I know, one of me' worst titles ever! And
I've 'ummed and 'arred about whether to actually do this post at all, or wait
until the rest are out of storage, but it'll do for a primer, and there's more
to come with these so they can be returned to.
On the left is the first version Gemodels (GeModels, Ge-Models - et
al.) footballer cake decoration, he has the little spigot which was designed to
take a small football (I've never seen one but they must be out there
somewhere). Second from the right is - at first glance - the second version,
which was produced without the ball-spike, whether the balls were still sold
along-side them or not is open to question, maybe in the small 'set' packets?
The two red ones (type 4 below) appear to
be UK-originating copies, perhaps for a board-game; I think a Soccerboss (possibly not/pre- Ariel's version) carried figurines
looking like Gem's. These two are
quite good copies, but lack the finesse or facial details of Gem originals.
Also while I say cake decoration, it seems
from the Gemodels game (Cup-Tie) shown to the Plastic Warrior team that the spigots
of version one may be relatively exclusive to that game (no sign of the ball
though!), and the latter - spike-less - issue being for onward shipment to Culpitt and Co., and he has paint which
suggests a cake decoration; the Cup-Tie
figures were unpainted in four colours (red and blue teams, green and yellow
goalies)
There were UK-looking copies of the
spigoted type 1's as well, they aren't illustrated in this post but I have them
in storage and will include them next time we look at these. Type 1's and 2's
are quite hard to find, but 2∙1's are even harder!
As well as dropping the spigots, Gem tried
over-moulding, and I'm calling them type 2∙1 (for
this post; it's more complicated than the small sample we're studying today) and
this is actually one of them, I have more in the storage lot so we will return
to them for a closer look one day.
Mr. Musgrave was quite dismissive of his firms
over-moulding efforts his the interview with PW, but in fact this is a solid piece, which has stood the test of
time; I'm exerting quite a bit of [bending] pressure to try to show the join
line in the above shots
In order to obtain the upper cavity (red-polymer
shot) you can see how the old type 2 mould was broken-up and then reassembled, in
the course of the arc-welding (or braising) of what must have been quite small
pieces of steel (or bronze-alloy), the player's left hand has been moved-out/slid-accross at
the wrist and the right arm now looks as if it was reset by a quack after a
heavy-tackle.
That has then been joined or merged
(Musgrave tells of both colours having to be simultaneously injected) with the
simpler lower-cavity, here shot in white-plastic. However the clear mould line round
the whole figure suggests a four-part tool, all very complicated for a 1-inch
novelty figure.
Also one of the reasons given for trying
over-moulding was to reduce painting, so the fact that the figure has had his
collar and cuffs apparently factory-painted is a bit odd to say the least?
The commonest version in soft polyethylene plastic
are the second figure from the left shown here, they are slightly smaller that
the type 1 / 2's (with smaller bases to match), no doubt due to the
'destruction' of the type 1/2 mould tools in the over-moulding experiments, so
quite easy to ID. Loss of both size and surface detail suggests they
pantographed their own remaining type 1 / 2's!
Years ago I used to wonder if they were
Hong Kong copies, as they remained alongside the real HK copies (third from the
left - polystyrene giant) in the older baker's shops, although when I say
alongside, some bakers would have one type, some; the other. Also they tended
to be glossy, both in plastic type and paint, next to the earlier chalky,
matt-painted variants.
Both the gloss paint and glossy polymer
changes were down to Culpitt who
handled most of this stuff and used a sub-contractor to manufacture and paint -
much to Gem's chagrin as we learn in PW's publication - see below.
The three are here compared to a much
smaller Hasbro era [brittle type] Subbuteo figure on the right.
But over the years; as the other colours
came in, it became clear they were the same plastic as Gem's Pop Group figures or the skateboarders for instance, or late
issues of some of the other cake decorations. In all three/four Gem types (and type 3 may have been
issued by or catalogued under 'Festival'
as well?) there are only the three poses;
Goalkeeper - standing
ready*
Striker - kicking
with left foot
Running/dribbling
- right foot off the ground
* Paint black for referee, add white stick
for World Cup referee!
Now, when you find (increasingly 'found')
these in those older baker's shops, you will/would often discover the outlet had a
whole bunch of the kicking and dribbling poses in say; red and blue or red and
white (with contrasting shorts) with green, yellow or orange goalkeepers, but
in fact, all colours/poses turn-up, so I'm guessing that elsewhere another shop
would be sent green and orange players and red/blue (more probably all-white) goalkeepers?
This applies to the latter Culpitt years though, who were releasing
both Gem and HK stock well into the
1990's, Gem themselves had a
complicated issuing system, which is reproduced below.
Hong Kong's hard plastic ones (type 5 here)
created another pose (b), achieved by
varying the running guy (a); firmly
placing both feet on the base, closer together. These can still be found
around, but - sadly - less and less independent bakers exist, and of those who
do, many are new businesses with little interest in stocking this stuff, some
can still be found from on-line suppliers.
