F is for Follow-ups - Recent Bits

When Chris Smith sent his parcel a couple of months ago, I told him I'd seen another of those finger monsters, a day or so before, and then spent ages looking for it, real rabbit hole stuff, in the end I went through most of the near-thousand folders in Picasa, thinking I must have moved it by mistake (sometimes you pick something up, absentmindedly, on the cursor and dump it elsewhere, without even realising it, on the way to somewhere else!), only to find it the other day, in the short or 'this year' queue, in a possible post on an exhibition!

 

Definitely a forth sculpt/pose, and if the paint-chips are anything to go by (almost certainly home-painted), this one is yellow plastic, which reinforces my - still possibly false - memory of a brown one? And obviously some kind of Kaiju from the Godzilla or Ultraman franchises.

 

From two different show reports, the Reliable figures and probably Reliable side-by-side, the standing shooters look different, because the foot-plug on the older version is not fully pushed-home, but I lined them up, and they are almost identical, even down to the long, adjustable iron-sight, over the breach, so clearly they just added integral bases changing the tool from a two-part to a three-part mould.

 

And thanks to Anonymous for highlighting the link, in comments, I was using the Way Back Machine version of the now defunct Ponylope as a guide!

 

Also from recent posts; show reports and donations, we've seen three of these recently in two posts, the others earlier in the year, brought together, you can see the two sizes (bigger pair on the right), to which can be added the several base marks, which I previously highlighted.

 

When combined with the couple of dozen which have come in over the last three-or-so years (get-at'able in storage), it will give an even better picture. While the master collection, buried in the container, which also includes the big ones, when all the new ones are added to them, will be the basis of a much better overview, one day.

 

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In this post;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2025/02/t-is-for-two-roarsome-rack-toys.html

 

We saw a metallic dino'bird/pterosaur kind of thing, which bore little resemblance to the other four on the card-back, but separately, and also from BJ Toys, I've been picking these up at petrol stations, namely the Esso outlet at Tongham/Hog's Back, and Bordon's BP station!

 

Plant spider!

 

Reverse colours.

 

Balrog's horns on this one!

 

The trouble is, they seem to appear one or two at a time, in a large counter display carton on the bottom shelf of a dedicated/custom BJ Toys sales display unit, mixed-in with an assortiment of other novelties, so I don't know how may there are, or whether they all have reversed colour versions.

 

And if you think this link is tenuous, for a follow-up - I thought I'd already posted one! But they were in two folders, with the other not photographed, so I was happy to find the Dino-phoenix, looking for the non-posted dragon! The point being, I think they are from the same source, not BJ; in China?

 

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On the subject of ducks,

 

The two vintage British plastic foul, one from Peter and one from Chris (pretty sure I have another in pink, or a maroonish-purple somewhere), brought together with the TK Maxx crayon ducks and a generic CHINA-marked goose from a rack-toy bag/toob/tub, for scale.

 

Similar, but simplified toys from Sonsco of Hong Kong, again I have several of these in various colours, including a fluorescent pink one which is just as leery as the green one in this set!

 

And on GI's,

 

This set of re-issue ex-Marx figures, being a mix of different sets, has the chap, both Chris and me thought "looked like Marx?", middle-top, and, sure enough, he was a Marx sculpt!

 

But I'd totally forgotten that Chris sent me this shot ages (six years) ago, when discussing something else, probably wanting it to feature in a Question Time, so, to repeat the earlier question, we know the re-loader is a Marx pose, now, but can anyone give a maker/brand to this marbled maroon-brown chap, and B) does anyone know anything about the figure on the left?

C is for Cone'ucopia - 2 of 2

This is still out there, I've seen it quite often in petrol stations (service stations), and some of the smaller convenience stores, or at least those which carry stock from BJ Toys, such as the Premier store in Pirbright, which seems to have replaced the NAAFI, and from which I got mine, at about the same time Peter Evans also found them, and mentioned them to me.

 

BJ Toys; blue cone is for blokey kids, pink is for less-blokey kids! I got a blue one!

 

A real cornucopia!

 

Clockwise from top-left; Rocky keyring and collector/backing card; sports themed puzzle and colouring book; a self inflating light-stick (read 'lightsabre'), which I haven't inflated yet; a multi-hole bubble-wand and bottle of bubble liquid; three packs of fizzy candies; a Dino' mini-set, which contains stuff we've seen in BJ carded sets here at Small Scale World; and, finally, a Letrabot blind bag.

