News, Views Etc . . . Herald Toys & Models

Spring press-release for Barney, as a late post!

"This week we have a good early collection of Herald Swoppet Cowboys for sale, together with some early Timpo Wild West figures from the hollow-cast moulds and a good collection of Britains and Herald Civil War models, including some guns. Most of our mounted Herald Swoppet cowboys also include a superb quality reproduction box, exclusive to Herald Toys and Models, and limited to just 125 boxes Worldwide. We also have an end of Winter/early Spring SALE now on, with many items reduced or with further reductions right across our varied stock"

H is for Hiatus II

The question we need to be asking is; if the government, the establishment, the medical profession have had 102-years to prepare for the "Next big pandemic", and if the government, the establishment and the medical profession have had more than 20-odd-years to prepare for an "Overdue pandemic" . . . why are the army (or the police, or somebody) not going door-to-door (in facemasks) handing out facemasks

I tried the builder's merchants for dust masks, but other people had already thought of that! I'll be digging my S10 out of the garage, just to go to the Shell station for milk and a paper!

Now, I must apologise for my suggestion it was no worse than normal seasonal flu, clearly if you have six deaths in 400-odd cases, the maths says 1.5%, so the potential is for this 19th 'Upstart Crow' to kill over a million Britons, or more than the Second World War (850,000-odd). Today (Thursday) they tried to confuse the situation by making the potential total 10-20,000 'positives' but also added 20 people in Intensive Care . . . 26 from 10,000 is still poor odds! {Update Friday - 10 dead in 596 is closer to 2%?}

One would hope it doesn't come to that, but if it does, either now, or during the second phase, which they are expecting to peak in November (apparently?); possibly - like 1918's - as a mutation, which on that occasion was stronger, or more lethal, then that'll end the housing crisis, as this time the casualties won't be matched by the Luftwaffe's physical damage to infrastucture! It will also end - for several years at least - the property market, upon which the entire Thatcherite-Raganomic free-market capital system is based.

While it would be nice to watch the Daily Wail and Torygraph go into a full spastic-hysterical meltdown as their entire universe and only reason-d'être disappears up its own fundament, we have to remind ourselves the same lumpen pink-monkey shites who voted for Trumpundbrexit and put Boris in No.10 are likely to take any coming failures or pecived failures in a dim way, and react accordingly!

They're not trying to save anyone either, they're trying to save the NHS by spreading and therefore blunting the peak.

It turns out that the 'same as seasonal flu' story was being pedalled by that orange loon Trump, which (believing it) is a shame I'll never live down! Though I reckon he's killed a couple of million Americans, all by his own 'don't need experts' stupidity, if it comes to worst-case fatality totals? Still, he'll be bankrupting his own airlines as well as everyone else's!

In the meantime, there is no point posting show dates, or auctions as from now 'till at least the end of April only a selfish idiot would go to one, if it hasn't been cancelled? I'm surprised we're not closing schools, everyone else is, and this won't be over until it's worked-out, everywhere, so normal rules don't/won't apply for a while to come.

Auctions though will still need to happen, as they often don't have the storage space, so probably best to check locally and do it all on-line?

Also, and the main point today;  I have an elderly parent in the high-risk category, so continuing to use the library for public-access Internet is a basic, logical no-no, or 'no-brainer' as the saying is these days! So, at the risk of the Jabbering Fuck accusing me of dragging-out show reports . . . again!

I'm out'a'here!

I'll start posting again when it's safe to do so, if I'm still around to do so!

F is for First Show of the Season!

And so to Sandown Park racecourse and my plunder from the best show in the UK, I used to say the best show in the world, but some of those Dutch and Belgian shows are very big and very good these days, from what I've heard.

I didn't get much, but it was all good, interesting or unusual stuff, most of which we'll look at in a minute but above are a couple of 'Khaki Infantry' of note; the kneeling firer I thought might be Polish, but Adrian reckoned British (confirmed by the arrival of PW 178 this morning, reminding me I have a different one somewhere!) and it is a soft polyethylene (rather than the hard recycled mix the Poles used) so I'll have to sort them again and slot it in with whoever had those grey helmets, Speedwell over on the Khaki Infantry page? The other is an anonymous MG-gunner in a flecked-brown.

