O is for Once Upon a Time, in June! Ancient & Medieval

So, the 'Ancient and Medieval' vein was both rich and numerous, although I've got them down to ten images and a close up. Probably my favourite section, after space, and maybe ceremonial, although you find a lot of interesting Wild West stuff, and new civilians are always turning-up to amaze, farm, zoo, jungle . . . Pirates, pirates are my favourite, or they bloody-well should be? Anyway, we've got the opening paragraph; Let's play show repooooort!

 

Small-scale; Another bag of our Auther and his mounted Roman Gladiator Knights! To be compared with the other bags, as I think there was a hint at one point, the content's supplier changed, or the horses got diluted with a second type or something, none of it's actually Giant, but the story still needs to be accurate!

 

A few of the other Hong Kong knock-offs, Quaker and Elastolin Romans, and a Britians Trojan War figure, along with a broken Airfix and the ex-Montaplex runner of BuM Slot's Vikings. The mast and furled sails on their cross-spar have to be made from the central tree-runner!

 

Someone came and asked me about it, and I told him what I knew, then I either bought it off him later, when I found I still had cash in my pocket, or he just gave it to me, toward the end of the show? But he's not in the credit list? One of the Liverpool or Birmingham 'gangs'?

 

Hot on the heels of the three we saw the other day, both blog wise and literally, as the show was a couple of weeks after I acquired the others, came a fourth Marx 6" Egyptian pose, on the right here, and a broken duplicate, on the left. The good one needs a bit of a clean to match the others, while I intend to give the broken one a Kopesh curved sickle-axe-sword, and I'll use quite thick Plasticard, to match the chunkiness of the originals.

 

Between them, a Gashapon Samurai (not well shot!) and one of the Lik Be/LB cavemen. 

 

Hong Kong Timpo piracy on the left, also carried by Ideal in a fort set I think? Cherilea in the middle, and another Hong Kong (Britains 'War of the Roses' swoppet-copy) on the right. All good stuff!

 

These are very interesting, copies of the Lone Star/Hubley/Kresge 'Metalions' (it's increasingly unclear just what the history of those die-casts is/was), I think someone did give me some info' on them at the show, but so much goes-on, on the day, I'll be damned before I can remember what they said! In the style of some French reissue/Bazaar stuff and may be by Norev?

 

Did I say fourteen Richard I's the other day? Make that fifteen! And Bonux here, have simplified the folds of the cloak to such an extent it's getting back, closer to the Lone Star original, and further from the Jem/Norev it was copied from, for these washing-powder premiums!

 

Dom Landsknecht, Lone Star medieval and three Cherilea's, two of the early 'swoppets' and a solid in a nice greeny-yellow plastic. There is a forthcoming post on the swoppets, as you may remember I got four at the previous year's show, and have since obtained more besides.

 

More modern stuff, the old Marx/Tudor Rose knights, and the Romano-Greek motorcycle-raider 'knights' currently still findable on Amazon and similar platforms, all grist to the mill; colour variations etc . . . 

 

A bunch of Starlux, I think I picked a few of each a few years ago, from the same seller, but they went on clearance near the end of the show, so I just bought them all, doing him a favour, really, you understand, I didn't need them, they don't even look good en masse!

 

Bloody-lovely, that's what they is! And the unpainted one is a Starlux moulding, but perhaps issued as a premium, by a third party? We saw the white, polyethylene ones from Spain years ago.

 

Me box-ticking, or bag-ticking (playing catch-up) on Replicants!

 

Biblical figures are a difficult one, they can go with the civilians, or get their own section (which they often do at Christmas!), but as they are ancient, they might as well go here, two Marx nativity animals, home-painted (?), a French Santon, looking a bit like Mary, mother of the bloke standing next to her! He is also Marx, and was called Jey'sus'ah!

 

Again, many thanks to - Issack, Graham Apperley, John Begg, Barney Brown, Brian Carrick, Peter Evans, Adrian Little, Michael Mordant-Smith, Trevor Rudkin, Steve Vickers, and with no emails since the intro-post, anyone else who gave me stuff, including the BuM Vikings (?), and which I have forgotten to add.

ITLAPD is for It's That Long Assorted-Post Dissertation

Oi' been led to ber'live some scurrvy scurr callin' hisel' Mad Cap'n Tom were for a number o' years callin' hisel' the 'ead of ther Brit'ish ITLAPD . . . and feel Oi' should point owt, Oi's been postin' err' regulur-loik ferr longurr thun thaat!

http://www.yarr.org.uk/

So 'ere's be ther furrst o'a' few posts on Poirates and Poiraty things 'er at Small Scale Worrld, not as many as some yurrs, but plen'eny to's keep me 'and in! Aharrrrr maties!