 

The dinosaur, comes with a ridiculously over-sized egg, which is more chicken than dinosaur, so clearly the egg came first! And a new take on the current palm-tree design, in that it's a single moulding, with bi-colouring, dwelt-on before, here.

 

I see a lot of this stuff in the fish departments of pet stores or garden centres, even at The Range, and I suspect that industry might have had a hand, along with the fake flower people, in the multi-colour shot techniques becoming so common now.

 

Rather aptly, I got the letter H, and it's a simplistic transformer 'bot'.

 

Sub-branded Planet White, which may be a wave-indicator (?), the Letrabots (or Letr-A-Bots) are from an Italian outfit called Ciciboom Srl., and Letranimal, Kartbots, Numberbots (with symbols) and Letrazoo also exist!

The cones retail at £4.99, and with the equivalent of three rack-toys, and several other novelties, I think they are worth the money, for kids that is; this sample will be enough for me! Remember, sometimes we buy this stuff so you don't have to, otherwise we'd probably be desperately scraping flying saucer pictures off of that evilBay!

1 is for 1st Rack Toy of the New Year!

Just a quickie, picked this up on my rounds the other day, it's BJ Toys again, and a new one on me, sadly the four main figures are a disappointment, but I have been noticing more and more Paint Your Own sets, a trend spotted here a few years ago, with the cheapo'sets in The Works one Christmas, and which have since featured several times a year!

 

And, of course, the real interest here is not the handful of 45mm Matchbox GI copies, but the four 90mm Chinese Army figures, original sculpts, although, sadly hollowed-out behind, so after painting - for display only!

 

But they are dressed as they would have been through the war with Japan (second Sino-Japanese War) and the Civil Wars, in total from 1927-49, and which ultimately brought the Communists to power. A bit different, and hopefully, a sign of interesting things to come, from the Toymen of the Far East?

BJ is for Bagged Jobbies

These were in some corner-shop a while ago, and I grabbed one of each, I dare say there are more in the set, and there are so many Dinosaurs out there, you never know if you're looking at all new stuff, or just re-branded stuff you've seen before?

 

To be fair, there aren't that many actually re-issues, as with the old 'army men' rack toys, most people seem to source something original, but one or two lines get more numerous clients. Equally, with these new (ish, they've been around for over a decade now) hollow, softish polyethylene figures, in two halves, they all look the same until you compare them, when they often turn-out to be new sculpts.

 

Paint is basic, compared to some of the rival products, but at a price-point of barely anything, that's hardly unexpected. Those WHSmith ones I was buying about 10/12 years ago, have had several re-issues (I saw them again the other day somewhere), but being higher production-values, they need a longer life to pay for themselves, profit-wise!

A reduced-scale sauropod and a nobbly kerthunkersaurus, BJ include a bog-standard palm tree, and the now almost de rigueur egg! The fact that any dinosaur in-scale with the two presented, trying to carry or pass that egg, would die, is apparently lost on the Toymen of China!

T is for Two - Roarsome Rack-Toys

A couple of quickies here, as - for now - they both remain sealed, so it's the home-shot equivalent of shefies! And snuck between the Chris donation posts as I mentioned yesterday, the civilian element of his lot later today, or after work tonight?

BJ Toys, and yes, you can snigger each time, they've been a constant now for a few years, and seem to have about half the corner-shop market round Surrey Hills and Hampshire Villages. These are the same hollow, thin-walled clip/plug-together polyethylene lightweights we've seen a few times now, rather basic, but they would paint-up well.

 

While this was in Peter Evans's latest parcel, and is interesting to me for two reasons, firstly, it's the more fantastical element of the set of five, which I sort of didn't buy deliberately last time (it was budgetary, but one had to stay on the hook), and secondly, it's a new branding of that earlier set which, when we looked at it here at Small Scale World was Poundland, and is now a Generic under Gem Imports stickers - second customer here? Thanks to Peter for spotting and saving this.

E is for Eclectic!

