About Me

My photo
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.

Friday, February 28, 2020

News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Events; Saturday 29th February - Friday 6th March 2020

This came through the Wibbly-Wobbly-Way's eMail system the other day, it's just a bit of plastic-targeting spam, but before I deleted it I noticed the second line was in a  slightly different font/size and has clearly been added as a piece of pro-Party propaganda!

I assume "...the best protective" is a government-issue condom over your head?

And propaganda seems to have been the theme this week with Modi claiming India to be the world's oldest democracy, even as he turned a blind eye to yet another pogrom against the Muslims, who - it has to be said - were (as the Moguls) among those running what is now four countries (not one, Mr Modi) as a whole collection of fiefdoms, palatinates, city-states, and dictatorships, a situation that existed when Alexander went to war against several of the not even slightly democratic kingdoms of inherited monarchy!

Meanwhile Boris is determined to start a fight with the EU, do they (Brwreakshiteers) not understand that 'we' voted out, they didn't vote us out, they don't own us a bean, we owe them for everything we signed-up for which might not have gone-ahead if we hadn't signed-up for it!

While Trump talks to us all like a five-year-old, trying to get the blame onto his bother! He's now put Pence in charge of Corvid-19, despite cutting the budgets of all the agencies likely to deal with the thing! It's priceless, humanity ends not with a glorious bang, but a bunch of voted-for wimpers!

We've till got toys . . .




Toy Fairs

Saturday 29th February 2020

Sandown Park - Barry Potter / BP Fairs - 'The' Sandown Park Show
Exhibition Centre, Sandown Park Racecourse, Esher, Surrey, KT10 9AJ
Tel. - 01604 846 688
Mob. - 07966 527 177
Fax. - 01604 771 070
10:30-15:00hrs
Admission - Adults £6.50p, seniors £6, children £2, early bird (from 08.00hrs) £10.00
Tons of free parking
Best show in the calendar, I'll be there!




Sunday 1st March 2020

Ashington - David Parsons - Toy & Train Collectors Fair
Ashington Community Centre, Foster Lane, Ashington, West Sussex, RH20 3PG
Tel. - 01424 846 676 (Pete)
Mob. - 07742 609 865 (David)
10:00 - 14:00hrs
 Adults £1.50, concessions £1

Falkirk, Scotland - McLaren Models
Tel. - 01324 624 102

Haydock Park - Barry Stockton Fairs
The Exhibition Centre, Haydock Park Racecourse, WA12 0HQ
Web. - http://barrystocktonfairs.co.uk/
Tel. - 01513 343 362
10:30 - 14:30hrs
Admission - Adult £2, Children £0.50p

Lincoln - J&J Fairs (John & Julie Webb)
The Exhibition Centre, Lincolnshire Showground, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN2 2NA
Tel. - 01522 880 383
10:00 - 14:30hrs Approximately
Admission £2.50p, seniors £2, 1st child £1.50p

Needham Market - Stowmarket Railway Club (club event)
Needham Market Community Centre, Shool Street, Needham Market, Sulfolk, IP6 8BB
Tel. - 01449 672 698
10:30 - 15:00hrs
Admission - £1.50p, accompanied children free
Wheelchair access, free parking, refreshments

Newton Abbot - Ray Heard Train & Toy Fairs
Newton Abbot Racecourse, Devon, TQ12 3AF
Internet presence unknown
Tel. - 01823 480 097
10:00 -15:30hrs
Admission £2.00
Free parking, refreshments

Tewkesbury - Tony Oaks Toy Fairs
Tewkesbury School, Ashurst Road, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, GL20 8DF
Internet presence unknown
Tel. - 01270 652 773
Mob. - 07825 631 323
10:30 - 14:00hrs
Admission £2, free parking
Still; Newish Date - Newish Venue




Auctions

Monday 2nd March 2020

Rayleigh - Staceys Auctioneers
Essex Auction Rooms, 37 Webster's Way, Rayleigh, Essex, SS6 8JQ
Tel. - 01268 777 122




Wednesday 4th & Thursday 5th March 2020

Ludlow - Mullock's Specialist Auctioneers and Valuers - (2-day sale)
Ludlow Racecourse, Bromfield, Ludlow, Shropshire, SY8 2BT (sale venue)
Tel. - 01694 771 771




Friday 6th March 2020

Taunton - Greenslade Taylor Hunt (GTH)
The Octogon Saleroom, 113a East Reach, Taunton, Devon, TA1 3HL
Web. - www.gth.net
Tel. - 01823 332 525




Other Events

From Yesterday 'till Sunday the 29th March 2020

York - York Museum - Viking Trail
Yorkshire Museum, Museum Gardens, York
Activities, prizes




Saturday 29th February & Sunday 1st March 2020

Manchester - Nerfwar - Nerf War Carnival
Event City, Manchester
Mad event for 'Madchester'!




