E is for Egyptian Eye-candy!

Having recently taken the 6" Marx Romans to a six-count (once I mend one and 'restore' the other), I have recently done well with the equally wonderful 6" Egyptians, with these three, below, and a couple more still to come, in the PW show-reports.

Colourful versions of the unpainted soft-plastic ones we looked at on the Blog, years ago (try the Ancient Egypt Tag), they are a fine sight, and I happen to know these have been on a window-sill for decades, without noticeable fading or any apparent move to further brittleness, beyond that expected of quite robust 'styrene mouldings!

F is for Follow-up - Hing Fat Egyptian Relics

I said - when I showed the Hing Fat bits Peter Evans sent to the blog - that I'd do a comparison with the similar sets from Safari and K&M/Wild Republic at some point in the future, well, by chance I had to wizz the relevant 'Ancients' box back to the house for a couple of hours on Tuesday, so this is that - brief - comparison!

The main elements, Hing Fat's on the left, both Safari sets in the middle and the K&M stuff off to the right with a Pharaoh's head variation I'd forgotten, All three sets are clearly aimed at both museum/heritage gift shops and middle-school project work more than actual playthings, but they are fun - and all the Mummies are figurals!

The semi realistic Safari Bastet statue sculpt, flanked by two slightly dog-like offerings from Hing Fat, the Hing Fat all come in a gold finish and a salmon-pink which is probably trying to be/represent a bare stone-effect?

Typically, the Atlantic 'styrene one is well-lost in the storage unit, so we'll have to do this line-up again, but we have three resin's, one with a rams head, all showing/sculpted as- a presumed 'how they were',  then the Safari and K&M both showing it as how it is now, with broken nose and severely damaged/eroded lower region and finally a rather stylised one from Hing Fat with a chubby sit-up-and-beg countenance, again more fanciful of what was rather than what it.

While the Safari/K&M stuff is PVC, Hing Fat's are a dense polyethylene or polypropylene, and many thanks to Peter for the Hing Fat sample.

H is for Halloween - Odd's and Sod's!

This is a bitty post, with everything else! Some of it came in a few days ago (thank's to Brain), some has been in Picasa since last year (and may have been seen before, some came from Peter, some from Chris (which has all got mixed-up) and I've got so confused waiting for the day I took some duplicate shots, then had to take some more a few minutes ago 'cos I hadn't done the finger puppet, so it's all a bit muddled, anyway, we'll meander through a eclectic collection of Halloween novelties:

The one we may have seen before? A couple of old header cards from the archive and branded to 'Funworld' they seems to have contained something similar to the following . . .

. . . which managed to be forgotten in the pair's post this morning (I'd accidently put them in the 'done' folder with the six images from the three collages . . . doh!) which otherwise would have T is for 8 and Four! New shelfies from Brian Berke and fortuitous I had the cards above as they made me think Where's those screamers Brian sent?! They also look like those bendies we saw a while ago, maybe the same design team?

I think these were all from Peter Evans and we'll look at the outside two in a minute, the other three are interesting, similar to the 4-4½-inch figures from Charbens, but modern and slimmer, they have quite pinched waists which suggest they may have been gripped by something or pick-up-able somehow? Anyone know what they are/where they come from?

And - more Egypt in what is definitely Egypt-year here at Small Scale World! The mummy is obvious for Halloween, the other two are more 'God & Man', and could have been blogged on another occasion, but the three definitely go together.

So, 'Bluey'; I suspect a Macdonald's or similar premium? he's a dense polypropylene and when you press down on his head his arms pop-up and he has limited articulation at the waist . . . another mummy! But still 'unknown' and clues welcome?

The other one which I think was from Peter's mixed lot, he could just be a 'phone or luggage 'dangler' who has been cut-off and knotted-back to the purple swivel, or he may have had a more significant part? He's a modern PVC substitute with articulation at the waist and shoulders only (through the neck, like Galoob Action Fleet figures), but closer to 54mm - otherwise unknown - clues welcome!

Other novelty skeletons who have come-in over the last 12 months, and this is where the order breaks down, as these would have come from all over - Chris, Peter, charity lots, possibly even one from Adrian, and I don't know where the little green skull came from, but it's a flanged-swivel, so probably from an action-figure around 3 or 3½, maybe 4-inches?

The chap with the yellow 'thing', seems to have either been attached to two sticks, or intended for one or two pencils, clearly he is supposed to do tricks, but without an instruction sheet I could only guess at the nature of the missing apparatus and or hint at the mechanism by posing him? However you can see how he should be flick'able in some fashion to maybe catch a bead in the cup or dance between two . . . something's?

Taken in the last hour to make more sense fo the next few images, these were both from the 'Interim Parcel' Chris Smith sent for ITLAPD and today! A ghost and a sort of imp/pixy finger puppet. I suspect there's a pink 'half' missing from the front of the ghost, but it's not clear and it would have needed to locate in his eye holes?

