M is for Micro Minis

We did a bit of an overview on these micro-mini's a couple of years ago, and Ed Berg has recently done a season on his, and there's not a lot to add here beyond eye-candy, for now, and hopefully nothing to tread on Ed's toes, but Brian sent several nice lots of the integral-wheel teenies for us to look at.

These are lovely, because despite having most of the AFV's, 'Planes and ships/vessels, all of which we have seen here, I had none of them! They are the MPC Mini's, and these are roughly one-each of the various makes from the lot, in which the full sample was bigger, and the duplicates were all different colours. I'm not sure how I ended up with a hole in the middle, but I kept adding and moving around to get a nice looking shot, and must have spotted a late duplicate and not replaced it!

 

Of interest is that the Jeep, Mini-Clubman ('Morris') and old crock seem to be in a different scale/style, and might indicate more than one master sculptor behind the set? Also, the old crock (a Packard) gave rise to a copy which keeps popping-up as a Christmas cracker toy or gum-ball capsule-machine prize!

And, while we're looking at them, I will repeat the call made several times now on the Blog over the last fifteen-or-so years, for the whereabouts or a contact for Bob Maschi (or his heirs), whose MPC Mini's guide, bound, sits with my Tim Geppert and and George Kerton originals, (all a bit black & white, and a bit dated now, but well-loved), as I do still owe him for it!

 

A mix of Lido, Empire and/or Acme? As Ed was pointing out the other week, it's not necessarily clear (see below) so, for now, just nice little cars and things! I love the bulldozer, it's small-enough to be an Engineers' vehicle with micro-armour!

 

Real wheels! Behind are three of the Tootsie Toy mini die-casts, there were similar lines from Marx, and someone in Hong Kong, and when we were very young my Brother's godmother, who lived in California gave him a little suitcase full of them, I can't remember which lot they were, but the jeep was different - if memory serves - a sharper, squarer moulding, and it had a seperate, weeny trailer!

 

In front are what I initially thought were game-playing pieces, but actually the red one is a different sculpt, a two-seater, so they may be a similar line to the Tootsie Toys, but older, lead slush-casts? Turning to O'Brian (8th edition) gives me Barclay, CAW/C&H or Kansas as likely culprits, but no direct match?

 

Comparison between the two Jaguar's in the parcel, MPC Mini on the left Tootsie Toy on the right, back when we (Britain) made some of the best automobiles in the world! I think they are both representing the racing D-Types?

 

While this illustrates the problems in trying to attribute these, the cream-white wreaker has 'wheels' and a sharp, clearly delineated hook, the chocolate-brown one has 'wheel fairings' and a less obvious hook, and the red one (which came in with a lot not seen on the Blog yet), polyethylene, is a poorer copy of the 'edible' colour Hong Kong ones Brian sent years ago, which we saw last time. And I can only assume they are in the order they were copied from each other!

 

So, that's the end of Brian's parcel, five posts worth of lovely, useful, interesting things, gap-fillers and new questions, thanking him greatly for all of it, but as we're finishing on micro-mini's, I forgot to include in that September '22 overview (above link) another sample, sent to the blog by a Scandinavian reader . . .

 . . . whose subsequent submission to the blog is also being held over, as I really can't bring myself to promote Russia, or things Russian until Putler's dead, or we know the outcome of the current barbarism in Ukraine. Nor do I have any time for those traitorous, anti-democratic fuckwits, who do. It's about principles - you either have them or you don't.

 

But these are northern European cereal premiums, in the style of various others, or all these moulded-in-wheel mini's, although there only seem to be two mouldings here, a VW Beetle and what might be another Jaguar, a Riley or Austin Healy, which seems improbable? And I'm no expert!

So apologies for not posting them last time (it all gets posted in the end!), and many thanks to him and Brian for everything. Because the MPC Mini's need a good clean, which I haven't got round to yet, and all need to be ID'd better, we'll probably return to them in a short while, with the other bits that have come in?

T is for Tiny Trucks and Traffic Jams

This post has been slowly growing in Picasa for some time, 2016 I think was when Brian Berke sent the first to the blog, and I've been slowly adding bits to the folder ever since, to the point where some of it got shot twice and there are many more unused pictures, than used, ce la vie!

So Brian sent the red/green five in the first two images, while I was able to add three more much later; the yellow, tan and an alternate green. The vehicles, old 'Dine Store' novelties were made by Empire Plastics, but they may have bought some of this stuff in, certainly the relationship with Lido and Pyro's similar smallies is not as clear as some would have you believe, and the sculpts may have originated elsewhere!

Also the Parent was a Canadian firm; Caldwell Enterprises, and the Canadians often produced copies under license . . . or not! These are all manufactured in hard polystyrene.

These also came from Brian, and are far more interesting to me, as they are Hong Kong copies, another Empire came out of the colony while 'Empire Made' was a common moniker on the products of several other companies at the time (1950-60's). I also love the colours of these, they almost look edible!

