P is for Partially Seen Elsewhere - Acédo African Scene

I posted my small sample of these elsewhere, the same day, I think, but I shot a better sample on Mercator Trading's stall at the show (last London show of last year?), so we can have a better look at this French production now.

Acédo, the plastics 'arm'  of Domage et Cie (Domage and Co.), the company also behind Aludo (aluminium production), are responsible for this little set-up! Obviously made in polymerised cellulose acetate, and apparently depicting a peaceful, or civilian take on African life in a rural village, sans modernism!

 

I wondered about the trees and huts, as they looked a bit homemade (huts) and converted from something like Playmobil (trees), but a quick Google that evening revealed similar huts and some similar, but very different-shaped trees, so I think the pieces were made as flat sections, or bare boughs, and then assembled, with heat, glue and hand-held pyro-gravure work - to hide the joins. Portable hairdryers were invented in the 1920's, and can be set 'too hot' (for scalps!), so all very doable.

 

The running boy and drummer being not warlike, although the full set does include a warrior with spear and shield and a white hunter in pale safari-suit, the warrior is sort of waving his spear & shield as if 'beating' the game toward the hunter.

Close-up of my previously seen sample, other colours of loin-cloth turn-up including dark blue and white, but I don't know what other animals might be considered part of the set, a rhino, hippo, ostrich and more monkeys were in the 'zoo' sets, so there was a species-bank to pick from!

 

Usually found decorated, and the only one seen, on the day, I don't know if it's a late production thing, unpainted, or if it has been stripped, due to poor wear of the original decoration?

A is for AaaaHaaa! Once you know what you're looking for . . . .

Someone in France has a shed-load of these, but there was one in the UK with a fiver on it, and I was paid on Friday, and the parcel was at the old house when I dropped off the recycling, on my way to work, so I've just shot/scanned this little beauty!

These are boxed and have a B prefix to their codes, so I suspect the others had a W prefix for 'window pack', and another look at the logo reveals it's probably CWT or WTC?, these lack the painted details of the others, so may have been later, or a budget line, and I think are the sort of thing you might have found as fair-ground side-show prizes - hook-the-duck, hoopla or the coconut shy?

 

Properly set up, and in fact both her hands were blocked with PVC-paint, so you have to force them, but it was an easy job. Accessories in white this time, but the drumsticks are green as last time. The French lot were mostly white too.

 

Box art and codes, still only the six instruments/one pose, but we now have more colours hinted at, while the French lots include the mustard yellow, we're still looking for red and pink, and a darker blue than the lot the other day.

 

To fill the post, I think we've seen these all before, but these are the bendies which have come in over the last few months, including the Brabo-marked soldier, and possibly the first bendy ever, the 'Little Rubber Man' who's clearly a Witch? The smoking dog came from Chris Smith and is one of a series of smoking dogs! The two littlies I can't remember, one's a Mickey Mouse knock-off, the other a small, daft-looking dragon type.

B is for Best Bendy Band Babes Ever!

I had a parcel from Peter Evans yesterday, and I'll blog the rest in the usual fashion, but these need a post of their own, and I loved them so much, I got straight to it, Majorette Bendable's, whether majorette's or not, at 'Ball Games', Rose Parades, Independence Day, State Days, Town Fairs, the American's love getting their kids' into Marching Bands, so of course someone made toy ones!

I had hoped I could put a brand to these, but it was, in fact, a very similar TM by another maker (Tai Ming Industrial), so we're still looking for this TW or WT! As they are all coded 'W' it may well be the latter?

 

"Collect them!" it says, quite forcefully, but I don't need to, as Peter has sent all six, and you don't need to, because they're all here for you to see! Actually it's the same basic sculpt for all six babes, but where they don't need both ring hands, one tends to be left blocked-up with PVC paint.

 

A saxophone, a side-drum held high on the chest by the same strap as the base drummer's, and a trumpet (? You know what I'm like with brass instruments!), the Brass have two spigots either side so both hands can be attached (unlike the box-art), and you can then move the whole together, theoretically - because they are quite small for bendies, there's actually quite limited movement.

