force; Colonial Infantry; Colonial Toy Soldiers; Colonial Troops; EAR; East Afrikan Rifles; Harvey Series; Harvey Series ANZAC's; KAR; Kings African Rifles; Lone Star; Lone Star ANZAC Infantry; Lone Star Harvey Series; New Zealand Infantry; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Vintage Plastic Figures; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Figures; Vintage Toy Soldiers;
Recent re-issues, these aren't the softer PVC of my Toyway stuff, so I guess Dorset or Marlborough? The colour of polymer chosen however (un-pigmented neutral granules?) is bloody insipid and hard to photograph! Although the kneeling Tommy-gunner is a better shot with more substance to his 'mass'.

Lower shots reveal that these Afro-Antipodeans are a bunch of big boys, with a buckshee Hong Kong copy, Airfix's Gurkah and a French Indo-Chinese (or Algerian campaign?) soldier from JIM (it's all in the hat!) all dwarfed by Lone Star's chap, although the usually larger (in shots of this type) Atlantic machine-gunner holds his own . . . a couple of six-footers if they are an inch in 54mm!

2 comments:

Terranova47 said...

Two comments. The KAR had white officers so the figures shouldn't be painted with darker skin tones.

The ANZAC figures were sold in Woolworths half price, unpainted. That could be the source of the ones pictured.

Hugh Walter said...

Cheers Terra'!

That does explain the unpainted ones, although it makes it odd that I've only tracked-down two? You'd think there'd be loads of 'em!

The first point though . . . least said soonest mended! They were toys, differentiation was needed I suppose, and there where African officer toward the end . . . maybe these are for the Mau-mau emergency!

H