D is for Donation - Chris - Wild West

Part two of the recent Wild West donations, this lot courtesy of Chris Smith, and we've a few interesting things to look at, starting with a real find, especially so when you consider how much help Chris has already given on the subject of pencil-sharpeners, both of the Hong Kong based KT, and related West German examples.

 

Aren't they fascinating? Almost mint plastic, but a lot of damage, reflecting their age (probably 1960's, or even 1950's) and material, which is a frangible polystyrene. But we have enough (lower right shot), to get a good idea of them including both arms, which were originally glued on.

 

The cowboys bodies had a weight attached to the end of the unfortunately positioned rod, which kept them attached to the horse (lower left shot, excuse the dirty nail), but swinging back and forth, as they mossied over the range!

 

Two colours of horse, up to six colours of rider parts and/or sharpeners, with grey-green mounting brackets and pink heads, this is an incredible find, a lovely gift and possibly best in parcel. I was so busy sorting and bagging everything I didn't really give thought to 'best in parcel', so there may be more, we're only a third of the way through these posts!

 

Another sample of the figures Brain ID'd as being from 1950/60's Lucky Bags, and amazingly, given how many I have now, there are new colours and poses in this lot, and a complete version of a figure we've previously only seen damaged, so a sample which continues to grow, but shows no signs of being the definitive one yet - I think we're over 30 poses, so far!

 

I was only waxing lyrical about the Texas Indian in silver the other day, and a yellow one turns up! I'm beginning to suspect there was only one each on the mounted, and I may have a cowboy somewhere, in red?

 

The green semi-flat Indian is quite a surprise, I've had loads of these come in over the years, they've been blogged here, and I sort of assume they were a replacement for the brittle ones above in Lucky Bags, but every one I've encountered, has been red, we may even have looked at different shades of red, now green one turns up? Raising the possibility of other colours . . . yellow, blue? Lovely find Chris! [Later - I did have a single yellow one! https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2018/10/u-is-for-unknown-wild-west-flats-3.html]

 

Another Culpitt late type, a damaged Minimodels, those rifle tips are often missing, but the cowboys survive better than the Indians, who are almost always weaponless! The dark green chap is another of the 40mm backwoodsmen who turn-up, out of Hong Kong, and the larger lady is a rather nice, undamaged piece of poured resin, from the tourist trade, I suspect.

 

Atlantic canoe from the Davy Crockett set, I have very little Atlantic in the large scale, as I had it all in the small scale, before the Blog extended the remit of the collection! The other is probably a sports boat from a roof rack or infant-toy play set, marked 1979 Buddy L Corp.

 

Coach and wagon oddments, include three of the teeny ones from mini tree-crackers, a larger 'W.Germany' one missing its horse (orange) and the horse from another (pastel blue), missing its coach, which might be German or from Hong Kong!

 

In the middle is one of those Japanese novelties in Celluloid, missing it's wheels, but all these things have their own place, and bits or parts make wholes, while multiples make better samples, even if they're incomplete!

 

Two 1st version Cherilea 54mm swoppets will make useful spares too, and the red torso may be another, or he may be a Kinder/Italian type, novelty figure part?

 

Being a consummate collector in his own right, and having sent dozens of these parcels to the Blog now, Chris knows to keep the cleaner samples of these many, many, Giant knock-offs separate, so the bag has what looks like a mix of two semi-identified (by me) types, so all I'll have to do is swap a few riders back onto the correct 'other' horse.

 

While the loose stuff is the ones-and-twos, which come in with every mixed lot, and will require more effort/diligence in sorting, but you can see the cracker types in both sizes (mini and 'Lone Star' pirates), a Blue Box wagon horse and other treats.

 

Similar material here, with a possible post-Giant gun team in the four, but it could equally be a wagon (probably the red/green ones) team, while the pair of 'Large Standing' are from the Cracker and other Giant gun copies (sans limbers, the gun is pulled direct!), and the two farm carts were also Cracker prizes I think, I have yet to find them on cards?

