T is for Tuf-Tots Toy Trucks

With or without the hyphen, but no second 'f '! A small range which - despite coming from a company whose real name was 'Die Cast Machine Tools' - was destined to remain a basic and small range.

However I believe it did well as an export-line; you seem to see more in the 'States these days on evilBay, and which would get a leery paint-job with coloured wheels at a later stage, but this is the early iteration.

You can see that all four sports coupes are available with or without roofs and the cab-unit of all the trucks is the same - a vague US Ford F-600 type, so there's only about six unique vehicles in the range! Note the three boxed sets and the message "...available in the series as shown" . . .

. . . as, typically, mine is different with its configuration having three accessory pieces, all of which have the feel of the Treble-O-Train range (as do the vehicles really!), by which I mean simple castings with some sharp edges!

I've had this for years, and due to the position of these as being of secondary (to Matchbox), or even quaternary interest behind the Husky/Corgi Juniors and their own Impy line; it wasn't that much . . . a fiver maybe, I built my collection as a semi-permanently skint, tight-arse, dipping into rummage trays and the bulk-bins under tables at shows, so wouldn't have given much more for a non-military set with no figures, but the accessories might have got me to eight-quid!

The windmill is a half-relief in two parts with a  rivet and to be frank, the signal box from the OOO-guage ('N') railway is better decorated!

The bridge is what probably sold the set to me, as it's a lovely little Bailey for bridging a stream to get your Sherman's across Normandy, even though the scale's out; that's how my brain works!

While the barrier-operator's hut/sentry-box is also a semi-relief, but saved by a plank-seat! the car has one of those many seated figures I mentioned the other day as turning up in just-lots, sans car!

The trucks; not a lot I can add.

My Brother had a godmother in California, and one year she came over to visit (probably when it was still 15-hours via Iceland or Greenland or something!) and she brought him a set in a carry case, I think they were Tootsie Toys minis, but Marx had a set as well, anyway; while they did have wheels, they didn't have drivers, roofs or windscreens and were very thin metal, with even sharper edges and rather slab-sides, also they were all single mouldings, finished in one colour, so although the Tuf-Tots weren't the best of British, you can see why they still had some appeal.

D is for Die-Cast Desperadoes

Off to Spain now, where poor old Play Me churned out a family of reasonably classy, novelty, antiqued-finish, pencil-sharpeners for the tourist and stationary industries, unwittingly launching a thousand Hong Kong (now China) copies, clones and piracies . . . but not - as far as I know - actual pirates, however Play Me had given us two!

The standard seller was a small box with cannon only, but a larger window-box existed, rather in the style of Britains naval Gun, for which these two zamak/mazac figures were designed, at approximately 50mm, they are a tad small, but I'd imagine being small was a bonus on the cramped gun-decks of mid-millennia sailing vessels?

Here compared with one of those Hong Kong copies, the HK one is particularly clean and rather shiny! there's not much in it to be honest and I thought I'd shot more HK ones, I thought I'd shot the Britains ones and I know I have a scan I now just can't find [see below!], so we'll turn to these again at some point!

I have only the one Spanish cannon-ball (no HK's), but I imagine there were five-to-ten or even twelve in a mint set? Oh, how this stuff used to rattle-round a Hoover until the steel-curved brush-roots caught it, jammed, and the drive-band made that funny-smell and melted!

A comparison with two Lone Star 'Metallion' pirates (Long John [silver] and Captain Blood, issued by Hubley and others elsewhere, some as copies), which were in the same box, also die-casts, they have a silver-finish rather than the copper-effect of the Play Me chaps.

It was on the desktop - Doh! So all my searches in Picasa and the 'finished' & 'waiting' folders were a waste of time!

This is - I believe - the same Spencer we saw here; Spencer Gifts - and still going(Northern 'States and Canada), although someone affiliated to the PSTSM took my image (without asking - ten for one, that's the rule, m'K!) and has been telling everyone it's an 'English' company (not British mind, so I'd like to see his 'empirical' evidence!) for the last two or three years . . . despite the dollar prices! You can't make this stuff up, but I have other plans for him, another day.

Note - it's closer to the Britains cannon, but with a more complicated ratchet affair on the right-hand side of the body. Also, from the description, although as useless as the Britains ones at sharpening pencils, it fires percussion caps, which - back in the day - were hardened brass-alloy and made a real bang. Now you would use those red, yellow or gold plastic ones.

And speaking of the Britains cannon, I hadn't got round to shooting the loose examples (so a return is guaranteed), but this was in the folder with the Spencer scan, so we'll stick it here for the fun of it! I think I'm right in saying this is the less common of three variants, the ones with a white-block carriage being more common, but having two different barrels? Like I say we'll return to them with all the answers another day.

