F is for Fireman Pat, the Paw Patrol Builder

There's a ton of this infant oriented stuff out there, and in scanning the shelves I tend to filter it out, what with the American knock-off of Tomas the Tank engine starting to make inroads to British shelves, and Postman Pat now joined by similarly-cloned builders and firefighters (still called 'firemen', shock-horror!), even if you could argue Pugwash or Mr. Ben came first!

 

But luckily, Brian Berke spotted these in the 'States a while ago, and they've been in edit since . . . checks images . . . 2024, in fact, June, so two years ago, and well overdue for an outing here. Also, while flat erasers aren't necessarily a thing, we have had similar robots and dinosaurs, so by default, they are part of the Small Scale World oeuvre now! The law of unintended consequences!

 

 

Apparently direct-from-Turkey imports, or is that a version of Arabic? Zaini (LZ) are well known as a Kinder rival, and we've seen a few figural efforts or vehicles from them over the years, the likely prizes as illustrated on the box, weren't in the box! But do include two figures who may turn-up in mixed lots someday?

 

Instead you got flat-slab erasers with water-slide transfer-printed images of the characters from Fireman Sam on them, credited to a Prism Art & Design Ltd.* Many thanks to roving reporter Brian, for roving, and reporting!

 

*According to the Fireman Sam wiki - "Prism Art & Design Limited is a Welsh entertainment company currently owned by HiT Entertainment, itself a subsidiary of Mattel" - so, wheels within wheels! 

BMSS is for More Plunder, 2 of 2

The other half of the BMSS plunder, I literally split the folder this morning so there's no theme to either post, but this is by coincidence both mostly small scale, and mostly stuff Adrian gave me in a little tub, as a mixed lot.

 

Seen better days, with Plasticine bases and glued arms, but small scale'ish (o gauge), chalkware composition, in the style of Drevopodnik, and new to pile. They might be from the Soviet Bloc (post-war) or earlier, and German, I'm hoping they will be findable in my Schiffmann Sammlekatalog, next time I have it out?

 

Two Spot-On's to add to the stash, and two of the Kinder 'Mocherette', based on the Lone Star Metallions which might not be Lone Star (given that Hubley, Kresege, 'Hong Kong' and others, also issued them), one copper 'chromed' over the base metal, the other bronzed to an almost black-olive.

 

Reduced-size copy of the Brtiains Llama, a Hong Kong pack mule and one of the Torres wine-bottle giveaways, make an interesting trio of animals in polyethylene.

 

When I first started finding these, years ago, well, about 40 years ago, I was intrigued, I would get one or two at each show, and it took maybe a decade to get the last colour, they then became one of those things I'd seen the origin of, so 'knew', but could never remember, so didn't know! Eventually they were remembered long enough to blog (charity shop purchase I seem to recall), as Waddington's Lost Valley of the Dinosaurs figures.

 

And I now have so many of them I don't know what to do with them! They would paint up nicely as ranked war gaming pieces, but they have officers pistols, not rifles, so don't lend themselves's to ranks, or files! And how many role players (28mm) need slightly small (25mm) explorers, and what would they pay for them, when you can find up to 16 in a charity shop! The law of unintended consequences!

 

Odd smallies here with a Sistema Cadillac from Italy, in an odd scale of 1:77th. A few of the Slaters/Merit (Collis Plastics), home painted, and the weirdest of the three mico-AFV's which various rack-toy issuers used as filler in their sets in the 60's and 70's, joining the obvious Daimler armoured car and 25lbr type gun is this odd little amphibious landing craft/jeep/pop-up target/carrier hybrid, which has never been explained!

 

A bit of Thomas Wild West, an LB caveman, Matchbox Space 2000 'future warrior', and a kit figure in 1:48th scale of a WWII German tank crewman, alongside a later Briains head, farm, I think?

 

Atlantic, Davy Crockett figures, he survived an enraged bear, Indians and two demented donkeys, only to fall to the dastardly Mexican forces of General Antonio López de Santa Anna!

 

Three of the gold, post-Giant Greco-Romans we looked at on the other Blog, from two of the sourses, a Meccano for Hornby policeman and a larger firefighter, taken from Dinky, I think, or Corgi, but here probably from a larger plastic beach/garden toy?

D is for Donations - Chris - Civilians

So, the twin of the earlier post, and a similar but different assortment of non-military types, these winging there way here from East Anglia, courtesy of Chris Smith, just in time for the BMSS show, where I picked them up the other day . . . a month ago, and with only a month (today), until the PW show, we're into peak 'season'.