First off, a question-mark; they keep turning-up, usually in small numbers and have as many clues to early Hing Fat or late Ri-Toys (plastic type, plastic colour) as they do to DFC or HG (figure size, figure subject), and could be two of the above (or others altogether) as there are definitely two versions of the sailors/pirates (left and middle), but so far only one type of AWI/Revenue-men?

You feel they should be commonly known, but they might have been some kind of cheap'o rack toy? Or I'm just being dumb! Anyone able to add any more to these; were they branded, big-box or bottle-bag, 1980's or '90's? I've been picking them up since the early 1990's and they're around the 50mm mark.

The weird thing is the unmarked revenue men seem to go with the middle pirates, not the similarly coloured lot who ARE marked CHINA, so late 1990's-onwards for definite, on them

Another question-mark; A rather stubby gun and pile of muddy cannon-balls. From the colour this looks as if is't cut out of a Bellona vac-formed scenic sheet, but which one? There was a 19th century battlefield one I think and a couple recommended for ACW, but the barrel here is more piratey than Napoleon or Parrot?

We've seen these before, and I keep a look-out for them on that there interwebamathingy, but the big lot were sniped at the last second and the others were too-expensive or reposted on value-aggregators like Worthpoint, but the two question marks remain; what's the significance of the wild-animal base marks? And what set/line/range were they in? I've seen them listed as 'The Disney Collection' but not found many more with that as a search term.

From the number which have turned-up and the number of duplicate characters/different poses now found, it looks to be at least two boxed sets of around ten poses? First two movies? Two waves of the second movie? Four boxes of six figures? I said we'd return to these and we have . . . and we will again!

We looked at these big-box generics last year, but I've collected a couple more images which are worth a peek, if only because one is wearing a rather piratical A-to-Z logo (which is the importer Padgett Bros) and new box graphics.

Just a bit of fun, these are out there on-line; expanding foam pirates, this one credited to a Forum Novelties Inc., but there will be others I'm sure! Put him in water and he grows, put him on a radiator and he shrinks, cat gets him and he shreads!

With the demise of the Early Learning shops, and having received a few of their other large 'solid' figures in Charity Shop lots, I was pleased to find this old sales picture still finable on-line, The Early Learning Centre pirates.

Saw this, or was I sent it? It might have been part of the wider conversation into Brian Berke's Charles W Morgan kit, which we looked at a couple of ITLAPD's ago? Or I looked it up after? No matter, it's piraty, and Captain Morgan may have produced pirate premiums at some point, maybe a little metal one like the old Britains semi-flat Johnny Walker? I just feel I should be saying more about it?

I got a Supreme carded pirate, I'm sure I've seen a generic version in a catalogue somewhere, but can't remember where . . . Henbrandt or Marshalls maybe? Anyway, it comes with a faux-velvet purse (treasure bag!) and one figure, who gets a rather crude boat to play in which is barely large enough for him and his huge treasure chest, which has a naff card-insert treasure, rather like Blue Box's hay-wagon load! Here branded to Halsall's (HTI) Time4Toys.

When I looked at the Klutz bits a while back, this chap had just come in, in a mixed lot, so I used him as a sizer, and shot a couple more to go here, so here they are! Fontanini, hard PVC 60/70mm, they also appeared in a smaller size, like these and as unpainted/antique-washed polyethylene versions - the cat'O'two-tails!

Peter Evans bought this for me in the Toy Project Charity shop a while back (Christmas-time I think) and we will be back with them in a minute, but this post is written-up in an 'as they were added to the folder' order, and he came earlier.

He seems to be designed to hold something on his head and I suspect it's treasure or tokens as you move round a board game? He may - equally - not be a pirate, but more of a general 'historical' figure, he looks a bit fairy-tale-artwork-of-my-childhood like? I think he IS a pirate, just covering possibilities - anyone recognise him?

Why is this in the folder? First Captain Morgan, now these? Goes away, has a coffee and a think, comes back non-the-wiser and writes a couple more picture captions . . . OH! Yes, someone (Chance Priest?) on Brian Heiler's Facebook group (where lots of them are Mego fans) found it and I was sufficiently amused by the subject-matter to chuck it in the ITLAPD folder!

Italian kids of the 1970's obviously thought nothing of buying their pirates large and in sixes! There's gotta'be a story here - festival of some kind, very larger garden-toy/sand-pit ship by the same company? Giocattoli Querzola.