Around the same time as Chris Smith's parcel, i.e., a few weeks before the Plastic Warrior show, the third 'spring break' was a parcel from Peter Evans, which has been in the queue for ages, and I'm happy to thank him now and share the contents with the rest of you.

I think we've since seen this BJ Toys set, because either Peter gave me another or I grabbed one, out and about, but either way it got Blogged, but that means I can open one and inspect the two Matchbox-clone figures more closely another day!

 

A pull-back-and-go, slightly 'deform' T62 type with a whacky paint-job, possibly from a larger set, but could equally be an open-carton shelf-pick type of thing, you do still find them occasionally in general/discount stores or on market stalls?

 

I think we've seen these before in a set of four, but nice to be reminded than even in the modern derth of decent rack-toy war toys, there are still a few gems to be uncovered, and a Tiger and StuG (albeit with identical running gear) are a nice diversion.

 

Green-eyed monster! There is a plan, one day, for a decent overview of 'King Kong's; we have seen a few here over the years, but there's probably over a dozen in the pile,. This very-male one is particularly mentionable, being neither the common 'Rubber Jiggler' silicone or latex, nor the semi-rigid PVC, you might otherwise expect, but is actually a rather solid lump of polyethylene . . . "You could 'av someone's eye out with that!"

 

Impro Dinosaurs, I have a tub of these and have meant to Blog them, but I think I'm still waiting on the rarest moulding, or only got one as they were going back into storage (?), but no matter, there's plenty about them on the Wibbly Wobbly Way, and the duck-bill here is another of the less common sculpts I think?

 

Paint variations of Pterodactyl, I used to kind-of ignore them, but in the last year or so, particularly with the donations from Jon Attwood, and a few Charity Shop buys, there have been quite a few come in, with copies and variations like these, so there may be an overview-post in the Blog's future as they are almost more amazing than normal dinosaurs . . . the world had flying lizards bigger that fridges, or even family cars, which could swoop down and pierce your spine with a four, six or eight-foot beak!

 

Potato, Onion, Apple

Carrot, Cucumber, Aubergine-Brinjal-Zuccini

 

Blackberry, Apple, Pineapple

Two Bananas and an Orange

A pair of Apples and a Pear

 

These have been given several names over the years, now collectively known as 'Munch Bunch', they were also sold as 'Mr. Fruity', 'Fruit & Veg' etc. Pencil tops, there are several versions, variants, piracies and issues, with examples of several seen above, you sometimes found them with plug-in cowboy hats (which unethical sellers would/will happily use on swoppet figures), plug-in greenery, painted, integral greenery or no 'top knot' decoration, even some with small charm-loops, and as you can see above, larger and smaller versions.

They are another thing destined to get a proper in-depth treatment here one day, and of which, again, there is plenty to read about them, online already. I think we got ours one year in a Christmas stocking, maybe three each, and we called them Pineapple Pol (and his mates), but I think that may have come from Mum, and be referencing the famous musical, which was big when she was younger? Note, the pear has lost its [her?] legs.

They are always waving with one hand, with the other arm down, often wearing clown shoes, Cuban heels or Dutch clogs and always wearing gloves. Some are clearly female (long lashes!), and the Banana is always top-knot'less, unless he has a loop, due to his starting to peel! And once you have a big collection, there are a couple which are hard to name as being obvious fruits or vegetables!

 

The difference between an apple and a tomato is a moot-point, but the tomato tends to full roundness. And please note, there are millions of them out there, so they are mostly hideously overpriced on evilBay!

A bunch of bits, they all have their place, with tubs of assorted traffic cones, road signs, general signs, two boxes of tentage and etcetera! Likewise, the tree zone has been growing for about 47-years! I think the above fir is a cake decoration, and the gun is from early rack-toys.

I think we've now seen the set the middle chap is taken from, or it's in the queue, but a loose sample is always useful, and the set of mechanics may have been ID'd in a shelfie, or, again, be in the queue, all good stuff!

Vinyl! Two Smurfs, an astronaut, a Gormiti Egyptian (?) and a Kinder Santa, join a little lady in a princess suit, who I did find on that there Interweb the other day, but I've lost the reference, she's a current kid's TV character.

Post-Giant mouldings of Wild West foot figures, an Airfix kit figure of an RAF ground crew firefighter, who - unlike the refueling set figures - was not later issued in the soft polyethylene figure set, and two piggy-wiggies! The smaller from Hong Kong, the larger, an early Britains with a damaged tail.

