T is for Toy Fair 2020 Reports - Hornby - Other Makers Products

Hornby (as Hornby Hobbies or Hornby Group) is now one of the big six players in the global toy business (Hasbro, Mattel, Lego, Tomy-Takara, Games Workshop), and as such it probably wasn't a surprise to find 'rival' products on their stand, obviously as distributors, also ensuring they get a percentage of the hobby market their own products don't cover!

Warlord, Bolt Action, Osprey Publishing and Esci-Italeri all here, as thick as thieves, in the worlds of both licensing, and proprietary or sealed-system war-games and rule-sets. It wasn't clear if the diorama was connected to some of the displayed products or just for display interest?

They are also handling Dr. Who, Master & Commander, Blood Red Skies and Judge Dredd stuff, now I clearly didn't spot the Judge Dredd 'thing' as I didn't photograph it properly/separately and don't know what it is, if it's a game with figures . . . .wantone!

H is for Humbrol

Added a new tin of Humbrol to the collection today, well, I say 'new', it's second hand, but seems to be unopened, and, more interestingly, would appear to be a really useful, previously uncatalogued colour best described as 'Track & Chassis Rust'...bargain!

More mud-hopping finds from that strange toy strata in the vegetable garden again!

A is for Airfix (and Craft, Dairylea, Tehnolog, Humbrol, Robogear...)

Ringing in the changes with the old and the new I thought I'd look at a couple of Aifix rarities.

Among the first sets issued by Airfix was the Farm Stock set, and in common with other early sets it was snapped up by the food industry as a premium, in this case by Craft Foods for their Dairylea Cheese Spread. The Cowboys and Combat Group had both been used by comics and the Civilians were issued on the cover of a Railway modelling magazine. The Astronauts too were used for a mail-away promotion.

The box (big enough for a whole set!) clearly states 'Three Animals' yet this is the second set I've seen with 4 animals, both times it's the very small animals, and the conclusion is that they felt three weren't enough if using the smaller one's so included an extra without reprinting or printing a new box graphic.

Just before they went bust for the umpteenth time, Airfix bought-into this system from Russia. At the London Toy Fair in about 2005 or '06? I ran into the Airfix stand (first time they'd had a stand for a long time) and they were showing these with their own label.

As they had only just appeared in the Pocketbond catalogue in the Russian graphics, I was impressed by the speed Airfix had got on what could have been a profitable bandwagon and told them as much - anything anybody does to break Games Workshop's monopoly is OK by me!

The box art, they weren't designed to be 'multi-pose', but the judicious use of glue, stretched sprue and spare bits of plastic soon made them as versatile as anything GW have produced. Sadly once Heller had taken them under, this range failed to survive the Hornby takeover! The Robogear website was last updated in January 2007 so I'm afraid the promising range is dead?

T is for Trains

Bit of a cheat this one 'cause most of them are more Triang, but there are some non-Triang among them. The one I really wanted to post I can't bloody find, despite going through most of my stuff twice in the last few days, hence no posts!! Have to save it for neverwhen!!

This is a Jouef/Playcraft low sided plank wagon, being prepared for the HaT Colonial Artillery (which - co-incidentally - was posted on the HaT forum yesterday, and it looks good), I started with Humbrol body-filler but it was a bit hard, so I painted it with liquid-poly cement and it went too soft! Finished up with terracotta Miliput and toothpicks for the cross-bracing. The bogie's have been removed so I can give the whole thing a military paint-job and Hornby couplings.

Behind is a Triang bogie-bolster wagon, which is another one you can build up with sand-bags, I may use this for the same colonial train, or use it to try and replicate the oft-reproduced picture of a 1939/40 era German train loaded with troops (I think it was originally from Signal, and is in all the Purnell/Pan/Ballentine part-works of the '70's), using the ridiculous Revell 'firing on my mates shoulder' posed MG42, and similar posed on wall MG34 from Italeri?

Another Jouef for Playcraft, this is the entry-level clockwork locomotive, which comes in a reasonable shade of military green, and if you buy an old one for 50p at a car-boot sale...it comes ready weathered!!!! I think the track may be Playcraft as well, but it might be Triang, as it's a piece of child-hood surviving stuff, and we had Triang clockworks not Playcraft.

Comparison between the two best loco's for a military marshaling yard, without the need for lots of repainting, although you can also use black 'GS' types with most armies.