O is for Ocean Explorers

Not scoring points on this one (although they could've run with theses to add something to my follow-up, if they really felt the need to follow-me at all . . . as they did!), but rather; seeing what Hing Fat have to 'Show & Tell' on the subject of my original early-May posts, and there's a few interesting points to be made.

To be found on their Faceplant page, this would seem to be the later figures, the shooters not visible, but the newer cameraman is. Of more interest is the mix of sea creatures and marine plants, some of which look to be PVC or a PVC-equivalent and the large rock formation/lump!

Another Facebook shot; here we see a variation of the mini-sub with a fatter, flat-bottomed (?) design, which may be to take a sucker motor-unit (rather than the older slot-on or plug-in ones I remember from the '70's) or just ease movement on floors and carpets! Also of note is the piracy of the old Matchbox tank-landing craft and a 'fat-boy' mini-sub.

A smaller set in a carry-case from both sides; Ocean Explorer is the current branding, or at least seems to be the commonest current brand-mark for these diver sets.

No idea to contents, but both the Facebook images could be candidates for the contents of this tub? It's a similar tub currently being shipped by [the not-biggest] importer Stevens International as the Action Figure bucket we saw a while back.

Header-carded 'bottle-bag'; so-called because the automated packing machines drop the stuff into the open top like filling a bottle. This has the smaller older landing craft, which, like most Hing Fat production is copied, from Rado-Ri Toys, who - in their turn - took the basic design from Louis Marx! And possibly an older shot, I can't see the newer poses.

What looks to be a mock-up of a blister-card, sans blister!

This shot reveals one of Hing Fat's older (but recent in toy geology timescales) customers; Billy V, although they were only a brand-mark of someone else (Imex) and have been taken-over by . . . BMC? Note the branding then was Ocean Adventures, which may have been Billy V specific/requested, as the Ocean Explorers branding goes back to at least 2006 in Hing Fat literature? Not that they only have the one branding - see below.

The older landing craft, still in rack-toys and cheapie-buckets the world over and dating back to Marx playsets of the 1950's, not a bad pedigree for such an inaccurate version of a WWII equipment! As well as the Rado versions and various generic sub-piracies, Blue Box put the turret on their DUKW, and there's a larger battery-operated version kicking-around somewhere - I bet there's one on Moonbase?

Also a better shot of the little fat mini-sub, which does look like it should have been dropped on Hiroshima or Nagasaki, with the mad major from Dr. Strangelove riding-it in "Yeeehaaw"! Note also, how they separate the 2 'standing' and 5 swimming poses.

Printed catalogue page from January 2015 (Toy Fair season!) shows all the then available formats being offered to customers, all branded to Sea Divers. I've seen the 'shopping basket' with both Pirates and Wild West, when I worked for a dealer back in the 2010's and, as it looked old then,  it must have been an option back as far as the 1990's, at least? Hing Fat were founded in 1978, I think.

The larger sets have the same marine-life added, but colours are different, with none of the sky-blue divers you get today, and lots of the 'international orange' which older, more experienced collectors will know as being particularly prone to turning brittle.

D is for Dive! Dive! Dive!

We looked at the Lone Star mini-sub/2-man torpedo with box a while ago, courtesy of Brian Berke, and at the time I mentioned the divers I had which were unfindable, well, I found them! And they weren't where I thought they might be, but that's collecting, as I'm sure some of you know only too well!

Mine is sans box (as is most of the large scale collection; too busy filling gaps to worry about packaging), but is otherwise all there, the only difference with Brian's in that his propeller was silver (polished steel!), while mine is gold (steam era bronze!). As you can see I need to find another rider - in either paint scheme - as mine don't match, one has an all-over silver suit, the other is mostly black with green straps on the helmet (matching Brains), but it doesn't end there . . .

. . . as I have a third, who doesn’t match either of them! He's not in the soft PVC-like material of some of the other Toyway re-issues, being polyethylene. Equally I don't think any of the marques who've been involved with the British re-issues have done the 'sub, so I guess a test shot of the mould-tool?

My propeller is a bit loose and keeps falling out so I keep it in its own little self-seal bag (with the equally loose counter-weight), but the hook is still there, so I could power it up if I wanted to. To be honest; I'm not sure the grommet hasn't been replaced with the end of a cheap, BIC-like biro?

Timpo's was a simpler affair with no motive power and an underside too narrow for one of those Hong Kong made, battery-operated - usually red/white - motor units you could by separately for such things, but which were also supplied with a lot of model vessels.

Mine is missing it's 'coat hanger' counter-weight, a thin [-shaped wire, similar to the Indian canoes, but a different length, which was designed to keep it upright while you pushed it about the bath! The propeller does turn, but you need a pencil or toothpick to make it so or make it go!

Timpo get a support-boat however, and there are other colours of scuba-tank (are there green ones?), the boat being used by other figures, and there is a four-man version but only with Brit's I think?

I see these on evilBay frequently, and recently missed-out on a  pearler which was bid to a reasonable sum! The divers are Britains copies I think, but the 'sub itself is relatively unique in design, but may be a copy of a toy I'm unaware of (Italian or Spanish maybe?).

From the nature of the graphics on the ad's I cropped these two out of, and the logotypes, I suspect Koon Yip were the manufacturer, while Mayfair some kind of middle-men - wholesalers or shippers? I also wonder if there is a motor nestled underneath, and whether it's B/O or wind-up?

All still on feebleBay yesterday, one (top left) a colour variation on a generic card, another (bottom right) described by the seller as Heinerle (which I doubt), the other two in Koon Yip-branded packaging and available - between the four - from the US, Canada and Germany!

The Britains one is the obvious absentee in this post, but first, I thought we'd seen it here already (but can't find the images) and second while I also thought I had one, I now can't find it . . . if I have, so 'another day' for that one!

C is for Chariot

Except some bloddy Brexiteer has obviously pulled the wheels off this one, and - apparently - has no plan for getting them back-on again!

Brian Berke sent me these, and I shot into the attic to look for the riders I knew I had, as I have some very different paint treatments of the divers, however, it was only after I'd failed to find them in either the 'Divers' box or the 'New additions - 20th C' box that I realised they must be in storage with my mini-sub, which doesn't have a box, so we will probably return to these guys one day; in the meantime just enjoy Brian's pic's of a superb set:

Lone Star's 2-man Midget Submarine S15, possible contender for best toy ever, definitely best bath-toy ever!

F is for Frederico (and Fabiano) Frogman?

Sorting things out for the MPC 'Minis' ships article I promised a while ago (hopefully posted-up over the coming weekend) and found this while the 'Unknown Vessels' box was out again, so fired-off a few shots.

You may recall the Italio-Spanish post I did back in March (only just down the page due to lack of posting in April!), well, I'm told this two-man vignette is also Italian? I don't have a maker's name or era, but it's getting that waxy brittleness of some early plastics so I guess quite early?

The figures are about 15mm in size, but due to their being sat astride a large bomb, they don't look too small with your bog-standard 1:76-72 plastics, as can be seen from the Airfix figure. Note also; the large card-carton staple, used to weight it for bathroom or garden-pond operations! Can anyone put a name to it...from the sculptural style I fancy Co-Ma (?) but suspect otherwise!

[Later the same day] By Request of Anne O'Leary - painter extraordinaire;

With a canvas tender (courtesy of Airfix) in attendance, a pair of intrepid navy commandos set off on operation 'Sink the Scharnbizpitz'! It floats at just the right depth for the little square visors to be above the water.