Unknown cartoon octopus with a pirate's air about him, unmarked, but in a Kinder style, so maybe another capsule-toy issuer? Is he a character from Sponge Bob or a more generic thing?

This IS a capsule toy AND Kinder! Lady-pirate from a crew which is both unisex in mix/numbers and overall quite androgyn! Not sure if the 'Pablo' character comes separately - and apart from the rest of the set - in a larger 'maxi-egg', or is reduced from the apparent size in the artwork on the insert sheet (where this figure - Alisea - is not seen in the issued figure's pose/sculpt) to fit in the normal-sized eggs?

Not my thing particularly, but it does ID some blobby, black knights we may or may not have seen here, I know I had some come in but can't remember if I posted them? Redbox infant toy set, with equally blobby pirates and a ship which is of limited use in any scale that might be looking for something more realistic, but they would be cheap.

I can't remember if we've seen these here before or not, they were available last year as I shot them for the 'seen elsewhere shot (next shot below), but I think I then realised they weren't on the Blog, so shot them for this year, or something, anyway, here they are and I don't think I know anything else about them - more corner-shop, counter-box pick'n'mix vinyl's?

That 'seen elsewhere' shot, which was all the softer PVC or PVC-a-like figures, with the K&M / Wild Republic; centre left, Klutz in his own row; top right, the chap from Brain B above him. The two ships crew; bottom right, the four we just saw; top left, and a few odds and sods.

These are on Alibaba, and are probably available about the place as generic cake decorations, I have a similar Disney Alice' set in the queue which I have managed not to post several times despite meaning to! Nice sculpts, well finished, but cartoony, and nothing like the characters in the licence they are knocking-off, but both the skeleton and the lady have mileage enhancing others sets?

Current listing on Toy Major's site, set W5545 Action World Pirate Collection window box, previously carried by Toysmith (and others), and here with some useful accessories.

Another one I was outbid on! And it went for silly money for a relatively current set, but there you go! Pech Brothers copies with a runner of crude accessories from BumSlot! They may previously have been seen from Montaplex or Hobby-Plast.

I was up in London last Wednesday and added these two to the post at almost the last minute, a Papo-Mini (40mm) and a piratical penguin of unknown origin who has something of Phidal about him?

Both bought from the Toy Project which I visited with Peter Evans, they have a new layout and more stuff (post in the queue) and have opened another shop, so seem to be doing well which is nice!

But the eleventh-hour slot on additions to this post went to an eBay BIN-purchase of cheap fondant-icing cutters which arrived a day or two ago! They were so cheap, and I plan on making a pirate-cake for a future ITLAPD, so we may see them again - plans and reality being separate tenants on life's journey!

R is for Roman Bums

Look, we need to get this straight now . . . every time we look at the output of this strange half-resurrected Montaplex, half resin-pirate, we will make a joke out of their name, because they want us to! They didn't call their track-racing system Bumslot for nothing you know; I'm sure there's at least one British ex-pat' in there somewhere!

I think I intended these to go on the Airfix Romans page, where they are still an obvious absentee, but I seem to have shot them without any comparisons to the aforementioned UK-made figures, so we're having them here, now, and I'll re-shoot some comparisons for the other page another day!

Very crude copies, they get round-tipped (Republican?) shields with Imperial-era uniforms, so . . . Spanish mercenaries? And most of the Airfix figures were copied, but - mercifully - not the running-waving-pilum guy, who was quite idiotic enough first time round, although, the marching chap hasn't been cloned either and he was one of the more useful ones, along with the Persian archer type.

The chariot has had a complete redesign in Ed Roth's workshops and now looks more like a field conversion of a Celt's muck-cart! And it has been reduced from 4hp to one, often the way with those custom jobbies, lots of noise and a fancy paint-job, but as soon as you join 'Run to the Sun' they burst into flames . . . some summer weekends that A30 South looks like a technicolor, smoldering, retreat from Moscow!

There was a 'big box' set as well, but I think the vessel-kit was bought in, I haven't studied it but would imagine it's probably from Academy rather than the older Aurora or the Heller/Směr ones? The same single runner of figures won't provide much in the way of useful crew though and the transfer sheet (there's another in the first image) looks like the bastard-child of Revo and Games Workshop . . . on acid!

Bum Slot is for Montaplex!

