C is for Carlsberg Don't Make Toy Soldiers . . .

. . . but if they did, they wouldn't look anything like these;

 

EKO - probably the worst Japanese Infantry in the World!

K is for Kibri

This one's a bit of a box-ticker, compared to some of the others, and I've duplicated an image by scanning something already on the blog, but there you go, it's still quite interesting as Kibri (Kindler und Briel) have had three generations of figures.

Jon Attwood's loose sample is bigger than mine! But are they Kibri or Leyla, if you recall we looked at the Leyla issue here, and while they are always shown in the Kibri catalogues as fully painted, or fully decorated anyway, I don't know if that's how they were sold, as I've never seen the early Kibri packs/cards?

 

So they may well have just bought-in the Leyla figures wholesale? Or even. as the Leyla logo on those late cards is disguised as a station name-plate, just put a Kibri sticker over them? Or, did they obtain the Leyla intellectual property, upon the demise of Leyla?

 

This is from a Walther's catalogue, around the late 1990's I think, and shows what were shipped, or orderable from the 'States, via the Teminial Hobby Shop, being a B&W version of the old Kibri catalogue images.

While this is that Kibri catalogue imagery (the duplicate!), which I dealt with here a while ago, check the Kibri tag to find it and a very interesting petrol station! But it clearly shows two generations, the 'Leyla' sets, three seperate six-figure/item sets and one combining the first two, then three sets which look like the Roco, or Preiser sculpts, along with some animals, ditto - or even Merten for the animals?

More recently, the only animals in the catalogues have been these two sets of the same cows with different decoration. Having not handled them, I can't say much beyond that they are some kind of polymer and look like reasonable sculpts of modern dairy cattle.

 

The more recent Walther's (this one's the 2000 issue) show the final, third generation, which are the strange, slightly over-scale figures, which are more suited to the stylised models of architects or town-planners than a model railroad? Note also, more cow options, but I don't know the difference between the two B&W cow listings?

The 2000 Walther's N-gauge catalogue also has them, they must be so fiddly to glue-together, it could drive you to suicide, as heads smaller than pin's go flying across the workspace for the umpteenth time!

Jon's set, mine are browns rather than blue/yellow, and can be seen in both One Inch Warrior magazine and a more recent Plastic Warrior, which is lucky, if you subscribe . . . http://plasticwarrioreditor.blogspot.com/. The most interesting thing about them is it's one of only a few examples of over-moulding in small scale, with the heads moulded in one colour and then hats/hair moulded in a contrasting colour, pale-blue and yellow in the above sample.

 

There have been one or two other examples of over-moulding here, the Gem for Culpitt's experiment with footballers springs to mind, but there was another I think?

Also from Kibri catalogues, no figures sadly, although there are some in the studio shot, but lovely buildings for wargaming or role-play. I have three or maybe four of the five, in storage, and one day we'll get them out and have a proper look at them, but they are still mint/sealed, with their distinctive Kibri blue-ends.

 

Eko, from Spain, the great pirates of other-people's figures, lifted some of the sculpts for their civilian set, but whether they were pirating Leyla or Kibri remains lost in the mists of time - I suspect the former?

W is for Well . . . these are Interesting!

Back to the very lowest price bracket for rack toys with these, which are - without doubt - Interesting Toys. A shilling (1-) was 12 old pence, which became 10 New Pence - I think! Heay, I'm a child of post-decimalization, no good asking me about florins and shit, init!

It seems that these were a 'brand'; for as I find more of them, the evolution of the card art through the 1960-70's is clear and the contents are pretty consistent on colour/style, with a slight improvement in value for money in the later 1970's multi-blister versions.

On the left is the missing set from the Monogram post the other day! The middle is a mix of real low-budget, cake-dec, novelty cack isn't it? Two sports cars, a yacht without a sail, a railway passenger coach and a bottom-voiding ore-carrier! The one on the right is a low-res from feebleBay and is presented as it seems to have a logo, but a bit blurry to fully make out.

I'd like it to be a large 'G' with the lower line being an artistic PMS as that would be the Gardener's firm; a stalwart of the colony's toy industry before 1973, but I know it's just wishful thinking, it seems to be some kind of sea serpent, or maybe a graphical realisation of a Chinese character/pictogram?