The cut-out in the 'cape' suggests a pencil top, but it's not clear, two other ghosts which I think were both from Chris include the little movie one (Casper?) on the left, and the green one which clips onto a larger toy and swivels/hinges.

A novelty ring and further comparison with some of the previous to give a sense of size across the lot! it all gets archived, it all has a place and hopefully, one day will all be properly itemised and ID'd? If you can help brand or otherwise ID any of the above you'd be helping with that 'one day'!

Brain also sent what little he found in Scully & Scully's window this holiday season and while not a lot, they are both rather nice, this is the 'box-ticker' pumpkin; there's everything in that fine etching except Dracula and a bowl of candies! A Full Moon, bats, owl, crow, good fairy, black cat, spider's web (?), witch/crone, skeleton, living tree/Ent, ghost, evil (Bavarian?) gingerbread-man and a pile of pumpkins!

Finally; another witch and her - rather sweet-looking - cat; a cottage which is probably hers and home to several ghosts; and an absolutely lovely tree, just on the turn to its autumn colours.

Many thanks to Adrian, Brian, Chris, Peter and all who send this stuff to the Blog as actual objects or images, it will all appear here in the end, even if I lose track of it on the way here!

B is for Box-ticking Barges

In some of the several Egyptian posts we've had this year half by accident (working with what Peter Evans sent to the Blog) and half by design (the stuff I subsequently purchased) to compare, complete or because they were dirt-cheap (the disappointing pens), which actually didn't disappoint as I expected them to disappoint, so they met expectations; we saw the odd piece of Atlantic HO giving size/scale to things, and in the getting-out and putting-away for photographs I found a bag of painted stuff from somewhere-somewhen, we're going to look at them now!

The two barges from set 1505 Boats on the Nile, there was a larger Pharaoh's barge with set-sail and covered throne-canopy-thing, these are the more workaday vessels plying their trade up and down the Nile from the Mediterranean to Sudan.

The box shows oarsman but I'm not sure I've ever seen them, I certainly don't have them and it seems to be a complete sets otherwise, have you ever seen them? There are plug-ins on the lager vessel in the other set but they don't seem to have oars either? The curse of art room pre-publicity photographs/artwork again I suspect (think Airfix Polish Lancers or Esci Carthaginians!).

Both together; these are OBE's as far as painting goes, I picked them up like this as part of a Job lot some time ago, but I can't remember where/when. basically reed-vessels with a sun-shade/cabin.

The two swan-necked finials at port and stern are plug-ins and don't line up terribly well with the hull, or not smoothly as they would if they were tied-in reed bundles, but then; beggars can't be choosers and it was hard to credit anyone issuing Egyptian warships, in small-scale, in the 1980's, and the fact they didn't go with anything on the market - time-wise - was irrelevant!

They came with a complete army, painted by the same guy I think, although with more detail he has done a fine job, compared to the basic blocking-in of the boats. A complete set also contains a full Pharaoh's Court runner, which I may have sorted into their section, or the seller may have split-away or kept them?

I particularly like the rendering of the Nubian's/Sudanese/Southern Tribesmen; I have an old Humbrol Authenticolour paint-tin called Polished Leather, and it is one of my favourite paints, a semi-gloss or silk (you have to let it dry overnight) it's brilliant for dark-skin, horse-hair, wagon-details, baggage straps, rifle slings, puddles (puddled), oil-stains (thinned-down), all sorts, I don't know what I'll do when it runs out!

That's it, ancient Egyptians, vessels, Atlantic - boxes ticked, because . . . by accident - it's been a bit of an 'Egyptian Year' here at Small Scale World!

T is for Ten-more from Toyway . . . and a Farm!

Continuing to look at the sets of ten, rather casually posed, but likeable and well sized, separate-base imports from Toyway today. I think this may be it as far as my collection goes - to date. We've had the Romans and Greeks and a few of the medics, I'm not sure what else I've got, or what else there was!

A group shot, down by the banks of the Nile as they wait for the Royal Barge to tie-up and start issuing orders. As with the other two sets, you get ten figures, but here each is in a different 'uniform' and there are a wide array of bronze-age battle-implements on display, even if some of them are painted 'iron-age'!

Detail shot of the figures from both sides, the chap in a cloak may represent a priest of some kind, while only one of them is equipped with a shield. Another has a sectional armour 'bodice' and they are quite colourful, albeit - not in a hurry to do anything energetic! They'd probably go well in Atlantic chariots though, sans bases?

Quick comparison with various other older figures, although - as you can see - some have been re-issued in recent times with the bottom row being two old and two new Cherilea with two Marx (original on the left and Mexican (?) reissue on the right) flanking a Jecsan (late, polyethylene - so I know it!).

Old evilBay shot - cleaned-up

A very odd conversation elsewhere (you can guess where; False Information Central) the other day when several people (some of whom should know better) seemed to be trying to discount some of Toyway's oeuvre; almost willing them not to be, err . . . because they didn't like the logo!

