L is for Loose Lots - Sandown - Everything Else

Last of the purchase posts from Sandown Park, it's funny I've mentioned the stash/pile and Battle of the Planets in the last 24/48 hours, and Bushy managed to name-check them both in the last few hours (the irony being, he doesn't have a pile), almost like he can't bare me to post original stuff, but that's all I do; original images, original copy and original opinions - isn't that right readers? While someone else has commented, forgetting what he said about me a few years ago, but stupid people have the brains of goldfish!

 

A nice bunch of Charbens circus. Circus, like Pirates, have become a bit of a side interest for me, but then so have dime-store vehicles, parachute toys, LB, stationary novelties, Cracker & capsule toys, and, and, and! I think the Tiger is quite unusual here, and the different colours of the dogs costumes, and horses furniture, make the sample more interesting.

 

Speaking of dime-store vehicles, here's a couple more of the small, US pattern, row-crop wheeled tractors, Western plastic crap, predating the Hong Kong plastic crap by a decade or two! As you can see, these are basically the same model, but different sizes, and I have near-on a dozen now, nearly all different, so when they're all together, we'll have a proper look/comparison.

 

The blue one is marked Banner, and is the same as one of my military ones, the yellow, is not the smallest, so may be the same as the Merit/Bell ones, but marked Tudor Rose?and possibly the same as the unmarked pair we saw last September? That's a check I can make one evening this summer, when sorting over at the storage unit, where I think there's four or five of these?

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2025/09/l-is-for-last-mays-lots-of-lovely-loot.html 

 

Action Man command post field telephone set, which was in the biscuit tin from Isaac. This would be connected to landlines (the origin of the phrase, predating the mobile telephone!) connecting the forward trenches/positions, with a platoon net, company net and 'chat net', set at the evening O-group (Orders). Sometimes, on Salisbury Plain, in the middle of the night, you'd pick up Russian spy trawlers in the Channel, due to the power of their sending sets, and the aerial properties of all the D10 landline network!

 

Tomte Laerdal Renault Floride Cabrio sports car, note how much better the wheels are moulded on these than on the Galanite ones we saw the other day;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2026/04/l-is-for-local-loot-2-of-2.html

 

A couple of interesting Animals, Adrian found the horse, I think, which is similar to, but not the same as the Britains Shetlands, longer, thinner legs for a start! The composition squirrel is damaged, but was always a small delicate moulding, and squirrels are another thing I have a soft spot for, along with elephants, and hedgehogs!

 

Better Hong Kong copy of Lone Star, than some (but may be Spanish, South American or even an actual Lone Star, hard to tell, until I compare), and a kit accessory, possibly from a Jacques Cousteau ship model of Calypso?

 

Upper lot are Holly or Holly-like, we saw some of them in the recent Gary Gygax posts;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/search/label/Gary%20Gygax

 

While the lower shot shows their 'rubber jiggler' clones, as part of my favourite childhood set, indeed, the Dimetrodon to the right, is pretty-much how I remember mine to be, prior to my tearing all the spines free of each other, and ruining it!

 

Random, newish Dino', which turned-up during the course of the day!

Thanks to Adrain, Gareth, Isaac and Steve for bits at the show.

T is for Two - Childhood Survivors

In all the sorting of the last two-and-a-half-years, I found two fascinating pieces of childhood ephemera, from or related to Palitoy/Action Man, which I thought I'd chuck up here under the nostalgia heading . . . 

 

I can actually remember when the parcel eventually arrived, a while later (probably the 'winter of discontent'? So 1973/74'ish?), as it had about six or eight hands, two feet and ankle assemblies and the elasticated-loop with chromed-hook for mending the waist of my older painted-head figure which had come from a Church-fete.

Then we had two grippy-hands men with flocked-hair, one each, and they needed new hands as the fingers were starting to crack-off from the inside! Which left some spare! But we had got older in the meantime and took greater care of them, so I don't think we ever even used the other hands, or one of the feet and matey from Modeller's Loft (Alan Hall?) bought them from me in the 1990's!

 

Bugger-me if I haven't got enough for a guard dog, or a sentry box! I think it was supposed to have been sent off for the sentry box, we'd got the guard dog a few years earlier, he came with a ridiculously gold-anodised chain which would have looked better on a Mr. T doll!

I don't know why it never got sent, but I suspect it was 1980, and the whole divorce, house-move (to here) and teenager thing all came together after a few months in a caravan or two . . . I don't remember the Action Men ('Action Mans'?) ever coming-out at this house?

