D is for Dinky Firemen are so Lucky!

I was going to do a Lucky Toys page like the World Dolls/Dancers, but it's actually easier to break it down into pieces, as some bits are simple, this is one of the simple bits! Lucky Dinky got enlarged by Luck-y . . . yeah, I'm labouring a bad pun here, let's move swiftly on.

I had forgotten that I posted these a while ago, so re-shot them; if you click the Dinky tag you'll get the other post a little below this one. Dinky's firemen; older than other Dinky figures; like those we saw yesterday, so not showing the distinctive hand of Charles Stadden, but rather the smoother style of some unsung sculptor.

The base marking (not a brilliant shot but try tipping your screen - or moving your head up or down - and it may become clearer); similar to the rail staff that came in the same blue plastic, but they were in an OO-gauge compatible size, rather than the approximately 35mm of these firemen.

Four of the poses were subsequently copied in roughly 50mm by the Hong Kong firm Lucky Toys, who used them in various sets, both badged to themselves as The lucky Toys and their subsidiary brand Laurie Toys, however they were also supplied to the importers/jobbers Clifford, Cragstan, Fairylight, Jimson, and Larami (among others), sometimes with the Lucky logo retained on packaging (some Fairylite), sometimes not!

There were other sources through further contract manufacture (Century21) while other brands OK, TAT and Telsalda for instance may be connected through contract or subsidiary brand status it's not clear and further complicated by some of them having ranges in different scales of the same vehicles - mostly Corgi or Dinky clones. I can't possibly pretend to be an expert on them all, but there is a fair bit in the plastics section of Planetdiecast. [Thanks to Woodsey at Moonbase Central for that tip]

Lucky numbered all their figures in the larger scale and the other two poses may well be out there as there is a gap in the numbering which points to them existing? We will be returning to the numbering (and its gaps!) in future posts.

548 - Fireman standing, both arms forward   (ex-Dinky/Meccano, Polystyrene)

549 - Fireman with breathing gear (ex-Dinky/Meccano, Polystyrene)

550 - ?

551 - ?

552 - Fireman with hose end (ex-Dinky/Meccano, Polystyrene)

553 - Fireman running, waving with right hand (ex-Dinky/Meccano, Polystyrene)

Marking for Lucky Toys is a bloody nightmare, but fortunately - due to the unique (for Lucky figures) full square/whole base marks, they are a bit easier to delineate in this case; there being only four (so far!) types.

Top left is the probable first or Lucky original, with the HONG KONG removed from the right-hand one, possibly to facilitate demand from a client selling in a country that was finding the buying public adopting the 'all Hong Kong is crap' of my parents!

The other two will be for subcontracts I think, but it's not hard and fast and as we will be seeing in a day or two, there are actual Lucky brand base marks (with the horseshoe looping an 'L'), and as yet none has turned-up on these firemen's bases?

We will also find that the 1112 sub-number is a batch (or contract/customer) code being present on all bases of the same type, irrespective of the figure-pose, and applied to two of the round marks we'll look at later as well as one of the lozenge bases.

Examples of three of the base types and some paint/plastic colour variations, I have three figures with the fourth type base mark (or I wouldn't have bothered CAD'ing them up - I know some people will go to extraordinary lengths in their attempts to make stuff up, even to inventing a whole port - huh Paul? But that's not my way) however; they are all damaged and didn't get photographed.

Models they were issued with is - again - not my field, but among the few I know of are;

Lucky

114 - Fire Engine (with push-and-go gyro-friction motor, US style ladder truck)

178F - Fire Chief (Buick saloon-car)

195 - Fire Engine (Dennis?)

196 - Fire Truck (forward-control Land Rover)

- Land Rover Fire Service (series-3 Land Rover)

Clifford

22/4175 (? or ..73) - Fire Engine (AEC, friction powered with siren, ladder/pumper)

No. 232R - Fire Chief Ford Zodiac (saloon-car)

- Fire Engine ('No.21 Fire Brigade', Dennis (?) turntable ladder truck)

SYS

50411 - Fire Engine (friction motor, extending ladder, 1950's type vehicle)

Marx

- Fire Chief (copied by Clifford, station wagon)

Hover

- Snorkel Rescue (US style cab-over hydraulic ladder-truck)

Which of these models also appeared in another or each other's branding, or whether they all had all or any of the figures is also unknown - to me!

Other figures supplied to Cragstan were unpainted or minimal-paint versions of Lucky's (VW camper van for instance) and as I haven't found such firemen yet, I'm proceeding on the assumption they didn't carry the Lucky fire appliances, but Cragstan were a US concern, also imported from some of Lucky's rivals and seem to have concentrated on 'autos & race-cars' as the Americans would put it, but on fire trucks American collectors may know different, Erwin Sell probably went to all twelve factories the year before he was born; in Port Tain Sang no doubt?

S is for Spacex (LB part 1)

Starting at the end, or ending at the start...if you've been following them! The most collected, but to a certain extent also the most common, the 25mm range, although they're not all the same size, nothing so easy from the HK producers. Marketed by Triang in the UK, and in the US by Multiple Toy Makers as Golden Astronaut, but all (most?) made by Lik Be - LB.

From the top; Hard plastic gunmetal, soft plastic gunmetal, Hard plastic chrome silver, hard plastic chromed gold, hard plastic white. All carry the LB mark except the silvered chrome ones and the four at the bottom and these may be the ones by Hover (a HK for the US company producing similar Spacex stuff), Blue Box or similar. Those last four have been painted by the owner.

Note; The white ones and the top row are taller than the others by about 1.5 mm, while the unmarked ones are chunkier mouldings. Gold Chrome are Spacex, the others were mostly carded HK stuff and/or cake decorations, available via Culpitts and similar.

These are the extra figures available with Spacex and Golden Astronaut sets, the four to the left being based on MPC 5 inch figures, the two to the right being based on MPC 50mm figures. The silver one above the row is what happens when you leave them in the sun, not a deliberate silver chromed figure. While the one below the row may have had is chrome stripped, if not he's quite unusual, being made of that 1950's type (mixed granules) plastic? These were never marked, but were sold mixed with LB marked figures in the Spacex/GA ranges.

An incomplete collection of the Triang smaller vehicles, each had 1 figure, so with 50% being the common LB designs, you had to buy a lot to get all the MPC poses (which is why I only have 5 decent examples, and one who's been in the wars!).

Three others, loose, I could list them all, but you're far better off going to Project Moonbase. Presumably in the 21st Century (later, much later!) we will palletise all goods on hover pallets, doing away with the need for two long thin arms on fork-lifts/pallet trucks?

Since corrected to Lik Be / LB.