T is for Teixido Return!

Yes, a rather too-cheerful title given my views of bullfighting, but they have to be posted, and while I hate the 'sport' and the idea of it still being a thing in the 21st Century, I take heart in the fact that another Matador was gored to death the other day (at least he got to feel how the bulls felt), and two others have quit, publically, in the ring! One breaking down and sobbing, at the enormity of what he'd been doing, all his adult life, to innocent, proud, confused animals.

 

We'll start at the end . . . of the bull. It's all about the killing of bulls, and, the longer the fight, the weaker the bull gets, so the final flourish, and the applause of the bloodthirsty crowd is utterly pointless, as the bull's so weak by that point it's almost a mercy killing, for what the fighters have been doing for the previous . . . twenty minutes; hour; two hours? I don't care how long the fights take, they are barbarous.

 

These are the Teixido figures (I think? They may go with the Jecsan below?) we last saw on someone else's table with me pointing out I didn't have any, I now have a decent sample, and we're going to look at them now, along with a few others, that have come-in over the last couple of years!

 

Two more mounted figures which I think go with the Teixido set, but I'm not sure, some of them are more rubbery, others are 'ethylene, and while some have separate arms, others don't! And all the horses were polyethylene, but not all the riders went on all the horses!

 

Theses are all Teixido, and there was some judicial swapping of arms, between shots, to get everyone looking correct, and a few bodies didn't get photographed as their arms clearly weren't here! The last one is correct, I think, but the camera-angle makes him look like his plug-in arm is growing out of his back!

 

The guy on the right in the first shot, can be posed to be dragging his red-rag behind him, as we saw last time we looked at these. 

 

I think these are all Jecsan, although one has a more Reamsa style base, so I stand to be better informed on all these, but the whole 'bullfighting zone' sample is quite big now, and when it's all brought together we'll have a proper look at all of them, and compare with the various catalogue images in the archive, to get them all grouped correctly! In fact, I think the standing bull is the Teixido.

 

Jecsan horse, I think, not sure on the rider, who seems to be some kind of referee or officiator? He has a separate cloak, so may also be Teixido.

 

Comparison between a Comansi (?), unknown, unpainted one (which keeps turning up and may be a touristy thing?) and the Teixido horse, his padded-armour/blanketing is of finer etching/sculpting.

 

Jecsan with a Reamsa'ish base, a tourist keepsake, we saw another one (white, plug-on base), years ago, and one of the Teixido's. The tourist one is a polystyrene, hard-plastic solid, with metal pin inserted.

 

Further comparison, with the Torres wine premium on the left and one of the unknown small-scales from 2024's Plastic Warrior show plunder on the right, for some reason I swapped out the Teixido but not the Jecasn?

 

Hong Kong
Seen before, but cropped-tight and lacking the now-dead link to the auction!

 

I had the Jecsan stuff here, but the Comansi and Reamsa stuff is in storage, or on a dongle I can't be bothered to look for, right now! The reamsa'ish base one is it the ring, facing the other way, so he is Jecsan, but no sign of the towing vignette, the Referee, or a dead bull, so that probably is all Teixido after all!

 

While the two we saw yesterday aren't in these scans, so probably are Reamsa, as the Comansi's have bigger bases - it's not made any easier by them all four using the same gloss orange on the bases! I guess, after a thousand years, all that bull's blood has darkened the sand?

 

Please donate.

Imagine if these colourful, dynamic, civilian figures could still be collected, but as 'historical' subjects, rather than examples of man's ongoing cruelty, and inhumanity to everything around him?

L is for London Toy Soldier Show - 1 of 2

So, as I wasn't helping anyone this time, I had the luxury of a lie-in, and a more gentle mosey up on the train, not knowing there was a winter fixture at Sandown Park, meaning the train was well-equipped with early-drinking rowdies, until Esher, when more people seemed to get off the train, than it could have possibly held!

 

Fortunately, a few hours later, we raced back through Esher at some speed, the mostly now skint punters, a mere blur either side of the train, their 'How am I going to pay for Christmas now?' faces illuminated a pallid-yellow by the carriage's own lighting.

 

I didn't stay long at the show, missed Paul, although I saw him a couple of isles over at one point, but managed to catch-up with everyone else, and purchase a bag of bits! I then forgot to go to the Pub, and managed to get involved in a mini-adventure, or 'experience', back in the city centre, but, toys first;

 

Two Cherilea spacemen, I have a decent sample of these now, especially with the three based ones I added the other day, but I know that when I Blogged them (not that long ago) it was a cobbling together of archive, show-shots and my own samples, to get the story clear, so my own sample was small and probably still has gaps, so I tend to grab them when I see them, and these earlier, pod-feet ones are rather nice.