 

Finishing this section with a huge tee-pee, I suspect it's from 3- or 4-inch action figures, but it's not much larger than the Britains one, and has some similarities in construction, assuming some poles are missing? But what's particularly interesting is the material, which is a sort of compressed version of the faux-chamois leather, used to dry-off cars when valeting them! But retaining a softness, those 'leathers' don't, but they are soft when you first buy them, and it's the constant wetting and drying which renders them so stiff I think. A very unusual thing, and many thanks again to Chris for all of this.

D is for Donation - Peter - Wild West

Yee-haw pardners! It's the Wild West today, and again leading with Peter's stuff, some of which dates back to last autumn, and there are a few items of interest, so let's get stuck in;

An eclectic little bunch, with three relatively contemporary, and still findable in rack toys, Airfix Indian copies of the third or fourth generation, but cheerful enough, a Deetail original who needs a bit of hot-water treatment (and Deetail Wild West is an absence in my collection, no more than a handful!), the grey chap was Boley in the 'States and others elsewhere (Ackerman?), and is a sub-scale copy of an Airfix cowboy.

 

I think we had a wagon from this bunch, or possibly an Indian set, here marked-up to PMS, somewhat Britains Deetail in styling, and somewhat Supreme/SP in execution, and while the foot figures ARE Supreme copies, these - the mounted only, are, I think, all new sculpts? I'll have to check!

 

There was a recent debate about the chap on the left in Plastic Warrior magazine (issue 202 out now - https://www.facebook.com/PlasticWarrior?fref=ts), so suffice to say I think this is the UK version of a figure also seen out of Hong Kong, he should have a rifle through that loop and, I suspect, other accessories?

 

On the right, a common enough copy of Jean, from the 1980's/1990's, we looked at them briefly a while ago, there are several generations/issuers of these, from Hong Kong, and we'll return to them one day for a better overview.

 

I suspect the bulk of these are those flesh-coloured kits, as supplied to the 'States and pointed out to me in a past post on Elastolin stuff, when Ross Mac remembered they were sold from Henry Bodenstedt's shop in New England in the 1960's, the bases being uniform/flat yellow. The prone guy might be factory-finished, but I don't think so.

 

The mounted figure who came with them, another home-paint I think.

 

Picked-up the other day, the dobbin on the left is Cherilea I think, but missing a tail, and I'm not sure if the rider belongs on him, Wild West is a bit of a weakness with me, playing catch-up with the large scale since 2009, I've not paid enough attention to the West, and there's a hell of a lot of production, in all scales from many manufacturers!

 

A Tudor Rose late production figure in polyethylene, and a nice horse, probably from a French or 'W. Germany' novelty or premium wagon, or coach, and a lady who's lost her hands, see looks like she may be from a Christmas village, but has a huge lump of glue on her base, and might be from a music-box or something, but I'd rather have her in the stash, as a sample, than not know I didn't have her, if you know what I mean . . . oh my god, what else am I missing?! 

 

Culpitt's 2nd generation, I'm beginning to suspect the integral based eight, were not from the same source as the plug-ins also carried by Injectapalstic-JSP-AHM etc . . . but were commissioned by Culpitt, to undercut whoever they were getting the earlier ones from? Something Culpitt had a history of, doing the dirty on George Musgrave over at Gemodels, with his cake decorations.

 

Thanks to Peter Evans for all these, foot for thought, gaps filled and some nice ACW!

E is for Eye-Candy - Gem Cadets

Adrian Little gave me these OBE's the other day, when I was passing, and I realised, looking for something else the other day, it's not a 'new feature', I started using E is for Eye Candy, a couple of years ago! Hay-ho, I'm a danger to myself sometimes!

 

Three of the Gemodels sea-cadet cake decorations, given heavy bases and painted in the 'Old Toy Solder' style of gloss paint or varnish, but without the pink cheek dots!