 

Base-drum and . . . Majorette Major? Didn't Joseph Heller do a skit about this . . . major Major Majorette-major! The shoulder strap of the bass-drummer has a very small nick in it which won't allow for full operation/posing, but I didn't want to try substituting the side-drummer's in case it's a sign of forthcoming brittleness, better to leave it on the ground.

 

And the French horn! Which raises the question of how many colours were they available in, and/or how many colours of instruments are out there? I'm also guessing all blue ones are blonde, all yellows russet or redhead and all green ones raven-haired?

Not that big either, about a true 60mm and a bit chubby in a slightly cartoonish or caricature style, but they'd go well as background interest with all sorts of 'standard' figures. Except that they are really kids around 85mm real scale?

 

She can do all the moves!

From ETSY via Pinterst, I think this is a vague approximation of the headdress aimed for by the Hong Kong sculptors, but I warn you, researching girls marching band hats and/or helmets is a fruitless, if interesting rabbit-hole, you probably don't want to fall-down!

G is for Get them NOW! Before They're All GONE!

Brian Berke has sent a couple of lovely scans from old Comet comics, a name I had totally forgotten, but I don't think they had an Annual, and as one of the older titles, probably got swallowed by a newer 'vehicle', that's how it worked! Anyway, I am able to action one straight away, here, and I'm hoping I may get the images for the other on Friday coming?

I notice the guard on the box-art, if true to what hit the stores, is hanging his drum off the wrong hip, while the one in the main image is looking pretty casual! I (b.1964) can barely remember this type of box, which was a very plain cardboard type, with two or three colour screen-printing.

 

Although I did them, individually, as seperate poses (or instruments) back in 2012, I don't think we've had them like this, as a group line-up, so thanks to Brian for the image and the nudge! They were manufactured by Crescent Toys, and were identical to the commercial issue by Crescent except for the base-marking.

Which, as you can see, was all Kellogg's promotional! I have mentioned (and shown) in the past, the regular occurrence of these - Kellogg's-marked - figures, appearing with a black, white & yellow (no flesh) paint-job, so consistently one feels some over production may have had a commercial venture of some kind, but equally, there weren't many paints available back then, and it may just be a coincidental series of similarly home-painted sets?

N is for Novelty . . . Guards - Kinder?

I know these were given to me by Peter Evans (who sent me another parcel the other day - most of which has been forwarded to Rack Toy Month), but I think they were among the first things he sent to the Blog about 11/12-years ago, in with a bunch of other stuff. I recognised them, as I'd been to his old place several years earlier and seen them on a little self (and admired them), so it was a nice gesture; packing them off to me!

But in those days the 'H is for...' trope hadn't been invented (except I did do a couple of show reports) here, so they got sorted away with the rest of the lot - HK stuff if I remember correctly?

I've seen them described as Kinder, but suspect that was the over-enthusiasm of the early O-Ei-A authors who tended to label anything small enough to fit the capsule as a Kinder egg premium, when in fact these are probably cake decorations aping the Marx Babes in the Wood figures some of which were scaled-down for the Disney themed Miniature Masterpiece boxed 'playsets'.

I may even have a couple (probably damaged) in-with all the Marx Miniature Masterpiece odds somewhere, as these went almost straight into storage, and only came out recently. The guy in the middle is missing a plug-on bass-drum and has a truncated drum-stick.

I don't know how many poses there were in total, maybe six (an officer or drum-major being the obvious absentees?) would be neater than five, they're hard polystyrene and marked Hong Kong in tiny letters on the bases of the roughly 30mm figures. Cheers Peter!