 

Between them is an early Kinder toy, in which the capsule itself is used, with pre-formed slots to receive the bits inside, and a sticker-sheet to produce a small R2D2 type 'astromech' droid / robot, with articulated arms.

 

More of the native-dress figures, in semi-flat polystyrene, the weight of evidence veers toward India, but a commenter at the time of last seeing thought Sri Lanka, so still technically a question mark, and we have several new paint schemes, and a new pose, so worth keeping-on buying them, when I see them.

 

Looked at here - https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2018/08/i-is-for-asian-rack-toys.html

 

There's evidence on a couple of them, of having been glued to cards, maybe in window-boxes? 

 

More Kinder toys, the barbarian needs a weapon, the Indian needs some hair (both in the spares bags, I think) and a mini, cement-truck.

 

A third Kellogg's Frosties Campbell land-speed racer (on the right), to join the pair I found in February, along with a duplicate, which may be a useful swap for the missing fourth vehicle, in the course of time?

 

Seeing red! Another of the Pomeroy-designed game-playing pieces, a rather nice sub-scale Swoppet clone from Hong Kong and a piece of Bisque from a Christmas cake, or even a Birthday cake, I think it's a clown which is more generic, isn't it?

 

Another game playing piece, a small rubber dog, probably contemporary and off a kid's magazine, the third item is a WWF trophy, an accessory from a larger action figure set, but the two figures making-up the trophy-sculpture are almost perfect HO-gauge compatible. The final figure is a priest, possibly for wedding-cakes?

 

Rack-toy Submarine.

 

A handful of French production, there's a possibility that the last one is Polish, but he's hard plastic, so the feeling if more likely French. The Mokarex chap next to him is from the paired French regional-dress figure set, the small one is an integral-base (Kinder?) version of the usually separate base premiums, and the first figure has been paint-stripped - like Starlux, but not?

 

Matt Thier did tell me the origin of the lead lady being beheaded (Mary? French?), but I forgot it in all the conversations with everyone, the paper boy is an old Bergen-Beton figure in hard 'styrene, the mint-green chap is from a kit (Monogram, Pyro, Revell?) and the little corporal is a brass tourist trinket, from France.

 

Nice, probably French stand of fir-trees, with a bit of damage to the tallest one.

On my way back to Waterloo, I dropped off at Leicester Square, to check the bookshops in Charing Cross Road, and look for something for someone else (which has been another mini-adventure). While I was there I found a 'German Market' in the centre of the square, it was pretty shit . . . no German stalls selling hand-made wooden toys or blown-glass ornaments like the one in Berlin, the Bratty' stand was run by Asians and there was a stall from the 'Great Cornish Pasty Co.,', or something equally non-German, so all a bit naff really, and incredibly crowded.

 

Put on by a global entertainment corporate called 'Underbelly', it might be more bearable later at night, but I doubt it, as you'd just be adding the inevitable drink and drugs to the mix!

 

Walking back out and up to Shaftesbury Avenue to visit Forbidden Planet (which also depresses me these days!), I narrowly avoided being hit by a horse pulling a sulky! Closely followed by several more, which started parking on the pavements, willy-nilly, as pedestrians dived everywhere, so I dived up the Avenue, and bought a few books!

 

When I returned, about 20-minutes later, to head off up to the tube station at the big Tottenham Court-Oxford Street's crossroads, it became clear there were now nearly a hundred Traveller carts, wagons and racers of all types, and about 20 double-decked buses, going nowhere, who had advised their passengers to alight, the whole of Charing Cross Road, now a pedestrianised sardine-tin!

 

It turned out this was an annual thing, lost in the mists of time - all the travellers from Kent, Essex and North London, gather somewhere, and rally down to Central London, park wherever they manage to end-up, and while the younger ones look after the horses and pose for photographs with tourists, the oldster's all go off to Harrods, to spend what cash they've made, legitimately, in lawful enterprise - of course!

 

Poor Harrods was my thought, I was dressed better than most of them, and I wouldn't have got into Harrods! Non-branded jeans! But tradition, is tradition, and makes us, Britain, what we are, so I was rather glad to have been part of the whole chaos for a few minutes, to have seen it, I've never seen it before, and am unlikely to, again!