 

Another pencil top, another strip (Holland!), one of the spring-loaded guys from another type of table-football game, and a nice sample of the Subbuteo kicker, to compare notes with PPP's goalie!

 

The little one is also Subbuteo, seemingly someone's prized paint-job, removed from it's base, the 'super-deform' shortie, looks to be from the blind-bags we looked at a few years ago . . . can't find them, so they may be in the capsule toy/blind-bag queue!

 

And the horse rider is a cracker gift, we've definitely looked at before, but it's a fun collect, as there are dozens of colours, and several slightly different sculpts, usually only visually obvious from/in the horses' legs.

 

Rather bashed Lego cyclist, who may provide a useful spare one day, being styrene, as is the Hong Kong guy in the bag, who's card is in the queue, as an Italian-language generic, and the fact this one is in a different bag, means it's worth keeping him in there, until I know better . . . Could be a reseller thing, but I suspect not?

 

A larger Christmas cracker bike, and a similarly 'cheap novelty' skateboard, make-up the human-powered section of this donation.

 

Big Babies! The brown one (yes Waynetta, we've covered that off-colour [geddit!] joke in a previous post), is probably the most interesting here, as it's a hard-plastic copy out of Aitch-Kay, taken from soft rubber Western ones, which were issued by someone like Topps or Panini, I can never remember?

 

The small blue one in the romper-suit is a baby-shower/cake-decorating type, but with a bit of age, while I suspect the hunk of ham (?) is an early polystyrene dolls house accessory out of the same colony. The rocking hose without a tail, is polyethylene, and may be early British . . . Hilco, Charbens? It's not Taylor or Barratt, theirs were either slush-cast lead, or 'styrene? Although the cat families and puppies were polyethylene, weren't they, maybe put them in the frame with the other two!?

 

The other four are useful grist to the mill, with the large creamy-white one being unusual, if only for it's size, which is the larger Doll's House size, I wondered if it came with a change of simple costumes, but the pose isn't right? 

 

Lots of useful stuff here, with the Subbuteo policeman, being an early (pre. Stadden days) one, which I may not have (when we had an overview of mine, a good while ago now, it became obvious there were three generations of some of the pitch-side stuff), while behind him is yet another version of the growing Dinky-Blue Box mechanic group, with a good version in blue 'styrene with a neat lozenge base.

 

The orange pair are the rarer ones from the Corgi Juniors gift set, the Fontanini dancer is useful, as I know I only have a few, and the yellow chap, bending over the casualty basket (almost certainly from one of those 1970's-early '80's wire - or battery-controlled helicopter sets), is a mystery, I suspect another Carrara* figure, but I don't know, some kind of slot-racing accessory for sure, can you help?

 

While the two big guys are modern'ish, she's a from an Elastolin farm sculpt, I think, we've seen him before, but as a Policeman, with a different hat/head-sculpt, and - like her - is one of a number of larger figures, probably for smaller hands, she's 70/80mm, he's heading for 90. 

 

*I need to sort that Tag out, it's got conflated with Carrara Marble! 

 

These are bugging me! Years ago, I picked up two of these, with little slip-on black belts, which could be military, or more utility? In the style of some American production, I'm sure these are Hong Kong. Two of the above are the same poses as my old sample, but the third isn't, and I think we have a new colour, I also think a couple more, sans belts, may have come in over the last few years, but I just don't know where they came from (set wise), or who/what they are . . . soldiers, sportsmen, telecoms linesmen/road gang?

 

And I'm only guessing at cracker toys, or 'gum ball' capsule stuff? Indeed, when three turn-up together, a bag/set starts to look the more likely. But this is why I collect all the esoteric stuff, and it's only with the help of people like Chris, Peter Trevor and the others, that we get nearer to answering these questions!

 

We only had a follow-up on these a short-while ago, and here's seven more, including a totally new one, in the larger scale, but clearly factory-painted, so there's another whole set to track down! He looks like he may have been aimed at the cake decoration market, rather than rack-toys?

 

Two more of the Terracotta Spanish tourist-trap figurines, I've rather lost track of the growing sample, but look forward to bringing them all together for a better overview one day. I said she'd come in, when we looked at her partner (in need of a hat) fourteen months ago, a Flamenco dancer (she looks like Betty Boop!) and guitarist, ready to entertain the unwashed masses, whinging about their cancelled flights - because there’s a fucking war on, you morons!

 

Oops, went full-rant there, albeit poetically! These are a lovely find, they're the little soft plastic copies of the Leyla figures, we've looked at a couple of times now, but all in one colour and the better quality samples, were they late production, unpainted Leyla, perhaps supplied to someone else?