N is for Novelty . . . Guards - Smaller

So, these were the ones that prompted the utterance that I would return to them nearer Christmas, with Peter sending some back in the Spring or early summer;

I couldn't find all the ones I know I have and I suspect some are in the minor-makes A-Z boxes, but there are enough to work with here and get the foundations across! This is the 'Hong Kong Guards' box, and from the small-scale only days it doesn't (and couldn't) contain the big wooden ones, the nutcrackers we’ve seen, the washing-up sponge one &etc.

This is the smallest iteration of the sample, placed in a snow dome above a pencil-sharpener, but it's one of those lame domes with lots of polystyrene 'bits' in. It's not product granule, that's larger and smooth, this is like they put some small off-cuts in an old Italian coffee grinder with the very fast blades and shredded them!

Next size up are these, originally earrings from a David Halsall (still in the tags as Hallsal! I will sort it! . . . Half an hour later - done!), and I think some of the missing ones are stored under Haswell, which was a sub-brand of the company now known as HTI. I removed the jewellery component to get two fat drummers!

These are the biggies, so far only the two poses have turned-up; sentry/guardsman and drummer/bandsman, whether they are all available in all three sizes or not I don't know, but they're clearly based on the lawn blow-moulds so popular in the US and spreading across Britain as if we have a better planet to go to when we're done buggering-up this one!

At this size you can get them as crafting accessories, earrings, cake decorations and whatever else anyone can think of for novelty guards! Added to the collection later, I left the earrings intact and on their card. You can still find these out there at this time of year, last year I think I saw the earrings in the British Heart Foundation charity-shops as factory-clearance/new stock.

Scaler!

N is for Novelty . . . Guards - Larger

Well, Nutcracker Suites are being cancelled left, right and centre, Sugar Plum Fairies are on furlough, Babes aren't  marching in the woods; 2020's turned out to be such a shitter, I thought we'd have a few novelty guards to brighten things up, and because I threatened to do so, around this time, when Peter Evans sent some earlier in the year!

So these are the medium-sized chaps, all about 45-60-odd millimeters. We have seen some before as they came in, but here they all are together. From the left;

• ·         Probably actually a circus ringmaster/compare he's resin - mostly!
• ·         PVC or even silicon-rubber key-ring
• ·         LED Torch in mixed materials
• ·         Resin guardsman who was probably a fridge-magnet once?
• ·         Silicon rubber key ring who was designed as a pencil-top first
• ·         Key-ring or Christmas tree hanging-decoration/figural bauble in chromium-plated polystyrene.

You can see how the left-hand key-ring began life as or intended for pencil-topping, or - indeed - pens; all writing instruments matter! And the material is a soft, squidgy silicon-rubber, against the stiffer rubber of the chap on the right.

The new one (who came from Chris Smith or Peter Evans earlier in the year I think) in the middle has the remains of a sting/ribbon loop, but whether it was for keys or Christmas trees only god knows . . . have you got one coming out of the attic any-day now loyal readers, or are you carrying one around with your keys?

I think both of these (lower pair) were new this year (same likely contributors) and while the one on the left does stand-up, some damage to the small of his back points to the careful removal of a magnet and hot-wax [glue-gun] glue I think?

The one on the right seems to be resin, but he has peculiar soft areas on his feet, almost as if someone had rebuilt the soles with Blue-Tac and painted over it, so he may have been removed from a larger vignette, maybe he's a band-master in one of those 'Christmas Village' band-stands, or something like that?

I nearly left him in the Guards, but after umming-&-arring for a while I put him with the circus stuff for now, although as well as Victorian bandstands, he might fit the bill of a foreign nations' police/traffic-police force uniform, making him more of a tourist-memento piece?

Seen before and I can't remember the branding (Puckator - I looked it up!), but it was looked at better then I think. There is a little pull-out tab at his waist-rear, to prevent the battery being in contact and running down, while he plays a bloody annoying little tune every time you press the button!

Largest were posted earlier this year!

Q is for Question Time - Sacul Drummer . . . Not!

This rather interesting figure came in from Chris Smith the other day and if anyone has any idea's he'd love to hear them!