Funny how I can remember the name of my brother's figure, but I can't remember the names of either of mine or the guard dog, which definitely had one? Painted-head might have been Douglas, thinking about it!

News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Events

Not much of an easing-off as we get ever closer to pig-out Tuesday . . . the birth of the little baby Jesus! Only 18-sleeps now, I'm not in a very festive mood yet, all my Advent chocolates are the same shape, and it's a poxy, girly heart . . . fussa-russa!

Still, on the bright side, I don't live in Syria, Yemen, Burundi, CAR, Congo or Pennsylvania, so clearly - blessed by the little baby Jesus, me!

 

Reminder: this listing which went through a few edits back in May/June to get to the current format, is sorted by date, then alphabetically by location in two sections; Toy Fairs first, Auctions second. No one gets bumped up or down and if you're not here - you didn't tell me!

 

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Toy Fairs

Saturday 8th December 2018

Brentwood - J&J Fairs (John & Julie Webb)

International hall, Brentwood Centre, Doddinghurst Road, Brentwood, Essex, CM15 9NN

Web. - www.j-jwebbtoyfairs.com

eMail - jandjfairs@virginmedia.com

Tel. - 01522 880 383

10:00 - Approx. 14:30hrs

Admission £3, seniors £2.50p, 1st child £2

Chester - Tony Oaks Toy Fairs

The Cheshire Country Club Sports Club, Plas Newton Lane, Upton, Cheshire, CH2 1PR

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01270 652 773

Mob. - 07825 631 323

10:30 - 14:30hrs

Admission £2.00

Free Parking

Gateshead - Jim Corr Fairs - Toy, Train & Sci-Fi Fair

Gateshead International Stadium, Neilson Road, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, NE10 0EF

eMail - jim_corr73@hotmail.co.uk

Mob. - 07504 035 955

10:00 - 15:00hrs

Admission £3, children/senior citizens £2, 'Early Bird' (time unknown) £5

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Sunday 9th December 2018

Ashington - David Parsons - Toy & Train Collectors Fair

Ashington Community Centre, Foster Lane, Ashington, West Sussex, RH20 3PG

eMail - modelcarmart@gmail.com

Tel. - 01424 846 676 (Pete)

Mob. - 07742 609 865

10:00 - 14:00hrs

 Adults £1.50, concessions £1

Northfleet - SRP Toyfairs

Northfleet Girls School, Hall Road, Northfleet, Kent, DA11 8AQ

Web. - www.srptoyfairs1.co.uk

eMail: srptoys1@hotmail.co.uk

Tel. - 07739 998 012 (Paula or Gerry)

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Admission charge unknown

Stafford - Barry Potter / BP Fairs - 'Stafford Showground'

The Preston & Argyle Suites, Stafford County Showground, Weston Road, Stafford, ST18 0BD

Web. - www.bpfairs.com

Tel. - 01604 846 688

Mob. - 07966 527 177

10.30 - 15.00hrs

Admission £4.00 (early-bird £8), OAP's £3.50, Children £1,

Free parking

Wimborn - David Rees

Queen Elizabeth's Leisure Centre (Sports Hall), Blandford Raod, Wimborne Minster, Dorset BH21 4DT

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01202 590 158

10:15 - 14:30hrs

Admission charge unknown

Free parking and refreshments

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Tuesday 11th December 2018

Elsecar - Newcomen Fairs Ltd. - 36th Elsecar Toy & Train Fair (evening fair)

Elsecar Heritage Centre, Elsecar, Nr. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S74 8HJ

Web. - www.newcomenfairs.co.uk

eMail - sales@newcomenfairs.co.uk

Tel. - 01226 744 425

19:00 - 21:00hrs

Admission £1.50p, children 50p

Hook - Steven Clements Fairs - Hook Evening Fair

Hook Community Centre, Hook, Hampshire, RG27 9NN

eMail: clementfairs@aol.com

Tel. - 01380 725 322

Mob. - 07958 101 891

18:30 - 21:30hrs

Admission charge unknown

New venue, free parking

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Thursday 13th December 2018

Hertford - Joe Lock Fairs (Evening Fair)

Richard Hale School, Hale Road, Hertford, Hertfordshire, SG13 8EN

Internet presence unknown

Mob. - 07866 641 215

19:00-21:00hrs

Admission £1

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Auctions

Tuesday 11th / Wednesday 12th December 2018

Newbury - Special Auction Services (SAS) - two day sale

81 Greenham Business Park, Newbury, West Berkshire, RG19 6HW
Web: www.specialauctionservices.com
eMail: mail@specialauctionservices.com
Tel: 01635 580595
Fax: 0871 714 6905

'Trains galore'

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Wednesday 12th December 2018

Leominster - Brightwells

Address unknown - not sure how they want you to attend, is it on-line only? Google them, you make the effort; it seems they can't be arsed!

