News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Events; Saturday 18th - Friday 24th May

Still not Blogging proper, but here's some weekly stuff . . .

. . . last weeks weird strings of letters will have looked like this . . . if you've downloaded the 'SoldierWW2' font from the internet, if your Explorer recognises it, it can read it/will show it - my bad, I didn't think I'd be in a cognitive resonance design bubble of my own making! That last line will give Madame Pardeilhan kittens!

ᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥ ☼ ᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪ

Toy Fairs

Saturday 18th May 2019

Merthyr Tydfil - Chris Dyer Fairs

Merthyr Leisure Centre, Methyr Leisure Village, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, CF48 1UT

Web. - www.chrisdyerfairs.co.uk

Tel. - 01643 702 757

Mob. - 07966 694 579

Admission £2

10:30-15:00hrs

Brentwood - J&J Fairs (John & Julie Webb)

International hall, Brentwood Centre, Doddinghurst Road, Brentwood, Essex, CM15 9NN

Web. - www.j-jwebbtoyfairs.com

eMail - jandjfairs@virginmedia.com

Tel. - 01522 880 383 (J & J Webb)

10:00 - Approx. 14:30hrs

Admission £3, seniors £2.50p, 1st child £2

Oxford - Richard Atkins Fairs - Toy and Train Collectors Fair

Exeter Hall, Oxford Road, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1AB

Web - www.toytraincollectorsfairs.com

Tel. - 01869 347 489

10:30 - 15:00hrs

Admission charge unknown

Refreshments

Free Parking

Didcot - Retro Ronnie

Civic Hall, Britwell Road, Didcot, OX11 7JN

Web - www.retroronnie.com

Mob. I - 07708 385 061

Mob. II - 07900 266 427

Hours unknown

Admission unknown

ᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥ ☼ ᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪ

Sunday 19th May 2019

Great Bentley - R & G Toy Fairs

Village Hall, Plough Road, Great Bentley, Essex, CO7 8LD

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01206 251 351 (Gary)

Tel. - 01255 473 509 (Richard)

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Admission £2.00, under 16's free

Free parking, refreshments

Newton Abbot - Ray Heard Train & Toy Fairs

Newton Abbot Racecourse, Devon, TQ12 3AF

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01823 480 097

10:00 - 15:30hrs

Admission £2

Free parking, refreshments

Kempton Park - RM Toys Ltd.

Kempton Park Racecourse, Staines Road East, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex, TW16 5AQ

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 02392 381 529

Mob. - 07957 823 507 (Russell Martin)

10:00 - 15:00hrs

Admission - £4, OAP's £3.50p, Children £1, early bird (from 8:30hrs) £10

Doncaster - Barry Potter / BP Fairs - 'Doncaster Racecourse'

Doncaster Exhibision Centre, Leger Way, Doncaster, DN2 6BB
Web. - www.bpfairs.com
Tel. - 01604 846 688
Mob. - 07966 527 177
10:30 - 15:00hrs
Admission - Adults £4, Seniors £3.50p, Children £1, 'Early Bird' (from 8 a.m.) £10
Plenty of free parking

Orpington - SRP Toyfairs

Crofton Halls, Orpington, Kent, BR6 8PR

Web. - www.srptoyfairs1.co.uk

eMail: srptoys1@hotmail.co.uk

Tel. - 07739 998 012 (Paula or Gerry)

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Admission charge unknown

ᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥ ☼ ᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪ

Auctions

Saturday 18th May 2019

Bury St. Edmunds - Lacy Scott & Knight

Web. - www.lsk.co.uk

eMail - oleggett@lsk.co.uk

Tel. - 01284 748 600 (general enquires)

Tel. - 01284 748 623 (Oliver Leggett - auction)

Toy and Collectors Models

ᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥ ☼ ᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪ

Thursday 23rd May 2019 -

Sheffield - Shefield Auction Gallery

Windsor Road, Heeley, Sheffield, S8 8UB

Web. - www.sheffieldauctiongallery.com

eMail - jmorgan@sheffieldauctiongallery.com

Tel. - 0114 281 6161

14:00 - Finish

ᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥ ☼ ᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪ

If you are an event promoter/show curator/auctioneer and you want your toy, model, collectable or popular-/youth-culture type sale/exhibition/event listed here -  FOR FREE  - or linked to; please eMail me -

maverickatlarge[at]hotmail[dot]com

- stating the date/s of the event, address of event, contact details, opening/viewing times, admission pricing and any other relevant facts/details or features - parking, travel notes, disability access, availability of refreshments, event subject matter &etc.

And please mention any flyer-art or poster-/leaflet-scans but send by separate eMail, in case they go to the 'junk' folder, from where they can be recovered and marked safe, but only if I know they're there!

ᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥ ☼ ᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪ

N is for News

AAC Museum

The Army Aviation museum at Middle Wallop has opened again after a major re-vamp, I've enjoyed several visits - back in the day - wandering round the exhibits, so can only imagine it's an even better reason for a day-out now?

Hamleys

You're probably aware already, but the same day I was reporting the 150-somthingth store opening (last Thursday), the sale (rumoured in the past) went through, with Chinese shoe-empire C. Banner selling the whole concern to India's Reliance Group for around £70m quid.

They also opened their fifth store in Hyderabad last week!

The Works Aren't Working

The Works posted poor results and suffered a loss of share value last week, I suspect it's just a glitch and certainly hope it's not a sign of something more serious; the Blog gets a lot of mileage from them in the course of a year!

ᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥ ☼ ᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪ

L is for Links

Only the one this week, a book, it may have appeared here already in the past, but I can't remember, so here it is . . . again?

https://www.amazon.com/Good-Son-Story-First-Miniature/dp/153620482X

ᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥ ☼ ᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪ

H is for How They Come In

In addition to the pile of plunder I dragged-home from the PW show last week, there have been a few shrapnel purchases from local charity shops in the last seven days . . .

. . . I managed to get over to Farnborough earlier this week and did the three charity shops in the old precinct, nothing in two of them but several things in the third, among which was this Vivid board game; not worth a separate post, and really only the vampire man-bat is of any use to figure collectors.

The sarcophagus would be better if he wasn't wearing comedy 'shades', the pumpkin will reappear in Halloween comparison-shots at some point and the Medusa's head will make a change from-/in a display of- all those cereal premium kings, admirals, explorers and footballer busts!

A china (and probably China) panda and an Ertl rail-trolley operator (large scale Thomas the Tank Engine?) were also procured for pennies!

I ignore these in the shops (well these days I'll take a shelfie) because they aren't worth the price, but in a tatty box for a quid, they are worth the punt as archive items; packaging's gone to the recycling, where it joined the Khufu game's box and main components!

A dodgy Panther, UPS truck (in mufti), high-performance sports-staff car (HMS Queen Elizabeth's?!!) and a reasonable Jeep Wrangler join a tacky helicopter and two road-signs; it's the bottom-end of the die-cast market! All courtesy of Top Toys; an importer based in Northampton we've seen before I think.

This afternoon (Thursday)'s loot included a tenth Halo (of twelve, I may yet get them all?)* a handful of chinosaurs, a Taiwanese Luke Skywalker (magazine part-work) and a pallet of milk-churns, which were joined by a Phidal set of Toy Story figurines; they will get a separate post at some point.

* Except the post I'm referring to is err . . . still in the queue . . . Doh! Forthcoming! The Works (for it is they) are replacing the Jada Halo with Happy Potter (HP II) and Fantastic Beast sets, also in twelve's,  I think?

ᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥ ☼ ᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪᴥᴪ

B is for Box-ticking - Revolutionary Russians & Modern Spetznaz - Italian Makers

Back across the pond and heading south to the Med'; like my US sample, the Italian sample is nothing to write home about, which is probably why I'm writing it here! However; I do have all of them in small-scale, so at some point we'll have a look at them, probably over on the Airfix Blog as comparisons with their late-issued set.

A revolution era Cossack (who would cover through to the end of WWII and our shameful repatriation of the German-allied Cossacks) from Atlantic, on a slightly small, flying horse!

He's one of those figures who tends to slide off his mount as soon as you glance at him, but if firmly fixed and painted-up, he's be a really nice stand-alone figure.

The Esci/Ertl/A-Toys set of Modern Russian special-forces or Spetsnaz should probably contain the 15 poses of the small-scale set, or at least twelve, so very much a part-set, and at a 1:35th scale, a bit small for most of their contemporaries in the toy world.

Size apart; accuracy with these is nice and all the weapons are recognisable while the kit/uniform is vary Afghan campaign 'summer' dress. The hat looking a bit like our 1930's boy scout hat (or the US 'Smoky Bear' hat) was (is still?) also used by the border forces, while the wide, flat beret is also used by regular paratroopers and marines.

K is for Kit Figures

There are actually three sets in this 'line' of kit/play sets along the lines of the old Aurora Anzio Beach or Rat Patrol,, the third though (a Hoth diorama) contains micro-figures, which aren't worth looking at, so we will look at those useful for adding to Micro Machine or Action Fleet armies!

Cantina - I've painted most of them (long before the internet), but couldn't find decent colour references to the four characters to the right. Since the advent of the Wibbly Wobby Way, I've tracked down decent imagery (and titles!), so one day they will get a session under the brush!

Generally these are much better sculpts than the Jabba's Throne Room set (below), but the Wookie is a bit shite really, clearly been underfed for some time!