P is for Previously Seen on the Internet . . . II - Ancients and Medievals

Continuing with my cheap Lazy Posts, and a quick look at a few figures depicting warriors of the earlier eras.

Starting in pre-Ptolemaic anciet Egypt, Tatra - the brown one is dark bronze and marked 'Made In England' as is the silver one below him, the rest only have the 'EGYPTIAN' name-plate mark on the chamfered edge.

Coming forwards 3000-odd years nearer the present-day and we find the Vikings! Sorting to move to storage temporarily (I hope!) I grabbed one of each for a comparison; they go better together for being a barbarian horde!

Another 4/500-years finds us in the medieval period with Lone Star - odd plastic colours, from the left; metallic green plastic (and paint), a pinkish-taupe, a putty-grey, a dove-grey and a white plastic figure.

I've also been posting a few links of similar ilk/subject matter about the place, here are two on the ancient/medieval theme;

Faceplant -
https://www.facebook.com/worldbeautiesandwonders/photos/a.105095208262327/202175238554323/

My Modern Met -
https://mymodernmet.com/3d-print-sculptures-scan-the-world/?fbclid=IwAR06Es2t-HjS6KWMIvorj13Z9FjAis-x11q44T4kR8X_iIGAsijzxYBqg68

F is for Follow-up - Bits & Bobs . . .

. . . or a bloody eclectic trio right now! A few things which pertain to or reference previous posts here at Small Scale world and we have figures, animals and scenics!

I took a family 'group-shot' with the two Peter Evans sent me, before I sent him the other one which Chris Smith had sent me! I think they are more Leprechaun than 'true' gnome (or dwarf!) and while they are Hong Kong, seem to be 'after' the output of Fontanini, although whether it's homage or like-for-like pricey I'm not sure?

Both sides and different view-points.

So; we're up to four of six, which means we're up to eight of twelve! I picked up another of the Poundland PVC animal sets the other day, sadly I'm hardly going to Poundland now (over a month since the last visit) as they've stopped doing my vape juice, but I discovered it in ASDA, so I go there instead, the [Covidiot] risk is the same, so one venue is enough! But it means the last two may remain elusive?

Chris Smith sent these in as a follow-up to the sentry-box posts, and they are fascinating, marked as you see, I suspect they are from a wooden or tin-plate fort or box-accessories from a die-cast vehicle set rather than 'toy soldiers' per se, and give us another tag! See below!

I recognised them when I saw them, but had no notes on them, I suspect I saw them in JB's collection years ago, I'm pretty sure they were the same green (with a red painted roof, not clear in the above shots), and they were definitely in the same warped or twisted condition, which will be due to instability in what appears to be an early polystyrene, but could be thick celluloid?

Also - having suggested a lack of connection to Lone Star's later plastic toy soldiers, I have a half a thought Slikka may have been mentioned in Plastic Warrior magazine (years ago), but that might be a false memory conflating with the die-cast Togga novelties?

Added later after checking, but before publishing - pp.121 of Norman Joplin's 'Big Book of British Hollow Cast' shows a DCMT set with two lead/hollow-cast guards in these sentry boxes (not, or barely distorted) along with a mounted horse-life-guard hybrid! Presumably all from Harvey, so these were probably DCMT's first foray into plastics as they had previously carried a metal box in the style of Crescent's tin one but in lead.

Makes you wonder if Togga's Woggles weren’t also DCMT?

B is for Brucey Bonus - Lone Star

I lied earlier, this was sitting in the queue, the Lone Star HO sized Wild West figures, both storage-lot and here-lot combined and laid-out as fully as my sample will allow.

 

There are two versions, the earlier, factory-painted chalky-ethylene ones are getting very brittle now, and consequently hard to find and even-harder to find intact, one mounted figure each and five foot poses, painting is restricted to two colours (if that) except the black horse, but that may be a home-enhanced paint-job?

 

A second set was issued with bases added to the mounted figures, this lot is in a shinier polyethylene, the same as the game-piece Indians we looked at the other day, whether this points to them being included in a game too, is a moot point, and I've never seen them in other colours?

I like that with the mounted figures the front foot/hoof is off the base, in both cases, suggesting forward-momentum!

 

What I would say is that while the earlier ones tend to appear together (having been issued originally in a large vac-formed play-set), the unpainted ones tend to appear either as a set/near-set of cowboys or as a set/near-set of Indians, so may have been issued separately on small cards or something?

 

It's not terribly clear from the image but the left-hand mounted red one is in a slight colour variation; a darker but slightly translucent red.

 

More on these at PSR including other paint-colours and the missing poses in brown!

F is for Follow-up - Lone ★ Star's Cork Gun Targets

Sometimes the gods conspire to really screw us, sometimes they smile slyly at us from afar, only letting us know they are still toying with us, but happen to be in a generous mood. Last week, they were enjoying the storms they had unleashed upon us, and let me get away with a 'Brucey Bonus'!

