P is for Pépé's Perfect Portuguese Plastic Pick-Up

I got this back in August, it's a bit big, but it's got figures, and figures have always been the driving force here, so what's not to like about a Jeep with figures! And with Pépé (Plasticos Jato), the maker, being Portuguese, another add to one of the less active Tags!

"Look out!" From either side, I should have done them the other way, facing away from each other! It's a clockwork toy, the key is missing, as is the spare wheel, but neither detract from the whole, and I may have the key somewhere, there’s a whole bunch somewhere. I know what it looks like from others on t'web, with an offset hole, so track-down-able, if I'm minded to!

 

The bonnet sticker has become a little worn, suggesting a lot of play at some point, and I suppose the red paint on the jerry-can, is for 'petrol, not water'. The twin machine-gun is fanciful at best, but just adds to the toy charm, redolent of the time when just about everything military was given twin guns, a radar or a searchlight!
 

The figures have a plug-in, revolving head, to which has been glued a white (parade? MP?) helmet, which is more motorcycle than M1, but I'd imagine Pépé made some motorcycles too, and took an existing helmet, from stock?

E is for Elastolin Ephemera

Another one from the library, and, if you're an Elastolin fan, probably the one to get for the plastics, although there is a bit, on the end of the composition era, in there, if I recall correctly. Due to it's size, it doesn't go with the other catalogues in the box-files, but rather on the bookshelf, with the other landscape format stuff.

 

The shop proprietors' trade catalogue, and the beauty of this one, was that it came with about eight of the annual update packs, sent out by Hausser to all the properly registered stockists, which I carefully opened and inserted into the folder. With the few duplicates that careful insertion resulted in, I think there are about 300 pages in total.

 

Because I'm a collector, not a retailer, where a line or range was deleted (a sheet of instructions came with each pack, telling you which pages to remove, which to replace and which to add, where), or part of a range dropped, I left those pages in, as I did those pages where the new pages where substantially different, or had new artwork.

 

I also kept all the instruction sheets, and put them at the front of the leaver-arched tome, with/after the original 'how to use this catalogue' guide, in the order they were issued. And I kept the pages that were removed, but they are semi-lost, and occasionally I find them in an A4 Really Useful Box, while looking for something else, and I mean to place them at the back of this folder. 

 

Wild West 'swoppet' (steckfiguren - peg figures or plug-in figures) shop stock boxes.

 

Nativity set in faux carved-wood effect, and factory paint.

Notice how they've reversed the trio in each shot!

Except the Little Baby Jesus! 

 

Giraffes and big cats.

 

Mentioned in the previous post, the Hausser take on two of the Rojas e Malaret board games. They used the Elastolin 40mm figures, I believe with 'simple' paint, rather than the retail decoration? there's a whole section on Hausser's toys.

 

Wooden Wild West buildings and whole streets.

There are also wooden farms and zoos. 

 

Old Shatterhand or the 'Karl May' set, from a popular German TV series, after the books by May, Old Shatterand is best known as the blood brother of the Apache chief Winnetou in the series of Western  novels.

The pages are colour-coded to help the shop staff look things up quickly, and the format is pretty unique, being not an 'A' size, and having the rings a non-standard distance apart, but back then such things were more common, with industrial works, mechanical textbooks & operators guides, and various military publications and vehicle manuals being so published.

PZG is for Polish Zone of Goodness!

Because I've not been posting any of the stuff from Putlerland, I've rather neglected the Polish stuff too, because all the Eastern European folders are in the same bit of Picasa (1982!), so, by way of redressing that imbalance slightly, here's a load of Wild West stuff from Poland, which has come into the collection in the last three or four years.

 

Some of it has been seen elsewhere, some of it has probably been seen here, in show reports, some of it I can't remember where it came from, or why I didn't blog it sooner, and some of it may be from Adrian, Chris or Peter, so thanks to them for all their help and support. And some of it got multiple photographs, mostly back in 2022.

 

And while most of it IS PZG, some of it probably isn't, and I can't remember what's what, and am no longer on the Faceplant group where I can check, so just an 'eye-candy' overview, to get some more Polish stuff tagged-up!

 

These are probably the oldest, and I kept re-shooting them as they came in! I think they're all the same maker, but possibly not PZG, I seem to recall the two pin-marks being associated with another brand, by the Polish collectors on the Freinds of PW Faceplant page?

 

I think these are earlier PZG, they are bigger and based on old composition figures, again they came in as the ones and twos of the collage, and then I shot them as the upper image later! All a bit damaged or incomplete (except shiny-minter tomahawk guy!), they are, nevertheless, 1st samples

 

Possibly PZG, from the larger-scale 'plinth' range (60/70mm), which also included figures from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (which included a non-Russian Ukraine . . . just sayin' - history is not what the Kremlin claims it is!), along with some lovely medieval knights, we've seen one or two of, here, in the past.

