F is for Fish'er Eagle!

Following my comment on Moonbase about another item from Eagle (I miss-remembered the page count!) Brian B kindly sent the relevant section from New York of/from whichever Eagle Annual it was, and here it is for everyone else to enjoy as it's literally stuffed with low-cost, old-school, good ideas, some of which I've employed in the past.

I have made wire trees, I haven't made an eight-foot length of railway-cutting! I suspect (well, let's be honest, due to some clues in the text I 'assume') the 'piece' is a collecting-together of twelve weekly or monthly parts, and I have a tatty set of the pages somewhere in the archive, but Brian's are very clean.

'Strip wood' . . . from a time before the invention of Plastruct or styrene-rod or '20-thou' sheets! I've had a stab at wire fences, matchstick corrals and paneling from old weathered ply as mentioned the other week in a News, Views . . .

This was the page I remembered the most, as I was never convinced the colour 'target' would be anything more than a rather psychedelic target! Compare the roof drawings with those of Terry Wise in his Introduction to Battle Gaming if you're lucky enough to have the latter.

Part two of the lake and you start to see how it could work if you airbrushed the 'target' and used a dark blue textured glass, or some glass-paint (which I have some bottles of somewhere, probably contemporary with these drawings, but the lids have been stuck-on for the 40-odd years they have been in my possession, so not much use except for purposes of nostalgia!

While the cabins would look good in a Wild West scenario?

If you do four instead of two and butt them to the edges of the cover-plates in pairs you'd have an equally convincing box-girder bridge? The 'American' design is equally good for post-war Europe where so much infrastructure was lost during the hostilities these simple, utilitarian, 'post-modern' types (often pre-formed concrete 'kits') were common.

I tried the barrels . . . made a complete pigs-ear of it, although I think the 'best one' survives somewhere in the stash! I had more success with the coal-load, and you can also do tarpaulin covers by putting the paper over the outside, and folding the ends across (after cutting to an oblong) like a parcel. Once you've folded and before you glue, attach button-thread to 'tie-down' the corners.

In fact these days you could print-out GC-overprinted 'private owner' branded tarp's?

I also have (from some dodgy auction lot) a whole load of crafted telegraph poles like those illustrated, in spot-soldered steel rod and wire and I think many of the early model-railway shops would have a half-a-stab at commercialising this kind of thing, once they'd got a jig set up (holding/placing pins in a piece of balsa or boxwood), they could produce identical units quite quickly?

Notice also; to the left of the telegraph poles . . .

. . . the clever moniker of the artist; Walkden Fisher. . . and the driver of this post's title!

Many thanks to Mr Berke for this blast from the past, it always brings back memories to flick-through these, the annual from which they are taken was all I had to read during a period of childhood illness/bed-rest . . . flu or something?

D is for Dan Dare - Pilot of the Future . . . Past!

As you may have clocked by now, we are having a Space day and a Follow-up day and a Brian day, because they are all follow-ups to previous related posts of shots Brian had sent. This post is looking at some more of Brian's collection of Dan Dare stuff, and in his own words . . .

"These figures are mostly Unicorn metal, factory painted.

The second and third on row-3 are Phants painted by me and are unlicensed UK made metal figures.

Row four - the four figures on the right are Treens; as per the Phants

Row five is a Crescent Dan Dare/RAF figure, then 3 as per above Phants and Treens. Then a plastic Spacefleet Commando by Eaglewall. Then two larger Auburn Rubber policemen this time the whistle blower is Dan smoking a pipe, followed by two Unicorns and a Comet metal Mekon."

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A lovely display of a favourite from childhood, and - at the risk of being accused of name-dropping;

When we used to fly to Alderney (Britten-Norman Trislander - like a small Lancaster but noisier!), we would sometimes be unable to land (due to fog) and would be re-directed to Guernsey for an unscheduled overnight stay. We used a little B&B, but it often meant supper with General Sir John 'Arnhem' Hackett and his wife.

Now, after supper he and Dad would talk 'shop' (jumping out of perfectly-serviceable aircraft mostly!), while my Brother and I would sit at the top of the stairs going through a whole shelf of Lion, Tiger and Eagle annuals! Indeed we had to be dragged FROM the top of the stairs FOR supper, and were only returning to our 'roost'! Consequently; I knew well, things I should have been too-young to remember, like Harris Tweed, Waldorf & Cecil, PC49, Luck of the Legion and - of course - Dan Dare! "Pilot of the Future" . . . then!