Sunday 1st March 2020

Brighton - Love Fairs - Antiques, Collectables & Vintage Fair
Brighton Racecourse, Freshfield Road, Brighton




Overseas Events

Saturday 29th February 2020

Three Doll Shows (all USA)
Los Angeles - Northshore Doll Club - Luncheon
Pinewood Country Club, Slidell, Los Angeles, USA

Punta Gorda - Port Charlotte Doll Club - Annual Show & Sale
Charlotte Harbor Event Center, Punta Gorda, Florida, USA

Roseville - Crossroads Doll & Bear Show
The Grounds, Placer County, Roseville, CA, USA

*************************************

Mount Hope (USA) - CJ Trains - Mount Hope Toy & Train Show
Mount. Hope Event Centre 8076 OH-241, Millersburg, OH 44654, Ohio, USA (venue)
CJ Trains, LLC, P. O. Box 446, Wooster, OH 44691, Ohio, USA (promoter)
Tel. - ++13 302 627 488 (promoter)
Tel. - ++13 306 746 188 (venue)
eMail - cathijon@sssnet.com (Cathi / Jon Ulbright)
10:00-16:00hrs
Admission $5.00, children 12 & under free
Refreshments catered by Mrs. Yoder’s Kitchen



Saturday 29th February & Sunday 1st March 2020

Edison (USA) - Trainshow - Greenberg’s Great Train & Toy Show
New Jersey Expo Center, 97 Sunfield Avenue, Edison, NJ 08837, New Jersey, USA
10:00-16:00hrs
Admission $10 both days, $9 Sunday only, under-11's free




Sunday 1st March 2020

Erie PA (USA) - Carl Amidon - Railroadiana & Model Train Show
Rainbow Gardens, Waldameer Water Park, 200 Peninsula Drive, Millcreek, Pennsylvania, USA
Tel. - ++4 404 658 845
10:00-16:00hrs
Admission $5.00




If you are an event promoter/show curator/auctioneer and you want your toy, model, collectable, military, historical or popular-/youth-culture type sale/exhibition/event listed here -  FOR FREE  - or linked to; please eMail me -

maverickatlarge[at]hotmail[dot]com

- stating the date/s of the event, address of event, contact details, opening/viewing times, admission pricing and any other relevant facts/details or features - parking, travel notes, disability access, availability of refreshments, event subject matter &etc. And a link; if the event or your organisation has a web-page.

And please mention any flyer-art or poster-/leaflet-scans but send by separate eMail, in case they go to the 'junk' folder, from where they can be recovered and marked safe, but only if I know they're there!




H is for How They Come In

At one point there wasn't going to be anything here this week, which suited me as I wanted this week's date post to be quick and easy, but then on Thursday (yesterday) three purchases were made in a few minutes in three different charity shops, none of whom had had any stuff for the first half of the week . . . and I may yet pick-up some stuff today?

When I say none though, I had rejected a tub of those intermediate-scale 99p Store-Poundland figures the Man of Tin does such great things with, and I also failed to buy a small bag of farm which was mostly sub-sub-piracies of Blue Box stuff and a Britains horse with no tail!

As a result, when I saw these I paid too-much for them (pound-each), thinking they'd be 'something' . . . although I might still have got them if there wasn't a Friday Dates post to feed, as one's a nice composition piece (dough-craft or chalk-ware, it's not clear) and the other; Ovaltine's resin piece titled 'The Wheelbarrow' is new to me and has a toy figure (penguin) within a toy figure!

A more bearable 50p; I think these are the recent Paperchase iteration, and I've probably got them all, but having only upgraded the Dinoraser box, to a larger one, just the other day, there's expansion room (the lid had been a bit wobbly for a while!) and there's always the longer term goal of each colour in each pose, once you’ve ticked the 'at least one of each colour or pose' box!

Across the road and for another 50p was a proper bag'o'bits, with something for everyone, insects, animals, amphibians, fish and crustaceans! So in the end, the week provided a mix of stuff for the next sorting session.




Received with Thanks

More images from Mr Berke in New York this week, including a powered 1:76th scale tank which knocks my recent B/O purchase into the long grass (follow-up forthcoming) but he also corresponded with Hornby after Wednesday's Toy fair 2020 posts and is sad to report that the blue & white striped box (which was used with '3-rail' originally) actually contains a modern 2-rail runner (so ought to be in a red & white stripped box!), while the Dublo-Dinky's have already been seen in the Skeldale range of scenery, so more disappointment in the centenary sets! Thanks for all help and input Brian.




Toys in the Media

A while since we had one of these, but I couldn't let this pass . . .

. . . it's a ne'kid Barbie-Cindy-Bild Lilly type 'fashion' doll, anyone recognise the neutered pudenda? Go and have a cold shower, you filthy reprobate! David Sedaris is an extremely funny, erudite, social commentator and this collection of his short stories and readings was going for a song at the local library, so I bought it for the good read, the fact that it had a toy on the cover was a bonus!




Links







This Week I Are Bin Mostly . . .

Sortin' Army Men!

Actually I had three nights in the attic and sorted flats, dinosaurs and all the military which has come in over the last year or so, three lots - the ancient & medievals, the ceremonial-historical-colonial and the WWI-II-Modern.

In the doing of which I found the 'pony-tail' and Spetznaz types Chris Smith had sent me a while ago, along with a third US Fritz-helmet type who seems to go with them, but had ended up with the above 'Odds & Sods' (centre left, rifle across body), so apologies' to Chris for temporarily misplacing them; after a suitable time period, and assuming more of this stuff will turn up from various sources, we'll have another look at them!

2 comments:

Mark, Man of TIN said...

Hugh,
Thanks for the blog mention.

Thanks also for the tip off about charity shops like BHF bagging loose toys for a few quid.

Picked up a couple of BHF bags with a Dinky landrover and Models of Yesteryear old vintage cars so like my childhood ones that I had to check when I got home that no one had snuck them off to the charity shop without me knowing.

Mark Man of TIN

Hugh Walter said...

No problem Mark, I love the way you paint them up to be ancients or colonials or anything in-between!

Charity shops are hit and miss, sometimes you get Britains ECW, other times you get bugger-all for weeks, and you have to work out which day some of them put their toys out!

H