R is for Rack Toy Rascals

Not cake decorations! An excellent find at Sandown in September was this carded import by Merehall, more commonly associated with the larger, boxed plastic vehicles, from the old Crown Colony of Hong Kong, and doubly fascinating for being figures, previously known their role as Culpitts and other cake decorations, but also seen here (link below) as open-front, boxed teams.

 

"Collect your own team", it says, and with 12 figures, including the keeper on a card that’s possible, but, not all the known poses/shirt numbers are here, there's no referee, nor any other team strips?
 

So, were there other cards, with the other colours we've seen here before, were the other cards assorted to the point where all known poses could be found? And did some cards have the better team-strips of the carded sets we looked at last time - assuming each card was a singular colour-way like this one?

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2020/06/n-is-for-nearer-but-further-away.html

L is for Last May's Lots of Lovely Loot - Military Figures

On to the second post of the plunder from May's Sandown Park (the next show's on Saturday), and it’s the military stuff, which was a quite eclectic assortment from across the ranges of scales, materials, and eras depicted.

 

This was a lovely find, a very, very clean Kentoys guardsman, with the correct (for purposes of identification of several vertions ) Sentry Box, in a near mint box which also shows how the stretcher-party was sold from the same carton.

 

And, speaking of stretcher teams, this Starlux set came home with me, I know I have the small-scale set in several configurations of base-type, paint, or plastic colour, but I'm not sure about the big one, I think I may have a stretcher, but no casualty or orderlies?

 

And these were a nice find, despite being the less loved of the company's output, they are every-bit as historical (as artifacts) as their earlier Nazi brethren, being instead, the East German, collectivised Lineol factory's production of Volksarmee Cold War soldiers, with both the Soviet-influenced helmet and side-caps. The sculpting is much more 'wooden' that their pre-war/wartime stuff.

 

This came with them; I always like a bit of scenery! But I have no idea which side of the border, or even which side of the war, this was made! The pack suggests West, the quality post-war, so probably Elastolin, but unmarked.

 

 

Grist to the mill with these, and the foot figures are a bit bashed, but it's all useful stuff, and these Culpitt/Wilton cake decorations are polystyrene, so paint and glue is probably in their future? It would be nice to do a few of the French/Hessian uniforms.

 

I can never resist these smaller-scale, early British mounted subjects (here, Cherilea 50mm'ish), as there are quite a few of them (Cherilea, Crescent, Rocco & Hill), they tend to come in various plastic and/or paint colours, and are often a bit play-worn, so making sure you have the best sample, means grabbing them whenever you can!

 

A soap guardsman! Needs a careful damping to lose the white bruises, but I'll save that job for a day when I have the time, space and tools for the task, as you don't want to wreak it! I tried an Avon search, and he doesn't seem to be one of theirs (which were normally ' . . . on a rope'), so a minor make, a seasonal or touristy novelty!

 

Chess set figure, seen before, I think, but all need bringing together and comparing.

 

And from Adrian's cheapie tray I got some nice, hollow-cast lead samples. Without the books in front of me I won't try to ID them definitively, but US Marine and colonial Brit', on the left, colonial and regular French on the right, and some of them Britains (including the small one, a B-Series?), maybe a French made one or two?

F is for Follow-up - LB Spacetronauts!

I picked this set up in the November toy fair at Sandown Park, and it's interesting for a couple of reasons, one wouldn't necessarily get from online images, or, without the benefit of poring over it and comparing it to other examples.

 

Whole set.

 

Full extant of the graphics.

 

Card slid-out and opened-up.

 

Moon-shot landing module, and this is the first interesting aspect. Obviously it's missing its little antenna-dish, but I think I have a spare one, possibly in white, but there may be a chromed one kicking-around somewhere, so? And, if I only have a white one, you can get this media in paint-marker pens now, the Ad's keep appearing in my Faceplant feed!

 

However, you can see from the off-white at the hole, this seems to be the same lander which came as a cake decoration with the late NASA suited pair & flag, from Lik Be (LB), via Culpitts, which matched the robot aliens. Something that may not surprise the average viewer, as the figures look to be the larger LB figures?