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Although the best thing there is hiding on the bottom row - where the hell do you go to find a figurine of Desperate Dan? "Cow-pie, with horns!"

Brian also sent a close-up of his Auburn Rubber paint-conversions - Cheers Mr B - some real treats!

K is for Conker?

Do people play conkers elsewhere in the world or is it a peculiarly British thing? No matter - the second half of the post dictates that the post shall exist, so further assuming that at least some visitors to the blog may be interested, I will introduce you to the world of conkers!

We've had a bumper crop of conkers this autumn, although if harvesting them while they are dropping; the American 'fall' is probably more apt!

The conker is the fruiting body/seed-container (a nut) of the Horse Chestnut tree, and it comes packed in a spiked, hard-foam, shell which you don't want dropping on your head! You can also see clearly where the colour 'chestnut brown' comes from, although they lose the shine after a day or two.

My mother believes they keep spiders out of the house so my Brother or I dully get dispatched to collect enough for a small tray in every room! Whispers: It doesn't work - the fault of all belief systems!

Since god knows when, they have provided the oldest form of toy - the homemade, handmade, look-around-you toy! Using a skewer to pierce a hole, the conker is threaded with a piece of string, and these are then used to play 'conkers', a typically violent and sometimes painful game which teaches young Brit's about gain . . . and loss! Attachment . . . and loss, winning . . . and losing.

In the best traditions of modern sport - think: English football, World cycling or Russian athletics, cheating has reared its ugly head, with people found artificially hardening their conkers in a low-heat oven (which actually make them brittle), or applying various unguents and potions, oils or secret preparations handed down the generations by word of mouth; to hopefully extend the life of the conker.

Once you are happy with your conker, you take it out and challenge other conker-owners to a game which basically aims to destroy at least one of the conkers, by bashing them, with each other, until one fails! 'Accidentally' catching the opponent's knuckles, is not only accepted, but actively encouraged in some quarters.

Rules vary in different regions, with some having a turn-for-turn play, some having three shots in a row each, while others play hit gets another shot, miss passes the turn to the opponent.

The receiving conker is held at arm's-length, and arm/hand movement is hawkishly looked-out for (lower left pose). The hitter being flicked downward (lower right pose), the string tensed over the thumb for 'aiming' - one-eyed, binocular and temper-tantrum techniques are all employed!

Victorious conkers accrue points (again in some parts of the country this is made more rewarding by adding any points the conquered conker [there's a lot of wordplay in this post?] possessed to the winner's total), and the trick is to retire a beloved favorite conker before it is smashed to smithereens.

Some aficionados favour larger size; some believe in lumpy, misshapen conkers, while others - smooth, rounded ones; some think a small one is better . . . I chose a nice round one for the photo-session!

But why wait until the autumn? I give you (courtesy of Brian Berke) the Eagle Konka! See what they did there . . . with the spelling . . . very droll! In the 1950's polymers were going to take us to the next level of anthropological development; hover-boards, flying cars, interstellar space travel and year-round conker . . . sorry 'konka' tournaments!

Those familiar with British slang will realise there's a second play on words going-on here as another name for the nose is a conk, and the Konka, has a 'nose' as its primary mechanism.

A very solid lump of relatively indestructible plastic is actually almost a jig-toy, with an added spring release that's triggered by the hitting of the red conk, by the opposing Konka. Unlike conkers, where the aim is to get a solid top-hit; cracking the conker out from the string-hole, this design requires a glancing-blow to the side, which - if successful - presumably led to the blue 'hat' shooting up the string!

I've never seen these in action (although a vague memory of the odd one kicking around mate's houses when we were young was triggered by Brian's sending the shots), however, I see a built in flaw, if both conks come into contact with speed and vigor; then surly both Konka's will explode, releasing all accrued points from both Konkas to the realms of ghosts and the mythical 'ether'?

Presumably a mail-away offer/premium from Eagle comic or Eagle annual, and marked to an Eagle, so possibly connected to the whole Eagalwall thing in Dorking, Surrey? The red-yellow-blue thing, while being a common combination of primary colours is also similar to the Eaglewall Dan Dare figure packaging, ship kits and Design-a-plane set.

I wonder if the design isn't actually/originally from someone like Potter's Bar's Merit? I can't search the patent databases at the moment, but if someone would like to? Meanwhile; many thanks again to Brian for contributing another classic old toy to the blog.

Of course you need more - Wikipedia!