At first glance he looks to be slightly better sculpted or finished, but a closer look suggests he was probably poorly pantographed and then over-etched to re-establish surface detail? The drum's carrying-strap is vastly improved over the donor's and the left stick is extended while the hand's position is changed slightly. A heavy base lifts a much smaller figure and he looks to be relatively chalkless, so could be quite late . . . 1970's even?

Minor British make? Premium of some kind? Another of these BR Moulds Plastic Warrior has been tantalising us with . . . they mostly have thinner bases, but the ex-Airfix paratrooper has a blobbier one? Even a Hong Kong copy with a fort set of some kind? Thinking of the Tom Smith re-use of Kellogg's Thunderbird figures (Crescent), could he be a cracker prize?

It's plastic, so it was mass-produced, there must be more out there! Other poses?

M is for More Italians

Another PW show-lot, these are the Italian Air Force bazaar/rack-toys, also copied from the Coma originals in a smaller scale.

Clearly sharing a sculptor with some of the earlier Atlantic 'Italian Army' and Hitler/Bersaglieri sets (not the later WWII sets), they have similar poses and the para's have guys jumping over old branches too!

Four ground-crew/perimeter defence and two desperate-looking pilots; the guys with side-hats would make useful WWII summer Soviet infantry; although I think the rifle-grenade would have to go!

The metallic-blue plastic colour is similar to the side-hat'ted Cofalu I have in the storage zone (now the garage!), and when I find them I'll do a comparison, but I'm pretty sure these will prove to be noticeably smaller.

I also picked-up a Bersaglieri officer and he's here posed with two believed-Coma Bersaglieri originals and an Atlantic Bersaglieri bandsman for comparison.

F&G is for Hidden in Plain Sight!

Remember the F&G question posed by Collin Penn some time ago now? And remember when in the PW173 review I said "Speaking of Colin Penn, his F&G 'Crazy Clown Circus' is revealed by Michael Bonnefoy of the Plastics Historical Society to be made by . . . [Subscribe!]"?

Balancers & Bouncy Balls

Well, hopefully you were tempted to subscribe (if you weren't already), and with PW174 out now (review currently in the 'short queue'), I think it's OK to reveal that the F&G was Fraser & Glass Ltd., who are further fascinating for carrying the same mounted figures as Airfix, but that's for another day, the thing was, they had been on the PHS's website all along! Like Tatra, they were hiding (from plastic figure collectors) in plain sight!

Musicians & Master's of Mayhem
(the one on the bottom-right has a cellulose/celluloid
drum which is almost powder now)

Anyway, it wouldn't be right to cover all the stuff in the magazine's article, but I say the above because I've got the storage tub . . . err . . . out of storage! And as a follow-up to my own previous post, am showing the [old] newbies here while re-tagging the related, previous, posts to Fraser & Glass!

It's a satisfying conclusion, too, for those of us who were never happy with the two-horse race's favourites - Airfix or Kleeware, as the plastic wasn't really right for either. But if the mounted figures provide a link, the Airfix-plumper's will have a joint first!

Indeed, while the likes of TJF and his ilk may resent my knowledge (and try to invent their own!) it's satisfying to read my earlier musings on the maker (three years ago) and find it stands-up adequately to the recent discoveries!

Were Morestone (also 'something & something'; Morris & Stone) situated near F&G, or did they (F&G) supply Airfix with both horses/riders and clowns, or licence production to fill large Woolworth's orders? There's always another question or two!

The Shrapnel

The bottom of their tub contains a few bits which will be combined with the attic-lot to make-up some of the missing formations! One of them actually still has his mates head between his feet so must be from a pair formation, so I'm hoping I have a headless one in the other sample!

The piece of card (CIRCUS?) came with one lot, as did the wooden pole with a plastic finial which seems to match some of the Crazy Clown's yellow stuff? Equally it could be a non-functioning component of a 1960's washing machine, or part of a lawn-game! I've also tried various solvents on these (and the other larger, sample) and they are mostly polystyrene, only a few are cellulose or celluloid types.