 

These are all the common, late PZG, which seem to have had an export to the UK, probably in the late 1980's, under the loosening of Glasnost, as they turn up quite often. Very colourful; but a tad smaller, maybe between 48-54mm, but with nice accessories - I'm pretty sure we've seen the semi-flat Teepees/Tipis before now? And note the Britains Deetail scenic copy.

 

I think the campfire set, lower collage, actually came in first (and may be mixed makes or lines), then the big lot, and finally a year or so ago, the five and the pair from the middle collage, with the three in the base-shot, taken from the big lot, these go surprisingly-well with the Herald Hong Kong vinyls, as the size and colours tie-in! But, I need a horse, for hop-a-long!

T is for Two - Far West Frenchies!

The last Sandown Park show was quite good for Wild West stuff, and in addition to the sets in the opener, and some Dulcop in a future post, I managed to pick this French production up, with established sellers Steve Vickers and John Begg , both stalled-out in the main/first hall, extracting not-many of my shekels, for this pair.

 

Starlux boxed stage coach; the trouble with boxed items like these, is that they are only ever box-tickers, by which I mean they sit there looking pretty, but can't be played with either in a child-like fashion, or something more formal and war-gamey! They can't be handled like loose figures, or compared closely with others, or not without getting them out of their packaging which can often lead to damage to the inserts, mounting cards, trays etc.

 

I believe I read somewhere that the coach itself was bought in from someone else, Manurba (?), or someone like that, and given Starlux horses and outrider, but I, or the person who said it, may be making that up, because the slip-in trays for the horses, are similar to other makers systems, like my own Cofalu set?

 

I also picked up this bag of 'bazaar' figures from France, as close to a generic as you can get, with graphics only for some child-safety outfit, which may or may not be official, and the contents, cowboys only, so assume bags of Indians too somewhere, being copies of Elastolin 70mm stuff from Germany.

 

 Some close-ups.

Hugonnet, Feral, LSP, 'PIH'? . . . Someone else?

 

1980 catalogue page.

 

The guy running with loot bag, shooting behind him, seems to be not only a late addition to the Elastolin line-up, but to bear a remarkable resemblance to the pre-existing Britians swoppet and/or Herald Hong Kong bank-robbers, not that it matters when the French rack-toy guys were copying everyone, including the other French producers, by the mid-80's!

M is for May's Visit - Historical Bits

We reach the penultimate post in this series, but there's still July and September's lots to go through, so there will be plenty more of these mixed posts, which do seem to get the traffic, even if it fell off a cliff on the 1st October, and probably ain't coming back, something called the 'The &num=100 Parameter Change', which, as I've never chased traffic, doesn't concern me, I post stuff even AI isn't interested in!

 

Two 70mm's from Papo, both women who lived and died [young] in a man's world run by men who didn't like 'uppity' (that's 'successful') women! Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc), and Cleopatra, and I can imagine her, wandering about her palaces, with a cat in her arms, a mini-God for a God-Queen!

 

Nice pose sample of Spencer Smith Miniatures 30mm Wellingtonians, with a colour/mould-purge gun-carriage. It's funny, but when you encounter a sample like this, you know he saved-up his pocket-money, and bought a few of each, just to see what they were like! We all did it!

 

Lido on the left, Hong Kong on the right. The Hong Kong goes with those copies of European wagons and coaches, while the Lido are usually found bi-coloured, but with a clean and dirty yellow, I suspect these halves were unioned years after they left the factory!

 

At last! Loyal Readers who've been with the Blog for a while may remember several posts on these a few years ago, as both Chris Smith and me, kept finding another, then another, then another pose, and it ended-up with Chris having one more pose, the tied explorer above!

 

Which raises the question of the nature of the - as yet - unfound set, one of the Great White Hunter's is free to wander about with a gun, the other is tied up? Shades of H. Rider Haggard or Burroughs about the whole thing! And he looks like a 'Bad Guy'!

 

Papo 40mm pirate and the painted version of the lady we saw, bagged, as a generic, in Rack Toy Month, and whom we had seen before, unpainted in the Webbs' sets, it took me a while to work out she hadn't got her hands tied behind her back too, but is hiding a pistol, to either defend her honour from a pirate, or slot a Revenue Man, if she is a pirate!

 

Three 15mm war games figures, may be one for Gisby? They look to be a command group, with officer, standard barer and bugler, all mounted, for the English Civil War? Thanks again to Peter Evans for all these.

M is for Mighty Morphin's!

A new Toy Shop opened in Basingrad, while I wasn't paying attention, Toytown, in the big precinct, I think I have mentioned it before, but I bought these there, and kept going back to see if head office had sent some more down, although it was clear they were a discounted end-of-line thing.

 

As I clearly needed the Blue Ranger! Even thought they were clearly old stock, I thought maybe if the parent was supporting the new store with discounted stuff, to get the punter's in, maybe they'd have a couple more strips of these, but after over a year, they hadn't tuned up, and I'd blogged whatever else it was that caused me to mention them before, while the above shot languished in Picasa!