Richard Morris' Letchworth, Hertfordshire-based import 'jobber', Toyway, predated its involvement with; or purchase of moulds from; Timpo, and this set of imported sub-Blue Box farm 'generics' carries the same logo as the space set welooked at ages ago;  believe, people - believe!

Current Bachmann/Pocketbond logotypes/brand marks for Toyway

M is for Mummies in Memphis, not Tennessee!

Or . . . in Tommy Vance's voice; O is for "Open Bank Holiday Mumday!!"

Continuing what may (or may not) become an occasionally-regular (proper oxymoron!) series, looking - not at all their sets, but rather - my favorite sets from Atlantic, and today it's the Pharaoh's Court set . . . err . . . set in my sights.

The covers of the small-scale sets (this is 1801; the smallest packing option) had photo-artwork of the 1:32nd scale figures painted-up by an - as yet -unknown artist; as far as I know?

59p! That was DM2 at the time (late 1970's) and this was so different from the stuff Airfix had been chucking out for the previous 20 years, you looked at it in the wire-racks of you local model shop with genuine wonderment!

What I consider to be the most useful figures for 'army-building', the guy on the left making a good unit commander, overseer or senior NCO, the next guy can go straight into the ranks, either by painting the fan-end of his staff to represent a bronze blade, or by cutting the end off and leaving him with either a single or a double pickaxe-headed pole-arm.

Then we have a senior or field-officer and two general/staff officer types, both (all three?) of whom; with all their finery can be used with other ancient/Biblical armies, and finally the guy with the fan can be cut to have a simple spear/javelin and be used for 'receiving' enemy cavalry!

The Royal family waiting for the 'telly' to be invented! As there is a standing and seated Pharaoh I have posed a standing lady next to the queen, but I think she's actually just a serving girl! Given the fine surface detail of both Atlantic's Egyptian and Greek figure-lines (the Romans were apparently sculpted by a blind man with a steak-knife); the thrones were disappointing lumps.

Apropos the two seated figures; one of the rarest items in my [written] archives is a pair of solid gold seated Egyptian royalty who used to be in the first glass cabinet as you came up the stairs from the entrance lobby at the British Museum (I don't know if they are still on display, these things get rotated and I last saw them 24 years ago!), at an almost perfect HO-gauge compatible size they are absolutely exquisite and seated on far nicer thrones, they were also probably made for actual Pharaohs, not pocket-money, pester-power!

The servant's or scribes; the lowly people paid shite to keep the whole society ticking over, the 'you and me' of ancient Egypt! The guy on the left can be militarised with the addition of a weapon and shield, the other two are really only good for the baggage train.

Atlantic spent almost as much of the set's budget on the afterlife as the ancient Egyptians did of theirs! Lovely toys, but no use at all in war-gaming, even war-gaming at the rolling marbles level, there was a Curse of the Revenge of the Mummy Returns II element - if you were familiar with that Hollywood trope; at the age you might have been owning these first-time-round I supose, but really, dead-weight (geddit!) in the box!

Pharaoh contemplates his future through his predecessors immediate present; top right, and - as you can see for the first image in this post - the whole painted-up well in the larger 1:32nd scale.

Guarding the casket!

Colour-your-own artwork on the back of the box, or; it could be if you want it to be! And - that's them done, tagged, away!

Q is for Quintuplet of Queries

Best Q-title ever!

So here, indeed are five 'unknowns'

The first one is a real mystery, he's polystyrene or an earlier phenolic resin type which suggests France, he equally looks a bit Spanish, yet the cap-badge on his blanket (those must have a posh title?) resembles the Woffer's, who had a 'Derby-ram' as their regimental mascot, for years? 54 or 60mm Compatible

This chap is soft polyethylene, and looks to belong with those Argentinian Indians we looked at the other day (as far as paint gloss and plastic goes), but he is better finished, better detailed and better painted, again the yellow base could be Spanish or French? Small'ish 54mm.

Whenever I see 'odd' ceremonials, especially in tropical or summer dress, I tend to think Monaco; tourist novelty! But they can't all be, and the thought's irrational anyway! The pose is odd, as the rifle-drill position is 'For Inspection - Present Arms' but he's on the march? Maybe in his army there's a 'For Comfort - Hug Arms' command!

This one was - I suspect - once in a vulcanised rubber, but he has now taken on the consistency of chalk or plaster (and was in two bits when I got him) which may be what he always was? Heading for a larger 60-mil size.

Game-playing piece or board-game target/objective token? Seems to be quite an early plastic 'thing' which has been carved straight into the mould tool with drills and a mouth stamping! He/she (what sex were Sphinxes?) could also be designed to be glued to something as a decorative ornament with the angled-blob behind the 'fascia' used to locate the item until it's fixed? No more than 15/18mm at most. Arcade token?

Not in the Plastic Warrior 'Hilco Special' publication (my first port-of call with these 'from hollow-cast' plastics), and the Joplin has gone back to Etheridge library (or wherever I got it from!), so? Clues? He's a pretty standard 54mm, prone firer, who looks a bit Hilco, a bit Sacul?

Anyone got any ideas on any of these?