As I mentioned the other day, Brian Berke has sent another lovely parcel to the Blog, and I will cover it fully after I've done Peter's parcels and the last show-report, as it has some very interesting stuff in it, but some of it was so interesting it was deserving of a seperate post, and this is that post!
When he emailed me to let me know the parcel was on its way, he added "There is a small box of possibly the smallest plastic figures ever, I would paint them if I could see that well!", and I replied that I could only think of some which came with either a space station or nuclear submarine kit, some of/one of which lots I have in storage, but badly painted (in red & black so probably from the space station kit), so I was looking forward to seeing what he sent, and what he sent was beyond my imagination!
There were actually two little boxes, one stuffed with figures I did recognise, the other having all sorts of kit figures from
Tamiya's 1:35th downwards, to the diminutive little chaps seen here!
The ones I recognised were the MPC/AMT/Ertl figures from the Battle of Hoth model kit, part of the Star Wars range! On the left we have the Hoth Base's Rebel defenders, with (top left) an X-Wing pilot (who can be 'Luke'), on the right the Imperial Snow Troops, although I'm not sure about the pointing rebel, he may be a turncoat Imperial trooper!
During it's 1980's meltdown Airfix carried some of these, and I have a few in that washed-out shiny-grey 'styrene they used, but I only have three Rebel poses I think, so this, nine-poses, was a real surprise, and in a neutral fawn, better for painting . . . if you have the eyesight! And there's probably a hundred in the box, so you could incorporate them in some wargame with maybe Galoob's mini space-craft/vehicles?
I thought these two might belong with the Mecha's below, but they might be from one of the Lost In Space kits, as why would they be taller than giant robots! But clearly measuring something much taller than themselves, and in typically 1960's 'space' fatigues!
These are those mentioned Mecha's, and probably from a more modern kit, but all this stuff goes back to the 1980's now, so maybe not THAT new, and again, from the size of the bot's, something much larger, like a huge space-ship or diorama kit? Possibly, of course, a more esoteric board-game?
These have to be a space-station kit? Or one of several Apollo kits, I've recently picked up the Revell 1:96th kit, and I think the Revell 1:48th kit's figures were elsewhere in Brian's parcel, so who did a 1:150 (approximately N-gauge) NASA type space kit? Aren't they charming? They may be from an International Space Station kit, if that's a hatch-cover he's waving about?
On the right is another of the
AMT-Airfix (
et al)'s kits, this one is actually 1:72, and obviously Jabba's
Kowakian monkey-lizard; Salacious B. Crumb (the 'monster' of the title), from the
Throne Room kit,
we looked at some of them here.
The coffin lid is a complete mystery, looks like the same plastic as the mega-bots, but a totally different subject mater? Maybe some Aurora horror kit which has escaped my attention, or a detailing on one of those Ed Roth'esque custom-car/cartoonish vehicle kits?
The NASA type is around 9mm, and the Lost in Space chap is a good 15mm, with the Star Wars upright pilot & bino's guys around 14mm. A lovely bunch to find in a parcel, and many thanks to Brian for sending them all to the Blog.
Meanwhile, in the sands of the deserts of Egypt, especially the plain behind the great pyramids, the wind occasionally reveals these teeny-tiny sculptures, likely religious tokens, votive offerings or similar keepsakes, here a cast-gold antelope and a small lioness, probably carved in turquoise, the stone, although it could be glazed-clay 'faïence'?
The image was from the internet, and has been sitting in Picasa for years, waiting for exactly this post, it knew . . . It knew! And that's the gods of the Pharaohs for you, don't mess with them!
While it said Egypt and Pyramids where I found it, the image has been associated with sites saying "Discovered at the archaeological site of Gonur Depe in Turkmenistan (associated with the Oxus civilization) or alternatively noted in similar Bronze Age contexts . . . Estimated to date from approximately 2400 to 1600 BCE", although similar stuff is found on the plain of the Great Pyramids, and Egyptian security or antiquities police will arrest you if they see you picking up artifacts from the sand and pocketing them!
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