 

Apparently last year's 'event' was marred by an 'incident' involving the 'younger element' so there was a heavy police presence, and I was very disappointed by the Traveller's vehicles - a few had the old paint-schemes, but most were plain, and almost all welded steel, even the old-looking spoked wheels, were flat steel and welded-tube, while one of the sulkies had what appeared to be a pair of mag-alloys off a 1986 Ford Granada, with low-profiles!

F is for Follow-up - Earlier Today!

Not often we get a follow-up this fast which wasn't planned, but I've just found these in my in-box, courtesy of Brian B! I'm happy to admit I don't really follow metal, civil vehicles closely, although there are tons on the dongles, it was all downloaded from the internet back in the twenty-tens, or scanned in batches, and is really just sitting there waiting for me to sort out the A-Z pages!

 

So when I mentioned earlier that Autocraft were new to me, I meant I'd never seen or heard of them, but it turns out at least one Loyal Reader knows all about them, and has populated his layout with a few;

 

Open Tourer

 

Soft-top.

 

The red motorcycle is a Wizard Models from Australia by a British Expat, while the other two are both Autocraft kits, I love the Noddy-coloured one, which Brian reports is an Austin 7 - the Colleges at Mattingly, had an Austin 7 (hard top) and an Austin 10, both of which I remember being built from the shiny-black painted frames, up! Brian also pointed out "The nice thing about the models is where appropriate people were included wearing correct era clothing".

The pick-up in grey here is another Autocraft and, while I thought I recognised the Charbens Old Crocks, Bran had to point out to me, that the green one with red wheels, is a similar but Japanese-made model.

 

Other stuff in this shot is best left to Brian (my italics);

 

"The black car is a Triumph Mayflower by Oxford Models

On the right, the truck with a red barrel is a Keil Kraft kit.

To the far right is a black diecast Model T van by Lion?

The blue car in front of the Mayflower is a plastic Harburns kit of a Vauxall Taxi built by me. Also issued for Jet Petrol. [which we looked at here - https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2019/03/f-is-for-follow-up-kit-cars.html - number 7]

The blue vintage car front right was a US metal HO kit of, I think, a Buick, built by me."

 

So it was only the other green one, which was Charbens! But nice how they all look together.

 

While the big vehicle is a Tower Model plastic kit of a Blackpool Coronation Tram converted to a travelling/mobile library trailer, with what looks like a Cooper Craft (or another Keil Craft) cab-unit? And more Old Crocks in a jam round the corner!

******************************************

 

This should have, and nearly did, publish several hours ago, but I had to go for a quick drive, then got into an eMail conversation, and then lost an hour watching A Grand Night In, the Story of Aardman, which is free on YouTube!

 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcMexOinKhQ)

 

So what was aiming for a ten-post day will remain an eight-post day, as my eyes are going funny! But I'm cracking-on this month, and there's still a lot of seasonal stuff to clear, so more to come!

Le is for Noel, Figurines, and Max - Lemax!

I've tried, I've really tried, to stay away from poured resin, Christmas Village stuff. A fruitless task, as various donators, have, as Loyal Readers will've noticed, over the years, given me several of the things, while others have snuck in from mixed evilBay or Charity shop lots, so I crumbled completely this year and bought two Lemax figurines . . . Then another one! In my defence, they were much cheaper than the others on the pegs, and were clearly dated as old stock.

 

It was the Bavarian barmaid with six foaming Steins that did it for me, and with an equally cheap snowman, it just sort of happened while I wasn't paying attention, and suddenly, they were mine! She's dated 2014, the snowman's date is a little odder, and a little older, at 1099! Clearly, snowmen were a Norman practice, brought to these shores by William and his wicked Barons!

 

I went back a couple of weeks later, and this Lemax 'Mrs. Miggins' and her mince-pies (I think we're actually looking at Mrs. Clause!) had appeared on the hook where the Dirndl girl had been, a while earlier, and also older stock (2019), I thought she had to join the existing pair! For those not familiar with these, if they still look expensive to you, the surrounding others were starting at £4.99 and £5.99!

N is for November's Sandown Park - Civilian

Welp. Cleared some crap out of Picasa yesterday! But I'm running-about today, so don't expect the same posting rate! Here's another bunch of the odds from the recent Sandown Park show, and it's the civilian stuff.

 

I'm pretty sure these are French Dinky/Hornby (Meccano), but a quick Google just questioned that belief, I couldn't find them, although Google is so commercialised and generally shit these days, that's an indicator of nothing!

