F is for Follow-up - Hong Kong Copies of European Premium, Rack Toy, Bazaar and Other Wagons

Just a quickie - not long after I published the VT follow-up to an earlier JCT post, I remembered I had some more VT and/or other bits in the attic, shot them when I was putting the others away, then picked a few more up at the PW show, so here they all are!

The previously Blogged VT coach with it's not-correct driver at the back, in front are a bunch of bits (from Micheal Melnyk I think?), sadly one of the pulling ropes is damaged, so apart from coach-body, chassis or wheel colour swaps, I'm no nearer a whole one!

In front of that is an Italian cheapie version's horse team from Dario, these are closer to the French horses than the HK ones.

But at PW I got both a whole replacement draw-bar and ropes (unbroken) and locating plug, and a lesser-quality/later-generation open-wagon (sort of Giant scale-up), the wheels are sized between the front and back wheels of the stage coach and the figure, though the correct driver for all these wagons, is of too poor a quality to use with my coach, but there are spare drivers in storage (and hopefully - a few hats), if it has the same horses as the JTC one . . . they are a bit 'twee'!

So - when the two stashes are brought together I should end-up with a boxed coach, a loose coach (complete), a loose wagon and a few bits. All I need now are some poorer horses (I may have somewhere) and a draw-bar & tilt for the open wagon, which - I fear - should be a covered wagon like the one in the original 2009 post?

It's Hong Kong shite, but it keeps me sane . . . sort of!

VT is for Varmint Trampling . . . Stage Coach

We looked at one of these way back at the beginning of the Blog, it was a cheaper, marked JTC one, then we had one sent to the blog a year or so ago (below) probably from France, now we return to - the then - crown colony of aichkay for another look at a better-quality copy of what is quite a complex model.

And this is the 50th use of the 'Wagon' tag, Small Scale World's now showing well over a hundred wagons!

From both sides, I left the driver in for one shot although I'm not convinced he is connected to the coach in any other way than just happening to almost fit! In point of fact he's leaning forward slightly as his feet are too big for the space they need to fit in, luckily I have a bag of these 'Mexican-hatted' wagon crew somewhere, so I'll get one to match hopefully.

The real crew used to turn-up all the time in mixed bags of junk as they aren't terribly well attached, and although they have a 'cowboy hat' (I couldn't tell you if it's a Stetson, ten-gallon or twenty-two-and-a-half liters!), it's usually so over-scale when you first encounter them lose, you think they're trying to be Mexicans - ironic when you think that nowadays Mexicans are all trying to be Americans!

You can see how the UK driver (Tudor Rose or Kleeware? There's one currently on feebleBay as Morestone but I've shown on on a T*R wagon in the past) is jammed-in and pushed forwards by his feet pressing against the raised detail containing the locating stud and hole of the coach's body-halves.

Marking is a VT or TV but as the 'V' is larger I suspect it takes precedence, it'll likely be something akin to Victoria-, Victory- or Viscount Toys . . . probably; who knows? [I think I've covered my arse from TJF & TCWML there?] Yellow- it's a bugger to photograph!

Note how the two halves of the coach body are also held together/in place by the base-plate of the suspension moulding.

The axles are also different from the usual type you'd expect on a toy like this, being flatter in one plane and therefore non-revolving, firmly held in place by longitudinal slots with a true round section only on the wheel-hub itself.

The draw-bar is equally 'over-engineered' with a through cotter-pin holding everything together and providing a pivot-point. One of the side ropes is missing and the other damaged so I'll be looking out for a replacement, and the hole at the front of the draw-bar/main-pole suggests a second or subsequent horse team/s - something else to look out for.

Again the roof, which on other similar toys would be either a straight plug-on, or integral to the rest of the body moulding/s, is instead held on with long pins stretching down from the luggage-rack and washers with a partial flange or catch; which hooks over the window frame. It's frankly a miracle it's remained as intact as it has?

The guy's head has been dyed a realistic flesh-tone by pigment-bleed from the unstable additives in the over-sized hat - now THAT is serendipity! The cheaper versions have integral heads  but the same plug-on hat.

Another look at Brian's contribution reveals all the same construction quirks, but copies of the French horses, rather than the more typical HK ones of the VT effort. These coaches (and the wagons they sat next to in the toy-store) were common and there are many variations of both French and HK types (and the Spainsh Mezquita seen here), and the quirky features are the same for all of them.