These two we've seen before; both two- and three-blister cards with slightly better contents. Airfix guardsmen copies, ex-Giant poses of Trojan/Greco-Roman types (mixed with ex-Woolbro pose Cowboys & Indians! And the MPC mini-plane piracies we've seen before.

A quick look at the figures in the right-hand card might lead you to think they are Britains copies, a closer look will reveal Airfix in the mix, but a study of the figures shows that actually they are copies of the EKO copies of the aforementioned firm's figures, the Airfix poses having the egg-shaped bases of the EKO, rather than the usual square ones of Airfix, and with the crawling figure EKO also copied being present.

News, Views etc...Posting Elsewhere! (rant alert)

I know my posting rate has dropped-off this year, but with real life stuff and the fact that I'm running out of stuff in the attic to blog, while everything else is still in storage have both affected what I can post, but there will be a steady'ish trickle of new'ish stuff...

This week I was also posting on another site - the STS Animal Collectors Forum;

Airfix

 JK of Hong Kong

 Tudor Rose

If you collect things other than military figures I would recommend it, they are a friendly bunch without the out-and-out competitiveness or bitchiness you get on some forums. And they have an animal-wiki attached;

Toy Animal Info.



I've also been posting original content elsewhere without my knowledge or permission....



This little shit;

Jimdo

...has copied all the documentation and most of the other images from my two EKO articles, presumably this means he doesn't mind me taking his stuff and putting it up here in English? As he seem to have stolen a lot of stuff from other people/books, I shall refrain!



While this plagiarist thief;

 Ghislain Oubreyrie

...has taken the diver images from the Kellogg's post and carefully cut round them! He's also cut round the Toysmith divers regularly found on eBay and is passing them off as Kellogg's originals, but the Toysmith ones have aluminium alloy plugs while the originals were tin, which tended to rust. Again, the little-dick has lots of useful stuff I could take reciprocally and post here in the universal language - if I chose to?



All you thieving pirates (Henk, Rudik, Ward as well) need to understand one thing...if/when I can afford it I will engage legal representation in your own countries and sue you (or your web-service provider/publisher/printer) for the price of a small house!

I publish original content, OR I credit fully with permission/link-backs, OR I flag up dodgy origin with a caveat, I also understand the law of copyright both off and on the internet. You don't; you're all inadequate, poxy little neuro-typical, farty-arsed fuckwits relying on others to do your 'work' for you.


So....lots of 'Smallscaleworld' on the web, just not all of it published here in the last few days, and not all of it original!

E is for Eko; Part 1 - Vehicles and Figures

Eko, Valladolid, Spain

Probably the Spanish for ‘Echo’ rather than the Ee-Kay-Oh they tend to be called in the English-speaking world (including by me!). HO/1:86 were the two given scales of this half-pirate, half-inheritor of other people’s Spanish prototype vehicle range, however on the undersides of the vehicles 1:88 was as common as 1:86. Figure-wise; Airfix suffered from the most plagiarism with Atlantic and Wiking also getting the boot put in. Still available from some sources outside Spain as late as 2000, while within Spain display cards could still be had in corner shops in late 2008. Vehicle-wise Roco Minitanks and Roscopf both seem to have provided ‘inspiration’ for the military stuff, the civil range being partly inherited from Anguplas.

A selection of products and packaging types, some early'ish, some quite recent, indeed these were mostly still available from the larger stockists in the 2000's. The shop cards (which I've put a selection of non-contiguous figure sets in) were bought about three years ago from a corner-shop in Spain! (thanks John!).

A selection of the sets with figures, the small truck comes with unpainted figures and it's likely you could have got any vehicle that fitted in the blister? The little bag of seated figures actually came with the 6x6 truck when boxed separately, but is here hiding a gap where a jeep should be!

A few lose vehicles, they are very similar to and clearly based on the Roco Minitanks and Roscopf ranges, but they are different, and there are unique items in the range, so it's more homage than plagiarism! The DUKW (not Duck, Duke or Duwk as I saw it spelt the other day!) is a particularly nice model, and while smaller than either the Airfix kit or their (Airfix's) ready-made, it's cheap and cheerful and a handful would make a fine sight on the war-gamers table.

A few civilian bits and bobs, the Traffic Police set is one of my all-time favorites, and for war-games purposes can be used for several Nations around the WWII period. Thanks go to Bill at Moonbase for the little N-gauge truck (front right; middle shot) - which is in soft white-metal - about which I knew nothing, and still can't find anything!!