 

I have a larger sample in storage (these aren't that rare), and have had them for years, and I'm sure I found them or someone told me they were French Dinky, but they could be someone else? They are O-Gauge railway figures, and a vinyl rubber, of the old-school, quite dense/rigid, but stable (no weeping oily shite) type, and there were two tranches/issues, one with the little domed, concave cavity in the base, the others flat-bottomed.

 

Not sure on these either, I'm pretty sure they aren't the Marx set, one's similar, but the other isn't, and orange isn't a colour that associated with Marx, but they are more likely a US maker, than Hong Kong, just from the detail level?

 

One day I'll have to bring all the American Football players together, which will force me to research them properly, at which point I'll probably find a web-site with many more than me, that ID's all of them! And thanks to Gareth Morgan for these two, he let me pick through a mixed lot he'd found.

 

Copies of the Marx Power Mite road menders (two to the left), and a knock-off of the Blue Box copy of a Dinky to the right. One day I'll have to do a page or post just on the three - Dinky, Marx, Blue Box and all the copies!

 

Merit newspaper seller from the magnetic Driving Test game, a pretty-good knock-off of the Britains farm-girl, and another cracker-sized athlete.

 

Another question-mark here, it's not the common Hornby-Triang set, still being issued today I think, included with most of the steam locomotives, and many train-sets, so maybe Playcraft, Bachmann, or someone like Jouef? Driver, fireman, and some accessories for the locomotive?

 

These are also a bit of a mystery. The figure sets, as accessory sets, were vinyl, and issued on small runners, so I think these hard polystyrene examples must have been from a gift-set of some kind, it needs a Corgi expert, which I'm not!

 

Four bits of metal, the first is probably a coalman from one of the British minor-make wagon/cart toys in slush-cast lead or die-cast mazac/zamak, the little lead/whitemetal ringmaster, might be a cake decoration? But doesn't look to be that old, while the other two are obviously modern, aftermarket accessories for model racing cars, being Graham Hill in white, and . . . Andretti or Villeneuve, senior? Looks like Senna (again), but the helmet would/should be yellow?

F is for Follow-up - Civilian Plunder Post

A few things related to some of the stuff in the previous post, and as I'm going through the files and folders looking for this supporting material, I realise there are similar bits for the odd recent purchase at the recent Sandown, so I think we'll see more of these, as I try to tell the story AND clear the stuff out of Picasa! Lucky police, construction workers and Thomas / Poplar today!

 

A couple of generic 'VEB's from the former East Germany, behind, in this old Vectis (I think?) image, but of note is the Poplar Plastics towed boat in the foreground, the woman driving the jeep seems to be the same blue rubber as the gentlemen we saw . . . Yesterday, now! Hence, my "possibly Thomas" for the similar bloke in that post, although as Thomas you'd expect them both to be in that flesh-pink vinyl-polymer.

 

A Blue Box blister-card, and note the lack of a wheelbarrow, apparently replaced with a rock, which might be the two-sided copy of the Marx Miniature Masterpiece rock? So, even damaged, they are hard to find, and with other damaged bits in the stash, hopefully, I'll cobble a good one together?

 

This generic set is interesting, as it has second generation copies of the Dinky / Blue Box guys (upper two), along with a pair of Marx copies from the recently mentioned Power Mite series of battery-operated trucks, Hong Kong had no favourites when it came to piracy, and they left few stones unturned!

 

While this later set from Jaru, has the polyethylene third-or-more generation knock-offs in bright colours, here pink and red, supporting similar multiply-copied versions of early-number Matchbox 1-75 series vehicles, although, when they were originally produced in the UK, as die-casts, I think the range might still - unofficially - have been '1-50' ?

 

An old shot of some of mine from 2012, being one of each pose, as far as I know they never got a wheelbarrow, despite getting the 'labourer' pose associated with it, I guess it was too complicated a moulding, for the 'bottom-feeder' pirates. He's looking pretty determined though, I think he's going to the stripey-tent to brew-up . . . "Cuppa'tea Lads?". 

 

I think I have yellow plastic ones, and possibly a pale purple, but it may be the same grey as the one from Chris, but the more, the merrier, to maybe get one of each, one day! And it's worth remembering, as we view these blobs, they were originally Charles C Stadden sculpts! 

 

Not the best shot, but it was downloaded years ago, when things were a bit simpler on the wibbly wobbly way! The Land Rover in the background is the normal Lucky thing, a probably Corgi copy in 1:423rd or so, but the figures have been modelled to match the larger-scale bike, at around 1:20?