 

However, while visiting Peter Evans back in May, attending the Toy Project charity shop, and filling a few bags with bits, I managed to find these two, and thought "Hum, oversized Power Rangers, which ones do I need?", but, not remembering, I bought both as I was pretty sure I needed one, and indeed it was the Blue Ranger, while Yellow confirms they are the same set, without me needing to remove the others from their cards, or dig them out of the storage pile!

 

A bit big, at around 70-mil, but solids, and quite reasonable sculpts compared to some of the fatties we saw last time;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2020/09/mmpr-is-for-mighty-morphin-power-rangers.html

 

And, might go quite well with the based ones, we saw a couple of (red & black) in Rack Toy Month from Brian B. Interestingly, despite an ocean between them, the artwork on these baseless-figures' cards, is similar to the black-based ones sent to the Blog in August, so maybe the same prigin/factory?

W is for Welgar

Also in the Nabisco section of the folders (see previous post) was this from the 1950's, credited to Welgar, the original branding of the Shredded Wheat factory, Shredded Wheat being a US licensed product, which Nabisco bought, Shredded Wheat is now part of the Kraft group, while Nabisco is owned by Mondelēz. Welgar is a portmanteau word for Welwyn Garden [City], where the factory was established.

Part of a set, the rest can be seen here, but sadly only as thumbnails. I might cut these out one day and stand them up with a few Britains Polar Bears or something! Not really to scale, the two figures are around 60/70mm?

T is for Two - Taffy & Thomas!

Except it's only the one gun, and it's a Poplar Plastic Product, but we're returning for a third/fourth (?) time to the Poplar-Taffy-Thomas 5.5" gun, and hopefully sorting out the difference between them, which I highlighted here;

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2017/05/t-is-for-two-taffy-toy-and-twin.html

. . . a while-ago now! And worth a quick revision, so you can see what's being said here!

 

I actually shot this at PW's show I think, and had the opportunity to look at it more closely at Sandown Park the other week, and while it's a nice set on any level, it's also an explanation of the two types we looked at back in 2017, where a piece or two were missing, compounding the mystery then!

The [now] obvious screw-thread on the end of the barrel of the Thomas (?)/Poplar gun actually takes a pretty substantial moulding; the 'Flash Eliminator', which needs to be substantial, as it houses a firing cap, and needs to hold and direct the mini-explosion into the back of a 'shell'.

 

  

As per the instructions!

We sorted the Thomas (et al) Jeep/Jeep-driver out with the help of Chris Smith, around the same time, and here's another, pulling the under-scale (for the Jeep) artillery piece, note the hole for the plug-in's, one of which we saw in that post;

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2018/07/p-is-for-problem-solved.html

Not terribly clear, but we have seen them in a plunder-post, I think, and I know I have some in the 'unknown ammo' zone, so we'll return to this subject again, just to cross the final t's and dot the i's! They look like micro' space-ships, little squat domes with four shallow fins toward the 'skirt' end, they obviously go over the heavy flash eliminator, and are propelled by the small charge of the cap.

Sometimes as kids, when you were firing-off a roll of 200 caps at your brother/mate, from behind cover with your little die-cast six-shooter near your face, you would get the odd bit hit you in the face, and - whether bits of powder or bits of paper - they stung, as they were/are coming off a mini explosion, and the power was/is there, if only in miniature!

Box end; and thanks to Adrian Little for letting me shoot this.

"Carefull, or you'll have somebodies eye out with that"

Is probably, now, the true reason for the second, simplified Taffy version!

P is for Polski Sklep . . . They're Everywhere!

After posting those others an hour ago, I remembered I had this chap in the queue, so went off to find the shots in one of the 'Eastie' folders, then thought there were those other three, which I think we've seen before, but anyway, more shots have been fired-off and uploaded, so here's more Polish-made Wellingtonian cavalry!

He's 70mm, with a more 'Spanish' (production) looking horse, and is a lancer officer I think?

 

The other 40mm trio included another-one of the white cuirassiers, so I now have seven of them, and he had a slightly different horse which I gave to the trumpeter, further swapping resulted in this pair being odd-men-out, and the six cuirassier troopers match! Ulan and Hussar here, I think?

 

 

Quick comparison shot!

2 is for Not 3 Men From Outer Space

Returning to a perennial favourite, a line we've definitely had more than once as an opener! And it's our blow-mould copies of the Giant minis we're looking at again today, with a couple of new snippets of information to round the whole.

This was a evilBay lot about 18-months ago, showing the pose I actually only noticed as I was Blogging them last time;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2018/09/3-is-for-men-from-outer-space.html

The back of the card is overprinted to JBZ, or Joseph B. Zahn & Bros., a US importer ('Jobber'), who carried all the usual fantastic plastic from Hong Kong and repackaged the cheaper/smaller pocket-money tin-plate from Japan.

Then, about a year ago, I picked up a two'er myself, with the errant pose, and . . . blue lenticular eyes, not the common black, sometimes rendered as a grey, so, there's a variant to add to the story, as well as the 'new' branding! My card is the more-common unbranded generic, though. I wonder if they did 1's? Or 4's!

 

Close-up of the new guy, with his lady-charmer eyes!