Frog is for Krugozor

Actually it means Flies Right Off [the] Grownd! This is definitely a convenient hook to hang stuff on; I've had the scans hanging around in Picasa for nearly two years while I wondered what to do with them, and the black-background'ed image is from nearly a year ago, from the photo-shoot of the parcel Chris Smith sent to the Blog before Christmas last, while the other shot is from a more recent donation also from Chris, they allowing me to get the others off the laptop whilst covering another Russian brand in passing, with - probably - British figures!

Not particularly rare, a Google-image search provides enough pictures of sets and part sets of the Frog F139 - RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute) Oakley-class North Sea Lifeboat to work out that the kit seems to contain two of the plain, arms-down, standing poses and one coxswain/helmsman ('driver'!), advertised at 1:48th, they are 40mm figures and manufactured in 'kit' styrene.

Most of Frog's mould bank 'went East' at the end of the 1970's, where they have been rather passed around, most starting life with the Soviet-era Novo, as the Lifeboat did, only to turn-up in various colours, this tool is currenyly held by Alanger. However for a while there was a domestic issue of the model by Krugozor.

Literally translated (there's no direct translation) the larger text gives '<<Saver/Rescuee>> boat' where boat is the small word above the longer one. Obviously this is 'lifeboat' in English and a kit history is to be found here, albeit missing the Krugozor section!

The small banner - bottom right - translates as 'assembly model' or as we might say in the West/in English "model-kit".

Moscow Toy Tactory «Krugozor»

Krugozor was a large combine created in the early-1970's and formalised in 1975, by bringing together under a central management structure the assets of approximately 20 other factors in the greater Moscow region, including at least two of the Progress factories (Michurinsky plant and Moscow-proper), the 'Kid' factory (Malysh), the Moscow Doll Factory, the No.1 Soft Toy Factory (I kid you not) and others - probably including Horizon (Gorizont ) and Moscow Clockwork (Moskovskiy mekhanicheskoy).

A complication being that most of them continued to use their old logo's, now as 'brand-marks' of Krugozor rather than the former 'factory brands'! But the [two-kids] logo of Krugozor-proper slowly became dominant and is often found on the later stuff which is more likely to have survived with packaging.

From around 1973 through to about 1988, the various assets were brought together on one site, to create 'Europe's largest toy factory', and following the upheavals of 1989-91 it was transferred to private ownership where it continued to trade for some time, being a major supplier to the Mir department stores until the mid-2010's. The site is now a commercial park and office complex.

If you're familiar with the earlier versions of the kit, you will have recognised the artwork above as being a cartoon version of the Novo iteration's box-art and it would appear that the transfer sheet was replaced by card cut-outs on the bottom of the box, which was of the 'Airfix figure' design, opening both ends rather than the more standard lift-off lid type of model kit box.

Instructions for the placing of the cards!

Many thanks to Chris for the two lots of figures, it's another ticked-box here. A more detailed history of Krugozor - than the thumbnail above - can be found here and it is that which I used for producing this overview.

And; while I'm at it, here's F.R.O.G. on Wikipedia.

E is for Esoteric

If Airfix and Deetail are too 'clean' or Lido too 'Toy' for your liking, while Atlantic may be too big or Esci too small, then what the hell are we supposed to make of this set? Marx's first entry into the British infantry field, was not as pleasing as the latter 54mm sextuplet, and that's for sure! But there is good and bad, useful and not so useful.

My sample is half-and-half Warriors of the World originals and Rado Industries (Ri-Toys) re-issues (which can be labelled Marksmen here in the UK), giving ten poses, but not all complete, due to the polystyrene of the originals being a tad frangible, and the figures over 60-years old?

My styrene officer has lost a thumb, but in war that's probably quite common, and once the stitches have been removed you may get sent back up the line, especially if you're right-handed and the problem is your left thumb, so he stays!

The pack on the grenade thrower is more inter-war period US Army, as is the 'bread-bag' (or is it supposed to be filled with Mills bombs?) but these are OK as 'toy' British WWII soldiers.

As are these, but one is clearly Home Guard or BEF (top left, damaged but I haven't tracked down a Marksmen replacement yet), another seems to be on the range (top right) while a third is in the Western Dessert (bottom right)! But - gasmask case with shorts = Mesopotamia, World War One! Bottom left has a couple of more reasonable poses though.

