E is for Eye Candy - Naval & Marines

This was shot back in November 2020, so five years ago, give or take the odd day and a leap-year! There's about the same again to be added to this, in the still being sorted pile, at the lip of the storage container, and we've added a couple of rack-toy assault-craft over that time, all seen here in various posts, I think, try 'Vessels' or 'Naval - Marines' in the tag list. But what can you spot?

 

Top left is all the larger 60mm'ish stuff from Marx, MPC, Auburn (polymer, not rubber) or Ideal (?) and so on, originals and re-issues, to their right is the Lone Star sample, with some PVC, Timpo-branded, Toyway reissues, while the more historically-uniformed Charbens are in the little bag.

 

In the box, top right, are the more modern (WWI/II'ish) Charbens with four of the ever more brittle Lone Star marines - fighting in No.1 Dress uniforms! I have added one or two I think, but they may be duplicates. Below them is a mixed tub of the smaller Marx and a few others; Reisler, hollow-cast &etc, which we saw in an early post on the subject. There's been a few hollow-cast additions too.

 

Sandwiched between those two tubs is a wooden, hand-carved, tourist chap, who we also saw here over a decade a go, but there are four, similar, and very interesting plastic versions about to hit the blog! To the left of the mixed tub is a newer one, since enlarged, but still not ready for the definitive post, with the Britains Naval gun, now 'guns', but not all versions yet, although we did have a look at them, in part, a while ago.

 

In the corner are the three Greek assault-boats, copied from Britains, which got a post, and then in the top-left quarter of the box, all the iconic novelty floating toys from Britains and Timpo. You can see the Greek crewmen under the US Assault craft . . . I've actually done an 'Assault River-Crossing', in a remarkably similar boat, but ours didn't have engines, so we had to fucking paddle, in the rain!

 

The final tub, outside the box, has all the European types, obvious are Cofalu/Cofalux swivel-heads and the Coma assault marines, but there's some other stuff, a couple of Atlantic, a Hong Kong or two, and, strangely, mu original Frog trio, who are RAF rocket-troops! They've since been moved, as the sample is up to about ten now!

 

You can add a largish sample of the Gem cadets, those Argentine rubber ones which came in a while ago, and more Atlantic, Lone Star and Reisler, along with some Starlux (not sure where they are?), but, there's actually quite a few to sort into this tub at some point, and more take-away tubs will be needed! Then there's all the ABC and other Hong Kong copies, from hollow-cast, taken from Britains, which we have looked at here, on more than one occasion, now.

M is for More from London, Second of Three Plunder Posts

Continuing with the look at Peter's late summer car-booty, and we're looking at sports figures and civilians in this post, with several useful examples of this and that, the odd oddity and some old friends!

 

Two Chad Valley and a Peter Pan Playthings footballer's, similar to the Palitoy push-heads, but having different mechanisms, I don't know if the Chad Valley's have been home painted or badly painted, while the Peter Pan can still be found in larger stores, or some of the mail-order novelty catalogues.

 

Note there are subtle differences between the fixing arrangement, of the Chad Valley players, to their bases, the significance of which I don't know (slightly different ball-kick characteristics?), while the Peter Pan player has a push button attached to a lever system like Palitoy's heads, Chad Valley's have a flicker on their upper shin, and (I think) a hidden spring. Similar figures were issued by Subbuteo as strikers or goalkeeper accessories.

 

Another bunch of the current cake decoration set, so far linked to three or more brandings, and several three or seven-a-side team strips, they will be added to and compared with the growing sample.

 

A humungous ice-hockey player, with a massive, chunky base, whom I assume is from some kind of table-game, akin to Table Football? I think he's polyethylene, but he could be a softer 'styrene, or some kind of 'propylene? Discolouration is probably from direct sunlight, and can probably be cured with an ultrasonic cleaner and some bleach solution?

 

The Gem golfer seems to be a Hong Kong copy, but it is in a soft polyethylene, rather than the usual (for Cullpit-Wilton commissions) hard polystyrene, and very-much in the ABC paint-style. Two of the HK mini-clones of the Olympic figurines and a key-ring, fat-footballer kid, conversion - loop removed and base glued on.

 

A lovely, current/new white-button Disney Princess knock-off from Rex London, another Disney-like in the Bully-Phidal-Safari style; I can't remember if she was marked, but one day we'll have to have a look at all of them on one page/in one post as there are so many! The cake-decoration dancer is missing her base, but can probably be wedged into one of the Charbens-Crescent-Marty circus horses, as some versions of the same sculpt are, by Marty!