The 'type 6' is a second set of HK pirates,
they are just as big, but skinnier overall and have lozenge or 'biscuit'-shaped
bases. I only have the one here at the moment, but there is a bunch in storage,
mostly the more conventional red/blue types, this one is a tad older maybe with
his primrose-yellow strip! They sold alongside the British 3's and HK 5's.
In a 1979 Ge-Models pricelist shown in the PW Gemodels Special (ISBN 1 900898 32 2, - and available from the editior at the above link) the sale of footballers
(probably/likely type 3's) is broken down as follows -
Ft1A - Footballer (pose 1, plain – hair and
flesh painted)
Ft1B - Footballer (pose 1, shorts or shirt
painted)
Ft1C - Footballer (pose 1, stripped shirt)
Ft2A - Footballer (pose 2, plain – hair and
flesh painted)
Ft2B - Footballer (pose 2, shorts or shirt
painted)
Ft2C - Footballer (pose 2, stripped shirt)
Ft3 - Goalkeeper
Ft4 - Goalposts x2
FTT4A - 2 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost,
(plain – hair and flesh painted)
FTT4B - 2 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost,
(shorts or shirt painted)
FTT4C - 2 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost,
(stripped Shirt)
FTT6A - 4 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost,
(plain – hair and flesh painted)
FTT6B - 4 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost,
(shorts or shirt painted)
FTT6C - 4 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost,
(stripped Shirt)
FTT12A - 10 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost,
(plain – hair and flesh painted)
FTT12B - 10 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost,
(shorts or shirt painted)
FTT12C - 10 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost,
(stripped Shirt)
And
orders were taken for individual team strips, I believe some of the four chaps
in the goal-mouth's are from such orders - but they could as easily be
home-paint conversions. I think the type 3 one on the right of the UK goal is
the 'stripped shirt' variant, and as the chap below him has shorts in the same
green-paint he may also be a factory 'shorts or shirt' job, top left of the
four is a mess over-painted at a later date, lower left is a tatty standard or
default paint.
To be
fair, striped figures, or 'odd' colour-ways are uncommon, with most bakers
seemingly taken what they were given (by Culpitt),
which as you can tell is mostly 'hair and flesh' [and boots], with 'shorts' as
common and 'shirts' rarer paintings.
While
we're looking at painting, the 4th red, green and blue type 5's on the far
right of each of their respective rows
are all stencil/sprayed against the commoner hand-painting of the rest. And the
size of the HK copies is down to their having been copied from type 1/2's
before the moulds were lost, to which you have to add deeper bases
Hong Kong play six-a-side on a very
odd-looking pitch!
I was regularly buying type 3, these 5's or
- occasionally - 6's in retail outlets until around 2010/12, but they are
starting to dry-up as the older stores close-up. The HK ones are still
findable, and another source for them is catering or kitchen suppliers/shops,
although they are all slowly going-under, or on-line only!
We've lost three locally in the last few
years (two in Basingrad and one in Aldershot - where I often picked-up stuff),
and while a couple have opened in the same period (one in Basingrad the other
in Woking), neither of them stock/ed this kind of thing and the Basingrad one
has closed already. They did both have Christmas stuff including the Culpitt plug-together 'swoppet' Santa -
a couple of Christmases ago though!
The 'Hong
Kong' (see next paragraph) goals are really a bit shite, but once they have been anchored in royal
icing, or oozed into cream or fondant they are stable enough to survive the
whole cake-carrying-in-and-candle-blowing-out shenanigans, I suppose!
And -
they only follow the Gemodels
originals in not being very good at standing-up, although with the Gem
originals it was down to a pair of very small bases! Indeed - the 'HK' goals
may be UK-sourced - by Culpitt? They
are a very crude moulding in a cheap, bendable polymer somewhere between
polythene and polypropylene, and could have been located locally for just over
or near cost-price? Perhaps from the same firm handling Gem's moulds for Culpitt?
None of my goals are marked, but then none
of my type 2's or 3's are marked either, only the type 1's have the GEM ENGLAND
'post-mark' type moniker on the bases. However I may have some marked ones in
the storage sample, I feel type 1's should/may have come with them? If I have; we'll
see them next time
Heay - if you're on Subbuteo turf, you have to use a Subbuteo ball, that's the rules, that is! Ooof!
All late production of the sort Cupitt handled or carried with the
exception of the Mary (who had a little lamb) figure which is an earlier
transitional-piece in chalky plastic but with glossy paint. More of a size-guide
than an attempt to prove the colour thing, if I wasn't sure of the origins of
the type 3's there'd be more question marks in the text above - and there's
quite a few anyway!
Previously seen but new layout; I've yet to
see brown-plastic footballers, then neither have I seen red pop'sters, but
their drum-kit is always red, so maybe that's why they didn't get red costumes
from Gemodel's 'wardrobe'?
As far as size goes, with the footballers' there is quite a
variation from the smallest (dribbling type 3) to the largest (Hong Kong goal
keepers) giving a range of around 23mm to 28mm with the different bases.
