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.

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

B is for Best Show on Earth! 4. Wild West

Off to the wild, Wild West this post, with various cowboys, Native American Indians and cavalry types, a nice Tee-Pee/Tipi and - to start - three additions to the Totem Pole box, which is in storage, so they are currently on a bookcase!
 
They got shot twice! The left and right of both shots are easy, a Landi/Chromoplasto one in black rubber with colourful dry-brushing on the left and the Elastolin composition on the right, but the/a smaller, later one I think, there seem to be several variations.

But the one in the middle is unknown to me, it's a sort of hard plastic which could be polystyrene (Hong Kong or Spanish maybe?) or resin (Barzo? I'm not aware of one), so it'll need tracking down, but I'll find it eventually if no one tells us!
 
Later the same day - I had another look at it this afternoon, and it may be French, it's a lightweight 'styrene, with glue all over the base and some paper/card, where it's probably been stuck into a boxed-set or card, so possibly that Rene Fisher-Jem-Norev string?

Some more Rocco's, it good nick, such good nick I could take them off and put them on their horses with confidence their legs wouldn't break, and both tails intact! A Lifeguard has crept into the shot, but with thematic posts it's the exceptions which prove the rule!
 
Replicants US Dragoons, these were issued in a mid-year I think so missed a PW Show launch, or was it during lockdown and the no-shows era? Anyway, a nice set of unusual figures who haven't been done in plastic before as far as I'm aware, so a lovely addition.
 
Flats; as I mentioned the other day, I may open the Hong Kong pack as I have a better one, but I'd forgotten a bunch of loose ones have featured here since the original pack was shown, so I may leave it as is.
 
We've also looked at the silver chap before, ID'd by Brian Berke as having been in Lucky Bags way back when (late 1950's.1960's?), so he'll join a bunch of mates and there's often one or two in a Chris or Peter package, so that's a growing sample.
 
The blue guy is a bit bashed, but worth keeping as an 'only sample', and seems to have plugged into a base or something else, you can see the locating studs on the hooves of the two more-upright legs.

Small scale, and the usual bag of Hong Kong hollow-horsed stuff for the next big sorting of them, two Marx miniature masterpieces, a cavalryman with rifle intact and a gun, three of the coach crew from the company I can never remember the name of, the lady from the Morestone 'Wagon Train' and a Lone Star HO Indian who is so good I'll have to check him against the original before I can be sure, but I think he's an HK copy.
 
The chap in buckskins is from the Comansi 30mm range, and while painted like this would have been sold from tubs or window-trays, later, unpainted issues were presented in Esci-clone boxes.

French/Euro-premiums! Sam Joyce and three Indians, originally from Café Legal, but there were lots of issuers and I think there are three issuing companies represented here, Bonux and Codec, with the pink one a later rack-toy issue in soft plastic.

These are all slowly building better samples, and when they've all been reunified we'll look at each set separately.

A right old mix here! Chromoplasto in the centre, two Spanish (or Argentine copy) cavalry either side of him, one a copy of the much-pirated Britains Herald gunslinger! Outside them, on the ends, are two rigid ethylene or nylon ACW confederates, who might be Polish, or home-painted Hong Kong? Variations of the same Marx (?) pose, they are different tool cavities, with the sword/sabre version having a finger-guard.

In the foreground are a Coma/Co-Ma mounted Indian in buffalo headdress (so I have to find a horse! Did I post an 'Atlantic style' horse a few years ago? We may have a horse for him in the stash . . . yes!) and another Toumoulage, funny, they were esoteric things in the background of the hobby (as far as my viewpoint went) for years, now I've had several lots come in, and two Blog-posts on them in a year!

Another mix, all hard plastic; two Polish nylon's on the end, another of the Crescent/Lido set (also featured here recently multiple times), a pair of 'probably' French Indians (one painted) and a rather diminutive figure which might be a Reisler 40mm cowboy?
 
More! Soft plastic; Kinder, Dulcop, Timpo, another premium, all good stuff, the broken (?) lance might be medieval and is a mystery, the broken HK copy of Jean is just for completion - this is all the show's plunder; warts 'n' all!
 
Two Cherilea with separate full war bonnet! One's slightly damaged, but his headdress is the better painted, so I will swap them! The Argentine (?) Indian again, a bag of broken Lone Star and the large Speedwell/Trojan horse lifted from Elastolin.
 
And . . . this! Isn't it beautiful? And as you can see, my second this year, so delicate I've left them on the bookshelf (where they've been joined by five totem poles!) in the new flat for now, the show one has kebab sticks for the two flap-poles and both are missing base pegs, but yep; this is near the top of 1950-70's plastic production, The Britain's Herald Tipi/Tee-Pee.

I've left them as they came in, with one having the air-flap poles on the outside, one having them on the inside, without the instruction sheet I don't know which way Britains recommended, but both work, and both methods were used by different Native American tribal groups.

Thanks to all for everything last month; Michael Mordant-Smith, Peter Evans, Brian Carrick, Trevor Rudkin, Adrian Little, Andreas Dittmann, and Gareth Morgan.

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