M is for More Stationary

Picked these up the other day, planets in The Range, and the cacti in TKMaxx, actually looking for Halloween or Christmas stuff, drew a bit of a blank on those, but these were worth a punt, given previous things seen here!

 

Tinc again, on the small ones, the larger are an unbranded generic, and I'm beginning to think the originals of these must have been Iwako, just because of the number of other items pirated from them, and the number of these cacti I've seen, we saw two lots a few years ago, one lot I cut-up and 'painted' with marker pens, to make Wild West scenery, the other set I may have only shelfied, but these two sets, in different sizes, were in TKMaxx on red-tickets the other day, so it was a no-brainer, as the expression is, these days!

 

While The Range was carrying these (CDS Group), and they were nearly out, in two stores, so I must have just missed them on previous visits, they are in remarkably subdued or nondescript packaging, so that's plausible, and because the carrying cartons were nearly empty, I don't know if there were more than the two designs seen here, an Earth-like planet and a Saturn like ringed-world.

 

But it's what's at the core of these planets that got me purchasing them, not giant diamonds, boring! But, a shuttle-craft and an astronaut! Which, judging by the wooden-pick in the shots (which looks slightly longer than the one supplied on the packs?) are about 25/35mm, and eminently suitable for joining the stash!

L is for Legami

Mentioned twice recently, and both products make a reprise in this post, the Italian (Milan-based) Legami is a new name in stationary, or new to me at least, and as a follow-up to the previous post, continuing with the theme of pencil tops and etcetera!

 

Pencil Tops - We've seen the Panda here at Small Scale World

 

Foam Unicorns!

Definitely a theme at the moment! I'll have to look out for the [scented? really?] eraser, and the light-up pencil-sharpener, although both are cartooney, it doesn't stop us buying them/shooting them so you don't have to! There's also a spaceman on the three-colour highlighter, with an ariel on his helmet, like the Stingray crew!

 

Clingers and moulded finials

 

Looks to be the same as the ones I found in WHSmith, a few years ago now, during the height of the Iwako (and clones) moment - although they are still everywhere; I think the initial flood has retreated from the doorstep! So could they have been re-badged Legami all along?

 

All the above shot at the 2025 Spring Fair at the NEC in February.

BB is for Monkey Buisness!

Blue Boxes from Blue Box! Someone (a friend) drew my attention to these a few years ago, and while they were outside my budget I grabbed a few shots of the two sets at the time.

They mostly seem to be the standard zoo/jungle animals, as carried in a variety of sets/lines by both Blue Box and Redbox at various times. Of minor interest is that the mini-farm set flagged to both Elgee (overprint) and National, between them, also carries Blue Box product, as also carried by Marx.

 

However, the gorilla posed carefully with a blob of glue, on the dolls' furniture being used in the left-hand set, seems to be a set-specific sculpt, based on the standard walking on all fours model, but with his arms moved?

Likewise, the elephant-rider here seems to be based on the walking monkey with swivel-arms you find in the Noah's Ark sets of Blue Box, Holly, New Maries and others, where it's usually grey plastic with a more gibbon-like head? I have no idea how many other sets there were in this line, but they are fun!

T is for Two - Rack Toys - In The Shops Now!

Something current, something new, something waxy (?), something err . . . green! A couple of recent pocket-money purchases (not everything makes it into the Friday 'H is for ...' posts!), pound each; we buy it so you don't have to!

Well! They're bears, look . . . teaddy-bears, what's not to like! PlayWrite are the new branding of what used to be Success or WHC, parent - WH Cornelius. Still importing and jobbing wholesale tat to the corner shops and independents (where they still exist) using contacts they've established over more than 60 years in the business.

Light them and their little hearts melt! Murderers!

These were in Poundland, credited to GE of Willenhall (Wolverhampton) and while cheaper than the WHSmith set we saw awhile ago, seem to be the same set, only there's two more, and a new sculpt (bottom, middle), having based the others and coloured some with art markers, I'll leave these as they are for now, but Wild West dioramists may have other ideas!

S is for Star Wars II - Capsule-egg Key Rings

These have been kicking around for a while now and (if I can find the link) this blog showed the full range some time ago. I saw them in The Works as clearance two Christmases ago (2015/16), but they sold out before I could get any; and they were £1.99 each! They are now in Pound-plus (like Poundland, but it's not all just for a pound!) for a quid which seems better!

Key-rings (chains, fobs); but the chains are quickly dealt with and while it leaves a little hole in them, that can be filled and dry-brushed or washed-in with a bit of paint.

