H is for How They Come In - London Show December 2022 - Mercator Trading

I try to always credit people where they've helped the Blog, given me stuff, or let me have stuff for peanuts, but equally, if I pay for something it's mine to do what I want with, without crediting anyone, well, it would be ridiculous to try and credit everyone you've ever bought from, even if you wanted to!

Equally, once the stuff has been broken down and sorted into the collection it gets harder to re-credit, you can't keep track of everything . . . you'll understand if I say I give a lot of thought to the subject, I wouldn't say I lose sleep over it, but I do always want to do the right thing! One wants to credit fairly, not leave anyone out, but not be over-patronising . . . it's a hard balance sometimes!

Adrian Little of Mercator Trading, often lets me have little bits and/or saves me a tub of the same, equally he lets me have things well-under their market value, but I will also pay full-whack for bits or ask him to get something for me, the last London show involved all kinds, but I did seem to come away from the show with a lot of stuff from the one table/seller/mate, so here's a post on all of it!

I actually ordered this in advance of the show, having watched it not-sell to several interested buyers at a previous show, and I wouldn't dream of telling you what I paid for it, but it was considerably less than the market rate, due to the damage to the collar and shoulder, but it's my first 'Porcelain Head' composition figure (and probably my last!), and if you're going to tick that box, you might as well tick it with an example of the head-honcho!

As you can see, he also has a moving arm, but it's giving the full, straight-armed Sieg Heil, not his commoner, strangely bent-wrist, flicky version which always looked like he couldn't really be arsed! And the podium came home with me too!

A interesting trio here, on the left a French Napoleonic figure which might be CL (Charles Lannoy), RF (Rene Fisher) or JSF? All the dongles (and the external hard drive I put them on so they'd all be in one place) with that info' are at the flat, and I'm not!

In the middle is my first Arjoplast from Belgium, the [ceremonial?] uniform escapes me (and my pitiful attempts on Google) but might be some administrator's uniform from the Belgian Congo/colonial era?

While the chap on the right is also a bit of a mystery; I'm pretty sure I've seen (may even have -  I've rather neglected the nappies here at Small Scale World!) a couple of Napoleonic French Grenadiers with the same base, but this chap seems to be another Belgian, except Google says paler-blue top and darker trousers, while I can't find the braid at all? The bearskin however is quite a likeness with the white drop/plume and star-plate, although some of the guards on Google have a side plume in red.

The rifle is toy-like and a separate piece glued into the arm.

While these might be new to hobby, are definitely new to Blog and could be New to Internet! Consequently I can't give you much of any use, but there's plenty to say! Not least that while two of them have damaged rifles, it is of no matter; when dealing with such unusual figures better to have a broken one than none at all!

The first one seems to be a copy of an old Elastolin or Lineol figure, and in that material could be mistaken for a poured resin or even 3D print, but I suspect a test shot, due to the remains of a runner's gate-mark, and a slightly resinous hard-plastic which is sort of semi-opaque. Could it also be Argentine? They did copy some composition in plastic.

The second feels like Portuguese to me, semi-flat or demi-rond, and silver styrene are both traits of their production as seen with Plástico Osul, and the Portuguese used the British MkI/II-'Brodie' helmet for the duration of WWII (and beyond I believe), so that's the clues for this one?

While the third has a different base to the silver one and a more rounded countenance, but may be from the same source, depicting a  neighbouring Spanish soldier of the same or similar 1930-60's era, but could be something else entirely, another South American maker, they liked their 'Jerry helmets' over there!

I think this might be the Apollo moon lander from the Hing Fat sets, we've looked at some previously here, but my sample has the rover and other stuff. Quite well done as it happens with a sticker detailing the stay-behind section's flat top and various plug-in retro'/maneuver jets and radar dishes.

While this . . . is not on Alphadrome as far as I can find, no one on Friends of Plastic Warrior could help, no one on Brian Heiler's facebook group knew anything, so again, possibly new to hobby, Blog and Internet!

Isn't it lovely! The arms move, but the legs are factory-glued, as two separate, pose-specific, left/right pieces, with angled feet to keep it standing up. The head is also glued and the paint seems to be original.