Below them is a pack of styrene kit-built (R&L style) racing cars (thanks to Gareth Morgan) which appear to be the same as, but likely the originals of, the ones we saw recently here at Small Scale World from Tito. The mouldings are finer than Tito's and the assumption has to be that Tito copied, but I haven't had a chance to compare them properly yet.

A small pack of probably 'box scale' ship's boats from an old Pyro or Revell-Monogram kit, some hollow-cast corn-stooks and a couple of Cane musketeers make up the rest of the stuff not looked at below.

The main theme of the day ended-up being Native American Indians; and while the bulk of these came from John Begg's stall (PTS52 on eBay), the trio of Waddington's copies were from Gareth and the Tri-Ang mounted cowboy came as a swap with Barney of Herald Toys & Models.

The polyethylene Thomas Indian in the centre seems to be painted the same as the earlier PVC pirates and costumed-children, so may (must?) be a crossover piece from between the painted PVC era and the unpainted PE-era? While the other Thomas pose (green, rear) is actually a smaller, semi-flat piracy, possibly a premium of some kind.

There were some other Wild West procured on the day, for a project I've been working-on for a while, and I left them out of these shots as I was going to post the article this week (or last week if the forecasts had been more accurate!), but I've learnt someone else has gone to print with them so I'll wait for them to have the first word on the subject! However thanks are still due to Adrian Little and John Begg for managing to find some for me, and also Steve Vickers who had some hollow-cast originals the same day!

I picked-up three 'colonial' types, the FFL from Cherilea is not my first, but he has the best paint I think, and while their bag is getting quite stuffed, I can't say the same for the Arab, where every example is damaged! While some legionnaires can be brittle, most are still supple; the same can't be said for the nomadic 'local' tribesman who's always brittle now! Really; I should give-up on finding a good plastic one and settle for a hollow-cast example!

The copy of the Britains Herald ACW officer is probably Argentinian*, but could be Spanish and the Grant's Whiskey premium (Britains-supplied) is a new pose in a slowly growing collection of the die-cast 'New-Metal' / Deetail style figures - which sounds grander than it is, I have five or six maybe, and one (initial offer?) seems to be far more common than all the others?

*06th June 2020 - Now known to be Oklahoma and indeed; Argentine

A bit of Sci-Fi, I can't remember how I ended-up with a bunch of 4" action figures (less than two weeks ago and my mind's a blank! Must have been cheap, or in a bag of something else?), the two 'actual' action figures (battle droid and un-panelled C3PO) will go to charity, but the polished C3PO is a vinyl solid, so will stay.

The bag of Hasbro's Star Wars Command figures were a quid! Mostly duplicates but the two in front are new to collection (and therefore to Blog!), while the Tomy Egyptian Pharaoh mummy-zombie thing (King Sphinx from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) came from Abid's stall with a couple of other bits. I love the Darth Vader key ring, he's been plated in an anodised chromium type coating, which make him look like he's been grown as a crystal of pure bismuth!

Finally the Rocketeer figure (Applause) came from a stall which always has nice stuff, I try to get at least one figure from him each time, this show it was The Rocketeer, which - strangely - I had been wondering about the likelihood of toys-of, a few weeks earlier - and for no particular reason; I saw the DVD in passing somewhere or something?

These - as a single bag - were bought on the cusp of packing-up time, and are an interesting mix, the lower shot of micro-planes will be familiar to some of you, they are credited to various brands, and I have them with three different slot-types in the undersides, and two materials; hard polystyrene and softer polyethylene.

The upper ones are newish (to me - Adrian gave me a yellow one about a year ago) and may face a call for 'Airfix' at some point, they are of two variations, the top five are firm, near-mint polystyrene, the middle pair are a less stable phenolic or cellulose/celluloid-based polymer, starting to curve downwards with age at the wing-tips, which raised the nose of the twin-boom (Vampire, Goblin?), while digging it in on the more conventional 'plane.