Manufactured by TPF Toys for shipping-in by STL imports there have only ever been the six poses, and while they are a little small (around the 50mm bracket) I like that the Wookie and Yoda have been made 'in-scale' with the others.

Playing!

Still playing...

C is for Cutting Cactii

So - That was Contribution Season! There are actually still three in the queue, wiating new images or info., not to mention that Brain sent me a load more stuff about half an hour ago, or that his folder is still full of stuff, but then Rack Toy Month is not that far away now!

Many thanks to everyone who contributed, it was an eclectic mix of stuff in various scales and materials. If you'd like to 'show & tell' something but don't fancy a whole Blog, by all means take a few shots, add a bit of blurb and it can go up here, we're not fussy at Smallscaleworld!

Meantime I have been buying mass-produced polymer crud to keep the blog afloat and here's some . . .

. . . I saw these in WHSmith's the other day, and being a tight-wad was baulking at the potential loss of a whole two quid, but needed to get a magazine for someone-else, along with a paper so thought "What the hell, push the boat out..." and helped myself to a bag of crisps, a plain chocolate Bounty and s'quad of cacti . . . living-up here, I am; wallowing in decadent consumerism!

So, what do we get for a couple of nicker? 50p's-worth of cactus, times-four, that's what, an ideal size for a larger-scale dolls-house, but I had already decided I didn't want the pots, and thought it a bit naff that all the flowers were the same colour!

Well, snip-snip, glue-glue, colour-colour and five minutes later - bish-bosh, job-done!

You will need . . . some - preferably green - tidily-winks! And the pots go in the spares box, to make nice LGP-tyres on a moon-buggy at some point!

That's it - four more cactii for the cactus sub-/side-collection! I'm still not happy with the Gymno-whatever . . . they are grafted hybrids for kid's windowsills (I had a red one when I was a kid), not something you find in the Apache badlands or blocking fields-of-fire at the Alamo; so I think its flower may yet end-up in the 'Unknown Sportsmen' box as a beach-ball - with a hole in it!

H is for Talk Like a Hunson Pirate!

Imported into the US by JPW International and branded to Hunson, Brian Berke sent these in to add to the publishing itinerary of ITLAPD, and I can't say much about them as I only know what you can see. Brian shot them on the rack, in a store in New York, about a month ago . . . enjoy: yurrr dirrrt-dwellin' scallawaggs!

They are approximately 90mm, and I would assume some kind of PVC-vinyl? The cactus that accompanies this guy has been included in Hing Fat and other brands' sets in the past, but it's been a common-enough design - in several sizes/finish-qualities - kicking around Rack Toys since the mid-1990's, so it's presence doesn't prove much, just hints! The boat looks useful, but check out the captains sword . . . not so much 'no prisoners' as: no survivors!

Thanks Brian.

F is for Foliage

This is more of a page filler than a full post on the subject, but will help identify some of the Marx Miniature Masterpiece stuff if you're new to the hobby - now or at some point in the future when in image search or 'Google' bring you here.

When they weren't copying Britains trees, Marx turned to another maker in the mother-country; Merit, and stole theirs!

This is the Marx fir with the Merit original on the left, to be fair to Marx, it's questionable who did a stackable tree first, but it doesn't let them off the hook, just that Merit may well have copied Faller before Marx copied them, we looked at them back in 2009 Here.

There are two main difference between the brands, the first is that Marx didn't carry the largest section, so included 16 of the next size to help make taller trees. Secondly; Marx had four trunk sizes to most people's three. Luckily both have marked their bases clearly, so unless you get both in one lot (in which case you have to start peering at the leafage with a magnifying glass to separate the makers fronds!) it's easy to keep them apart.

These tend to be found in the Jungle, Zoo or Arc related sets and are quite nice, clip together soft ethylene (although both types can be found in styrene), like the larger Date Palm we looked at the other night, they are tending to be a tad brittle, but some are still fine, all good tropical stuff for Marine Amphibious Landings!

We looked at the dead tree the other night too, I can't decide whether there are different sculpts, or they are all just poorly made, I'm afraid the latter seem the more likely truth! The hard styrene version of the tropical plant and the stump are from the Troll Village set - among others.

The Cacti are a great favourite of mine and they can be found with or without painted bases, I've only ever found them in polystyrene plastic.

Then we're back to Merit for more piracy, these of the Elm tree and here they have taken the lower largest section as well.

This pic. has been in the archive since 2009! And may have been posted on the blog somewhere already? Sorting Merit originals; there is quite a variety in plastic colour of the foliage, but the trunks have subtler shade differences. It's far worse than it looks, there's a bunch, sorted and bagged, out-of-shot and a few in the attic here that have come-in in the last few years! One day I'll cut them down to one of each variety...I will!