I had dug out the Lone Star 'Cork •45 Pistol Shooting Game' figures from the storage sample (as you may have gathered by now, I dug out the whole Lone Star box!) where I had said I might have other poses or colours, by some stroke of luck, I had a pair, and they were two different poses and a new colour.

But what had prompted the search was the fact that at Sandown Park, Jim (who otherwise wishes to remain anonymous) gave me a huge box of chuck-outs, among which was a third figure (20-points) to the two we looked at last time and in a new colour; red.

While the gods smiled, they also decided that colours would duplicate, so while my two were the missing two poses from a random/possible five (odds on that?), I'm sure there may be blue or green to track down, mine being one yellow (5-points) and one red (40), but as far as poses goes; I think that's it now!

If your eyesight's even twice as good as mine you may still like to know the bases are numbered with an odd sequence of 5-15-20-30-40 points.

On the left a late re-issue in unpainted glossy ethylene and on the right an earlyish example with all over paint, sandwiched between them two of the game-pieces for comparison, the only real difference is in the base with its diamond-mesh pattern overlaid with a smoothed-out number on the underside and the little wire-clip at the back edge.

The 5-pose seems to have had the back of his base extended a touch, too, but as with the Knights/Medievals from Lone Star, there are base variations for single poses within the line anyway, so it may be a question of which cavity had the work done to it?

A reminder of the picture Paul Morehead kindly sent to the Blog with the original catalogue image of the game. It's clear the figures are different colours, but are they red & yellow, or red, yellow and something else?

Adding ID'd stuff to existing boxes meant these die-cast Roadmasters accessories (ID'd after/at May's show) went away in the Lone Star box, and as they may never come out again, I thought I'd just show you a red driver who has appeared since we last looked at them!

HO is for Lone Star Germans

Just a box ticker to get something up here for this afternoon! The Lone Star Germans reduced somewhat!

This is the contents of a full set, almost certainly from the D-Day play-set with large vac-form, you get (got; 60+-years ago!) eight each of the six figure poses downscaled to an HO-gauge compatible 23-odd millimetre size along with two of the sub-scale (N-gauge) Land Rovers from the Treble-O-Trains range range, but in a dark olive, satin finish, rather than the bright, gloss red, black or British racing-green of the railway versions, giving a 50-piece count - 100 with the Paratrooper opo's; we'll look at another day.

The painting here has been restricted to a stab-and-hope dash of matt, flesh-pink in the vague areas of the face and hands - check-out the flame-thrower operators!

Later they seem to have done service as Chinese troops (probably referring to the Korean conflict) with an all-over gloss-red hat and while one might be tempted to imagine that this headgear embellishment was home painting; note that A) the flesh (better registered) is also now gloss and . . .

. . . B) another out-painter has gone with a more detailed attempt at the red-star, Chinese troops (and later the Vietcong) carried on their soft hats; both colours are also in a gloss-finish.

E is for Empirical Evidence!

Courtesy of Paul Morehead, editor of Plastic Warrior magazine.

So, we'll have a few quickies this afternoon, follow-ups and further stuff or loose-ends tied off, with something a bit more substantial tomorrow, but that's not to say today's late-postings aren't interesting, they all are! And again, like the other day - all contributions.

Paul sent this the other day, which I think is a scan of a photocopy of a photocopy of the 1966 catalogue. It clearly backs-up my thoughts on the figures being Lone Star supplied (and 'possibly' Lone Star branded) as they are, but more importantly seems to suggest my memories of red and green ones has some merit too.

And they are bright red and green like the yellow we looked at the other day, they are toys, not 'toy soldiers' and as such were issued in bright, primary colours - I bet some a blue too?

It's hard to tell form the illustration, but it seems they clip to a wooden (or rubber? Plastic?) block with a sturdy wire-rod set along one edge so that the figures (sorry; "Redskin Targets"!) fall backwards when hit by the cork, if you choose to use them rather than the card targets.

We can see at least four poses, a fifth may be behind the card, but I don't think the kneeling one is included, so that probably was my imagination!

C is for Chariot

Except some bloddy Brexiteer has obviously pulled the wheels off this one, and - apparently - has no plan for getting them back-on again!

Brian Berke sent me these, and I shot into the attic to look for the riders I knew I had, as I have some very different paint treatments of the divers, however, it was only after I'd failed to find them in either the 'Divers' box or the 'New additions - 20th C' box that I realised they must be in storage with my mini-sub, which doesn't have a box, so we will probably return to these guys one day; in the meantime just enjoy Brian's pic's of a superb set:

Lone Star's 2-man Midget Submarine S15, possible contender for best toy ever, definitely best bath-toy ever!