Now, I know they're not Kleeware or Tudor Rose, as I have both, marked, while the parallels with Airfix's early animal-flats and the micro-planes I've 'called' for Airfix (some years ago), not to forget the 12 'first' figures are hard to ignore; the colours and the two tranches of material; so I suspect I'll call them at some point, but for now they are unknown [probably] early British!

Of note - the PS five are marked MADE IN ENGLAND, the older pair are totally unmarked - which I think was the same situation with the mico-ones?

This was another of the items I picked at Abid's stall in the annex (more of a small, temporary State, all they need is a flag!), post-GIANT, and in need of a good clean, here's a before-&-after! Nice subdued colours for this 25mm 'plastic small', which are usually far more leery!

A lovely novelty to finish-up with, probably a Christmas cracker-prize and I have a matching diver in yellow somewhere, but she lacks a base (so I though; cake decoration), meaning that this chap (from Adrian Little - cheers!) tells the next bit of the story!

News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Events; Saturday 7th March - Friday 13th March (unlucky for some!) 2020

No rant today . . . actually [thinks about it for a second] two rants;

One;

Where the fuck was the nice week they promised us on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday? Every weather report, over last weekend,  was the same; "A few showers clearing the South East on Tuesday and the rest of the week fine and sunny", so muggin's-here takes a few days off to do the garden (as he had forewarned his loyal readers) and IT HASN'T STOPPED RAINING! It's sunny now - of course - but it's show-dates Friday and I'll be stuck in the library, doing this!

A complete washout and I could have posted some Blog stuff, still; at least it's dragged the show reports out a bit! Speaking of dragging-out show reports, as soon as I took a few days off, so did he; as I had pointed out he does, only the other day . . . well, fancy that!

Two;

Corvid-19 is killing fewer victims - as a percentage of positive tester's - than normal, seasonal flu, yet the UN, the WHO, most governments and the entire media are hyping it up to be the end of the world? Which - if it does a better job of crashing the global economy than the half-hearted attempt at doing so the Bwankers had twelve years ago - it may well prove be, or at least; be the beginning of!

Apparently there's a shortage of empty shipping containers in the US (big, metal boxes), while the ocean-going bulk-ore carriers which usually cost tens-of-thousands-of-dollars-a-day to hire, are currently, frantically, looking for customers willing to hire them for only $2,000-a-day?

Sainsbury's and Waitrose ran out of loo-roll, tissues, wet-wipes and kitchen-roll on Wednesday and started running short of milk, today (Friday) the radio has reports of shortages of milk, bread, pasta, meat, rice, tinned-goods and the aforementioned paper-products . . . there are just over 100 cases of Corvid-19 in the whole Union! That's 2 cases per-county, or one case per-six-constituencies.

It's like people are getting ready for the apocalypse! Get mild flu symptoms, probably, sometime, in the next three or four months, maybe, and you're gonna' shit, blub and wipe surfaces for Britain! These are the people who are expected to save the planet from themselves in the next ten years?

They can't even save themselves from reacting to Tabloid shite! And . . . by piling into the supermarkets against their normal routines, they are only contributing to the possible spreading of the virus wider, quicker!

Capitalism isn't working . . . it's not working at the micro level; where, down my local, pot-holed high-street, an endless stream of 4x4's and crossover people-carrier/AFV's are swooshing an endless stream of climate-change puddle-water at pedestrians, it's not working at the macro level; where globally, the skies are going quiet for the third time in modern history, also the third time since the year 2000?

Lucky we've got toys to buy, huh? Calendar's picking up and there's lots on this weekend if the 'upstart crow' allows them to go ahead!

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Check all event dates/times before travelling - the idiot-virus could strike!

