C is for Crazy Cartoon Kids

Yeah, I'm giving that K a battering! This set came in back in January, but I didn't get to shoot it until February, It's funny, 'cos Bushy keeps asking his readers to send him their 'LP' lists, while I keep posting the LB lists! We've had the Dinosaurs and Cavemen, did the Gygax knock-offs and skirted round the farm sets (and musicians); not quite ready to do the definitive on them or the other Funimals yet, but I thought I'd better do the Wild West, which will leave the Christmas cake decorations for another day!

 

The box had seen better days, and there is at least one item missing, but otherwise this seems to be a complete rendition of the Wild West line, a similar 'circus village' was seen on Faceplant a couple of years ago, with all, or most of the Funimals, if only we could find something similar for the fishermen . . . throw them in with the divers, and a boat!

 

Cowboys!

 

Mexican!

 

Only five foot cowboys and the missing Mexican (he'll be in the next post), for a six-count (the Indians get eight), I love how some enterprising out-worker has painted the skin of the flesh-coloured figure ashen-grey, for a contrast . . . so he looks like a zombie cowboy kid!

 

The Stage Coach

 

I suspect it should have the sticker on both sides, not least than because the box shows it on the other side! But, like the Mexican it's been lost somewhere between Hong Kong, Italy (from whence I purchased it) and here, so I'll have to keep an eye out for a damaged one going cheap, with at least one sticker I can transfer!

The horses are in the same arrangement on both wagons, as per colour distribution (it's a single moulding), as they are on the box-art, but a different pattern, so, I guess each out-worker got into a different rhythm, but all got one of each colour! Wagoner is the same moulding on both, increasing the cowboys to seven sculpts.

 

Boys!

 

But the cowboys are outnumbered by the Indians who have eight foot figures, four each boys, and girls, while there are no cowgirls? Fluorescent pink is probably not quite historically accurate, and you may be noticing a similarity between some of these poses, both cowboys and Indians, and the Britains Deetail range, not that they are direct piracies, but some of the poses have been used as a guide, which means these can't be older than around 1972?

 

 Girls!

 

Not so with the girls, and I have to apologise to a mate of mine, as I sent him one of these as a 'Little Plumb', a few years ago, and it turns out she was a Little Plumbette! You know who you are, and I'll sort out some boys as soon as I have some duplicates! For reasons I can't begin to explain, these four seem to be far easier to find, loose, at shows, or on-line, than either the Indian boys or the cowboys?

Raising the count to ten!

Looking similar at first glance, these are completely different sculpts, although they have reused the body from the neck down. But a lot of effort went into the whole set, as shown with these two. Opposite arm sculpts to match, and it's clear the body tool and arm tools were different as the plastic-colours don't match, which happens if you're adding the pigment by hand, to neutral granules at the final stage.
 

Final count 9/11

The demented horse is different from the wagon animal, but was used for both riders.

 

Three buildings are included, which are half-Timpo/half-Atlantic in execution, with a shallow rear assembly (identical for all three) attached to different facades, this is the Silver City Bank, but when you're outnumbered by the locals you haven't got time to rob a bank!

 

Construction follows the Timpo model, but as shallow 'theatrical scenery' in heavy polyethylene blocks, which is more like the Atlantic 'Abilene West City' buildings, from Italy?

 

Frisco Bar

City Office - Land Claims / City Jail

 

All the free-swinging doors are factory fitted, but the back 'box' requires assembly.

Another Britains copy, this one Herald, and an umteenth-generation one though, with many better ones coming before it, including the hard-plastic one we saw as part of a cake decoration set a while back.

 

The distinctive LB fence sections, you get six in two bags of three, presumably because three was the number added to other sets, like the My Farm sets we saw, or the Animal Fun Fair set?

 

As far as I know, the two cactus vignettes are unique, rather than copies of anything else, and while I'd previously ID'd the righthand one and listed it in the Lik Be master list, the left-hand one here, was a revelation, when I got hold of it earlier this year.

 

The tree is a common Hong Kong item, and while carrying an LB A-code, is a fourth-or-more-generation copy, as is the ex-Crescent monkey-puzzle tree.

 

Two scenic vignettes, both taken from Britains Deetail, which nicely pulls it all together, re my comment above, and the well! We looked at various versions of the well a while ago, and I don't remember even looking for marks in the roofs!

