N is for Not Really A Follow-up!

Notes on previous stuff seen here though, and images pulled from three folders and added to a set I got off Steve V yesterday, at the London Toy Soldier Show in Camden, and which opened-up a narrative for the other shots.

Marx's 45mm Air Force figures, with a rouge Space Patrol chap, in the same metallic blue plastic, waving his gypsy earrings about, at the back there! You get seven ground crew and four pilots, which, it being then, the 1950's, means the guy in a leather jacket is probably a milk runner from Transport Command (or whatever the USAF called it), next to him is the SR71 Blackbird or X-Plane pilot in high-altitude 'space' pressure-suit, along with two more conventional, fast-jet pilots.

 

With the exception of the sci-fi interloper who has the older flat base, these are all the later version with the raised under-rim base, and it's interesting to notice that the last pilot on the right has been sculpted to hold something? The hands are the wrong angle for a cockpit rim, and the arms are the wrong-angle for an access ladder, so I wonder if the sculptor's efforts fell on stony ground!

 

I think these are the ones sent by Brian Berke a few years ago, I thought they were gray, and I thought I'd published them, but they may be somewhere on the Blog already, without the needed Tags? Anyway, these are the recent reissues, and came in grey or this flat, sky-blue.

These are the contemporary figures from Deluxe Reading, and this image is courtesy of Chris Smith, as part of an eMail conversation we were having, following one of his donations, and the revelation that the orange ones were issued, over here, by Thomas in a header-bagged, oversized Jeep of theirs, which we saw here.

While I suspect these (MPC, Pyro or Revell?) come from a model car kit, as racetrack personnel, but they could be from a 1:48th scale aircraft kit, and go very well with the figures above, and the other set we saw in the Kennedy Space Centre a while ago, here. The paint on them will be OBE's, and there were at least two shot-runs, one in grey, one in silver, both a polystyrene 'kit' plastic.

 

So, thanks to Steve, Chris and Brian, a quick overview of USAF (and NASA) air and ground-crew, from over half a century ago! And the reason I hadn't got round to them before this, is because mine, mostly rimmed cream, chalky polyethylene (Marx Swansea?), with a few flat metallic-blues, are still in storage.

F is for Follow-ups - Recent Matters Arising

A few shots of thing mentioned in passing or otherwise covered in recent posts;

It turned out I actually had the buildings, found on the cereal packet-backs, that were part of the N-gauge promotion from Graham Farish in Shredded Wheat, hiding in the archive folders! They are based on existing structures from Grafar, but simplified, the farmhouse having two chimneys in the case of the original, for instance, while I think I have the BP garage as a small, plastic box, so we may return to these, one day?

 

The comparison shot I meant to take at the time, but didn't manage to, when looking at the Marx play-set tin, the other Marx in the middle and the Deluxe Reading (Thomas in orange) on the right. And I was wrong to suggest they'd go with the other figures, as both a markedly smaller, but you could mix them in with a larger set-up!

 

IF - reading the minds of the locals!

 

I wasn't sure if we'd seen the figure in  a post, but I don't think so, anyway, when I got home from the Sandown show, the red driver here had ended-up in a tray of smallies, but I knew it was part of this old Tudor Rose dumper-truck, so I suggested to Adrian that next time I saw him I might as well get the truck, as I should have done so at the time!

Twelve parts including the driver, and we've seen him before, he's one of those chaps that keep turning-up in lose lots and donations, and I should have him in blue, green and yellow plastic too. We have actually seen this before, it was an early post from archive material, shot with the blessing of John Begg, many years ago, with a multicoloured version in that set, one has to suspect all-one-colour versions were available in the other three colours as well?

 

Finally, combining the donation from Chris Smith with the Sandown purchase, on the little brittle polystyrene sub-piracies of what were probably early Matchbox 1-75 series, as mentioned previously, gives us six models! And the point it's illustrating is that with all this stuff there is often more than one pile currently in the stash, and when it all gets brought together, we will start to see some definitive stuff, I hope!

 

I was looking at a rather nice 76-foot long-boat the other day for £45k, well within my budget?!!

H is for How They Come In - Chris - October 2021 - Military & Sci-Fi Stuff

So, the other half of Chris Smith's Autumn donation to the Blog last year finds us with the helmets and guns, mostly in khaki! But there is a couple of red-coats, some spacey stuff and an Esquimaux!

Always, always, always! They all get carefully sorted into bags of identical figures to eventually get matched-up to branded items or set titles . . . like the firefighters, the paratrooper page is another thing which is lagging, but the work goes on in the background - I found a nice novelty variant of the Trojan red-devil the other day!