Toy Fairs

Saturday 7th March 2020

Herne Bay - SRP Toyfairs

The Kings Hall, The Beacon Hill, Herne Bay, Kent, CT6 6BA

Web. - http://srptoyfairs1.co.uk/

eMail: srptoys1@hotmail.co.uk

Tel. - 07739 998 012

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Admission charge unknown

(One of Gerry's bigger shows)

Nottingham - Townsend Toy & Train Fairs (Malcolm Townsend) - Nottingham Toy Fair

Bluecoat Academy, Nottingham, NG8 5GY

Web. - www.tttf.co.uk

Mob. - 07951 072 790

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Admission unknown, accompanied under-16's free

Light refreshments

Free Parking

Plymouth - Events Frontier - 'Devcon 20' Sci-fi and Comics Convention

Plymouth Guildhall, Guildhall Square, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 2AA

Web. - www.eventsfrontier.com

eMail - eventsfrontier@hotmail.com

Mob. - 07508 548 938

Hours unknown

Admission fee unknown

Worcester - Tony Oaks Toy Fairs

Perdiswell Leisure Centre, Bilford Road, Worcester, Worcestershire, WR3 8DX

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01270 652 773

Mob. - 07825 631 323

10:30 - 14:00hrs

Admission £2, free parking

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Sunday 8th March 2020

Doncaster - Barry Potter / BP Fairs - 'Doncaster Racecourse'

Doncaster Exhibition Centre, Leger Way, Doncaster, DN2 6BB
Web. - www.bpfairs.com
Tel. - 01604 846 688
Mob. - 07966 527 177

Fax. - 01604 771 070
10:30-15:00hrs
Admission - Adults £4, Seniors £3.50p, Children £1, 'Early Bird' (from 8 a.m.) £10
Plenty of free parking

Great Bentley - R & G Toy Fairs

Village Hall, Plough Road, Great Bentley, Essex, CO7 8LD

Tel. - 01206 251 351 (Gary)

Tel. - 01255 473 509 (Richard)

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Admission £2.00, under 16's free

Free parking, refreshments

Walsall Wood - Transtar Promotions (Geoff & Linda Price)

Oak Park Active Living Centre, Coppice Road, Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands, WS9 9BH

Web. - www.transtarpromotions.com

Tel.- 01922 643 385 (Geoff or Linda)

10:30 - 15:00hrs

Admission £1.80p, seniors £1.50p, child £1.00

Refreshments

Wimborn - David Rees

Queen Elizabeth's Leisure Centre (Sports Hall), Blandford Raod, Wimborne Minster, Dorset BH21 4DT

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01202 590 158

10:15 - 14:30hrs

Admission charge unknown

Free parking and refreshments

Worthing  - SRP Toyfairs

Charmandean Centre, Forest Road, Worthing, West Sussex, BN14 9HS

Web. - http://srptoyfairs1.co.uk/

eMail: srptoys1@hotmail.co.uk

Tel. - 07739 998 012 (Paula or Gerry)

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Admission charge unknown

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Tuesday 10th March 2020

Hook - Steven Clements Fairs - Hook Evening Fair

Hook Community Centre, Hook, Hampshire, RG27 9NN

Tel. - 01380 725 322

Mob. - 07958 101 891

eMail: clementfairs@aol.com

18:30 - 21:30hrs

Admission £1

Free parking

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Auctions

Saturday 7th March 2020

Lymington - Lymington Auctions - Toys & Collectors Models

Emsworth Road, Lymington, Hampshire, SO41 9BL

Web. - lymingtonauctions.co.uk

eMail - admin@lymingtonauctions.co.uk

Tel. - 01590 679 487

Sale Starts 10:30hrs, Viewing from 08:30hrs

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Monday 9th March 2020

Ledsham - UK Toy & Model Auctions Ltd.

Craxton Wood Hotel, Parkgate Road, Ledsham, Near Chester, Cheshire, CH66 9PB (venue)

46 Wirrel Gardens, Bebington, Wirrel, Merseyside, Cheshire, CH63 3BH (offices)

Web. - www.uktoyauctions.com

Tel. - 01513 343 362 (Barry Stockton)

Tel. - 01270 652 773 (Tony Oaks)

Catalogues £3.50p from office address

Die-cast, trains and toy soldiers

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Wednesday 11th March 2020

[Runcorn] On-line Auction - British Toy Auctions

The Auction Centre, 9 Berkeley Court, Runcorn, Cheshire, WA7 1TQ

Web. - www.britishtoyauctions.co.uk

eMail - enquiries@britishtoyauctions.co.uk

Tel. - 01928 579 032

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Other Events

Thursday 5th - Sunday 8th March 2020

Glasgow - Ayewrite - Creative Craft Show

Mitchell Library, North Street, Glasgow, Scotland

Web. - www.ayewrite.com

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Saturday 7th March - Sunday 2nd August