A question-mark still hangs over the guy with the sack, but he matches the artwork in the catalogues so I'm pretty sure he's Eko. The Civilian sets seems to have taken their lead from the little strips of early Wiking I think I've already covered?

The four British sets, one based on Britains Lilliput, the others all Airfix. The Tommy-gunner from the commandos is one of only 2 duplicates in the range (ignoring the seated set) the other being the stretcher-team in the German set. The HK copies at the bottom (which I've seen described as Airfix copies) are in fact - technically - Hong Kong copies of Eko copies of Airfix! As evidenced by the bases.

The 'Interesting Toy' set they originated in. Hummm...yes...the interesting thing is; How come the kneeling poses have a shed-load of base and can't stand up! Good old Hong Kong!

The native Spanish sets, the Desert Legion (sandy-coloured set) and Spanish Foreign Legion (bottom left) are again among my favorite sets, despite the anachronisms of a hawk the size of a golden eagle appeartly having a combat role and the waving of large flags, like some doomed charge of Confederate volunteers across an open field somewhere in North Carolina! The support weapons are curtasey of Atlantic and the seated set don't seem to have an origin vis-a-vis piracy (bearing only a slight or passing resemblance to the Roscopf set), so would seem to be originals, albeit; rather crude sculpts.

Various Nations including two German sets (from Airfix again), the really rather good Russians, the Swiss who seem to fight in baggy pajamas, or at least they did in the 1970's (Hey - Spain was a bit isolated at the time!), and making-up for the quality of the Russians; you get the Japanese, without any doubt at all - THE WORST set of toy soldiers ever made, I say; EVER MADE! AND...they are mostly casualties!!! And...I've promised myself I wont mention the racist paint-job...And...

The Americans; the sculptor of the Russian set (who is also responsible for the Spanish legion), clearly had a hand in the two sets of paratroopers and they are lovely as a result, the GI's are OK and original sculpts that match-in very well with the Airfix first version set, the shot bottom right compares the Spanish and US gunners and their MG's.

In all the above shots there are self-explanatory colour variants and other comparative shots, in a whole post below this one is a load of ephemera and the listings as I know them, there are one or two gaps which it would be appreciated were someone to fill them. This was supposed to be the last word on the subject but one of the images below just wont load, so I'll have to go home and sort it to post at a later date!

E is for Eko; Part 2 - Ephemera and Listings

This is some of the resource material I've culled the listings from, there was another image but blogger just will not upload it (I've tried a dozen or more times 'internal error' is all it tells me), showing the store display card with some packs attached I'll have to put it up here another time...

HO Civilian Cars and Trucks (12 [*], 6 or 3 [+] per stock box)