ABC and 'probably' ABC; Chris returned the two sand ones I'd sent him, not out of churlishness, but because he found better ones! He sent me the - frankly better sculpted - green ones at the same time (which we have now looked at) and he sent me two - believed to be ABC - in colonial line-infantry uniforms (from Britains hollow-cast) and a variant of the standing sentry with a new arm and new colouring.

The sentry's pose is not a recognised drill movement. but is close to a left-handed "Raise weapon for inspection"! That 'colonial' era spiked infantry helmet still survives in bands, but with No.1 Dress 'Blues' not scarlet! I picked-up three more the other day from the legendary Joe Bellis, and a third pose is blowing on the instrument I get in to trouble for . . . an oboe/clarinet'y thing!

A nice selection of mixed figures, the crossbowman is Exin (seen here - fourteen years ago!), the guardsmen are the denizens of crackers/lucky-bags (seen here four years ago!), while the flat/semi-falt cavalryman with carbine may be Plástico Osul from Portugal?

The Argentine Oklahoma figure looks like the advancing pose also sent to the Blog by Chris, but it's a single pole he's holding, so I fancy he's a standard bearer missing a flag? Something I will sort with a print-out at some point!

Another Spanish Civil Guard in terracotta takes that sample three, the blue knight is similar to some capsule toys marked Saban, but he is unmarked, while the white plastic Britains copy knight is very interesting . . .  

. . . for being clearly marked Petrel. Now; it happens I have several rack-toys marked up/overprinted to Petrel (one or two seen here now), and would have happily accepted they were a phantom brand for someone like 1960's Woolworth's or the Dutch Hagemeyer, but here he is, claiming a factory-tool as his own! How many were there in the set, are they all Britains inspired, do you know? Damaged - but a first here!

Khaki types; The sandy one will be Revell, Aurora, Renwall or someone like that, early box-scale or 1:48/50th kit figure, possibly from one of the missile sets. The diver below him is a lot like the Chap Mai ones, but softer and equipped with a mean dart-tip, he's hunting Moskva!

The two 'army men' at the top are both uncommon, one channeling the Lido pod-feet chaps, but as a unique sculpt, the other seemingly a khaki copy of Deluxe Reading's white one, but without the slot in the base, I must assume therefore another DR piece, from a similar big-box toy?

The large chap in the middle will be for a 1:18th German AFV, but I couldn't tell you who's or which, I haven't followed the phenomena, except to be very impressed with a  mixed battle-group of 1:18th, 1:12th and 1:6th (action man sized!) AFv's running around at Beltring hop-farm!

Finally - another 'army man', who must be from some sort of interactive zip-wire/death-slide, or helicopter (with hook) toy/set; I can't imagine he'd be auctioning a bow-saw to the highest-bidder in the middle of a battle?

Very useful Blue Box stretcher-case in white, I knew it was out there as I have it in a boxed-set somewhere, but I didn't have a lose one, now I do! Posed with the WAAC nurse, also from Blue Box.

These two will be from a modern gaming system, which are similar to but not Bolt Action from Warlord Games, I will endeavor to ID them, to which aim I have ruled out Wizards of the Coast and Flames of War . . . so might be looking for a stand-alone boxed game? they are quite nice though, factory painted PVC, and they've gone to storage in a TBS box, so I can't for the life of me remember if they had base-marks? Same Day - Heroscape! Thank you Daniel - see comments!

I think this chap was on Moonbase, not that long ago, but I'm damned if I can find it, obviously a target for a shooting game, I think it was a little rack-toy pistol? With the Azco/Hassenfeld, Ideal/Kleeware, Kellogg's, Kwong Ming, Lion, Lone Star and May May ones, I'm building quite a pile of targets - with help! We'll have to have a target page here?

Going off-world; there's a probably Kinder (or similar Italian pocket-money toy) space ship, a Micro-Machines command module, some capsule toys, one as a pencil-top (three-headed Kaiju) and one as a charm (green robot).

Robin's lost his head; probably at the sight of the pink block-man . . . is he Roblox or Minecraft? He might be a Minecraft 'hex-fusion' figure whatever the hell one of those is! One day I'll do something with the damaged dime-store/Tudor Rose pulp figure, like graft a small propeller to the wrist?

While we've looked at the two rack-toy Power-Ranger knock-offs before. The blue fellah is a Pokémon I think, and I have no suggestions for the 25mm action figure with moving arms and legs?