 

But, as you can see here, they are actually the smaller ones, which were new to me with the little chromium-plated one we saw last time we had a catch-up of these old favourites. The original is on the left with a dodgy paint-job!

 

And, as a reminder that there's no fool like an old fool, a friend picked several of these out of a bowl I'd already ignored at a show (actually the September Sandown!), because I thought I had them all, but then I looked at these two remaining ones, and under the show lighting, they looked to have different paint, so I grabbed them both slightly chagrined I'd missed the other six, only to get them home and realise in the cold light of day, that the red, the gaiters and the silver on the rears, are all some other Muppet's home-painting! Hay-ho - a full strip awaits them!

 

But, by the time I realised my mistake, I'd already shot this comparison with an Athena spaceman from Greece, a UK knock-off of Premier's fellow (I don't know for sure, if the paint is home or factory, but they do turn up like this, occasionally) and one of the diminutive copies of Ajax/Archer, both of which may be Tudor Rose or Kleeware? All of which, I picked-up at the same show.

 

This all, above, led me to shoot a couple more comparisons the other day, and here, only from the stuff which has come-in over the last 24-months or so, we can see various treatments of the LB (for Lik Be!) and clone figures.

 

Of note here is that the hollow-based copy (forth from the left, is copying the earlier LB paint, which extended to the rears, and was dropped (probably as a cost-saving) on later LB issues, before all painting was dropped around the time the robots/Aliens were converted to chain-hangers.

 

While the yellow issue is a solid based version, despite hollow based monochrome examples also existing in yellow, and the small chrome chap (middle-right), is the same as the painted trio in the new set.

 

Coming with the lander, there is a strong possibility that it/they (set/figures) may be later, reduced-scale production from Lik Be, for a specific client/contract. But equally, one has to maintain the possibility that a pirate just bought-in some LB landers? Until I've compared with the known Culpitt stuff in storage, I'll sit on the fence!

 

The robot/Aliens, we actually had a very similar shot, not that long ago, but with 90%  of the LB & clones in storage, since before I shot the space-tanks, it's only the recent stuff I have to work on!

 

In both cases I've used the same sucker on the jumper and while previously seen here as a clearer HF, on this one, it looks a bit like it could be a poorly registered HE, so I've annotated both images to that effect! Personally, I think it is HF, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Every time I post Lik Be (LB) stuff (or even mention them in the text), one of two or three individuals will post an 'LP' article, usually within two or three days, as their stubborn refusal to accept it's an LB logo, apparently knows no bounds!

 

Their logic being backed up by the fact they think (with no empirical evidence) that it (the 'LP') is arrived at from;

The Lik Be Plastic And Metal Factory Limited,

 

. . . which totally ignores all the rules of English, and/or abbreviations, acronyms, initialism or shortened form/shorthand! By their own logic it should either be LPM, LP&M, LBP&M or LBP&ML, it's not any of those, because it's LB for Lik Be, but stupid is, as stupid does.

 

Just as it's not [technically] Spacex, but LB for Lines (Triang-Hornby and Raphael Lipkin), or LB for MPC, or LB for Ward, Sears, or LB for whoever, and Lik Be went on to produce many other versions/formats/packagings, with other Hong Kong numpties responsible for all the many copies, some also bought-in by Western branding's. Lines, Multiple, Culpitt, Clifford and co., just bought-in limited parts of the range from a catalogue, or, after a sales-rep's spiel, from Lik Be, from a Lik Be sales-rep'! well, Clifford might even be an LB branding, or partner?!!

 

One of the 'LP'-stubborn brigade has even used one of my clearer LB images (with the heavy corner where the bottom of the B's lower loop is), without permission, to try and maintain it's an 'LP'! But stupid is, as stupid does, and it's LB.

 

The new boxed-set with the more recent carded LB and other acquisitions (the hollow-based yellows are in the Space Patrol set).

 

You can copy all the feebleBay, Worthpoint, Scalemates, SAS, Vectis or wherever, whoever's images you like, but if you're not holding the stuff, looking at the stuff and comparing it in the palm of your hand, you're pontificating half-blind. . . Sigh!