Web. - www.brightwells.com

eMail - fineart@brightwells.com

Tel. - 01568 611 122

General toy auction

Will print-out A4

Tunbridge Wells - C&T Auctioneers

The York Suite, The Spa Hotel, Mount Ephraim, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 8XJ (Venue)

Unit 4, High House Business Park, Kenardington, Near Ashford, Kent, TN26 2LF (Auction House)

Web. - www.candtauctions.co.uk

eMail - enquiries@candtauctions.co.uk

Valuations - jamesopie@yahoo.co.uk

Tel. - 44 1233 510 050 (from abroad)

Tel. - 01233 510 050 (within the UK)

Viewing from 08:30hrs, sale starts 10:00hrs

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Thursday 13th December 2018

Sheffield - Shefield Auction Gallery

Windsor Road, Heeley, Sheffield, S8 8UB

Web. - www.sheffieldauctiongallery.com

eMail - jmorgan@sheffieldauctiongallery.com

Tel. - 0114 281 6161

Viewing - Wednesday 12th 10:00 - 16:45, from 08:30 on sale day

14:00 - Finish

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Thursday 13th / Friday 14th December 2018

Stockton-on-Tees - Vectis

Fleck Way, Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 9JZ
Web. - www.vectis.co.uk
eMail - admin@vectis.co.uk
01642 750 616

13th - General toy sale

14th - Model railway sale

 

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If you are an event promoter/show curator/auctioneer and you want your toy, model, collectable or popular-/youth-culture type sale/exhibition/event listed here - FOR FREE - or linked to; please eMail me -

maverickatlarge[at]hotmail[dot]com

- stating the date/s of the event, address of event, contact details, opening/viewing times, admission pricing and any other relevant facts/details or features - parking, travel notes, disability access, availability of refreshments, event subject matter &etc.

And please mention any flyer-art or poster-/leaflet-scans but send by separate eMail, in case they go to the 'junk' folder, from where they can be recovered and marked safe, but only if I know they're there!

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Toys in the media

This actually dates from 2008 and was a striking campaign for the army's own charity The Army Benevolent Fund, which at the time was probably suffering from the popularity of the - then - new 'Help For Heroes' charity set-up by Gulf/Afghanistan-era military wives.

The scar is on the wrong side of Action Man's face though! Might be a reversed transparency?

T is for Toy Fair 2018 Reports - Action Man

A weird thing happened at the Toy Fair; there was a display of the Action Man retro re-boot up on the mezzanine walkway round the main hall, lovely stuff, but lots of DO NOT TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS signs liberally spread about the smallish stand, so while Peter chatted to them I took the rather poor video that kicked-off this side-season of fair reports.

But then - when we went down onto the floor of the main hall - there was another outfit, also displaying them! "Can we take photo's?" I said, "Of course" came the reply! So I don't know what the first lot thought they were protecting . . . at a trade show? Promoting stuff?

Anyway I shot off a few, they're not the best, but then 12-inch action figures aren't really what Small Scale World is all about, nevertheless, I loved my Action Man back in the day and actually sold my childhood collection to the man behind these figures, back in around 1995/6! And they are Toy Soldiers!

Timely too; as Moonbase had a ‘Mini Season’ of TV ad’s earlier in the week!

Also, these have been around for a few years now? I can't remember when the 50th was but Allan Hall from Modellers Loft down there in Dorset (to whom I sold mine, and who is responsible for the three volume work on them) obtained the licence from Hasbro for these many years ago now, and took them to the odd PW show or two and Harfield's  a while back, the 50's have been out for a while now and there were 40th's over a decade ago? It [the license] now seems to reside with an outfit called Art + Science International.

I never liked the 'tiger suit' of the paratrooper, but the latter British Para' was quite outstanding. The box is based loosely on latter boxes from the 1970's, the original was smaller and windowless if I recall correctly?