 

And the bride, also a cake decoration is a better example of quite a few in the stash, who has her lace head-covering, 'posey' and silk ribbon intact. They come in a range of sizes and base marks, in various pastel colours and with different add-ons, and I do have a few complete variations now, so should blog them properly one day.

 

The key-ring looks like another variation of the Commonwealth sculpt, but I think it's more a case of the  dancers all being dressed in a grass skirt (the pāʻū) and draped in the floral-garland necklaces (lei lāʻī) associated with Hula, which is also about hip-movement as much as the hand gesture/language, so I think it's more a case of similar look, rather than crediting everything to Commonwealth!

 

Hong Kong (Wilton?) copy of the Hawaiian ukulele player, who is 'styrene, a Marx linesman, not clear, as he's on is back rather than up his ladder, but a set we'll look at properly another day, and two MPC civilians, in yellow (reissues?), the red one is new to me and the other two are different scales of a vast range of figures, seemingly from the same source, who were available to and issued by Tesco-Welly-Woolworth's/Chad Valley and others in the mid-1990's/early 2000's.

 

From the left, Cofalu, unknown 'China', Matchbox and Corgi, the long arm of the 'Leuwah' as Inspector Clouseau would have put it! And PVC-rubber, polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene respectively.

 

Thomas on the left here, I think, PVC, with an unknown and new-to-me, but interesting rider/driver next to him. A civilianised version of the common seated figure we saw in black, in part one of these posts. A Benbros-Kemlows type motorcyclist is next, with a pair of what I'm sure are novelty firemen, from a larger beach/garden toy.

 

One of the cross-over's with the forthcoming Chris Smith plunder posts is this nice hard plastic, possibly phenolic or urea-formaldehyde type, possibly an early 'styrene? And basically, a novelty, floating, bath-toy, there were also swans.

 

A collection of horses, with the larger one Britains for Tri-Ang if it's the one I think it is, two of them in contrasting colours came with a large tin-plate horse-box. Papo girl on pony, with another Papo to her right, a damaged Vitacup and two coach/wagon horses complete the group.

M is for May Visit - TV, Fantasy and Sci-Fi

So, to the last of the plunder I picked-up in May, and it's all the less than realistic or historical stuff, with a little bit of everything!

 

Another Weetos cereal premium, I seem - over the last few years - to have gone from waiting for the full set in any colour to how many do I have in all colours?! A knock-off MPC and a rocket which might be a missile from a big-box set?

 

Four Phidal 'Busy Book' superheroes, or villains, I already have the second from the left, but without the freezy-fronds, and it was the Archer which kicked that particular odyssey off, back in 2017!

 

Christmas cracker angel, I have quite the orchestra now! Unicorn's were Unique or The Works I think? A Battle Beast sans weapons, often the way, but I do have spares bags of odd action-figure sized accessories, so there will be a mating-up session one day. And a Gem putti/Eros/Cupid cake decoration.

 

Those generic superheroes again, I did find their post the other day, with help from Brian we'd ID'd them one side of The Pond at least as both 'Aircraft Warrior' (JPW I think), or Warrior Super Fighters (as a generic), but - in both cases - sans these little companion figures (here missing the blue one),

 

A vinyl-rubber modern Santa, and an older styrene one, the latter sold as a cake decoration, the newer, probably as part of an eraser set? Soon be Christmas . . . again!

 

Elves or children? Obviously from a board game, and they seem to be moving on tippy-toe, and shushing, with their finger, so maybe they are night-caps, and it's a bedtime game?

 

I thought this was one of the Gormity figures from Ideal we saw, in some shelfies a year or two ago, but they were gunmetal and different poses, so he's still a mystery, and a chunky one!

 

Ben 10 on the left, prbably the green one too, and maybe the chap with a red shirt, I think the last one is Star Wars? While the gezzer in the middle looks like a Disney Princess type knock-off, some kind of price or suitor?

 

Two Mighty Morphin's, Micro Machine on the left, unknown mini on the right.

 

Two of the Hing Fat 'Galaxy Cowboys'. 

 

A mixed lot, with a rack-toy Ninja, Iwako eraser bear, Toy Story's 'Combat Carl' from Phidal, slightly damaged, poured-resin ceremonial bear (needs it's pole-crown replaced), a Munch Bunch banana, and what is, I think, Jess the cat from Postman Pat?