Mentioned in passing the other day - this completed my MPC XL5 character line-up, Steve Zodiac I think a reissue in this grey and he was a bit shredded, but a very quick pass with a cigarette-lighter removed most of the jiggits, but it didn't restore his nose! I would never recommend the lighter-technique, it's something you have to be practiced in (or confident of carrying out), before you start, and practice makes casualties! But done right it disappears all those little 'tails' of a worn, sanded or badly-fettled plastic item.

Probably could have been in yesterday's post, a small collection of Kinder figure parts, which will go with all the others, if I ever find the big box, which is still somewhere in the garage! And the Attic stuff has long-gone to storage, so that's a job for next-home now! I think blue-top is an ice-hockey player, there's half a fantasy barbarian, the blue legs go with the Esquimaux, and the horses had those chunky brass-look knights riding them.

"Now you've sorted everything into their little bags and spread them all over OUR nest, can Teddy and I have our Cheesy Dreamies please? We're starving here and it's well-past our bedtime!"

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

Found it! FBI Shooting Practice, by Day Fran so now I need to find the Captain Scarlet ones - Doh!

W is for Well Now! That's Interesting!

It's nice to put a question to bed, even when it was more of a mystery than a full question-mark, but in this case it probably should have been flagged-up as more of a full question-mark to begin with!

We looked at the - technically - Air Force, cold-war figures from Deluxe Reading/Topper Toys just over two years ago here, at which time I mused that the orange ones might be Politoys output in Italy (who apparently handled the sculpts), but it turns out . . .

. . . they were Thomas Toys! I'm not getting it out of the bag until I find a second one, but I can assure you it's the same figures, with a Jeep which is also not the well-known Thomas-Taffy-Poplar design, but neither do I believe it's Deluxe Reading? If nothing else it's a better sculpt than the hiddeosity which accompanies the Deluxe Reading GI's!

There are no visible marks on the Jeep (which is way over-scale at about 1:24th) to help ID the supplier, or to suggest it might have been a late design of Thomas themselves - which nevertheless remains a possibility?

The suspicion is that Deluxe Reading here in the UK ran the tool in orange polymer as the contract manufacturer for the figures, while - possibly - a third party provided the Jeep, the whole being a typical beach toy; sandcastles; for the use of, as marketed by Thomas?

The card looks old, but the figures - as Deluxe - soldiered-on into the 1970's long after Alden Industries took over Thomas's US operation (if they [the figures] were even available when Thomas were around?), meaning either that Thomas UK carried on for a while (I don't have the relevant Plastic Warrior guide in front of me!) or Poplar (who did a lot of this sea-side stuff) continued to use the brand-mark?

Note that the TNT mark reads;

NTT

While I've had the Deluxe Reading's out, it struck me that the Blue Box 'Secret Missiles Base' figures are also copies of or based on the Deluxe' figures, but being (above) more like the navy guys from the smaller scale range, although this set on Moonbase Central had closer copies of the Air Force ones, also with the flesh painted-in.

The Singapore mark would tie them into one of at least two Blue Box factories in the island nation, but a lot of the Redbox farm and zoo sets tend to carry a Singapore mark, so using the Tai Sang parent for attribution might be safer . . . now we know they all shared the same chairman for over fifty years despite the best efforts of the PSTSM to say otherwise by inventing a whole port/facility!

DLR is for Dockla . . . No; that would be the silliest attempt at a humorous title ever!

Let's say: Deluxe Reading is for Topper Toys!

These were in my collection for years as Thomas, but that was back when I took the advise spoon-fed by the elders! They are actually Deluxe Reading (latter: Topper) and we know from recent work by the PW-guys(issue 159) that they had a facility over here, control of which was handed to Lines in a licensing agreement.

We've looked at the larger G.I. figures acouple of times now, but these are the figures you're probably more familiar with; quite unloved, they turn-up in mixed lots, junk lots and 50p/rummage trays all the time . . .

. . . which is good point to thank all those who save junk-stuff for me as they will all have contributed to this post over the last 25 years - Jim, John Begg, Peter Evans, Gareth Morgan, Chris Smith and Trevor Rudkin for certain and probably also Graham Apperley, Mr Carrick, Paul Morehead and Jan Yarzembowski.

Above we have three types of plastic, the bottom row being probably the earlier (and possibly 'US only' imports - FeebleBay has a lot to answer-for!) production in a chalky/cream-white plastic, the main sample in a greyish-white polymer and the two down the bottm-right of the shot who are a semi-translucent 'wishy-washy' white.

All are softish 'beach-toy' polyethylene and I am missing one human pose - another bloke with a radio-telephone; and a little sitting dog, who may be with the other dogs; both of which give me reason to run these again one day!