The closest I could get was the 'Dime Store' maker, the Ball Manufacturing Co. who had similar products (Captain Radar) - or the French Rex, who's spacemen could be considered close (they are also quite close to the British Christmas cracker prize spacemen), but both are pure conjecture.

I also tried - and failed - to nail it to a pulp-movie robot, but that's not to say my search was that exhaustive, and there were one or two similar beasts, so it may be based on a half-forgotten B-movie one?

Not new to hobby, not new to Internet! Boo! Looks like it's a Portuguese copy of a Spanish robot by Sel-Mac, but that would tie it in with my suspicions of Portugal for a couple of the other figures in that lot?

https://www.geocities.ws/robot_ole/selmac.html

and it WAS on Alphadrome, just not in the Robot section!

http://alphadrome.net/forums/topic/15347-sel-mac-robot-from-barcelona/

and

http://alphadrome.net/forums/topic/21254-vigia-del-espacio-robot-sel-mac-spain/

Still, it's all fun! And I may have the pistol, but I may be getting confused with either the MPC one (boxier, soft polyethylene) or the US gum-ball one - altogether cruder? Both of which I do have somewhere!

Some nice pieces here as well! Polish large scale and 54mm Napoleonics, the way things are going on the Polish blogs, and among the contributors to the FoPW Faceplant group, I'm hesitant to say PZG for either of these!

The base on the right-had figure seems not quite right for PZG, while I think someone gave a alternate maker's name for a different pair of the left-hand one the other day (but I can't find the post now, trouble with Faceplant is that stuff soon drops off the page with no tags!), although PZG did have a larger sized Napoleonic line, theirs had slightly larger bases?

The new-to-collection 'Toy Town' sentry box is all-wood and rather charming, the chick is composition or chalkwear while the stool is one of the most copied pieces out there; reappearing in all sorts of guises, from Marx 'Kins' window boxes, through those fairy-tail sets, gum-ball capsules, dolls house rack toys and charms, a Hong Kong- made bear's picnic, all sorts; this seems an early phenolic or 'heavy' styrene one - if you know what I mean!

The chap with the tyre is another Cararra slot-racing set figure, my fourth in a few months, after having none for years!

Two more of the Royal Armoury (Real Armería de Madrid) models from Spain, I love these, I don't know how many were issued, and I guess they sold well (as tourist souvenirs) as you often see them, but getting them in good condition is the tricky part - these both appear OK.

They seem to have changed the base/plinth design at some point, which may give completists at least two sets to find? Factory constructed plastic-kits, my guess is ten or more with three or four mounted and the rest on foot, they all seem to be from the main hall, which is the one that comes-up when you Google the Spanish Royal Armoury Museum.

Three interesting animals on the left; a flocked giraffe in reasonable condition, probably British but who did a giraffe with integrated base? The Western horse is heavy rubber, while the cart-horse has such good paint it might be repainted, but more info sought on all of them?

To the right, a couple of Reisler's; a sailor and an African soldier, and yes that's factory paint, I think they were around the time of all the Congolese trouble (??? It's still going-on, 70-years later!) and represent UN Peacekeepers from somewhere? A Betterware cowboy flat, MPC ring-hand cowboy with accessories and a lady wagon-rider from . . . Starlux? Reisler? . . . Polystyrene anyway!

This is a really nice crossover set from the all composition set we've seen here before with Mosquito fighters (now P-38 Lightings) and the later all lead sets with a smaller metal pilot, so very pleased to add it to the pile. Timpo planes and Zang for Timpo 20mm pilots, with the box missing but the card intact.

A handful of Hornby/Dinky Dublo figures (left-hand five) and Wardie/Mastermodels workmen (right-hand trio), with a driver from early Matchbox or Moko-Lesney? Lead for the Hornby's; die-cast alloy for the other four.

A Kellogg's 'Jig-Toy' flat-bed truck and Quaker cereal-premium racing-car join a lead motorcycle in the motor-pool, and - as is becoming a habit - I raided Adrian's cheapie-trays at the end of the show, the most interesting of which is probably the one at the front, who is a die-cast Mazac/Zamak alloy, he's semi-flat and around 28mm.

There's some good stuff above, and Adrian saved/gave some of it to me, and let me have some cheap, so many thanks to him, Mercator Trading always have top-end stuff, either on their website or on evilBay, and . . . guess what - the Plastic Warrior show is only four months away now!