2001 - Volkswagen Beetle*
2002 - BMW 501*
2003 - Mercedes Benz 300*
2004 - Opel 1954 Kapitan*
2005 - Renault 4/4*
2006 - Seat 1400*
2007 - DKW Pick-up Truck*
2008 - Jeep Truck (forward control pick-up)*
2009 - Volkswagen Beetle Convertible/Cabriolet*
2010 - Mercedes Benz 190SL Open-top*
2011 - Mercedes Benz 190SL Coupe*
2012 - ?
2013 - Ford Flatbed Truck (open)*
2014 - Ford Flatbed Truck (closed)
2015 - Magirus Flatbed Truck (closed)
2016 - Magirus Flatbed Truck (closed)
2017 - ‘Eko’ Cola Truck with Coke Cases
2018 - ‘Piper’ Cola Truck with Coke Cases
2019 - Magirus Fire Truck with Ladder
2020 - Gas-oil Tank Truck (ESSO)
2021 - Citroën 2CV*
2022 - 2-wheel Camping Trailer [caravan]*
2023 - Car Transporter with 5 Cars+
2024 - Magirus Tanker Truck
2025 - Renault Dauphine*
2026 - Willys CJ Type Jeep*
2027 - Citroën DS19*
2028 - Ford Panel Truck/Van*
2029 - Ford Mini-van Ambulance*
2030 - Ford Micro-bus [Minibus]*
2031 - Fiat 600 Multipla*
2032 - Seat Sedan 1400C*
2033 - Land Rover (SWB, open-topped, driver? Seems to be UK pattern, not Spanish licensed ‘Minerva’*
2034 - Citroën 2CV Pick-up/Delivery Van*
2035 - Fiat 1800 Station Wagon*
2036 - Seat 600 Coupe*
2037 - Seat 1400 Panel Truck*
2038 - Lincoln Continental*
2039 - Opel Record*
2040 - Opel Record Station Wagon*
2041 - Fiat 1800 Ambulance*
2042 - De Soto Diplomat*
2043 - Plymouth Station Wagon*
2044 - Ford Thunderbird*
2045 - Chevrolet El Camino*
2046 - Articulated 5-flask Oil Transport Truck [semi-truck]+
2047 - Renault 4L Station Wagon*
2048 - Citroën AMI*
2049 - Mercedes Benz Racer*
2050 - Simca Sedan 1000*
2051 - Renault Florida*
2052 - Boat and Motor with Trailer*
2053 - Cabin-boat and Motor with Trailer*
2054 - De Soto Diplomat with Boat and Motor with Trailer
2055 - Plymouth Station Wagon with Cabin-boat and Motor with Trailer
2056 - GMC 2.5-ton Truck (open)
2057 - GMC 2.5-ton Truck (covered)
2058 - GMC 2.5-ton Tanker Truck
2059 - Citroën DS19 with 2-wheel Camping Trailer [caravan]
2060 - Fiat 1800 Station Wagon with 2-wheel Camping Trailer [caravan]
2061 - Volkswagen Beetle Convertible/Cabriolet with 2-wheel Camping Trailer [caravan]
2062 - ?
2063 - Dodge Dart*
2064 - Renault R8*
2065 - Fiat/Seat 124*
2066 - Pegaso Cement Delivery Truck
2067 - Barreiros Van
2068 - Non-articulated Lorry with Trailer [UK; Wagon-and-drag]+
2069 - Camion Dump Truck*
2070 - Studebaker Hawk*
2071 - Ford Zephyr*
2072 - Opel Kadett*
2073 - Ford/Mercury Comet*
2074 - Mercedes Benz 220*
2075 - Studebaker Avanti*
2076 - Citroën Estate [break]*
2077 - Rover 3-litre*
2078 - Jeep Wagon (shooting break)*
2079 - Ford Falcon*
2080 - Volkswagen 1500 Coupe*
2081 - DAF Coupe*
2082 - BMW Coupe*
2083 - SAAB 96*
2084 - Volvo Sport*
2085 - Ford Consul*
2086 - Crane Truck+
2087 - Dump Truck
2088 - Mercedes Micro-bus*
2089 - Morris Mini*
2090 - Panel Truck Fugon*
2091 - Ford Thames Flatbed lorry
2092 - Pegaso Delivery Truck
2093 - Pegaso Fire Truck
2094 - Pegaso Tanker Lorry (ESSO)
2094 - Pegaso Tanker Lorry (Campsa)
2095 - Pegaso Articulated Tanker Lorry [semi-truck]+
2096 - Pegaso Articulated 2-flask Cement Lorry [semi-truck]+
2097 - Pegaso Hook-Ladder Fire Truck
2098 - Jaguar E-type Coupe*
2099 - Volkswagen Carmen Ghia*
2100 - Jaguar Racer*
2101 - MG 1600 Coupe*
2102 - Pegaso Motor Bus+
2103 - Unic Cement-mixer Truck
2104 - Pegaso Cement-mixer Truck
2105 - Alpha Romeo Guiletta Sprint*
2106 - Jaguar Mk.9*
2107 - Ford Anglia*
2108 - Fiat 1500*
2109 - Borgward Isabella*
2110 - Alco Double-decker [London] Bus+
2111 - Thornycroft Mighty Antar Low-loader with Cargo+
2112 - Caterpillar Earth-mover
2113 - Pala Excavator
2114 - Hanomag Farm Tractor
2115 - ?
2116 - Land Rover Safari (LWB, hard-top, seems to be UK pattern, not Spanish licensed ‘Minerva’)*
2117 - Chausson Motor Bus+
2118 - Titan Articulated Low-loader with Load [Semi-truck]+
2119 - Thames Flatbed
2120 - Thames Soda-delivery Truck
2121 - Thames Beer-delivery Truck
2122 - Sava Butane Delivery Truck
2123 - Sava Garbage Truck
2124 - Skoda Coupe*
2125 - Heavy-duty Berliet Dump Truck
2126 - Pegaso Articulated Lorry with Box Trailer [Semi-truck]+