 

Lovely little thing! Doll's house, or more honest novelty? Cake decoration, or just a simple novelty? From the quality I wonder if she's actually Japanese? No, she's got a tree-hanger; novelty-bauble, skiing kid - fantastic!

 

Matchbox cherry-picker, sans truck, on the left (but it's all about the figures!), two of the 'Crazy Clown Car' policemen, a beach-toy crewman and three hard polystyrene firemen, in a semi-transparent azure-blue plastic, really nice figures, you know, a tangibility, a je né sais quoi? Which, as I thought French, would be logical! Chris also thinks French, or Dutch?

 

The de rigueur line-up of seated figures!

D is for Donations - Peter - Civilians

Right, I seem to have found my mojo, if only temporarily (there's often a hiatus before Rack Toy Month!), so I have a plan . . .

 

Actually the plan for right now was to be in Camden this afternoon, but that didn't happen, if you made it, I hope you had a good time and found nice things, I'm contemplating telling the Pentagon Natwest's head office is a hive of Iranian plotters

 

. . . and we're going to get all the stuff from Peter Evans, several donations, some car-booty and gifts, and all the stuff from Chris Smith's huge parcel, published over the next few days, twined by theme! Staring with the civilians;

 

We've seen something similar from Keycraft (dinosaurs) and HTI (various), while these Dancers are from AMO Toys in Denmark (as importers/source), and looking at the back of the pack Ninjas, Soldiers, Wrestlers and Monsters are out there somewhere. I think it's supposed to be pronounced wall'ee, to rhyme with crawly, rather than as my childhood nickname!

 

Speaking of wrestlers, these WWE ink-stampers, are very-much in the same vein as the Fortnight, Gang Beast and Ninja Turtle stampers currently out there.

 

Partial contents of a table football game, you get different types of table football, flicky, leaver kick, sprung figures, horizontal bars (mini 'fussball'), and magnetic wands, from whence these have washed up here!

 

There's a post on kicking footballers in the medium queue, and this guy joins a blue one we've seen recently, they're Peter Pan in origin, from the Cup Final game.

 

We've seen the Mousetrap diver before I think, but possibly in another colour, and older sculpt, he seems to have had a makeover, the torso to the left is one I've alluded to several times and needs to be sorted out with all the other sets of four or six primary-coloured board game figural, while I suspect the C3PO is a game playing piece as well, but I don't know the game offhand? It's not one of several Monopoly versions, nor is it the Star Wars Risk, so, any ideas?

 

A group of nicely done, but probably quite recent or even contemporary, road workers, and a diver who at first glance looks like the Hing Fat ones, but he's actually a better quality, and may be from a more nameable/recognisable make or brand's set, just I haven't recognised or named it!?

 

Another modernish road worker on the right, an early, factory painted Jean goose-girl from the farm range, and between them one of those fun gems you find in all these odds and sods, a Hong Kong, reasonable quality copy of an old bisque cake decoration, but in hard polystyrene plastic.

 

More of the Chinese knock-offs we got sent by the German agent, back at the start of the blog. These are large, O or G-gauge, and unlike the previously seen stuff, have locating pins on their feet.

 

The smaller chaps here ARE the Hing Fat ones, while the larger bloke has probably been tied to a carded set in the archive, but likely a generic? And the reason they're down here, is because these are from the latest lot, were shot months after the others and for speed, I'm loading them as they sit in the folders!

 

Three of the Teamsterz road menders, an older one in sea-green (actually, probably a fireman), an unknown race-team mechanic or garage accessory and the small one may be that group of Pioneer-Dacron-Realtoy stuff?

 

Another trio of Teamsterz (HTI), a cheapo rack-toy in brown we may have seen/ID'd before, and another of the Tesco-Woolie's et al ones, all building up for the firefighter page . . . which will happen!

 

Another of the Hong Kong fatty footballers, pencil-top rather than key-ring this time, and a new pose and/or colours I think, a large shepherd of the ELC type and a rather crude driver, probably from a farm tractor, from the stance?

 

All good stuff, and many thanks to Peter for spotting, accruing and/or saving it.

B is for Big Box of Bounty - Civilian

I rather broke the rhythm with the last post, it should have come after a bauble post, of which there are still one or two in the queue, but, hey-ho, worse things happen at sea, much worse! Looking at the civilians from Chris Smith today, and there will be a follow-up!

