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.

Saturday, August 22, 2020

O is for Ocean Explorers

Not scoring points on this one (although they could've run with theses to add something to my follow-up, if they really felt the need to follow-me at all . . . as they did!), but rather; seeing what Hing Fat have to 'Show & Tell' on the subject of my original early-May posts, and there's a few interesting points to be made.

Assault Boats; Carry Case; Gemini Craft; Hing Fat; Hing Fat Bucket; Hing Fat Divers; Hing Fat Play Set; Hing Fat Toy; Landing Craft; Mini-Sub's; Mini-Submarines; Ocean Adventure; Ocean Animals; Ocean Creatures; Ocean Explorer; Rubber Boats; Sea Animals; Sea Creatures; Sea Divers; Sea Life; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com;
To be found on their Faceplant page, this would seem to be the later figures, the shooters not visible, but the newer cameraman is. Of more interest is the mix of sea creatures and marine plants, some of which look to be PVC or a PVC-equivalent and the large rock formation/lump!

Assault Boats; Carry Case; Gemini Craft; Hing Fat; Hing Fat Bucket; Hing Fat Divers; Hing Fat Play Set; Hing Fat Toy; Landing Craft; Mini-Sub's; Mini-Submarines; Ocean Adventure; Ocean Animals; Ocean Creatures; Ocean Explorer; Rubber Boats; Sea Animals; Sea Creatures; Sea Divers; Sea Life; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com;
Another Facebook shot; here we see a variation of the mini-sub with a fatter, flat-bottomed (?) design, which may be to take a sucker motor-unit (rather than the older slot-on or plug-in ones I remember from the '70's) or just ease movement on floors and carpets! Also of note is the piracy of the old Matchbox tank-landing craft and a 'fat-boy' mini-sub.

Assault Boats; Carry Case; Gemini Craft; Hing Fat; Hing Fat Bucket; Hing Fat Divers; Hing Fat Play Set; Hing Fat Toy; Landing Craft; Mini-Sub's; Mini-Submarines; Ocean Adventure; Ocean Animals; Ocean Creatures; Ocean Explorer; Rubber Boats; Sea Animals; Sea Creatures; Sea Divers; Sea Life; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com;
A smaller set in a carry-case from both sides; Ocean Explorer is the current branding, or at least seems to be the commonest current brand-mark for these diver sets.

Assault Boats; Carry Case; Gemini Craft; Hing Fat; Hing Fat Bucket; Hing Fat Divers; Hing Fat Play Set; Hing Fat Toy; Landing Craft; Mini-Sub's; Mini-Submarines; Ocean Adventure; Ocean Animals; Ocean Creatures; Ocean Explorer; Rubber Boats; Sea Animals; Sea Creatures; Sea Divers; Sea Life; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com;
No idea to contents, but both the Facebook images could be candidates for the contents of this tub? It's a similar tub currently being shipped by [the not-biggest] importer Stevens International as the Action Figure bucket we saw a while back.

Assault Boats; Carry Case; Gemini Craft; Hing Fat; Hing Fat Bucket; Hing Fat Divers; Hing Fat Play Set; Hing Fat Toy; Landing Craft; Mini-Sub's; Mini-Submarines; Ocean Adventure; Ocean Animals; Ocean Creatures; Ocean Explorer; Rubber Boats; Sea Animals; Sea Creatures; Sea Divers; Sea Life; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com;
Header-carded 'bottle-bag'; so-called because the automated packing machines drop the stuff into the open top like filling a bottle. This has the smaller older landing craft, which, like most Hing Fat production is copied, from Rado-Ri Toys, who - in their turn - took the basic design from Louis Marx! And possibly an older shot, I can't see the newer poses.

Assault Boats; Carry Case; Gemini Craft; Hing Fat; Hing Fat Bucket; Hing Fat Divers; Hing Fat Play Set; Hing Fat Toy; Landing Craft; Mini-Sub's; Mini-Submarines; Ocean Adventure; Ocean Animals; Ocean Creatures; Ocean Explorer; Rubber Boats; Sea Animals; Sea Creatures; Sea Divers; Sea Life; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com;
What looks to be a mock-up of a blister-card, sans blister!

Assault Boats; Carry Case; Gemini Craft; Hing Fat; Hing Fat Bucket; Hing Fat Divers; Hing Fat Play Set; Hing Fat Toy; Landing Craft; Mini-Sub's; Mini-Submarines; Ocean Adventure; Ocean Animals; Ocean Creatures; Ocean Explorer; Rubber Boats; Sea Animals; Sea Creatures; Sea Divers; Sea Life; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com;
This shot reveals one of Hing Fat's older (but recent in toy geology timescales) customers; Billy V, although they were only a brand-mark of someone else (Imex) and have been taken-over by . . . BMC? Note the branding then was Ocean Adventures, which may have been Billy V specific/requested, as the Ocean Explorers branding goes back to at least 2006 in Hing Fat literature? Not that they only have the one branding - see below.

Assault Boats; Carry Case; Gemini Craft; Hing Fat; Hing Fat Bucket; Hing Fat Divers; Hing Fat Play Set; Hing Fat Toy; Landing Craft; Mini-Sub's; Mini-Submarines; Ocean Adventure; Ocean Animals; Ocean Creatures; Ocean Explorer; Rubber Boats; Sea Animals; Sea Creatures; Sea Divers; Sea Life; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com;
The older landing craft, still in rack-toys and cheapie-buckets the world over and dating back to Marx playsets of the 1950's, not a bad pedigree for such an inaccurate version of a WWII equipment! As well as the Rado versions and various generic sub-piracies, Blue Box put the turret on their DUKW, and there's a larger battery-operated version kicking-around somewhere - I bet there's one on Moonbase?

Also a better shot of the little fat mini-sub, which does look like it should have been dropped on Hiroshima or Nagasaki, with the mad major from Dr. Strangelove riding-it in "Yeeehaaw"! Note also, how they separate the 2 'standing' and 5 swimming poses.

Assault Boats; Carry Case; Gemini Craft; Hing Fat; Hing Fat Bucket; Hing Fat Divers; Hing Fat Play Set; Hing Fat Toy; Landing Craft; Mini-Sub's; Mini-Submarines; Ocean Adventure; Ocean Animals; Ocean Creatures; Ocean Explorer; Rubber Boats; Sea Animals; Sea Creatures; Sea Divers; Sea Life; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com;
Printed catalogue page from January 2015 (Toy Fair season!) shows all the then available formats being offered to customers, all branded to Sea Divers. I've seen the 'shopping basket' with both Pirates and Wild West, when I worked for a dealer back in the 2010's and, as it looked old then,  it must have been an option back as far as the 1990's, at least? Hing Fat were founded in 1978, I think.

The larger sets have the same marine-life added, but colours are different, with none of the sky-blue divers you get today, and lots of the 'international orange' which older, more experienced collectors will know as being particularly prone to turning brittle.

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