Bottom-right is a comparison between the original and copy tow-trucks, the loss of what was already little detail, renders it less than clear what the copy is meant to be! The copies are all softer polyethylene.

The Cabriolet seems to have been much copied in Hong Kong (as a gum-ball machine prize?), and I now have three, different sculpts, each of which is very different from the other two, but clearly sharing the same DNA.

The modern equivalent, but not at dime-store prices, are the Rush Hour games from Binary Arts, and here we have some which came in in a loose lot from a charity-shop purchase or two, they have better engraving as far as detail goes that their 1950's ancestors, but are more cartoony or fictional than the earlier vehicles.

A more advanced version of the game for older players has more realistic vehicles (of smaller size/scale) attached to tiles, so you move the whole section according to a set of rules laid-down in the instructions, which also contains the various scenarios for start positions, which can be solved. The aim - in each case - is to get oe or more of the three emergency vehicles to the front of the queues.

I didn't need all that extra plastic (another charity-shop purchase), so proceeded to remove all the vehicles from their tiles, which started hard, but once I'd got one off, it was easy to see how to pop the others off with a  screwdriver!

They also do a steam-train version, safari animals and a junior variant of the original Rush Hour game, which I will look out for in the same charity shops, now they have their own tub!

And am I right in suggesting they are all based on a earlier Traffic Jam game? The trouble is this game - like Crossbows and Catapults - is much licensed and there are lots of current Gridlock, Rush Hour and Traffic Jam's out there!

Comparison between the full size Traffic Jam lorry (black), Empire truck (green) and civilianised ambulance sculpt (yellow) to the right, the left hand image being the screwdriver's 'harvest'!

I also have this set (part set!) of probably European (East Germany?) ones, marked PmL, they could be Hong Kong, or anywhere, and I can't remember where I got them, and can find nothing on them as a firm?

I actually have the equivalent of 12-liters of these civil mini/micro 'Dime Store' or novelty vehicles, in four of the Really Useful Box Co's 3-litre CD boxes, but what unifies the ones in this post is their integral-moulded wheels, all the others - for an/other day/s - have plug-in axle assemblies or plug-on wheels/tyres, none of the ones in this post do.

To which end these are a few more without working wheels! The upper shot is a set of Cereal premiums from the UK, being seven of ten BMC models from Quaker's Sugar Puffs, full set to be seen here.

The lower shot has a few odds; the orange one is almost a solid lump and possibly Hong Kong, the green truck is supposed to be another Empire one, but it too is a heavier sculpt with little in common with the above examples which have much lighter walls.

The 'old crock' is a Hong Kong copy of one of MPC's Minis, the truck in front is a cracker-toy/capsule-prize also from Hong Kong, while the little yellow truck is technically a half-track, usually glued to another Hong Kong product, the copies of Tri-Ang Minic's harbour wharves, where it's glued to the deck of the plastic copy of Minic's die-cast piece. And many thanks to Brian for both lots!

Q is for Question Time - A is for Are They Kleeware?

You may remember the last in the series of posts from last-year's Sandown Park shows . . . checks . . . no, this February's; included a whole bag of mini- and micro-aircraft, the mini's having some properties in common with early Airfix production, but no evidence to link them so I'm leaving them for a while - I've seen them (mostly silver) on evilBay recently described as Tudor Rose, Kleeware and Tudor Rose/Kleeware, so no consistency or agreement there!

But I said I had different types of the smaller 'micros' and would return to them - this is that return, but it really only serves to clear things to the colour of mud!

The 'common sculpts'

The sample I had here turned out to be two, a few in with the aircraft and a few more in the Kleeware crate? Now, I'm quite a diligent collector and don't tend to put things in accredited 'zones' of the collection unless I've had some evidence they belong there, so we will proceed along the lines that, on one level, they were Kleeware or I have been led to believe such by one of the 'Old Guard!?

However it's never as simple as that with this early 'dime-store' plastic; All three of the samples just mentioned have only four sculpts, namely - as written on the upper wings and listed from left to right in the above image:

• ·         Navion - NC-37104 (the Ryan (originally North American) Navion)
• ·         DC-6 - NC-10747 (Doulas C-118 Liftmaster in United States Air Force service and as the R6D in the US Navy)
• ·         DC-3 - NC-1149W (Douglas C-47 Skytrain in military service; the 'Dakota' in Empire/RAF service)
• ·         C-69 - NC-6461H (the C-69 in military service, the Lockheed L-049, L-649 and L-749 Constellation in civil service)

Navion - NC-37104

North American/Ryan 'Navion'

But . . . the cereal premium site (1957 - Shredded Wheat Cubs Air Fleet Model Planes Free in Packets) have three of the same aircraft along with several (an unknown total?) others, the additions being:

• ·         XF-89 Jet
• ·         F-80 (?)
• ·         Canberra
• ·         Hawker Hunter
• ·         Vickers Valiant
• ·         DH Sea Venom
• ·         Vulcan
• ·         Folland Gnat
• ·         Sabre
• ·         English Electric Lightning

Based on the two different sculpts of Shooting Star visible? [The addition of the Constellation would give a fourteen count? The X-15; fifteen!]

