News, Views Etc . . . More Stuff!

MPC Mini Ships

Donald D. Hood got in touch from the US of A with loads of fascinating minutiae on the MPC mini-ships, he has real life stuff going-on at the moment, but I'm hopeful that at some point he will flesh out his revelations for the Blog.

In the meantime; it appears many of the MPC vessels are in fact copies of models from other manufacturers, for instance - the Varicella was previously issued as a die-cast by Tri-Ang Minic (along with one of the tugs), several of the battleships seem to be copies of earlier Renwal mini's and the tramp steamer may be from a Lindberg (Pyro) set, along with both ACW 'Ironclad' vessels?

Anyway - hopefully more to come on this one. He also confirmed that there was a retail issue, but of smaller-quantity sets than the comic offers.

Other Ships . . . and cats!

While we're on ships, I found these decorating pedestrian underpasses in Basingrad the other day.

 I don't know the connection (I'll Google it)** between square-rigged, three-decked warships and landlocked Basingstoke, but I'm guessing that if the floods allow either of these to hove into view, you'll be beyond the help of the flooding-helpline!

**Nothing on Google, but it seems one of them is looking like HMS Victory?

The cat is a running gag in Basingrad between one or more graffiti artists and the local authority; which seems to tolerate the understated and artistic stencils! I photographed the other three in a separate set of underpasses some distance from the mosaic ship murals, a couple of years ago for my - then more-active - Faceplant page.

Bible Stories

This chap has been sat in Brain Berke's Folder for too long, he sent it soon after I Blogged the others, shelfie of David (of Goliath fame) from Beverly Hills Teddy Bear (via Greenbriar/DTSC)

Maxxi Toys

Peter Evans has sent another Apache Clan Collection set to the Blog, this one with the 'trotting' cowboy horse, and two new figures, there was the same bag of candy drops, along with another two pieces of fence (so I can now make a four-sided mini-corral) and palm.

While the figures are a bit semi-flat or demi-ronde both would look very acceptable with a re-paint and the cowboy has a plug-in bag of swag, which would make a useful piece of Stagecoach luggage!

I should also point out the cowboy has suffered the same pants-failure as Mr. I. Wraite's Indian and further; that Stuart Asquith had found the same figures in Funtastic branded packaging in Poundland stores; as reported in Plastic Warrior magazine No. 159 a few years ago (20 months odd?), a full report in that issue's letters (back issues available) shows four different foot figures and six foot Indians not seen here - yet!

The pirate set Brian B found

Artwork's apparently stolen for DVD's or Game packaging!

29-05-2018 - Now known to be being carried by Aliki on the continent and Liberty Imports in the 'States.

Smyths Christmas Stock

I was over in Farnborough checking out the almost empty aircraft-hanger that is Smyths new superstore, looking for Halloween stuff (they had none!) the other day, and picked up a catalogue, I also took the above shelfie of the only thing on their half-mile+ of shelves which caught my eye. It's the same Street machine stuff we saw back in Rack Toy Month (and a recent News, Views . . . it's the bottom-row which really interests), but without the Pioneer branding, nor the Pro Engine Series stuff.

Of more interest are these four sets in the Christmas catalogue; I'm sure there's more around if you Google them, but while some 3D printing stuff is taking a while to get fully off the ground, it is interesting to see really quite cheap aids to modelling (as these are) in the kids stores. I might try 6 or 7? And if you've got kids, you've got an excuse for buying!

They seem to be UV light-activation systems with a reactive polymer-gel or paste, rather than liquid-deposition or powder-based laser-sintering systems, but I can see applications there for war gamers and modellers?

Building armatures, or building onto wire-armatures for instance, scenic efforts, trees, barb-wire entanglements maybe? And with the moulds on the magic maker looking to be flimsy styrene vac-forms, you could develop your own moulds for repeat items, small bunkers, sand-bag emplacements, conversion turrets, wheel/tyre halves etc...

Blog

Several records/near-records have been broken in the last few days, with most posts in a year, 2nd best month ever and definitely still on track for the 3-millionth hit inside 11 months - ten to go! And I will post the 2,000th (visible) post here, any day now, if indeed this isn't it, I've been busy away from the Blog this last week and got behind with 'housekeeping'!

News

Not much since the last News, Views . . . ; all the quarterly results (which generate the toy-related headlines) have been posted and caught by the previous few posts. I think there was another Lego plug in the 'i' and there was more on the Toysaurus (US-side) but I haven't done the cuttings this week yet.

One story which did grab me, although not really affecting the hobby directly was the one about evilBay, Amazon and Co. profiteering from overseas sellers not charging VAT, this is not about second-hand toys or cack like that, but rather new goods, electronics and higher-end consumer-stuff, which are offered at below high street prices by sellers over the Channel or Irish Sea, and which should include VAT, to be taken by the platform and handed to HMRC.