Hancock - Great North Museum - Other Worlds: The Art of Atomhawk

Great North Museum, Hancock, Barras Bridge, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Web. - www.greatnorthmuseum.org.uk

Fantasy, platform-gaming & digital art and design

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Overseas Events

Tuesday February 25th - Saturday May 2nd

Clinton Township (USA) - Lorenzo Culture Center - Let’s Play! Toys, Games & Culture

The Lorenzo Cultural Center, Center Campus, Macomb Community College, 44575 Garfield Road, Clinton Township, 48038, Detroit, Michigan, USA

Web. - https://www.candgnews.com/news/toy-game-exhibit-comes-to-mcc-117111

Sun/Mon. - Closed

Tue's & Thur's-Sat's - 10:00-16:00hrs

Wed's - 10:00-20:00hrs

Sub-events

Thursday 12th March / 13:00hrs - Little Armies: A History of Toy Soldiers and Miniature Civilian Figures

Saturday  21st March / 11:00hrs - Yo-Yo Tricks (with the founders of Yoyotricks)

Saturday 4th April / 11:00hrs - Cube Day Macomb

Friday 17th April / 13:00hrs - Plastics and Progress: Baby Boom Toys

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Friday 6th March (today) & Saturday 7th March 2020

Jackson (USA) - Antique​ & Flea Market

Jackson County Fairgrounds (Keeley Park), New American 1 Event Center, 200 West Ganson Street, Jackson, MI 49201, Michigan, USA

Web. - https://midmichigansupershows.com/antique-flea-market-show

10:00-17:00hrs

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Saturday 7th March 2020

Deitikon (Switzerland) - Dominique Durussel - General Toy & Train Fair

Stadhalle Deitikon, Switzerland

Tel. - ++0793 283 200

Fletcher (USA) - Asheville Doll and Toy Show

WNC Agricultural Center, 761 Boylston Hwy, Fletcher, NC 28732, North Carolina, USA

Web. - https://www.wncagcenter.org/events/2020/asheville-doll-show

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Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th March 2020

Reims (France) - Patrick Estrade - Die-cast & Toy Vehicle Fair

Parc des Expositions, Reims 51, France

Tel. - ++0681 696 010

Salon de Provence (France) - P. Ottonelli - General Toy & Train Fair

Esapace C. Trenet, Salon de Preveance 84, France

Tel. - ++0490 531 379

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Sunday 8th March 2020

Amay (Belgium) - C.A.J.A. - 54th International Swapmeet (General & Toy Soldier Fair)

Ancien Gymnase, 1 Rue de l'Hôpital, Amay 4540, Belgium

Web. - www.caja.be

eMail - cajacollections@gmail.com

Tel. I - ++085 315 009

Tel. II - ++0497 040 558

09:00-13:00hrs

Bad Cannstatt (Germany) - Dr. Rolf Theurer - Doll, Soldier & General Toy Fair

Kursal, Ban Cannstatt, Germany (venue)

Wiesbadenerstrasse 74, D-70372, Stuttgart, Germany (promoter)

Web. - www.theurers-spielzeugmaerkte.de

Tel. - ++07 115 590 044

Fax. - ++07 115 590 054

11:00-15:30hrs (local time)

Bonn (Germany) - Jurgan Hörner - General Toy & Train Fair

Stadhalle, Bad Godesberg, Bonn, Germany

Tel. - ++022 747 060 703

Dublin (RoI) - Brian Collins Enterprises - 'Collectables Toy Fair'

Collinstown Suite, The Carlton Hotel, Dublin Airport, Old Airport Road, Cloghran, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland (Eire)

Web. - www.briancollinsenterprises.ie

Tel. - 00353  879 827 712

[Findable on Facebook - Brian Collins]

Admission "Small charge"?