You may remember that we saw a damaged Lightning in this post, which also contained a soft plastic DC3, which I now assume is one of the cereal premiums? However, my lightning is hard polystyrene, while Cluck doesn't list them at all?

DC-3 - NC-1149W

Douglas C-47 'Skytrain' / 'Dakota'

In America, Lido are credited with a set of five:

The Constellation, DC3, and Navion from the common 'menu', the F-94 (Lockheed Starfire; the same sculpt as Nabisco's XF-89) and an X-15 (North American 'X-plane'; the fastest air-craft ever!). The source also credits Irwin sculpts to Lido, so can't be taken as the 'last word' on the subject?

But they are acknowledged to have copied them from Caldwell/Empire, who presumably got the tool as a mould-share from Kleeware (or whoever was the originator of the expanded 'Nabisco' line), but did themselves add the XF-89 as a fifth - with/to the common four.

C-69 - NC-6461H

Lockheed L-049 / L-649 / L-749 'Constellation'

Now, the previous link's post was part of an MPC round-up, and some of the aircraft types are in their 'MPC Minis' set, but only a couple of them and in different sizes/sculpts, given they were all - in the most part - well-known 'planes in the popular imagination at the time, that's as far as I believe any connection with MPC goes.

Note also - the different lengths of the engine nacelles, some extending back to the wheels others not . . . possibly a tool-cavity thing, and a feature shared with the DC-3 mouldings.

DC-6 - NC-10747

Doulas C-118 'Liftmaster' / R6D

Another question is; what is the significance of the 'NC' coding on the hard-plastic forms found here, the codes are present on the three (probably; all four) duplicated in soft plastic for the Nabisco set, but none of the other 10/11 (?) seem to have one, some being unmarked, some having a full title spread over both wings?

I can't think of a toy firm offhand who would fit, but neither is it an early London postal zone (pre-postcodes); it would be 'North Central' which never existed, although once there were calls for one; it became N1C!

However, before moving to Durham (via a castle? Bit of topical humor there!), Kleeware's factory was in the Welwyn Garden City 'new-town', a minute or two's walk from the Nabisco Shredded Wheat factory (and near ICI's plastics plant) . . . well fancy that - as Private Eye would say!

The reason I said we'd return to them is that I knew I has some differences between the samples, even before remembering the soft plastic one. Some have a marked dimple which is part-spherical and might take a ball (from a ball and socket type joint) as part of a stand arrangement?

Some have two smaller but similar depressions at either end of the slot common to all, while the example on the far right (Lido) has two obvious mould-release pin-marks, although also retaining the slot . . . which is a notable factor as . . .

. . . the Lido sculpt - as stated - is a copy, not - as you might expect - a mould share? It's a good one, as it's almost same size, but the fine detail is slightly cruder and the wing-tips fatter.

Which is odder when you consider the evidence for direct mould/product share between Lido (and Pyro) and Kleeware on other occasions, and it may well be that Lido had permission to use the Empire product as the basis for their own?

As in - with the knowledge of the sender, and it's worth remembering that the mould-sharing which went on was due to US economic tariffs, and that therefore in may have been far more expensive for them (US firms) to receive moulds, than to lend them?

We did look it all up years ago on the HäT Industrie forum -  the page is long deleted - but a few aircraft could be exchanged at a toy fair or international convention and 'smuggled' past 'homeland security', moved via the Canadian office (of Kleeware), via Empire or just sent in a small parcel as gift/samples?

Lightning and Orphan 'Scooting Star'!

So; we haven't learnt much, but it would seem that someone (probably Kleeware) had a tool or tools with mini-aircraft sculpts, of which four seem commoner (and multi-cavity?) than the (probably fourteen, possibly fifteen) Nabisco cereal premiums, that Lido in the US carried three of them, after Empire; probably as pantographed, re-etched/re-finished copies with two additional marques, that some hard plastic copies of the soft plastic premiums have turned up and . . . err . . . that's about it!

But if the Kleeware attribution is accepted for now and/or proved in the future, it will make my provisional attribution of the 'other' set to Airfix a little stronger, as there aren't that many hooks to hang these particular hats on?

As you can see I dug the Lightning out, late; it's hard 'styrene, clearly with a different sculpting style (raised panel lines, sharper edges) and marked on the underside only, as the first of two prototypes which reads 'pia' to the eye, but is 'P-1a'. I also found another of the 'stars', marked USA, but I don't know who made it, it's clearly a Shooting Star, but has 'Scooting' on the wing!

A table, pulling the above together as a sort of check-list for anyone wanting to track them all down. However, you will need to find polyethylene and polystyrene versions of both the Nabisco and Lido sculptings?

And you can bet there'll be Aussie/NZ or Canadian versions/colours somewhere!!!