We might have had that title before but I think it's worth having again! I was looking for something to make it a thematic day and thought about the smallies, but we've seen them once or twice over the years, except the Atlantic set (which was the other obvious absentee in this morning's post, but I should leave something for you-know-who to dust-sit with), when I found these whilst looking for something else in the garage!

BuM got hold of the old Montaplex sobres (surprise [bags]) moulds back in the 1990's, or - at least - they got hold of enough surplus product to start churning-out boxed sets, I'm not sure as to the full history; I think it's all been on Akala's Kiosko Blog, but my Spanish isn't good enough!

Anyway, this is two ex-Montaplex sets in one box; British Commandos (ex-Airfix) and an original-design (?) submarine.

The commandos are unremarkable, the two grappling-iron guys being notably poor short-shots, but the ladder is a whacky thing and possibly more dangerous to the user than climbing the enemy cliff-face naked except for a pair of mittens and some bedroom slippers!

It also ironic that Airfix-Heller were churning out the same old set (having apparently 'lost' not one but two new tools in the previous decade!), at the same time, in the same shit-brown polymer!

But this? Now . . . hold on a sec' . . . over here we had to wait for Birthday's or Christmas for pretty-much anything in the past, but the Spanish were getting these brought back by Mum or Dad, uncle or granny . . . with the morning paper!

It's a whole submarine! OK, it's a bit simplistic and there don't appear to be any holes for the two missile-things, but how much fun could you have over breakfast with this dropping out of a little envelope . . . it's a WHOLE SUBMARINE . . . for pennies!

Stadswatch - Chiding TJF - Apparently!

Of course I've been chiding him, ever since he thought it was advisable to correct me on two figures I said I was 100% sure I wasn't sure about, he's been getting things wrong and I've been correcting him!

 

His latest is to suggest that Bum re-issued Pech GI's; they didn't. Full stop.

 

They re-issued Montaplex copies of Pech, copies which ran alongside the Pech y Hermanos originals back in the day, as French bazar figures ran alongside their Starlux donors, as Blue Box/Redbox animals ran alongside their Britains and Elastolin prototypes. It's amazing how often Stadinger gets it wrong! Bum inherited Montaplex moulds not Pech moulds - we looked at them here Montaplex pirated everyone, Airfix, Matchbox, Atlantic, Quiralux . . .

 

. . . however, today we're looking at the Jabbering Fuck's recent twin-whines that I was 'chiding him' the other day, and the details of it . . .

 

This appeared first, boy he must have some long days if that's the amusing highlight!

 

Followed a few days later by this.

 

Now the laugh of the week (a-million-and-one sad laughs - the extra laugh is all important when you're engaged in this level of schoolyard language) is that Paul 'the Jabbering Fuck' Stadinger's laugh of the day is entirely of his own invention and only in his own head.

 

We know this for several reasons,

• 1) It doesn't really make sense as he's written it - in either version (and I mean general sense, they are both only semi-literate)

• 2) He provides no link, quote or screen-cap by way of proof or evidence

• 3) I am happy to admit to any/all my chastising of the old fool, so would only deny doing-so if I was pretty sure I hadn't, and in this case; I 'aint!

You see, while I have fully intended to attack him for his egotistical ways, I know I haven't had the time yet (now he's accused me of doing-so - I'm just about to!), and even if I'd got round to it, I wouldn't equate it to his showing his collection, because another criticism of him I have (and have hinted at once, or twice) is that he doesn't actually show his collection at all!

 

In other words my criticism of him is (and has always been) the opposite of what he's claimed twice in a week I actually said.

 

Because it's in his head! He's made it up, it's false. He was sat in the bath (or something) imagining what I might have said, OR might be about to say about him and he seems to have convinced himself it had actually happened? OR he's getting confused by something else, possibly said by someone else (we've established in the last 12 months he's fallen-out a fair-few people over the years and he hints at falling out with another in his FAQ's)? OR he was just lying for the cause of dramatic effect? How he came up with it is immaterial, it's bullshit and bollocks!

 

However, he said I chided him for being egotistical . . . well . . .

 

. . . I challenge anyone in the wider hobby still alive today, to find a more egotistical comment made by anyone in the hobby since its inception in the 1900's!

 

He thinks, he dares, he declares himself to have (or be?) a legend! Or a piece of one . . . or one in pieces! It really is TOO funny!

 

I shit you not! Like the ancient Mesopotamians! The Greeks, mighty Rome, the Carolingians, the Norse, El Dorado, the Wild West, the Marie Celeste, the Zulu's at Isandlawana or the US Marines at Iwo Jima . . . he has a legend! That man . . . the Jabbering Fuck . . . is the most egotistical fucker on the fucking internet . . . after his fucking President!