 

UFO with little Aliens, I actually saw these in the store on a more recent visit to Peter, and I can't, for the life of me, recall if they were drowning in slime, or surrounded with candies, but it was one or 'tother? Green or purple, and they are in that stiff but softish synthetic rubber/PVC replacement elastomer, while the saucer is a bog-standard 'styrene. Note they have charm-loops but no chains.

 

Many thanks as always to Peter for most of these, I got the Phidal's and the game pieces from the Toy project I think, he found everything else.

B is for Big Jolly Boat

So, the other TN Thomas boat, the seller assured me there was a card once, and it was Thomas, not Poplar, but sadly, long gone now, while the bag was so dirty and so shredded it wasn't worth photographing, so you'll have to take my word of his word, but this is the Thomas big boy!

 

I don't know who was first, but there is a pattern to these, whether Ideal, Marx, MPC, or the two Thomas-Poplar ones (and remember there's that third set of 'believed to be' Thomas/Poplar who may have had their own - third - ship?), Marx have a single, central staircase to the poop-deck, MPC have deeper scupper holes, but the basic layout is the same for all five vessels, whether single or twin masted.

 

I suppose this is a 'ship', as it has a little yellow jolly boat! 

 

Confirmation on the oars we saw, when we looked, in reasonable detail, at these figures back in 2018, the Pirate 'logo' is the same plug-in style as the smaller vessel we looked-at earlier, but this boat has two masts. A two-part treasure chest can be carried by the figures with one arm down, again all similar to the MPC accessories.

 

Interestingly, when we looked at them last time;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2018/09/tp-is-for-taller-pirates-from-thomas.html

 

the colourways were the same, with green/blue for the larger and red/yellow for the smaller, so it may be they were limited production runs, as far as the colours run, goes? The green here is a much brighter 'highlighter' green, though. If I add the flag from that previous post's sample to this one, I think this one will be complete?

 

A comparison between all three of the small copies so far found, and their big brothers.

The middle red one is a cut-n-shut of two larger poses. 

 

Bird's eye view of the boats, I forgot to mention that the red, larger vessel has no marks.

Note there are ten position-plugs for the five crew. 

The red is missing carpet-wheels, the blue never had them.

A is for Airforce One . . . Hundred and Eighty!

I know, I know, but if you think about it, there is some sense in that, a method in the madness!

 

I like to think that over the years a lot of the important ID work on both Zang (composition) and Palitoy (early plastic) aircraft has been done here, slowly, as I've found them, not knowing Mig Bonnefoy already knew more about the Zang than me, but wasn't publishing online!

 

In recent months I've had a couple of good chats with Mig, on the subject, and shared two of these Zang revelations with him, but in the meantime a loyal reader 'Down Under', sent more revelations on Palitoy and some Antipodean angles on 'dine store' plastics, therefore this post is full of interesting stuff, new to Blog, Internet and some further corners of the Hobby!

 

So, in the order in which they were revealed to me, let's get stuck in!

 

We've seen the Boeing B17 in both silver and camouflage, and both British and USAAF markings (indeed, the examples on that occasion, came from Mig!), but for years, people have always been careful to say things like 'believed to be', 'said to be' and such like, when discussing the 'Zang for Timpo', I know I have, and the confusion, aided by Joplin's big yellow book, was always best left as Zang if loose, Timpo if Timpo-carded!

 

But here we have, on opposite tail planes, both a Timpo mark and the Zang mark, as a nice underlining confirmation of the relationship, and the first time I've seen it. And many thanks to John Begg for saving this one for me.

 

Then, a couple of weeks later, I found this at Sandown Park, and I've pulled it from those plunder-posts, to get it all together here. I was able to show it to Mig, literally minutes later, and an eMail exchange then ensured to decide whether it was a Yakovlev Yak-3 or an Ilyushin Il-2 (Flying Tank), and the Yak was settled upon! But nobody knew these were out there.

 

No Timpo blue-triangle label, although there may have been one where the paper blemish lies under the nose of the righthand Yak, but the box is quite fancy, and reminiscent of the JE Beale's department-store one, which reminds us they are still all Zang first, and only Timpo if so packaged . . . or, now, sometimes, marked!