And a monkey, there's a little space-monkey missing, cheers TJF!

I also have examples in various shades of orange, one or two almost marbled, and I think the palette of colours has more to do with unstable pigment than actual production batches!

Politoys in Italy issued some Deluxe Reading stuff, they may have been responsible for the orange ones?

In addition I have a painted one, but he's so tatty it's hard to tell if it was factory or home-paint, and I suspect the latter as the black strap just doesn't quite have the practiced badness of a factory/out-painter, but rather the studied, tongue stuck-out badness of a home painter with little practice?

It gives us a line-up of - 50mm possibly painted; orange and white; the three whites; the three whites again in 30mm (the wishy-washy one is not quite so wishy-washy!) and a base variation of the 30mm with a slot for locating on studs attached to the toy-models they came with.

Note also the double crescent-shaped 'dents' or cut-outs in the edge of the bases and the twin, mould-release pin-marks - removed from the slotted-base guy, who's slot - incidentally - is the same (shape and size) as that found on the previously seen G.I. figures.

The 30mm figures only have five poses (there's a pointing chap missing from this lie-up) and represent US Naval personnel (or US Coastguard), rather than the Air-force/Rocketry/Space troops of the 50mm set. It's ironic, but the 30mm rifleman is more likely to be found with his muzzle intact than is the 50mm chap!

Partial Set Listing

50mm Airforce

- Rocket Base USA ("The Most Amazing Toy Ever Made")

- Operation X500 (the 2nd most amazing toy ever made?)

30mm Sailors

- B-400 Battlewagon (battleship, 1963)

3026 - Task Force 109 (destroyer and PT-boat)

Some of the above figures may have been issued in Italy by Politoys with different titles.

R is for Racing, to Sandown Park!

So, another weekend, another show, I was very reserved and managed to spend only £11.50p the whole day, but people's generosity contributed to the small but useful haul of plunder I carried away in two little paper, 5"x5", sweet bags!

The queue at twenty-past ten; the rain had been and gone a couple of hours earlier, the sun was shining and British Airways had used their extensive, state of the art computer systems to clear London's skies for to create a quite Saturday morning for the dweller's of the Home Counties - which was nice of them!

I'm not 'suggesting' the rest of the world is laughing at us, but we've lost two wars in the Middle East, fucked-up Libya, left the Egyptians to their own miseries, turned Syria and Iraq into charnel houses, sent the people of Greece to the food banks, watched 10,000 humans drown in the Mediterranean, voted Brexit and now can't get the national flag-carrier into the air, yet in two weeks time dumb-people are going to elect the Tories again, after 40 years of Tory and Tory-lite, 'New' Labour policies, we're so myopic we are incapable of reading the writing on the wall - No, I'm not suggesting the rest of the world is laughing at us - I'm telling you they are!

You don't want more pictures of greying, balding, pot-bellied, middle-aged, white men, most of them in too-casual wear (hey, I'm describing myself, it's no great criticism!), bending over tables of old toys so soon after the last lot, so straight into the plunder I think . . .

. . . with a fiver's worth from Abid's rummage trays; Blue Box knights, one with an original weapon, all with better paint than some of my existing samples, two Marty toys including a painted one, four Spot-On ethylene's, a copy of the Timpo foal, probably by one of the early Brits in that question-mark group of Kentoy-Speedwell-Trojan-Una or VP, a Festival carol-singer and Toyway Indian (sans base!).

An early hard plastic railway figure, possibly Hong Kong, or a margarine premium type thing (?) is the only HO-gauge piece. Kinder (?) Snoopy, 3 Deluxe/Topper ground-crew in the rarer - but more recent - orange, a Blue Box tiger moulding (but probably Red Box issued; as it's airbrushed), a bunch more Bravestarr Galaxy Rangers (I'm trying to build a set of one each of every pose in each colour, and one spare of each pose to paint-up!) and a plug-in/swivel-waist sumo wrestler. Lastly (top right) is a Takara for Hasbro figure which I suspect is a Halo video-game, tie-in figure?

Adrian Little gave me these! The two big Indians are more of the 'maybe Argentinian' ones looked at yesterday which I bought from Adrian at Plastic Warrior two weeks ago, but I left these as they were much larger and had holes in their bases, yet the paint and plastic looked like the others (which I think I posted yesterday - but that was published last week sometime, this is late Monday!), so I thought I'd better get them all together again, and Adrian said "Have them"! The blue remnant of something the green Indian plugged-onto is visible sticking out of in his base!

