The animals I'd found to date, less
duplicates but showing three hippo similar-colour variations, I've been
collecting these for about as long as I've been collecting, there may have been
one in the old biss'quit tin back in '77!
They definitely came in Christmas Crackers
as that's where two of mine came from, and probably also saw service in gum-ball
machines, Piñata, Sobres, Wundertüten, and maybe
got thrown from windows at kids in Malta; a very similar line to one in the
'school-novelties' post a few weeks back, but it's that kind of product!
The three new poses in Chris's lot include
a horse, kangarallaby (I still don't know how you tell!) and a fat pig, along
with a dinosaur. The dinosaur is interesting for being a larger size; as
Christmas Crackers - in the price-bracket that might contain these - are dirt
cheap, they will be manufactured on a unit price per box, or per gross or per
gross-boxes, or something like that, and the dinosaur would have been maybe
1-per-12 crackers to the animals 2- or 3-per-12.
It may be that they were animal crackers in
which case it may be one dinosaur for every 11 smallies, or one in five? But
the point is the dinosaurs aren't as common as the other animals.
Also of interest is that Chris's sample
whether it came from one set, or a big corporate 'do' of some kind (best places
for cheap crackers; works parties and those organised-event people) has a
limited palette of colours taken from jade green and earth brown . . .
. . . while many colours exist. This is the
result of 40+ years of beavering-away and you can see Chris's donation
increased the sample-size by nearly a fifth and the pose-count by a quarter -
overnight! It leaves the question as to how many poses there are in total, how
many dinosaurs there are and what colours of either have still to be found . .
. questions, questions!
The dinosaur question might be
part-answerable, as I may have had them come in separately from the animals on
different occasions, which - if I didn't make the connection - might have led
to them being put in with the unknown small, polyethylene dino's, so I'll check
next time I get them out; it would only be one or two if there are any, but it
would be a start
The 'connection' between smaller animals
and larger dinosaurs being the flat plastic 'shelves' running between limbs
across the torso, to minimise undercuts and produce a simpler, or cheaper
mould-tool. It's one of the reasons I've always had a soft spot for them -
their very distinctive look.
In fact looking at them and following the
join lines, it may be a sort of hybrid four-part mould, with two body-halves as
the main tool and two push-through blanks which - at the same time - both
create the negative space between the limbs and act as mould-release pins at
the end of the cycle? Equally; it could be a single 'beam' doing the same job configured
as a three-part tool.
The scale of the things! There is no scale
as they are clearly (alluded-to above) unit-price sized . . . like box-size! So
a water-buffalo is a bit small for OO-gauge compatibility, but would be Ok for
Roco's HO US in Vietnam at a smaller scale, however the 'Roo will do nicely
against the Airfix Zoo-roos!
I like these, you may be able to understand
that, if you're a 54-60mm purist you may not be able to get your head round the
fact, but consider this - today (I'll look them up when I post this) on evilBay
the search (worldwide for posting to UK) for Britains Deetail has 1,300 results, while the search for Swoppet Knights (same parameters) gives
35
results, but where would you even start with these?
Cracker
Toy Mini Animals gives 3 results
and 15
similar results of which none are of any use!
You have to keep your eyes peeled at shows
and in mixed job-lots on-line, finger-tip search rummage trays of broken
detritus and check the junk boxes under model railway dealers' tables in cold
village halls on Tuesday nights for the hope of finding one or maybe two a
year! If you're really lucky though, a friend sends you six (and a dinosaur)
for Christmas!
Many-thanks again to Chris Smith.
It's that time of year when I thank you for all the work put into this blog.
ReplyDeleteI always have a look at your new posts and 90% of the time am rewarded with something fascinating. Even on those rare occasions when I cannot think who would want that I would never disrespect another mans interests and it certainly gives an insight into the breadth of the hobby.
Well done, thank you and I look forward to the year ahead.
John
Cheers John
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to know you get something from it each time!
H