It's not an immediate threat to us, but - as a bit of a scam - it'll become a stick for governments to beat the silicon-valley people with, especially when old-media, establishment paper's like the Daily Wail decide to crusade on the issue.

Link

The Scythian exhibition at the British Museum now has a Blog-post.

M is for Maxxi Toys

Or D is for "Design is not stand for original product"! One of several odd bits of English syntax on this small set (donated to the Blog by Peter Evans) and the larger-set shelfie at the end of the post; also contributed by Peter.

I also have a feeling these may have a connection with the submission of a Mr I. Wraite to the most recent issue (No.167) of Plastic Warrior magazine, who was rightly "shocked and appalled" by the loin-cloth wearing methods of some Native Americans! At least mine has trousers and is presented with a strategically-placed arm! They also appeared on the PW friends Faceplant page a while ago.

Apache Clan Collection, it has a 99p graphic so must have been sold for that amount, whether it was one of the 'pound shop' chains such as the now defunct 99p Stores or one of its rivals or a more general store or supermarket I don't know, but for said amount I think it represents value for money; yes it's poor grade polymer tat from China, but it also a whole story in a box with all the props for a scenario or two

If you're wondering what the pack of rocks is for - they are the one serving of halal-foodstuff requiring a full nutrition panel!

So many toy horses have been made in the last 150-years they all now look like you've seen them before somewhere, it's a bit like marching guardsmen! This one is however probably reasonably unique, if anything it looks a bit like a rocking-horse or fairground ride horse with the quite carved mane and tippy-toe stance - but a rather nice sculpt nevertheless?

Coming in two halves clipped together and with an arrangement of five holes for either/both riders and/or wagons there is a cowboy saddle version and other poses (see last image below). Simple paint but two colours and no worse than more expensive figures, this is shaping-up to be a bargain at 99p!

First points against: The figures are only painted on the front side and are a little two-dimensional or semi-flat, while the quiver is oversized, but can be attached to the wagon-pole hole in the horses flank.

Palm tree and picket fence, Indian versus Indian; well OK, but we're still only talking 99p here and it's all about the imagination, or it should be!

The palm-fronds are a softish polyethylene, the horse are a hard material close to polystyrene, but I suspect something else; a hybrid or propylene, while the figures, fence and tree-trunk are a denser ethylene polymer.

The sweets are that same saccharine-sweet but otherwise flowery, flavourless sugar-candy you get in those large plastic capsule-eggs with no chocolate outer and the shite prizes, I know because I've tasted both!

"Completely new to come into the market", "convulsion enter" and "Wild the best West" are further examples of mangled syntax which tie these larger sets into the small one despite the lack of a Maxxi Toys logo being visible - and yes - I know they mean The Best Wild West Convulsion Enter, but that's hardly an improvement.

I was saving the small set's post for closer to Christmas, but looking around for something to run as a foil to the Countdown to Halloween posts (which I know some of you won't be so happy with, either due to their sparseness or their subject matter) I alighted upon the number of potential pocket-sized Wild West post stuff hanging around in Picasa or on the Laptop's desktop, when Peter sent me this shelfie as a follow-up to the mini-set.

You can see it has the same horses but with new horse poses, and cowboys . . . and wagons, I said to Peter that I vaguely recognise the covered-wagon with green woodwork, and have been racking my brain since as to where I may have seen them. I suspect it was the Toysaurus, about a year ago, where it was priced beyond my budget on the visit? Maybe TK Maxx a couple of Christmases ago?

The point is - while the construction is a bit clumsy with obvious screws, screw cavities and such-like, they are bloody nice-looking, original wagon designs with the covered wagon having the lines of a more task-specific wagon - a tradesman's or cook's wagon; something like that. While the Stage Coach looks nicely-different in the plain wood, rather than the glossy red (or other primary coloured-) ones a lot of people make, and probably far more realistic for the 'Wild' west, the glossy, painted ones being for the more gentile rides between the developed cities of the original North Eastern colonies. Both are probably the same polymer as the horses but I can't confirm that until I handle one!

Obviously these larger sets (the Faceplant page showed others) won't be 99p, but I bet they are only about seven or eight quid in some places; Peter's shelfie seems to show one (8 horses, 8 figures, two vehicles) for nine Euros?

And if you are a modeller, painter or lawn war-gamer these are definitely something to be looking out for - I know I'll grab the wagons if I see them again! Thanks Peter!

29-05-2018 - Now known to be being carried by Aliki on the continent and Liberty Imports in the 'States.