The barrel; I think it may be a wine barrel from an old tin-plate 'O' gauge wagon (it's wooden under the paint) and that the Castrol ends have been home-added, but as they have been carefully scaled to fit; they could be a more commercial thing? Anyway, now it's posted here it goes-on to my Mother's barrel collection (seen on the Blog passim) so its provenance ceases to worry me! 1:24th racing-car stickers?

Finally these were also a fiver, with several given to me by the seller! I did offer to pay for them but he insisted - I think he likes that I tell him what they all are as he seems to be a Farm Toy specialist? He had a lovely tray of painted Britains animals I had rudely referred to (jokingly) as his 'junk tray' earlier in the day - and he follows the Blog!

I'm never too sure of the athletes, Marx UK also for Kellogg's/Nabisco/Quaker or one of the smaller cereal makers was what I told him, I do sort of know, but you can't remember everything 'on the spot' without all your folders in front of you and some of this stuff was Pepsi or Coke, while the sculpts were common to Marx US I think and in the same cream plastic! It was Kellogg's - I think!

A Gem Indian was a nice find as were the Gemodels Life Guards, while the Gem-looking ice-skater is another Festival-marked piece. We had a chat about these on Black Dragon ages ago, and I'm only more convinced now sure that Gem (George Musgrave) was behind Festival, it's just the how and why, my own feeling was for/as an own or sub-brand of Culpitt? Specifically - the seasonal stuff (Christmas and Easter) and a range of mini-candle holders, and that seems to be the case.

I also spent £1.50 at another stall, but the results were so interesting I'm posting them separately tomorrow.

D...eluxe is for Reading...

Continuing to box-tick all this American made American GI stuff, we come to a 'minor make'; Deluxe Reading. The vehicles are in a bit of a state; the main gun is missing, the rocket-launcher is in bits and its half-track is missing etc...but all the figures are on show, or at least they are now the kneeling firer has turned up!

I say 'turned-up' - we saw his base here a couple of years ago and he's the only one I've got, the rest were photographed at a mate's place back in 2007 and are from the 'archive'. That's it really - similar sculpting to the Marx 54mm late production, maybe the same sculptor? Four foot poses and the driver, 54mm 'ish soft polyethylene...1970's...set was called 'Armoured Battalion'...that's it.

U is for Unidentified Infantry

It's been a year or two since I did a post of all unknowns so thought is was about time for another batch, especially as I seem to have proportionately more unknowns in the fledgling large-scale collection than I do in the small-scale stuff.

I think these are of French manufacture, and the paint is probably 'home-paint' to be removed - once that suspicion has been confirmed. I also wonder if they may have been either premiums or Sobre/Lucky-bag type product as metallics are unusual for everyday toy soldiers?

They are not that rare and I should know who they are by, I further think they are 1970's soft plastic (they are soft plastic!) copies of earlier 1950's hard plastic figures, possibly from two sources, the larger running and firing poses seem familiar (and are larger), from a book possibly? Can anyone help?

[The next day - I Should have mentioned that some of the smaller ones are similar to Tim Mee poses, Paul Morehead (PW's 'Ed.') thinks the larger ones might have originally been Clairet hard plastic poses, I wondered JIM?]

[12th December 2015 - These are actually by Vilco, two sets have been on FeeBay for the last few months with reasonable prices, but no takers..tightwads, all of us! And - it is home-paint which I can now strip-off]

 

[20th April 2023 - The non-Tim Mee poses are from Quiralu aluminium figures (thanks to Judicaël Btx le Gaulois on Facebook)]

This guy is about 70mm or he would be if he stood up, maybe 80mm even, he's made of a dense Polypropylene or Nylon type polymer. The lower picture shows him next to a Deluxe Reading figure for a comparison of the base marks. The materials are different and the base marks aren't close but DR were quite a large 'general' toy company in the 1960/70's over in the states, and they would have been sourcing/buying-in from all over, so it's a possibility? Can a US reader help here or am I wide of the mark?!

[Months Later - It's Remco, probably Star Trek, and thanks to err...me! For finding that one...looking for Tim Mee on Wikipedia!...Link]

My preferred suspicion for these two 54mm figures is Italian production; cheap bagged rack/dollar-tree toys? The bases would go on to be much pirated by Hong Kong usually with PVC copies of Britians or Timpo Wild West figures. But the figures themselves are similar to the Texas Cowboys & Indians also from Italy but they have deeper bases...can a European reader help us with these?

[The Next day - Paul also thinks probably Texas, but not happy with the bases - unlikely to be original. They are like HK copies of the Lone*Star swoppets, but unmarked and of better quality? Should add they have only one foot-spigot/locating stud each.]