The standing firer has an - obviously - bent rifle, but I won't be trying to fix it, this old Marx polystyrene is getting very brittle now and complete figures are to be savoured, whatever their condition, not mucked-about with! Also, note the size difference (and sculpting) of the shooter and Tommy-gunner against the figures to their respective lefts.

Again, this guy is more BEF or even WWI'ish and appears to be wearing shoes! he's compared with the 'Britain' figure from the Soldiers of the World set (all marching) and another Frog RAF Regiment chap who's turned-up.

I've lost count of these Frog's now, I think I have nine, a set of four, and five duplicates in three poses? I keep meaning to start a swaps page, when I do they'll go up there, unless Chris Smith or Nazar want to add them to their wants' lists?

Another one which has survived damage and is from the desert, but Mesopotamia again, WWI again, not WWII! That's the trouble with these, they are from all over the place, and that's if you ignore the worst of the anachronistic equipment and the brown boots (please Louis; we've had black boots since . . . nearly forever!), yet they are undeniably charming toy soldiers, even as polypropylene or tinny ethylene re-issues! And the boots thing is inexplicable as they've got the charcoal helmets just right?

The other trio are the rest of the Soldiers of the World marching set, being Canada, Turkey and [South] Korea I think - I've put them away now! We looked at one the other day, another;  the Frenchman, when we looked at French stuff years ago and should have looked at the US ones a while back? The Canadian - in a tam' o-shanter (?) - has brought an elephant-gun to the parade!

Stop Press Image

This turned-up when sorting and putting-away!

F is for Follow-up to Frog's Fissile Flyer Fellows

When I got those three Frog Bloodhound Missile crew a year or so ago [exactly a year ago - as he checks the link!], I said we'd seen the missing figure on the Blog (I don't think we had - I can't find him) and that it was a coincidence that the one not in the recent purchase was in storage.

Turns-out I had two in storage the missing one and a rather grubby 'look to the skies' dude who must have come from a rummage tray at that last Birmingham show judging by the state of him and the fact that I'd forgotten I had him!

They look like Warmington's finest; Captain Mainwaring and the others, in the village square looking up at the German pilot stuck on the clock tower! From the left Cpt. M himself, Sgt. 'Uncle Frank' Wilson, Frazier and Private 'Can I have the Tommy-gun now, it's my turn!?' Pike.

Anyway, it means that as well as these four I have a spare, if you need the grubby one (it's fine under the dirt!) and are planning on being at the Sandown Park toy fair next weekend, eMail me in the week with an offer of a suitable swap (figure/s, vehicle/s, scenics - whatever) to the [your] perceived value and it's yours without cash changing hands!

B is for Bristol Bloody Missile Crew!

It's not often I get that excited about a figure or bunch of figure's rarity, all this stuff was mass produced, and even these do tent to turn-up from time to time, not just loose; but in unmade or part-made kits, so even they . . . aren't that rare, but still it's nice to find three together, which happen to be the 'missing three'!

I thought we looked at their officer - as an ersatz boat/landing-craft commander - way back at the start of the Blog (but can't find the post/image), these are the other three, issued with a large, box scale (approximately 60mm/1:30?) polystyrene model kit of the RAF's air[field]-defence Bristol (BAC) Bloodhound missile by Frog-Penguin (Triang-Lines subsidiary) and apparently manufactured for them by Poplar Playthings.

I don't know if there is any empirical evidence for the link, but PW have interviewed some of those concerned and they certainly have some of the same 'hallmarks', the flat, baseless feet being an obvious link with the Thomas/Poplar Spacemen, Cowboys & Indians and Romans, the large size and clumsily-casual, or laid-back posing being another link with the latter charioteers, although these guys are chunkier.

Described as being "Accurately detailed from official prints" - referring, presumably, to the missile - the crew figures actually look more like members of Dan Dare's space police than any RAF 'erks I've met.

Picture: Wikimedia Commons

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bristol_Bloodhound_missile.jpg

I remember coming into RAF Wildenrath half a lifetime ago and seeing dozens of Bloodhounds out of the window in batteries of maybe 6, arranged all around the end of the runway and out through the fields to the tree-line, not white, or silver or any of the colour-schemes you see them wearing in both old books and modern museums, but matt green and black, like squat little Dalek combat-stations!