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.

Friday, February 6, 2026

C is for Catalogue Cluster

Variously taken from the 1972, 3 and '75-79 catalogue scans the other day, they are sort of eye-candy, but mostly low-res, or not that clear, so to draw the curtain on the recent miniseries, and to get them off Picasa, here they are with a few notes, and in no particular order!
 
Larger playsets.
 
1st version Americans, with 2nd version in the boat, but they seem to have been given 1st version German helmets! I refer you to my previous comments on art-departments m'lud - muppets!
 


Ist version in the box, 2nd version outside the box! Americans again. It's not clear what the Bren-carrier crew have on their heads, but I think it is British helmets.
 
This shot was reversed in the 1976 catalogue, obvious from the red beret!
 
Window boxes.
 
Big beast, post-war British Chieftain Tank it was also issued in German grey, along with this one in a big-box play set, it's expensive when you find it, and rarely complete!
 

More art-department shenanigans here, some of the bases are wrong!
 

A bit silly, the Centurion turret is underscale and won't go through tunnels!
 
More art-department shenanigans here, some of the bases are wrong!
Have I already said that?
 



I think this is a mock-up too, the kneeling guy doesn't look right in the card-art, or in the blister?
 


That's it, I could have done a few more, but the effort of cropping them all was a faff!
 
 =============================================
 
Later the same day - 
 
I've added the Timpo paratroopers to the Parachute toy page, which you can find here;
 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some great sets there,and i
Had a few.Even as a youngster used to find it annoying they mixed
Modern and ww2 stuff a bit like
Airfix and their habit of putting
Post ww2 vehicles in what where
Clearly meant to be ww2 sets.
Also a photo from the catalogue
Of the legendary prone 7th cavalry
Trooper.To this day never seen
One.

Hugh Walter said...

Yes, the history of the Airfix 'readymades' is an odd one! It was pure coincidence the crop left the shooter in shot! There was an auction lot of prone confederates a few years ago, wasn’t there? But it turned out they were fake bollocks, this blog ignored the excitement, but many fell for it, and much shite was uttered on forums and Blogs!

H