C is for Collectivism

Or 'collectivisation' . . . we saw in the previous post how modern Russian collectors were 'accusing' an Odessa factory of "copying" the MKI riders, but the thing is, under the Soviet system of socialism (which was the other side of the Fascist coin, and had little do with socialist principles for not very long!), it wasn't about copying in the piracy sense of the word, but rather being allocated the permission, or even ordered to produce something which might have appeared first elsewhere.

We've seen it with Progress, where the set of revolutionary cavalry were issued in the Bulgarian factory in Sofia, in primary colours, by Progress Russia (probably one of the Moscow plants but they had several) in red plastic (and by at least two other plants) and we're looking at it now, where we find one (of several) Odessa plants producing items previously credited to Kultbyttovarov (Craft Workshops) - who were also in Odessa

It's the micro-ships, or a complete 'Marine Parade' micro-navy! З-д "Полимер" г.Одесса = Z-d "Polymer" h.Odessa = Zavod "Polymer" from Odessa = 'Odessa Plastics Factory' are the culprits this time, and . . . being only just down the road from Kultbyttovarov in a nation with umpteen time-zones, whatever the relationship between the two plants and/or the two mould tools' was; true-piracy it wasn't.

You get . . .

Marine Parade Complete Set

• № 01 Destroyer

• № 02 Battleship

• № 03 Boat (x2)

• № 04 Submarine (x2)

• № 05 Torpedo Boat

• № 06 Hospital [ship]

• № 07 Cruiser 'Aurora'

They come in many other colours, I was watching some blue ones the other day but they were a bit tatty and then I found the whole set so grabbed them, but neither colour is particularly easy to photograph.

The Kultbyttovarov ones (two green above, red below) are if anything the slightly better mouldings, and are about a millimeter longer and have smoother waterlines but are otherwise the same, albeit wearing the logo missing on The Odessa Plastics' ones.

So it would appear that whenever, whoever (by way of a Communist-party apparatchik) gave the clearance for the second factory to cover the same models as the first, he or she was talking to Odessa Plastics about Odessa Kultbyttovarov!

Different logo to the cat/bear's head of Kultbyttovarov on the Odessa Plastics Factory flyer, and with the markings only found on one set, we know they are separate production tranches from different tools and that - consequently - even ignoring colours, we have twice as many to find . . . the beauty of collecting!

My whole fleet steaming into action to give Fritzie a bloody-nose! Although the 'Torpedo Boat' is more of a post-war surface-to-surface missile carrier of rather fictional design? And the Aurora is an old WWI/Dreadnaught-era vessel

You may have noticed the Hospital ship is in need of a doctor itself; the seller had several sets and they all seem to suffer the same shrinkage damage, but good ones are out there as this page can attest.

The scale too, is all over the place, rather like the MPC 'minis' and a comparison is needed, but that can be for another day!

S is for Salute the Bear!

I had one of those rare moments the other day, as reported recently by Bob Legget in Plastic Warrior No.173, of purchasing a cheapie from evilBay on the off-chance, and having more delivered than was expected, not a lot more, but enough!

I'd bid on what appeared to be four loose AFV's and an aeroplane, only for both the original bag and the packing slip to turn-up - having not been in the photographs!

The Logo is similar to the Odessa cultural goods/metal-works factory (Kultbyttovarov) logo we looked at a while ago with the help of Nazar Marchenko, but while that was a cat-bear or bear-cat (?) this is definitely a teddy-bear's head (it's all in the ears!), and the work's title translates as Salute Factory (завод Салют = zeaveode Esaelyute = zavod Salute = Salute works).

The four AFV's which I'd looked for after posting the other rocket-launchers and things a while ago (it's nearly March FFS!); a nice mid-Cold War grouping of 2 WWII/post-war SU's, and a - then -more up-to-date T54 and a PT76, in a size which [we will see below] comes-in at a reasonable HO-gauge compatibility.

The two plastic colours fall either side of the Kultbyttovarov FROG, but these are unmarked, I wouldn't say they weren't from the same tool-maker's though! There is as much duplication among these Soviet toys as there was in British khaki-infantry, French bazaar toys, or US derivatives of Tim-Mee!

The turrets (and gun-breaches) are held-on but allowed to move by having the ends of their locating-studs/breeches melted-back with a hot screwdriver (the breaches are actually melted-in a bit more firmly), creating a retaining 'mushroom', here the operator has got the angle wrong or pressed too-hard and left his mark in the hull!

The four heavies are accompanied by a twin-engined Illyushin Il28 'Beagle' (? - copied by the Chinese as the Hong/Harbin-5) for a bit of aerial support. As you may already have cottoned-on; the paler of the two greens is possibly the most un-photogenic colour I've ever tried to shoot, it sort of soaks-in the flash and spits it out again, as glare, all in the same millisecond - I've deleted dozens of poorer shots, yet the dark-green ones are in proper focus - they're all similarly surface-detailed; promise!

The hull in the top-left shot is the Battlefront (GaleForceNine)'s Pz.Kpfw.IV in 1:100th scale, the T34 is Roco-Minitanks' [rather too-tall] early effort in a nominal 1:87th, while the PT76 is Roskopf's which should also be 1:100, the evidence - as you can see - puts the Soviet Salute stuff closer to the hundredth than the eighty-seventh!

So; with the previously seen stuff, I've now got quite a few Russian Bears in the Right-Revolutionary Ready-made Russkie Regiment! I'll track-down a few more (I know there's a KV II still to find) and then we'll look at them all together.

K is for Kultbyttovarov, Odessa

To wit: the Recreational (or 'cultural'?) Goods Factory, Odessa, or at least it may be! My understanding of the language being poor, and there apparently being some confusion among the Russian/Former Soviet State's collectors as to how many factories this mark might refer to or be linked to or - indeed - what their official title was under the collective system. Probably pronounced kuult-beer-tov-arov.

The mark is clear at least...sort of...

...I think it's meant to be a big cat of some kind, but again there is wriggle-room when you ask around...a bear maybe? The mouth and eyes being formed from what appears to be open scissors, but they could be tin-snips as one of the other possible ID's for this company is the Odessa Metallurgical Works.

My total sample! I may have  a few more in storage, but I don't think so, the 'amphijeep' is gameable and around HO/OO, albeit with an in-line seating arrangement! The Frog (FROG 2?) is likewise, maybe a bit smaller; 1:90'ish?

While the two ships and the missile-armed Black Sea/River Navy patrol craft are not accurate enough/too crude to warrant awarding set size ratios!

Thanks to Nazar Marchenko for pointing me in the right direction on this one.