Plain old Goths . . . with a G! The same comments re. this
post apply as to the Roman post - mixed lot on eBay about a year ago, posted a
few elsewhere, a couple of unrelated photo-shoots, finding the Heimo/54mm's while putting them away in
the loft, shooting them against the small scale before they all went to storage
and then having to be a bit vicious with the pile of images but still ending up
with some duplication!
We'll start with a comparison line-up this
time; on the left is the Warriors of the
World, hard polystyrene plastic 60mm Marx
original with full factory paint. Then an unpainted copy from the former Soviet
Union or post-Soviet Ukraine.
As the former they can be the Ukrainian DZI, Донецький Завод Іграшок - Donetsʹkyy Zavod Ihrashok
(Донецкая фабрика игрушек - Donetskaya fabrika igrushek
in Russian) whether Russia steals it again or not - Slava Ukraine!
As the latter: Ark Models, where they are often described as "recast Marx", well, firstly you cast metal
not plastic (you run, shoot, inject, 'push-through' or mould plastic) and
secondly, they are copies, possibly stolen from the German Charmore production, not even reissues, although Ark are reissues of DZI! More on DZI here.
You can see however, they are very good
copies, even down to the blemish on the spear shaft, and there may have been a nod-&-a-wink,
from Marx, via East Germany (?), but
they are too small to be 'from Marx
mould tools', a very good example of the pantographer's art, but the size
difference can't be explained by the [marginally] greater shrinkage of polyethylene,
over polystyrene!
Then we have a 54mm Viking from Marx (with home paint) and finally a
pair of the Miniature Masterpiece
ones which led to the confusion of my thinking I'd also shot 30mm Romans the
other day! Of note here is that the right-hand (late, soft plastic version) figure
has had his spear re-tooled, I think the back-end of the shaft may be
'short-shot', but the pointy-end has been re-done, with a new spear-tip, placed
short off/of the base
Last year's additions, allowing for front
and back shots of two, and these are often found damaged, due to the fine
sections and frangibility of polystyrene. They're fun, and while as Verangians,
the Vikings were enemies of Rome, it wasn't the Rome of Marx's legionnaires,
but rather the Arthurian/Dark Age, late-Rome, beloved of fantasy set-dressers.
Again, what can I say, it's a good shot!
Note the arrows are threaded behind the bow, not as you would sport-shoot
today.
Base marking and plastic colour, one white
the other a cloudy/marbled neutral-granule grey, neither have the full Marx-X of the Romans,
but just a HONG KONG, which makes them look bought-in!
The other chap, I rather like him, he looks
like he doesn't take nonsense from fuckwits, which is not a bad life philosophy!
It's like he's daring you to say something . . . anything untoward!
The Ukrainian copies, I don't have the
whole/complete lot in any type, but I have them all in 30mm, and I thought I
had at least one larger example of each in larger iterations, but I am actually
missing one - guy with a sword and shield, similar to the clubbing guy, top middle!
An equally incomplete set of the 54mm's,
but a mixture of originals (top row) and reissues (bottom row). I think we all
know by now that horns and wings were more of a ceremonial/burial-goods thing,
rather than a practical feature of war-fighting, skull protection!
Miniature
Masterpieces, all eight, for some years, from
childhood until taking the hobby up again after the Army, I only had the chap
on the left and always thought he was an Assyrian or something else more
Biblical . . . Hittite or something! And with that cone shield he would/does
make an excellent Goliath with HäT Industries Assyrians!
And there's a nice diminutive slinger in
the Revell scale-downs of Elastolin Romans, who can be David!
In the putting-away I found a Heimo licensed-production figure in PVC;
with the white beard he looks like an avenging God! Full Marx-X marks on the small
scale figures and some size comparisons, the Heimo has no marks.
How they went away! Hard polystyrene and
soft polyethylene go together, reissues, copy and PVC are in with the Rojas y Malaret elephant for some
reason - enough room for an elephant I suppose! The PVC figures get a separate bag, as they have a chemical effect which can
affect other plastics or paints and I don't want to find a tub of sticky goo,
next time I go into it!
4 comments:
Ahhhhhh. That Marx Miniature set was one of, if not THE, best Christmas presents ever. I was talked into swapping my vikings for more knights when young and it was several decades before I started kicking myself.
So when Orion included copies of many of them in their Viking set, I was thrilled to pieces to paint them up and get them on my wargame table!
I have that Orion set Ross, and I hadn't made the connection, although they did't copy the 'Assyrian'! Heehee! The Knights ARE beautiful sculpts, but subject to a lot of damage!
H
Huh! You're right! (as I would expect in such matters) The Orion 'club guy' with shield and helmet is perhaps 'inspired by' but he's not exactly the same.
I hadn't noticed and didn't have any pictures of the originals to compare with, just cloudy childhood memories and some photos of the boxtop art on some sites. Oh well, he's mixed in with various 1/72nd figures, most being copies of various larger Marx or Elastolin figures, and is right at home.
I think it's because he doesn't look anything like a Viking, he looks LIKE an Assyrian!
H
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