D is for Die-Cast Machine Men

A bit of a box ticker here too, but equally a bit special, much sought-after, a bit pricey when they do turn-up, yet hard to find, so I only have three different torsos and four legs, I think it should be six and six in a complete set, not sure if they did mounted versions?

Lone Star's take on swoppet knights, and clearly influenced by Britains own, being better animated than either the Crescent or Timpo efforts and far superior to Cherilea's offerings (either type). I'm pretty sure I have a spare shield somewhere, so the other chap should get protection in the fullness of time!

News, views etc...Lone*Star

I have been lucky to get into contact with an ex-employee of Lone*Star, otherwise known as Die Casting Machine Tools Ltd. (a.k.a. D.C.M.T.), a Mr. Patrick Simmonds and the first thing I must do is thank him for sending me three old catalogues - almost overnight. Pat was originally a pattern-maker in the machine room, working on moulds, but would rise through the company and was there at the end. He has kindly agreed to let me interview him for the blog, and to that end if anybody would like me to put specific questions to him (which he may not be able to answer) let me know in the next few days and I will try to speak to him next week sometime. I will not badger him from now until doomsday, so please get any questions to me by Sunday 5th August. Ask around as well, some of your mates may not follow this blog or have easy access to the internet. You can pose the questions as a comment (click the comments link at the end of this post) or eMail me at the usual address; maverickatlarge@hotmail.com I don't know how much he knows about the early plastic figures, so if you have questions on the die-cast toys, Treble-O Trains, guns or the late vinyl toys, do proffer them.

A is for Atomic Age!

This is a quick post actioned by a contributor's kind supply of images of the Tudor*Rose Atomic Space Ship, another of that wonderful range of ships and ground vehicles from several, all or none of a large handful of companies both sides of the ‘pond’ and both sides on the Channel.

Here is the beast, we had the grey one before with its slightly bent nose, but the blue one is complete for a fuller appreciation of its beauty…no, It’s not beautiful is it? It has buckets of charm and a wagon-load of nostalgia, but it looks like several 1950’s rural buses or luxury coaches, welded to parts of an over scale Cadillac! But I’m not being mean (well, maybe jealous?!!), they’re lovely things and I’m pleased to be able to post them here.

If I was in the position to buy two identical ones, I’d remove the wheels and wheel mounts and glue them back-to-back (sacrilege!), then it’d look like a 50’s pulp cover-image ship…if it was standing on its tail. The engine nacelles have shades of Thunderbird 2 or Stingray; No?
These are both marked Tudor*Rose and the contributor reports that they seem to be easier to source in Canada or Australia than here in the UK where they were made! One is marked 1 the other 2 and a third unmarked grey one recently spotted by him was also marked 1, while I have an eBay image for a couple of years ago which is marked with a 2, probably a Pyro version or Kleeware/Tudor*Rose changeover piece?

If you smash the nose of your Atomic Space Ship, you will need to land and deal with any aliens in the way for which you will - obviously, stupid! - need a ray-gun…


This Space Squadron Sonic Beam weapon from DCMT (Die Cast Machine Tools) otherwise known as Lone*Star is the baby for the job! Surprisingly common, I see one every time I go to either Sandown or the NEC toy fairs, sometimes more than one, and at least 3 Toy Soldier dealers I count as Friends have had one in the last few years, one of which I photographed here. It is very robust and rarely has damage, sometimes the little flange or blade under the pistol grip is missing, sometimes the sight has been broken off and glued back on, but they’re usually in pretty complete nick. This appears to be based on a design by Commonwealth Utilities of Chicago, illustrated in 'Blast Off' by Young, Duin and Richardson.

If you click on this one and study it closer it’s seen some heavy work, killing aliens down the garden, behind the shed, up the scout hut and on the common, yet apart from surface scratching is OK, and taking standard batteries and standard bulbs with very simple electrics, it can easily be put back into service, and on a low setting, can help you home in the dark without killing anything, alien or otherwise, which may explain its common status; “A practical ray-gun for Christmas Johnny?”

Once you have cleared aliens from the landing site, you will need to refuel and send the crew off sightseeing while you fix the ship...

Here the Mettoy airport will provide all your needs, with an aerodynamic coach, wrecker truck and re-fueller…humm…when I said aerodynamic bus; I clearly meant fish-tailed brick! Lower gravity don’cha know!

These came with a toy airport of tin-plate and card, with two small planes I’ll post another day, and while it was supposed to be a 1950’s Croydon type facility, they tried to look forward with their support vehicles…the fools!

There you have it, a quick ‘Early British Makes’ Sci-fi post entirely provided by other peoples items - none of these are in my collection - with further thanks going to John Begg (PTS Collectables) who’s ray-gun I photographed a few years ago, and Jeremy Croucher as it was his Airport I took the vehicle shots from.