HO Gauge Civilian / Emergency Service Figure Sets (x12 packs [assorted] per card, x12 packs [the same] per stock box)

2201 - Pedestrians - Assorted (7 figures - copies of Wiking figures)
2202 - Bicyclists (3 pieces)
2203 - Motorcyclists (3 pieces)
2204 - Boxes, Barrels and Sacks (assortment, as supplied with 4016)
2205 - Sanitary Equipment (‘Medics’ 5 figures - Airfix German stretcher team and 2 civilians)
2206 - ?
2207 - Traffic Police (8 pieces, 4 figures)

HO Gauge Military Vehicles (x6 per shop-stock box unless marked; *, then x12)

4001 - Russian T34
4002 - M8 ‘Cochise’ Armoured Scout Car
4003 - M48 Patton II Tank
4004 - Centurion Tank (available in three colours over the years)
4005 - Mercedes Unimog
4005/1 - Mercedes Unimog with [4006] Anti-tank Gun (became; 40051)
4006 - Anti-tank Gun / Light Gun
4007 - Early Jeep (forward control pick-up)
4008 - M47 General Patton Tank
4009 - German Panther Tank
4010 - Tiger Tank
4011 - French AMX13
4012 - M4 Sherman Tank
4013 - Russian T54
4014 - M41 Walker Bulldog Light Tank
4015 - Military Truck (Ford/Magirus? medium lorry)
4016 - Military Truck with Cargo (Ford/Magirus? medium lorry)
4017 - French Scout Tank / EBR 75 Armoured Car / Wheeled Tank
4018 - US M42 AA-tank
4019 - M40 ‘Long Tom’ Self-propelled Gun
4020 - Russian PT-76
4021 - Russian BTR50
4022 - Late (M38) Jeep
4023 - Land Rover (SWB, open-topped, driver? Seems to be UK pattern, not Spanish licensed ‘Minerva’)
4024 - GMC M35 2.5-ton Truck with Troops
4025 - GMC M35 2.5-ton Fuel Truck
4026 - GMC M35 Communications Truck
4027 - GMC M35 Truck with Rocket Launcher
4028 - GMC M35 Covered Truck
4029 - Stalin Tank
4030 - T235 Long Gun / Self-propelled Gun (M107)
4031 - T245 Howitzer / Self Propelled Howitzer
4032 - T120 Armoured Crane
4033 - T98 8-inch Gun
4034 - T113 Armoured Personnel Carrier (M113)
4035 - TT90.22 Spanish Utility Truck (Camion/Bameinos?)
4036 - DUKW 6x6 Amphibious ‘Duck’ USA
4037 - Thornycroft Mighty Antar Tank Transporter
4038 - French AMX30 ‘Napoleon’ Tank
4039 - Panzer III
4040 - Panzer III Gun (Stüg III)
4041 - M36 Tank Destroyer
4042 - KM [Krauss Maffei] 8-ton Anti-aircraft Half-track, German
4043 - Matilda Mk.II Tank
4044 - Slava Ambulance, England (Commer or Thames Van? Furgon in Spain?)
4045 - Land Rover (LWB, hard-topped ‘Safari’, seems to be UK pattern, not Spanish licensed ‘Minerva’)

˜
40051 - Mercedes Unimog with [4006] Anti-tank Gun (was; 4005/1)

HO Gauge Military Figure Range (x12 packs [assorted] per card, x12 packs [the same] per stock box)