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2020/09/d-is-for-ding-dong-bell-pussys-in-well.html 

 

But I bet it'll turn out that the slightly smaller ones are all LB cake decorations, that chromed one is similar to the spacemen from Culpitt, while the slightly larger one (on the left of the two shots) will be a donor, from someone else? But it's nice to be slowly pulling all this stuff together, I got a lot of help with those well-posts from Chris Smith and Barney Brown.

 

Finally, a unique, but very childish design of Totem pole, to add to that oeuvre! Apart from the base sticking out, it's a slab-flat with a smooth, blank reverse.

 

Nearly everything in the set carries a standard Lik Be A-code, which, with a few exceptions among the scenics, and with the addition of two Rhinoceroses, are in several blocks toward the end of the main LB A-prefix numbering, as known to this author. But there are a few 3, 4, 5 and even 600's before the B-codes, with probably more to discover, much of the below was only added a few weeks ago.

Listing

Wild West

≈

No. A149 - Wishing Well (two-part, marked in roof only)

[unmarked] - Farm Fence Section (x6 in large set) 

≈

No. A153 - Tree/Shrub with Clump of Grass 

≈

No. A219 - Teepee / Tipi / Wigwam (ex-Britains Herald, polypropylene, might be bought-in, but has LB code) 
No. A220 - Totem Pole (unique, but juvenile design) 
No. A221 - ‘Clancy Claim’ Sign (Britains Deetail piracy) 
No. A222 - ‘Dead Mans Gulch’ Sign (Britains Deetail piracy) 
No. A223 - Stage Coach (Multi part kit with 4x A225, marked on one half of body only) 
No. A224 - Cowboy Waggoner (for stage-coach [A223] and Wild West Wagon [A234]) 
No. A225 - Cart Horse / Wild West Coach-Wagon Horse (MADE IN . . HONG KONG .)

[unmarked] - Horse-Trace/Furniture

[unmarked] - Base for Four Horses

[unmarked] - Small Wheel/Axle Assembly

[unmarked] - Large Wheel/Axle Assembly

No. A226 - Native American Canoe (hard polystyrene) 
No. A227 - Indian Girl Canoeist (one feather in headband, earrings, pigtails) 
No. A228 - Indian Girl Canoeist (two feathers in headband) 
[unmarked] - Canoeists Arms (dipping oar to left) 

[unmarked] - Canoeists Arms (dipping oar to right)
No. A229 - 
No. A230 - 
No. A231 - 
No. A232 - Rhinoceros (very male!)
No. A233 - Rhinoceros (female?)
No. A234 - Wild West Wagon (Multi part kit with 4x A225, marked on underside of wagon-box) 
No. A235 - Silver City Bank (three part building frontage) 
No. A236 - Frisco Bar (three part building frontage) 
No. A237 - Land Claim Office / City Jail (three part building frontage) 
[unmarked] - Building Roof Piece 
[unmarked] - Building Rear Wall 
[unmarked] - Building, Left Side 
[unmarked] - Building, Right Side 
No. A238 - Monkey Puzzle Tree (Crescent copy, x2 in large set) 
No. A239 - Group of Cacti & Succulents (x2 in large set) 
No. A240 - Prickly Pears (x2 in large set) 
No. A241 - Indian Girl with Tomahawk (pirated by SK as No. 194) 
No. A242 - Indian Girl Dancing 
No. A243 - Indian Girl with Tom-Tom Drum 
No. A244 - Indian Girl with Bow & Arrow (shooting up) 
No. A245 - Cowboy with Lasso/Lariat 
No. A246 - [Mexican Boy with Six Guns] (should prove to be A246?) 
No. A247 - Cowboy with Six-guns, One Pulled, One Holstered 
No. A248 - Cowboy Boy with Rifle

≈
No. A263 - Mounted Indian Boy, Lance & Rifle 
No. A264 - (Possibly unused horse code, replaced by No. A267?) 
No. A265 - Mounted Cowboy, Two Six-guns, One Pulled, One Holstered 
No. A266 - (Possibly unused horse code, replaced by No. A267?) 
No. A267 - Wild West Horse (for both riders)
≈
No. A280 - Cowboy with Six-guns (right level) 
No. A281 - Cowboy with Six-guns (right high) 
No. A282 - Indian Boy ‘Little Bear’ with Lance 
No. A283 - Indian Boy with Tomahawk & Rifle 
No. A284 - Indian Boy with Bow & Arrow (shooting parallel) 
No. A285 - Indian Boy with Tomahawk and Shield (pirated by SK as No. 195)
≈
Sets
No. 1104 - Cowboy & Indian (large set containing one each of everything, with multiples of scenics, building parts, and draft-horses, along with six pieces of farm fencing)

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!