Jabba's Throne Room - This gives us a much larger mix of characters and again I painted those I knew or could find in various Star Wars books, and again I've found all the missing figures now on-line, so will be able to finish the project at some point - if I ever get glasses!

Loose-ends - I assume the [earlier?] brown mouldings are AMT/Ertl and the [later?] grey ones are MPC/Airfix, but I don't know? The fat lady in brown was in an 'unknown' box for years (as a possible circus cake-decoration - bearded lady, hairy lady, multi-tit'ed lady, I wasn't sure!) before I got the re-issues in the 1990's, so I know brown issues have some age.

 

The Gamorran Guard is one of a few who come in more than one part, requiring gluing. I can't - however - remember if you get 1 or 2 of them per set, if you get two, I guess I painted them both to look different, if you get one, I suspect the left-hand example is an OBE (other bugger's effort), it was about 20 years ago I painted these (1997'ish?) and I honestly can't remember!

 

I was particularly pleased with the R2 unit!

 

Given the number of musicians from Galoob and the number you could prize out of play-sets with a sharp screwdriver, I now have enough for a Long, Long Ago, Far, Far Away 'Battle of the Bands' or a bloody good rave!

Y is for Yee-Hah!

I mentioned the Ertl Farm Country range the other day, so we may as well look at my small sample. Like the die-casts I shot them with on that post, they are sculpted to the relatively unique (some modern Japanese and 'China' stuff is to the same size) American 'large' HO of/or 1:64th scale.

This is what I have of the Rodeo, the full set was quite nice with stalls, arena and bleachers (what they call temporary stands or scaffold & plank seating in the States), this is a fair sample, the bucking base for the bull went the way of all flesh, and the seated figures aren't represented...but I might have sorted them into the 'Unknown Seated Civilians' box before I knew what they were?

There were also lots of more standard farm sets, and here are a few animals from them, along with studies of the Rodeo bulls and horse. The vagaries of scale, mean that the calves would actually make nice dairy cattle on a European (or any!) true HO model railway layout, the Rodeo animals, long-horns and adult dairy cows are far to big, but could be used with 28mm role play set-ups. Also a close-up of the bases for this range - where present.

A couple of the cards, these being with pigs on the left; a very disappointing set of eight identical animals with identical paint, and the other much better value with a figure, six piglets, some poultry and a really nice dog; is it a coon hound? I think it's meant to be.

T is for Tractors

Definitely had that header before! We have visited Tractors on more than one occasion and will doubtless visit them again, as I like tractors, I used to drive them...Massey's* of course! These aren't Massey's though...

This is a boxed set of Matchbox 1-75 type small scale models, die-cast with plastic wheels and plug-ins, otherwise available separately. The indivdual boxes simply being dropped into a larger liner.

All represent John Deere machines, a brand which has the same kind of fan-base among American farm kids as Massey Ferguson inherited from Furguson's 'Fergies' over here. Ertl made their name as a toy company with their relationship with 'JD' and there's a very good book on Ertl tractors kicking around with all of them in it.

They are nominally HO Gauge sized, but...the American toy industry has two HO's. The HO gauge they use for model railways (or 'railroads' over there) is - as far as I know - the same as everyone else's (maybe closer to the UK's OO in the modelling of passenger cars?), but basicly what you think of as HO in Europe, but - through the radio control hobby - they have a slot-racing HO size, which is actually aiming for 1:64th scale...these are they! [Potato Pottarto, Tomato Tomartto!]

I'm not going to show you all of them for three reasons, first, we might look at some another time, second, they look like the drawings on the boxes above and thirdly...I hate row-crop tractors, I really do, it's irrational, I know, but really?...holding your legs together like a virgin on a crowded-train is not macho, tractors should be macho, and row-crop tractors are stupid-looking! "Ooh, get me! Tip-toeing through the tulips like a ponce!" is what a row-crop tractor says to [shouts at] me!

Luckily, the early models and later beasts have their wheels where they should be - so here's one of each to give a flavour of the set. The figures are from the Ertl Farm Country range, specifically the Rodeo sets.

* There was a short while with an all-white David Brown I like to draw a veil over...Tractors should really be red (or green at a push!), with WIDE front wheels...have I told you what I think about row-crop tractors...

G is for Giant Insects and Stuff

This has been imported from 'Boring Blog' (which I will close down) and may have images or other text added in the future

MPC/Airfix
Alternate packaging of kits listed under separate companies. The Tarantula seems to have only been issued only in MPC or AMT/Ertl packaging, not getting an Airfix boxing.
Monster sets
- Rampaging Scorpion Diorama
- Prying Mantis Diorama
- Huge Tarantula Diorama (?)