Faitiat (France) - Amateurs de Jouets Anciens - General & Toy Soldier Fair

Espace Georges Brassens, Faytiat 87, France

Tel. - ++0555 002 386

Kirchellen (Germany) - Brauhaus am Ring - International Toy- and Dollshow

[Formally: Wittringen Toyshow]

Kirchellen, Ring-80 - 46244 Kirchellen, Germany

Web. - www.toyshow.de

eMail - kantakt@brauhaus-am-ring.de

Tel. - ++492 045 959 000

11:00-15:00hrs

Neuville-en-Ferrain (France) - Kiwanistn - General Toy Fair

Espace Rocheville, Neuville-en-Ferrain, France

Tel. - ++0781 801 201

Olten (Switzerland) - Oltnerboerse - Toy Fair

Stadttheater/Konzertsaal, Olten, SO, Switzerland

Tel. - ++0627 914 289

Soultz (France) - Nef des Jouets - Doll & Bear Show

M.A.B., Soultz 68, France

Tel. - ++0389 743 092

Wheaton (USA) - TrainShow.Com - Train Show

DuPage County Fairgrounds, 2015 Manchester Road, Wheaton, IL 60187, Illinois, USA

Web. - http://greatmidwesttrainshow.com/

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Monday 9th March 2020

Brummen (Netherlands) - E. Bouwman - On-Line Auction (General Toys)

Veilinghuis Bouwman & Bouwman, Saturnusweg 6a, 6971 GX Brummen, Holland

Web. - www.veilinghuisbouwman.com

eMail - info@veilinghuisbouwman.com

Tel. - ++0575 560 393

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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!

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Links

Interesting and thought-provoking - https://onezero.medium.com/the-future-of-archeology-is-plastic-80fc689161de

Times' on Premiums - https://www.timesleader.com/features/757754/remember-when-little-extras-came-with-soap-and-cereal

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H is for How They Come In

These six were a mix of 20p and 50p each (along with the next chap) and consist of three poured-resin woodland wildlife, two Kinder Gnomes and a little tiger who resembles Tigger, but isn't credited to Disney, I think it may be an older HK thing which goes with the black cats, brown bears, pink pigs and green frogs of similar make-up?

ELC; I've had a few of these fantasy medievals go through, one or two staying, one or two going to 'recyce', usually due to chewing-damage!

I seem to recall shelfying these NPW place-markers last winter/spring (2018/19) at some hideous cost from John Lewis/Waitrose which no sane person would pay, but they turned-up in a charity shop for 99p!

Pretty Boys! But they are clearly loyal to each other and can be used in a circus, so bit of a bargain really! And if they weren't on tip-toe, they'd be an almost perfect 54mm, near-naked and easily posed with hot pins/glue, so they might be useful to figure modellers, as manikins, too?

I can't work out if these are poured PE-resin or poured slip-ware, they are solid, and beautifully tactile, but it's not clear under the fine finish what the base-material is, neither is it  clear whether that finish is a matt paint or a matt glaze, and I'm not going to try scrapping them to find out!

I also forgot to note the makers stamp (which would help with material/construction clues) before I put them away (I've been doing lots of sorting; instead of gardening/Blogging), but we'll look at them again when I do Polar Bears at some point!

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This Week I Are Bin Mostly Sortin' . . .

Ready-made aeroplanes!

And Helicopters!

Actually I've had a huge sort-out of the civilian figure stuff, army-men, ancient/medieval, Ceremonial/historical, scenics and other stuff as I went along, I just happened to remember to shoot the 'planes! Mercifully; also a lack of 'cat-action', because some of this stuff is as brittle as hell!

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Other Stuff

This was an odd one, the shell's clearly a shell, 'shell' is used for the punning tabloid headline, yet they keep referring to it as a 'bomb'

It's also clearly empty, so it seems to be fuckwittery all round, from the fencers, the army and the newspaper . . . I'd have taken it home and cleaned it up with a rust treatment! 155mm or tank's sabot-less AT-round (that cinched waist)? Where the rust's chipped-off it has a strange granular texture which could be tungsten or some special alloy?

I think it's relatively modern, not WWII and somebody (in the Armoured Corp)'s probably lucky it didn't hit the house!

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