They are not part of the revamped Hasbro range of all-singing, all-dancing, action-movie types with all the fluorescent idiot-sticks, interactive-whistles and flashing-bells from the owner of the Action Man rights, these are a UK-specific, limited-run, retro 'thing'.

The chap on the left was originally the first tranche / first figure released and came straight from Hasbro's GI Joe, where he is close to the US Army/Marine Corps recruit/basic training uniform of the 1960's, we used the cap with our desert set-up for a Free French FFL type.

I once really upset a Bundeswehr paratrooper-officer 'Fritz' who was staying with my parents by setting-up my Cherilea/Sharna Ware desert half-track under the cherry tree with a face-veil 'camo-net' on sticks as an OP for my three Afrika Korps-dressed Action Mans, went and got Fritz to come and have a look and found him to be rather appalled by what was (looking back) probably anathema to him - a war toy, depicting Nazi-era Germans! He - having been raised in a climate without many such toys - clearly thought I was taking the piss, but I - as a kid - just wanted to impress him!

On the right is the classic British Tommy with Battle Dress and Sten gun, albeit a rather odd stocked French resistance looking type.

I don't know if they've been cleverly matched to the originals or if the/some of the original Hong Kong-based tools were tracked-down but the resemblance to the various outfits of my youth are uncanny.

The footballers were quite problematical back in the day, both the socks and the shirt/jersey sleeves showing a tendency to ladder and unravel into long stings of fluffy fluff! So I hope these are better made.

Likewise; I only hope the wet-suit has been made out of something more modern and hard-wearing that the melty-crumbly suits we had as kids, I well remember the sleeves of our action-man's orange suit slowly getting stickier and stickier as small fragments meandered-off  and stuck to the carpets like little mandarin amoeba!

Again; the skis, ski-sticks and snow-shoes all look to be accurate representations of the ones we had when we were young, and the M1 Garand (in white, there was a brown one as well) looks equally authentic?

S is for Seasonal Show Shots

Third year running I think, and clearly going to be an annual event, I'm only sorry if I missed the first few! I tried collageing them but I'm not sure if the collages really work, so I'm posting both them and the original shots.

Not much blurb, as the picture do speak for themselves and it's all someone else's efforts; as in previous years - Fleet Historical Society and their Christmas exhibition in the Public Library at the Hartington Centre. Upper-floor; and worth a visit if you're passing.

The first two shelves are showing the items on the recent set of Classic Toy postage stamps, Fuzzy-Felt was fun, and Action Man was boss, but I want a wind-up, clockwork, Spacehopper! That's too cool for the school playground . . . although I suspect it's less contemporary, but neither is the Action Man, that's a modern re-boot one.

The rest of the sets are rather crammed onto one shelf with Spirograph, Cindy, teddy bears, Stickle Bricks (I don't remember stickle-brick horses . . . or people? Are these from another modern re-hash?), Britains (showing zoo not the Trojans on the stamp) and Hornby, although I think that's the Airfix kit of Stevenson's Rocket?

Meccano gets a corner of the third shelf and then there is a farm feature with all sorts going-on, mostly Britains with the separate play base, but there's Dinky and Corgi among others.

I know it's for kids but I spotted the two 'things' - it's Christmas, you have to enter into the spirit of this stuff!

The final shelf is a village scene with all sorts of old favourites busily being busy! As well as the listed/numbered items I can see Merit trees.

The table-cabinet this year has a collection of craft kits and plans for making your own accessories for dolls and soft toys - check out the Wonder Woman; front, far right.

Seeing the multi-coloured wool reminds me of my favourite jumper when I was a kid (5 or 6), a friend of my mother's offered to knit me a jumper (birthday?) and said I could choose the wool, so we went down into Brecon, and there's all these colours, and I'm umming and erring over the predictable dark reds and greens when I spot this multi-coloured wool, it was very similar to the ball in the above shot, but the base colour was black not red (so red was one of the rainbow-section colours) and I said "Can I have it made with that?" . . . "Of-course you can" came the reply, and sure enough a few days later I took delivery of a woolly -jumper which looked like an explosion in a fireworks factory! Black as night but with all these flashes of bright colour; I don't think I stopped wearing it until I couldn't get it over my growing head (still growing huh . . . Vichy?), or it fell apart, I can't remember which came first now!

A lovely collection of nostalgic bits and bobs again this year and here's hoping they go at it again next year!