Another contender for best in box, I found the A-suffixed marking first and thought I/Chris had found a group of sculpts missing from the Lik Be (LB) listings, but it looks unlikely, comparing all four. However, they are rather fun, and obviously, back in the day, a touristy thing, at a price which would have been well below the hand-carved wood, or poured resin alternatives, probably sold as a set in a window-box, but possibly separate too, and, were there a D or E suffix, more even - I hope this is a complete set?

I think of them as; 

414 - A private owner or ‘weekender’, motor not sail!
414 A -  A Trawlerman.
414 B - The ‘Old Salt', probably also the local  Pilot and/or Harbourmaster! 
414 C - A Russian or Eastern-European 'jobber’, or seaman for hire.

A nice set of modern, maybe even still current China police, we did some work on these a few years back, rather by accident, with much help from a series of shelfies from Brian in New York, and it's something I'll have to return to when everything is brought together, as there are many to formally ID, even if they are on the blog somewhere already.

But for a while we were making headway, with stuff from Dolgen, Greenbrier and Jaru et al., over there and Poundland, Pound World and 99p Stores etc., over here. Where a group of Western companies will carry the same set, and another group, another set, with other sets hanging in independent convenience stores, and people like HTI sourcing yet more sculpts from somewhere else!

As with the oft-mentioned (because both Brian and Theo have sent stuff for it) firefighter page, there will need to be a police page, a footballer page, and page on motor-race officials, spectators and mechanics, with better posts than so far on fishermen, divers, cricket &etc . . . all these things take time!

Likewise, these game-playing pieces! I don't know this lot (but they may be in the archive somewhere), I know the guys with suitcases, I know the people waiting for a bus, I know two or three sets of busts, and while several of them are police/espionage/crime related, and I think these three (of four?) will be of that ilk, I currently don't know!

Three polystyrene Blue-Box copies of Dinky mechanics, and one of the lesser sub-piracies in grey polyethylene, as an aside, I picked up three of the Marx construction worker copies, mentioned in passing in the Military plunder-post the other day, at Sandown park, so they are in the queue, and it's another example of a page that will need to be produced one day, all the road-work and construction figures!

We've either seen this guy before, or the matching motorcycle rider (possibly also from Chris), and I do now know who he is, he's The Lucky Toys, in a 3-inch scale they usually didn't touch, next to him is a marked Funrise figure, and a small novelty badge (a simple pen-clip slip-over), for which there is a drawer, somewhere!

Farming; the figures on either side (children?) may be connected, but their differences match their similarities in number - I think they ARE the same source. He looks as if he should be holding a sack, or a lamb?

 

The second figure is possibly Lemax, from the Christmas Village (enough items listed now, for a busy city!), becoming quite common over here now (it was a US thing), with two Garden Centres known to me stocking them, the squirrel has lost it's tail and looks like a gopher!

While the larger is another of, or from the same source of that multi-series, multiscale, multi-issuer range which was around in the 1990's, as die-cast vehicle and big-box play set accessories who will need a big post one day!

Seated figures include a Blue Box tractor driver, a couple of Tudor Rose (or copies - green and yellow chaps), a possible Thomas in blue (top right), a possible Blue Box copy of Marx dolls house figure (painted woman), a more modern driver and a couple of racing car drivers with some vintage.

A real mix here, with a Marty circus horse, Zoo Quest hunter (Ariel), HK copy railway figure (pink), two Slater's or similar O-gauge railway figures, the painted kid is marked (C) 98 & INRES if that means anything to anyone?

The chap with the charm loop, might be a European product mascot/premium, and one of the major members of the animal forums uses an identical one, as his sizer for animals and dinosaurs, so when I become more active on those than I have been so far, he will prove very useful indeed, but I don't know his origins?

Likewise, the chef, is probably a product/retailer mascot of some kind, he's on a plinth (poor photograph, sorry). The figure far-left could be Kinder, or similar and is a reduced-scale Playmobil clone, and the guy in blue overalls might be Supreme, but he looks too well detailed?

Firefighters, with a possible Pioneer or Realtoy (painted, sand base), two Matchbox (silver), and several others, far right is probably French, and from a die-cast (or aluminium?) fire appliance, and I think we've seen the brown one, bagged!

Many thanks as always to Chris for all these, and everything else he shares with us, I'll gather a few bits for a follow-up, and maybe get something out tonight.

M is for May's Visit - Civilian and Sports Etc . . .

You know the score by now, so no pack drill, just running through vaguely thematic group shots of known or unknown figures, with a bit of my blurb to try and explain some of the many, many figures out there, with the civilian and/or sports, being often among the more interesting of the posts.