P is for Polymer Plunder Package - Sports

The next section of Chris's wonderful parcel is the sports and pastimes, which are sometimes thrown in with the civilians in these cover-views, but there were quite a few this time, so they get their own post!

 

Three from Subbuteo, one home-painted 'fan', one unpainted goalie and a factory-painted press photographer, behind a bunch of simplistic chaps from some beg-board board-game or more interactive table game with wires and springs or even a blow-football type thing, I'm not sure, but I have ID'd lots of similar sets via feebleBay, over the years!

 

Not strictly-speaking 'sports' but cake decorations, but most of them are sporty and there weren't so many images in the folder! We looked at the skaters back at Christmas, the cowboy and footballer have been covered a few times, and another part drum-kit from Gemodels helps with a future 'Battle of the Bands'!

 

The skipping girl is from a larger set of various figures via Hong Kong, stocked over the pond by some of the minor makes I think (Grandmother Stover, Unique, Carousel et al) rather than Wilton, but may have been Culpitt over here? And the Santa' was a new pose, also made in Hong Kong, and similar to the Crescent pose, but not the same.

 

Three boarders, from three sources, all unknown to me, there is, or has been in recent years a lot of this in the proper toy-chains, which I haven't paid enough attention to, but the near one is probably a cake decoration, back left some rack-toy generic maybe, while the girl on the right should be plugged-in to a missing board, and is somewhat reminiscent of the late Britains Petite sets?

 

Obviously from North America, but whether the 'States or the never-to-be 51st State of Canadia is anyone's guess, two base-ball players with magnets in their bases, and a more modern PVC ice-hokey player. Help needed on all three?

 

The beautiful game! Another of the Hong Kong vinyl, football keyrings we've seen before here, a cereal premium we've also seen a few of the others from, but I've forgotten which set/when/where, and a novelty footballer bear which may be Kinder, or a recognised mascot, or both!

Q is for Quickie!

I've literally just found this - below shot - looking for something else to post quickly before I go to work, and as it's 12th night/the last day of Christmas, today, I'd better post it!

 

These were part of a donation from Peter Evans back in the late summer, and I've mentioned that several donations and a couple of toy fair lots have rather been forgotten or subsumed into the general folders, several of which were from or involved Peter, so many thanks to him, but here's one of the lost images, with a couple of other Picasa-clearers!

 

Back to cake decorations! The footballer is a hard polystyrene Hong Kong copy of the earlier, larger Gemodels sculpt, the polar-explorer next to him come from an old Revell (or Monogram?) aeroplane model kit of a ski-plane, or so I thought, possibly the old Ford Trimotor? However, a quick Google says no, and neither does he seem to be from the Airfix one, so answers on a postcard please! Home-painted, but in a nicely commercial style, I feel.

 

Micky is one of the marked 'Culpitt' figures (I think, I can't honestly remember), very similar to the Marx/Combex, Bully and Comics Spain pieces, among others, there seem to have been quite a few of them, if it is Culpitt, it's the second seen here, but I may have more, and it's something we can return to another day.

 

Below left is probably a Hong Kong Santa, and he looks like he's meant to be holding a sleigh/sledge's handles? While the other two have been covered here before, the Gemodels stag and much later festival/Culpitt plug-together.

These are definitely Culpitt marked, and it was the Goofy we saw last time, shot taken from the Culpitt cake decorating book, which you won't be surprised to hear was called the Culpitt Book of Cake Decoration! And which doubled-up as a catalogue.

Last time I mentioned it, someone else rushed out to find a copy (or cover shot!) so he could mention it too, which was sweet "sincerest form of flattery" and all that, but actually there are two versions, presumably the 'ghostwriter' employed to provide the blurb, issued her own version!

 

Interestingly, there are a couple of page-differences and blurb-variances in the opening and closing sections, but otherwise it's the same tome, with different covers - both now in the library, for completion!