4500 - English Infantry Set #1 (8 figures, copies of Britains Lilliput)
4501 - Spanish Infantry / Spanish Foreign Legion (8 figures)
4502 - German Infantry Set 1 (8 figures, copies of 1st version Airfix)
4503 - Japanese Infantry (8 figures)
4504 - German Infantry Set #2 (8 figures, copies of 1st version Airfix)
4505 - US Infantry (9 pieces, 8 figures)
4506 - English Infantry Set #2 / 8th Army (8 figures, copies of 1st version Airfix 8th Army)
4507 - English Infantry Set #3 / Desert Infantry (8 pieces, 7 figures, copies of 1st version Airfix 8th Army)
4508 - Swiss Infantry (8 figures)
4509 - Seated Troops (‘8 pieces’ - usually 9, but contents vary between 6-9 pieces, Roco-Minitanks copies)
4510 - Spanish Infantry (NATO era, 9 pieces, 8 figures)
4511 - Russian Infantry (8 figures)
4512 - US Paratroops Set 1 (6 figures)
4513 - US Paratroops Set 2 (4 figures)
4514 - Commandos (11 pieces, 8 figures, 2 of the same pose - different bases, copies of 1st version Airfix)
4515 - Arab Legion (8 figures)
4516 - Campaign Artillery / Mortars and Machineguns (12 pieces, 7 figures, Atlantic Piracies)

HO Gauge Military Gift Sets (small sets – two designs)

4701 - ?
4702 - ?
4703 - ?
4704 - Walker Bulldog, Unimog and Self-propelled Gun
4705 - AMX 30 Personnel Carrier and Anti-aircraft Tank
4706PP - M8 Armoured Scout Car, DUKW and AMX 30 Personnel Carrier
4707 - Tank Transporter with Tanks
4708T - M98 Self-propelled Howitzer, Panther Tank and Truck with Infantry
4709 - Sherman, T34 and EBR 75 Armoured Car
4710T - M254 Self-propelled Cannon, Panther Tank and Fuel Truck
4711 - Patton Tank, Stalin Tank and Russian Personnel Carrier
4712 - Land Rover, T34 tank and Rocket Launcher
4713 - Armoured Crane, Covered Truck and PT-76 Amphibious Tank
4714 - Tiger Tank, Panzer III and German Infantry
4715 - Sherman Tank, Patton Tank and US Infantry
4716 - Russian Infantry, Stalin Tank and T54 Tank

HO Gauge Battle-scene Dioramas (large sets with vac-formed base)

4750 - The Western Front - German Infantry, US Paratroops, Sherman Tank, Walker Bulldog, Light Cannon and Panther Tank
4751 - The Eastern Front Russian Infantry, German Infantry, Tanks
4752 - Pacific Invasion Japanese Infantry, American Infantry, DUKW, M8 Armoured Scout Car, Light Cannon and AMX 30 Tank

HO Gauge Vehicle with Set of Soldiers (figures unpainted)

4800 - TT90.22 Spanish Utility Truck (Camion/Bameinos?) and Spanish Infantry

HO/OO Gauge ‘Alt [Old] Berlin’ Vintage Car Kits (pre-coloured parts, 2 vehicles per kit)

111000 - ?
111001 - ?
111002 - ?
111003 - 1907 Le Sabre
111004 - ?
111005 - Citroen 5CV
111006 - ?
111007 - 1905 Hispano Suiza
111008 - 1916 Studebaker Big Six
111009 - 1934 Fiat Bililla
111010 - 1937 Citroen 11 Ligero
111011 - 1937 Bugatti Type S7
111012 - 1938 Lancia Aprilla

˜
111033 - ? [Probably a typo]
111055 - ? [Probably a typo]

O Gauge Civilian Motorcars

6001 - 1908 Ford T Top Up
6001D - 1908 Ford Model T Top Down
6002 - 1910 Ford Roadster
6003 - Rolls Royce Silver Ghost
6004 - 1908 Panhard & Levassor
6005 - Hispano Suiza Alfonso XII
6006 - 1910 Renault 30hp
6007 - 1919 Hispano Suiza Torp
6008 - 1919 Hispano Suiza Limn
6009 - 1906 Hispano Suiza
6010 - 1911 Daimler
6011 - 1906 Hispano Suiza
6012 - 1919 Hispano Suiza Con Cap
6013 - 1912 Omnibus Hispano Suiza
6014 - Elizalde
6015 - Elizalde Coupe

There was also a range of soft white-metal 'N' gauge vehicles, I have no details on them at present.

E is for EKO copies of Britains Trooscale Lilliput

Further to the article below and the comments resulting; long before A Call To Arms (ACTA) got their hands on the mould, EKO in Spain had indulged in a bit of 'homage'!

Seen here is a complete set of the EKO figures with both the common types of packaging/'Header Card' associated with them. Very true to the originals, detail on this later set is markedly less clear than the figures accompanying the earlier red and white card.