 

"One of the pieces of my legend"!!!! How many pieces are in the fucking legend! Ten? Fifty-six? Two-hundred-&-thirty-eight? Are some of the pieces in pieces? Hahahahahahahahaha! This is the joke of the day, this is the joke of the fucking month!!!! I'm cryin'here!

 

So - no I hadn't attacked him for his ego, but now he's raised it, I'm happy to do so - Paul 'the Jabbering Fuck' Stadinger of Stad's Stuff is the most egotistical person I know in the hobby, by a country-mile, and then some.

 

As to his other point, I would never have admonished him for showing his collection, as I show mine and all bloggers show theirs, it's such a stupid lie to try getting away with? I know a few of the PSTSM'ers have gone along with both his recent comments, but then; clearly, they are as stupid as their mighty 'Legend' Hahahahhahahahahaha!

 

One said 'keep doing what you're doing', well, yes I can agree with that; keep giving me sticks to beat you with and I'll keep thwacking yo'ass! Keep trying to be Small Scale World (badly) and you'll be no threat to me! Keep putting typo's (surpises - priceless!) in your title bar and Google will keep ignoring you! Keep-up with the lies, the idiocy, the competitive bollocks, the invented quotes and see what happens to [the pieces of] your legend!

 

What I have hinted at is that while - if he wanted to - he could show his collection, and (going only from what other people say) could blow me and all other blogger's away with the quality stuff he's supposed to have ferreted away . . . he doesn't, he shows crappy little scrapings of inconsequential stuff he's shoving on feebleBay! Presumably in the hope that by showing it on his blog first, it may get bid-up . . . by the desperate!

 

I don't know and I don't care, what I do know is that in the last year, there were two posts on Stad's worth a second look, one with the 2 Speedwell armoured cars (from his collection) only useful for the image, the other was the autumn post on Marx swappable figures, which seems to have been the work of three other people (?) and was very interesting and added to the hobby's 'sum total of knowledge'. Other than that, nothing leapt out . . . nothing!

 

Now; to be fair; I post a lot of shite too, I post a lot of crap, page-filling, box-ticking shite, but I don't pretend it's anything other than what it is (mass-produced polymer shite) and I hope that amongst it, last year, I published more than two useful posts!

 

And - I promise I'll never declare myself a legend!

 

Or even; a piece of one! Hahahahahahahahahahahah! Fuck! You can't make this shit up, TJF can, Erwin can, but normal people . . . no!

A is for Accoutrements

The final (to date?) installment of the 'Giant' fort story begins in the early-to-mid 1990's when Archie McPhee, a US toy and novelty retailer and early 'web' eRetailer started offering the original Giant mouldings - in new colours, under their 'Accoutrements' label. They were made more widely available by dint of Paul Stadinger who secured a goodly number and distributed them to the Toy Soldier collecting community via his Stads List.

The two sets as issued, there was a third item - a large bag of Knight figures only, appeared first in approximately 1990. The Mongol fort was then issued in around 1993 with the Knight's fort following sometime '95/96.

However they were only copies of a late 1970's to mid-80's issue originally marked MADE IN HONG KONG (rear card/R.hand card above), the Hong Kong (but not the YF branding) was then obliterated - presumably in preparation for the return to China in '97) and finally overprinted with the Accoutrements disc on the reverse and the MADE IN CHINA block on the obverse.

The Archie McPhee/Accoutrements cards were a more modern all-colour printing, the older HK issues being a three-colour process, but the original artwork was used, rather than a copy as was the case with the Giant set we looked at the other day. Figures in the HK and early figure bag had the 'Giant' scratched-out on the figure's bases, later sets had 'China' over-engraved.


The latest outing for the mould was with BuM in 1999, when they issued the Mongol fort with both the Mongol infantry, and with their own ex-Montaplex copies of the Airfix Sheriff of Nottingham figures.

The real question is - If the moulds to both forts and the Knight & Mongol figures are still usable, where are the rest of the Giant moulds, and might they also one day reappear? Also the fact that they can keep popping up and filling western companies order-books suggests that the poor quality of HK mouldings in general, is down to the poor quality of the masters, not - as some have claimed over the years (myself included) - cheap moulds, and in fact the moulds can under the right circumstances last just as long, and produce as much product as any of Airfix's moulds?

Of note - Accoutrements are currently carrying the set of 5 metal knights by Westair of the UK, sometimes credited to Kinder Germany! What goes around comes around!!