A box of Airfix HO-OO, painted and with some damage, because everything was going to storage by that point, they will be cleaned and sorted another day, a little project on the back-burner! Thanks to Peter for all these, it's all grist to the mill, always something useful, or Blogable, and there's a bit of everything above!

L is for London Loot - 1 Rack Toys

I had a day 'up the Smoke', the other week, sort of annual thing, and managed to come home with a pile of stuff to short and photograph, for adding to the pile and sharing with you, this post is all the 'new' purchases.

I spotted this in a corner shop as we (Mr Evans of Plastic Warrior magazine and I) were passing, and while it's another BJ Toys one, it's not one I've seen round here, and I've checked out many convenience stores in three counties, around and about, so well pleased to find it. It is what it is, and won't be seen again until I tackle the sea life more seriously, at some point in the middle distance, or get BJ's A-Z Page entry done!

Peter took me to one of his favourite rack-toy haunts, and we'd almost given-up looking and were about to leave the shop, when we saw a bunch in a darker corner and this was one (SM Imports) which left with me, more of the thin-walled, hollow types, clipped together from two polyethylene parts, I love the treatment of the curls on the sheep in pink pad-printing!

 

The other find was this set, again larger sized animals, I never used to track down, but over the years the need to ID or annotate everything that might come in loose, has slowly extended the parameters of the collection, and, while for now it'll stay in the bag, I dare say at some point they'll come out and get a better photo-sesh! Branded to an SHC (Shing Hing Corp.?) in China and imported by LTC (London Top Choice).

 

I also visited the Party Shop at Clapham Junction, as always, and picked up a few pieces, among which were these, I think we've seen the make - Symex - before (from the same retail source), but I hope they are new assortments of what will be Iwako knock-offs!

 

These (Fiestas Guirca) were fun, and there were quite a selection, I chose the two simplest probably, to add to the insect pile, with earthworms and glow in the dark centipedes, while the Sainsbury's glow set obviously turned-up in some warehouse clear-out, and got wholesaled as clearance as they were both cheap, and very old stock which we have seen here before, each bag had different contents and not remembering what was in the previous find (charity shop I think?), I tried to get the one with the more eclectic mix!

 

Henbrandt, we may have seen them before, but if we have, I can debag one lot for proper shots and keep a set pristine. Also erasers; and into the mini-car oeuvre, we've already looked at today!

A is for Around and About!

I've managed to find a few rack-toys in the last few months, and here's a few, one as a shelfie, just for fun, the others now in the stash, but not opened yet, one day some of them may be, but really, when it comes to the animals or dinosaurs, it's more about being able to ID 'unknowns' at some future date, than any need to get them out and set them up or play with them!

 

The shelfie, I think this was The Works, but it might have been Asda? Imported by PS Imports of Belfast, NI (so probably Asda?), I thought they were worth a shot, as we saw these years ago, as a net-bagged set from New York, courtesy of Brian B, and also - the tug - as a miniature capsule-toy type, with possibly an archive shot, yet here they are again, a probably 1960's 'dimestore' design (or tool?) still turning-up as new, decades after they first came to market. It was a non-chain discount store in Aldershot.

Three bags of those larger, hollow, two-part soft, polyethylene/hybrid plastic animals, the dinosaurs look familiar, but I suspect not because we've seen them branded before, but there may have been some loose ones kicking around at some point, or the decoration is similar to others we've seen?

 

All three sets are imported by Kandy Toys, and are the modern equivalent of the old 'box scale' being more accurately 'unit price scale'! Found in a general/hardware or convenience store in Farnham of all places, I hope to visit the castle there in the next few days, and will check out the gift shop, but suspect (in conversation with Peter Evans the other day) it will all be Schleich/Papo or Westair/Ancestors?

While this is another BJ Toys set, found on my rounds, in a newsagent's over Fernhurst way, I think, a few weeks ago. Both solids, I thought they were rather good for what they are, with a good wing-area to body ratio making the dragon realistically airworthy, and the fantasy knight being toward the Schlich-Papo-ELC size at around 65/70mm, and maybe a copy of the same or similar - Wilkinson's/Wilco also had a nice range in the last few years of their existence.