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.

Sunday, July 30, 2023

S is for Sandown Park - May 2023 - Composition Artillery

This wasn't a find, I'd ordered it in advance to collect on the day, and it's a mixed bag with several items of interest and while the figures are composition, the guns are both a die-cast / tin-plate mix with real rubber wheels.

The groups as bought, I have always wanted a decent sample of the 40mm figures, these are Lineol, and while I have managed a couple of musicians, one or two marching troops and a Tank Commander we saw here a few years ago, I didn't have any 'fighters'.

The mounted figures and standard-bearer can go with my existing paraders, while I'll look for a second gun for these chaps to crew (you will have noticed the further piece here is a US equipment). And I'm very happy to have my first explosion, having admired them in the past!

Adrian had a 70-mil artilleryman in his cheapie tray, so I bought him to A) compare with the smaller ones, and B) have a sample! Both figures are a clearly grey colour rather than Feldgrau or field grey, so a Luftwaffe unit?
 
I think the 3.7cm PaK-36 infantry AT-Gun is by Hausser-Elastolin (who had their own limited 40mm range), and it's a lovely piece, I love the pre-war ones with their three-colour schemes, but this is equally 'dinky' and fires individual, round, paper 'amorces' from an anvil-type firing plate off a finger-trigger, to the right of the breech.
 
The other gun in the lot is proving hard to ID, I mean it's obviously a US 155mm M1 Howitzer (a confusing gun to look at as it's layout is similar to the commoner, smaller, 105mm, and it shares a calibre with the more famous in the public eye Long Tom), and it's clearly marked JAG's Copyrights. The elevating mechanism is partially damaged.
 
But I can't find anything about JAG in the die-cast reference library, or on-line? Although, anyone who's tried using the old black and white French tome, will know it's almost impossible to follow, but my go-to cheat - Schiffer's Emergency Vehicles - doesn't list a JAG either, (and that has everything!) so if you can help with anything on the firm I'd be grateful.
 
There was a JAG's Trophies of London, a few years ago, could this be from a presentation plinth? An unusual piece for a UK company to make as a promotional, as it was neither an item of service equipment here, nor, as far as I know, licence built here for anyone else? It has the look of French Dinky about it, but isn't? It could be German or American in manufacture?
 
It's also in a smaller scale, so goes better with a few Airfix odds I had to hand, the image on the right is from Korea and you can see the model's wheels are a bit smaller than the service item. I'll look out for a 40mm compatible Pak-40 or '88 FlaK in tin-plate, for my artillerymen, but not for a year or two!

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