 

 

Seated; I think I've decided (or found?) that the Napoleonic hat figures (two sizes, right) are actually firemen from smaller garden/beach toy fire engines, while the huge blue one is from a very larger racing motorcycle and sidecar, the smaller blue is the Budgie motorcyclist, and the painted-blue, from a 1:24th'ish racing car.

 

The little red one on the left is from the might be Kamley / might be Marty artillery/speedboat crew, as seen on the But Is It Giant blog, the grey naval-looking chap in the middle is still unknown, but keeps turning-up so his toy must be common, a jeep or taxi, plant, maybe? While the other is also one who turns up from time to time, an arabesque/LRDG type, possibly from a 'dessert' vehicle toy, but just as likely to be a helicopter/fighter-pilot, or B/Op' Tank crew, and one of two poses, if I recall correctly.

 

Various farm/civilian types; I think one or two might have been marked I can't rememeber1 Best pleased with the orange one which is another of those 'animated' novelty figures, we saw a pink tennis player from the set of a while back.

 

I think we've seen the synthetic rubber guys at the back, in ones or twos, before, but this looks like it may be a complete pose line-up, or set's figure contents? The rest are larger carpet-toy figures, four Casdon and a damaged Poplar I think, with a simplified copy of the Corgi cherry-picker cage chap.

 

There are tubs of these waiting to be sorted in the main stash and bags of them in the TBS (to be sorted) zone, and one day I'll have a session uniting all the flippers, masks, tanks and accessories, with the correct figures, and we'll have a better look at them all and ID a few!

 

Board game figures from the Charity shop, no idea, yet, but obviously aimed at younger players, and having some kind of nature-walk or safari/hunter theme, not 100% sure the bush goes with the four figures (slightly different base design), but they came together and look to have similar sculpting?

 

Mechanics and construction workers, there are so many of these, but I have, over the years downloaded or shelfied many sets, with figures, so again, a big ID session and better look will happen at some point!

  

A cake-decoration baseball player, small novelty Olympian, from Hong Kong, and taken from larger-scale sets, and two figures who are more interesting; they seem to be more HK rack-toys, but I have a couple with silver belts, a bit like the MPC ring-hand chaps, but these are much smaller and more sportsmanlike with bare-heads - but helmets could be missing? I suspect Christmas cracker novelties, as they have come in, in ones and twos.

 

Another couple of firefighters, and two policemen, the fully painted is the Hong Kong copy of Cavendish's policeman, which Cavendish also carried/wholesaled to the tourist trade at one point, and two Matchbox figures, I think those with a touch of paint were earlier than those without.

 

Two Bell Games (foreground) footballers, from the magnetic sets, three Gem, and damaged, larger 'kicker' figure from Subbuteo, along with a small-scale copy of Airfix's goal-keeper, or, at least, he looks similar to the Airfix guy!

 

A chalkware figure, probably a cake-decoration, possibly of a good-fairy, or fairy tale character, sleeping beauty? Dated 1964, with what could be a logograph, or cypher mark, but the crudeness of the writing suggests they may be more of an ownership thing, by the kid, or a parent, it's quite fine, but not formal, if you know what I mean . . . a real mystery figure?! 'Betty's Birthday 1964' . . . that kind of thing?

 

Farmers and a cuckoo-clock/barometer figure (left), we saw a similar one the other day, and I've recently discovered you can still buy them, as craft items for home hobbyists, although they look to be poured-resin copies!

 

I used to confidently say 'Thomas' for all these rubber seated figures, but having found similar figures with Tudor Rose stuff, I'm not so sure these days, and some poring over old files is needed! Probably Thomas, or similar!

 

These are nice, soft plastic versions of the frangible, hard-plastic copies of Gem and Britains ski-wearers, Arctic/Antarctic explorer on the left (ex-Britains sculpt), more Gem-like sports skier on the right. The righthand figure has ring-hands, with the broken remains of sticks, so will need a pair of them and they both need skis, but there are bags of this stuff around, so hopefully the best of everything will make-up good samples one day!

 

Two Airfix German Infantry, who were left over (we're working 'up' the folders, so, last shots first), and the larger-scale 'Lawn Jockey' (for trying-up horses) statue from a Marx playset. I have a whole bag of these somewhere, in various colours and conditions, vintage and reissue, as I was literally one of the few small-scale guys in the room for years, and people didn't know what they were (including me), so I would buy them as 'unknown, odd-scale', from 10, 20 or 50p rummage trays!