S is for Shrubbery! "We are no longer the Knights who like to say 'Ni'..."

As well as collecting things some might be embarrassed to have in their collections, I have always picked-up and added to my own collection scenic items that 'fit' or which were issued by the companies that make the figures. Starlux being a case in point, with the added bonus that as most of their scenics are flat or semi-flat they make for good background pieces with shelf-displays.

Trees and shrubs. As I pointed out the other day; I'm not 100% sure on the origin of the stand of fir trees in the centre of this shot, under the paint it's a semi-translucent orangey-yellow polymer, possibly an earlier cellulose-acetate, and is quite unlike the other plants which are A) flat colours under the paint, and B) stand-alone items.

The rock formations

C is for Cacti; A - F

Along with my side collection of Totem Poles, which I looked at soon after starting this blog, I've also had a side collection of Cacti for the same reason, scale, there is no scale to cacti, and some can - in the wild - grow to be much bigger than human beings, where cacti have been specifically produced for small scale figures (Marx, Pegasus) they are poxy little things I haven't bothered to post here!

Late HK for Britains 'Herald', Styrene glued into a base, two designs, flat, with detail on the obverse only. Also HK copies by two companies; larger first generation and smaller second generation piracy. The pirates have detail on both sides though!

A selection of Cherilea cacti - three to the left, with HK copies to the right, both the original and the copies of the left hand one look like pond weed!

Two by Comansi/Novalinea on the left and one on the right which could be a European copy, but is more likely to be yet another HK rip-off?

Crescent's effort (first three pairs) then two HK pairs and some singles. The whole point of this one WAS to split it in two with a craft knife, but you rarely find Crescent originals so divided.

All these will be much clearer if you left click on the images.

C is for Cacti; G - Z

Missing from these posts are the Playmobile cactus, which is huge, and in two parts, I have a top half which I will base one day and what passes for a cactus from Lego, which was first issued with the underwater sets and then as a tropical plant in a Star Wars / Naboo set, it's a sort of four-fingered thing which can approximate a cactus! On with the tour...

Left to right - Gemodels, Manurba, Quick and two HK copies of the Quick version. Gem did make several cacti but so far the others have eluded me!

A selection of the Timpo cacti, with various base styles and plastic colours. The small one in the middle was made in the darker green, but rarely turns up, also the left hand one of the two has the thin hollow base which is quite unusual.

Left to right again; Plasty/Airfix, an unknown one which sneaked into this photo? Starlux, Una. The last three, being the same design as the marked Una one will be Kentoys, Speedwell or VP, but your guess is as good as mine as to which is which!

U is for Unknown Cacti I

Right, now we're looking at those I don't know much about, any help identifying these would be gratefully received and acknowledged.

These are all by the same company, the bases don't give much of a clue, but the general style of the sculpting - slightly 2D - could point to Charbens?

Again these are all by one maker, quite thin bases and they are practically 'Flats'. They could be a Hong Kong product, but I don't think so.

Also a single manufacturer, these are far too tall for the tiny little hexagonal bases. The similar design/layout suggests a very lazy sculptor!

I think the one on the left is Cherilea, but have no proof, so confirmation would be nice? The next one is a factory painted Prickly Pear, and seems to be common without the flowers, but I think that's just the owners cutting them off! The last two are hard plastic copied from the Quick one above, but with a hollow back. It's some reasonably current HK/China company and a mint set will give a name!

U is for Unknown Cacti II

Not a lot to add, more unknown cacti, with whatever I can add to help identify them.

On the left is quite a dense ethylene or nylon/rayon plastic with a base like a medieval clipped coin! The red one is a hard plastic and I'd hazard a guess it's a cellulose-acetate, as per. the next two, these are both very similar to the Starlux one above, but neither are marked, so they could be Cleiret, Jim or some similar French company?

The one on the left is really pollarded trees, but they look quite cactus-like! Also, I suspect it is Hill under the Johillco label, but would like confirmation. The one on the right is a heavy chunk of polyethylene.

The two on the left might go together but the bases are not the same, the two in the middle are based on but not direct copies of the Cherilea cactus and both have a lozenge shaped base. Any help with any of these gratefully received and acknowledged.

These are all plug-ins. The first and third having HK type bases, but no reason to assume they ever started life in this fashion, they may have been put in the bases after damage, they are also very well detailed with spines. The one in between them has an early Cherilea 'Swoppit' type base, and could be Cherilea? The one on the far right is A) damaged and B) missing one 'branch' so you may know it as a quite different looking thing. Basically; three branches slide into three drum-shaped receivers in-line?