H is for How They Come In - Chris - October 2021 - Military & Sci-Fi Stuff

So, the other half of Chris Smith's Autumn donation to the Blog last year finds us with the helmets and guns, mostly in khaki! But there is a couple of red-coats, some spacey stuff and an Esquimaux!

Always, always, always! They all get carefully sorted into bags of identical figures to eventually get matched-up to branded items or set titles . . . like the firefighters, the paratrooper page is another thing which is lagging, but the work goes on in the background - I found a nice novelty variant of the Trojan red-devil the other day!

ABC and 'probably' ABC; Chris returned the two sand ones I'd sent him, not out of churlishness, but because he found better ones! He sent me the - frankly better sculpted - green ones at the same time (which we have now looked at) and he sent me two - believed to be ABC - in colonial line-infantry uniforms (from Britains hollow-cast) and a variant of the standing sentry with a new arm and new colouring.

The sentry's pose is not a recognised drill movement. but is close to a left-handed "Raise weapon for inspection"! That 'colonial' era spiked infantry helmet still survives in bands, but with No.1 Dress 'Blues' not scarlet! I picked-up three more the other day from the legendary Joe Bellis, and a third pose is blowing on the instrument I get in to trouble for . . . an oboe/clarinet'y thing!

A nice selection of mixed figures, the crossbowman is Exin (seen here - fourteen years ago!), the guardsmen are the denizens of crackers/lucky-bags (seen here four years ago!), while the flat/semi-falt cavalryman with carbine may be Plástico Osul from Portugal?

The Argentine Oklahoma figure looks like the advancing pose also sent to the Blog by Chris, but it's a single pole he's holding, so I fancy he's a standard bearer missing a flag? Something I will sort with a print-out at some point!

Another Spanish Civil Guard in terracotta takes that sample three, the blue knight is similar to some capsule toys marked Saban, but he is unmarked, while the white plastic Britains copy knight is very interesting . . .  

. . . for being clearly marked Petrel. Now; it happens I have several rack-toys marked up/overprinted to Petrel (one or two seen here now), and would have happily accepted they were a phantom brand for someone like 1960's Woolworth's or the Dutch Hagemeyer, but here he is, claiming a factory-tool as his own! How many were there in the set, are they all Britains inspired, do you know? Damaged - but a first here!

Khaki types; The sandy one will be Revell, Aurora, Renwall or someone like that, early box-scale or 1:48/50th kit figure, possibly from one of the missile sets. The diver below him is a lot like the Chap Mai ones, but softer and equipped with a mean dart-tip, he's hunting Moskva!

The two 'army men' at the top are both uncommon, one channeling the Lido pod-feet chaps, but as a unique sculpt, the other seemingly a khaki copy of Deluxe Reading's white one, but without the slot in the base, I must assume therefore another DR piece, from a similar big-box toy?

The large chap in the middle will be for a 1:18th German AFV, but I couldn't tell you who's or which, I haven't followed the phenomena, except to be very impressed with a  mixed battle-group of 1:18th, 1:12th and 1:6th (action man sized!) AFv's running around at Beltring hop-farm!

Finally - another 'army man', who must be from some sort of interactive zip-wire/death-slide, or helicopter (with hook) toy/set; I can't imagine he'd be auctioning a bow-saw to the highest-bidder in the middle of a battle?

Very useful Blue Box stretcher-case in white, I knew it was out there as I have it in a boxed-set somewhere, but I didn't have a lose one, now I do! Posed with the WAAC nurse, also from Blue Box.

These two will be from a modern gaming system, which are similar to but not Bolt Action from Warlord Games, I will endeavor to ID them, to which aim I have ruled out Wizards of the Coast and Flames of War . . . so might be looking for a stand-alone boxed game? they are quite nice though, factory painted PVC, and they've gone to storage in a TBS box, so I can't for the life of me remember if they had base-marks? Same Day - Heroscape! Thank you Daniel - see comments!

I think this chap was on Moonbase, not that long ago, but I'm damned if I can find it, obviously a target for a shooting game, I think it was a little rack-toy pistol? With the Azco/Hassenfeld, Ideal/Kleeware, Kellogg's, Kwong Ming, Lion, Lone Star and May May ones, I'm building quite a pile of targets - with help! We'll have to have a target page here?

Going off-world; there's a probably Kinder (or similar Italian pocket-money toy) space ship, a Micro-Machines command module, some capsule toys, one as a pencil-top (three-headed Kaiju) and one as a charm (green robot).

Robin's lost his head; probably at the sight of the pink block-man . . . is he Roblox or Minecraft? He might be a Minecraft 'hex-fusion' figure whatever the hell one of those is! One day I'll do something with the damaged dime-store/Tudor Rose pulp figure, like graft a small propeller to the wrist?

While we've looked at the two rack-toy Power-Ranger knock-offs before. The blue fellah is a Pokémon I think, and I have no suggestions for the 25mm action figure with moving arms and legs?

Mentioned in passing the other day - this completed my MPC XL5 character line-up, Steve Zodiac I think a reissue in this grey and he was a bit shredded, but a very quick pass with a cigarette-lighter removed most of the jiggits, but it didn't restore his nose! I would never recommend the lighter-technique, it's something you have to be practiced in (or confident of carrying out), before you start, and practice makes casualties! But done right it disappears all those little 'tails' of a worn, sanded or badly-fettled plastic item.

Probably could have been in yesterday's post, a small collection of Kinder figure parts, which will go with all the others, if I ever find the big box, which is still somewhere in the garage! And the Attic stuff has long-gone to storage, so that's a job for next-home now! I think blue-top is an ice-hockey player, there's half a fantasy barbarian, the blue legs go with the Esquimaux, and the horses had those chunky brass-look knights riding them.

"Now you've sorted everything into their little bags and spread them all over OUR nest, can Teddy and I have our Cheesy Dreamies please? We're starving here and it's well-past our bedtime!"

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Found it! FBI Shooting Practice, by Day Fran so now I need to find the Captain Scarlet ones - Doh!