It also shows what the driver of the VT stage coach should look like!

Here's one issued with a simple wish-bone draw-bar ( ⊃− ) and only one horse, which looks a little better in brown, I think both figures are there, but you can only just see one in the top right-hand corner.

I'm using the image (ex-evilBay; for research purposes) because A) it's about 15 years old, B) it's fuzzy but proves a point and C) is one of the commonest versions, like the steam road-roller I blogged a few years ago, or the HK copy of the Thomas Roman chariot, these small-bag, header-carded, generic rack toy 'novelties', priced for pocket-money were common back in the day, and do turn-up quite often. Note, however; that the artwork (similar to the other two mentioned) shows the full wagon with two horses.

R is for Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' . . . Keep Them Wagons Rollin' - Raw'HIDE!

Another wonderful submission/guest post from Brian Berke, he says they are probably French and I'm wondering if they might be Jou Plast, whom I know made smaller two-axle carts and wagons for/as Bonux premiums - albeit with smaller horses. The firm of Féral (who carried Hugonnet) did similar horses, but with thinner, flimsy draw-bars/centre-poles . . . I'll stick them all in the tag-list until someone corrects me!

A quite deep-boxed 'prairie schooner' or covered-wagon, which has long slots for the cover to attach to the body instead of the plugs most other makes use, along with the nice touch of the first tilt-hoop being left bare.

I'm sure I've mentioned a draw-bar and horses here before (when I was asking for the translation on the SGDG mark) and it seems to be the same as these, with the skinny copies of Beton horse.

A fine stagecoach; this particular model was heavily copied (in Hong Kong and elsewhere) in the same size (sub-50mm), with further piracies getting down to 30-odd mm. We looked at a JTC (probably HK not Japan) copy here and it also seems to have provided the model for Blue Box's team on their little red and brown wagons (ex-Crescent) in the small scale.

Brian's Berserker shows us how much smaller these are to start with! Interesting to note that the coach figures have plug-on hats (which always look a bit Mexican, especially on the copies) while the wagon figures seem a little better in the sculpting department?

B is for Bonux (and other premiums)

During the 1960's and 70's Bonux washing powder nearly always contained a premium/gift of some kind, and with military subjects being to the fore, it was only a matter of time before this French company came to the blog.

The most known Bonux premiums among toy soldier collectors are these three sets of four contemporary French troops in the garb of regular infantry, para's and Foreign Legion. The 'NATO' helmeted lot and para's have reasonable poses and equipment, the FFL are a bunch of shouty-fist-wavy guys with no hope in a fire-fight! Although the guy on the right is missing his stick-grenade...yeah, exactly!...Stick Grenades?

However, I'm being too judgmental, they were toys after all. Coming in various shades of Olive and Olive Drab, they are clearly marked Bonux on the higher side-edge of their sloping bases. The manufacturer is unknown but the bases have a lot in common with the bases of the Styrene figures issued in the larger scales by Mokarex

Bonux also issued sets of AFV's, Aircraft and Civilian Vehicles, both assembled and in kit-form, vintage and contemporary, along with various other figures.

The Yellow Para's are a latter issue of the Bonux figures by a company called Johnson, while the two Bonux members of Louis XV's army are missing their waxed hair-pieces! JC Piffret reports them as being made by a company called Jou-Plat. Likewise the blue figure is Prince Charming to La Roche aux Fees' (a dairy products company) Sleeping Beauty. The magician in black is also by La Roche...

The AFV range are better illustrated in the French Premium site listed in my favorite links column, however I do have an unmarked (all Bonux stuff is well marked) petrol tanker in the same colour of plastic as the half-track, which is not listed on that site, and may be connected via supplier only? If anyone cares to; I have Blue-Box and Tudor*Rose to swap for more examples of these.

Unmarked versions of all the original figures are as commonly available, and I suspect were sold in bags or carded as pocket-money rack-toys by whoever supplied them to Bonux.

Bonux also gave away the National Costumes/Dolls of the World I looked at some time ago, but with an antiqued wash and faux Chinese ebony-wood base. They issued the Kellogg's animals in silver and gold and the Disney Robin Hood characters issued by all sorts of companies all over the place!