 

Mig also gave me an updated list of the Zang/Timpo 'planes;

• Airspeed Horsa (Glider) 
• Boeing B17 Fortress
• Boeing B29 Super Fortress
• Bristol Blenheim 
• De Havilland Mosquito
• Gloster E28/39 (Jet)
• Hawker Typhoon 
• Lockheed P-38 Lightning
• North American P-51 Mustang
• Supermarine Spitfire
• Yakovlev Yak-3
•  
• Fairy Battle (mentioned in an Article by Sue Richardson )?
• 
  
• While we both think there should be a Hawker Hurricane!

So I still have at least, four to shoot, five to find, as the Horsa we saw here wasn't mine! 

 

In the meantime, a loyal reader who doesn't want naming, but is happy to go by the moniker 'Ozi', sent me this, from Australia, and it's clearly a metal copy of the later/better Palitoy spitfire moulding, under the name of Merry Toys, missing its landing gear and propeller, but, there's no missing those lines, as we've seen them here, on the Blog, most recently this January, just gone. 

 

Ozi said: "I will attach a few pics of the “Merry Toys” metal cast item; which I think owes a great deal in parentage to the Palitoy “Spitfire or whatever it is”.  The wingspan of the Merry Toy is spot on four inches.  I don’t have a Palitoy Spitfire” to go alongside it.  The casting of the Merry Toy is pretty crude anyway.  Would you please let me have your thoughts on the possible parentage of this item?  I found it in a model shop about twenty years ago" .

 

Well . . . my thoughts are, who copied who? There is clearly a relationship, but the Aussie one is both lacking the strange indented line down the fuselage (of the Palitoy one), and has a better cockpit. So I am minded to think, given how poor Palitoy's version-one Spitfire was, that they are also responsible for the first iteration of this beast, and Merry then improved upon it?

 

Also, haveing placed the Palitoys firmly in the 1940's, there is something of the 1950's tinplate about this Merry antipodean one, albeit, it's actually a die-cast alloy model?

Ozi also sent a very clean Mossie . . . from Aussie . . . sometimes I should just be jailed! Ozi found it on Gumtree, down under, so some made their way down there. I think I read, there is both a real Mosquito and a Lancaster being rebuilt in that part of the world?

 

It's not the only Mossie being rebuilt I believe, and likewise I think an American (or second Canadian?) Lancaster is under rebuild. Having seen the then, only two, flying Lank's together, at Farnborough, a fair few years ago, now, imagine what four would look/sound like, and likewise, three Mosquitos! 

 

In a follow-up eMail Ozi sent these four pictures (above and below) of smaller 'novelty' 'plane models, and I'll post his musing on childhood fandom and memories of toy aircraft at the bottom. Here a rather nice Vampire, in marbled pinkish-maroons.

 

 

 North American P-51 Mustang and De Havilland DH.106 Comet

 

Grumman F9F Panther

"In my school days, growing up in a smallish country town in OZ and later in a City, with only my imagination for company, it was natural to have a liking for toy aircraft.  It was a bit after WW2 and no one wanted reminders of it – but I was curious about the aircraft.  Over several years, I saw the Dinkies, the Timpo “Bomber Station” set (with what I later recognized as Lightnings!), a small scale plastic set of apparently locally produced items and – best of them all – the plastic Palitoys.  Particularly the Wellington with its transparent gun turrets with guns!

 

They were all out of my reach and I just had to drool. The Defiant and the Wellington were moulded in a sort-of camouflage pattern [the distinctive marbling of early Palitoy's. Ed.]; which made them very distinctive. 

 

And then there was a series of plastic toys contemporary with the Korean War; Panther, MIG 15, Shooting Star a nice Sabre with RAAF markings and they had wheeled undercarriages. In various colours; blue, yellow, red.  I managed to somehow get a couple of them.  There might have others in that series. I am pretty sure they were local knock-offs of the US Empire brand – or they might have been licensed copies.  I don’t know, and I don’t think anybody knows now.

There was another series out about the same time – no undercarriages on this lot ; a Hawker Hunter (Only saw red ones), a Canberra and a DC3.  And a bit later were the giveaways with packets of “Aeroplane Jellies”.  I have illustrated the only one of those I have ever seen.  A Vampire, not very well moulded in a dark purple colour. Similarly, I somehow managed to swap for or find examples.

 
The first pics are of the “Aeroplane Jellies” Vampire.  Wingspan about 2.5”. Next are a couple of examples of the small scale locals – a Mustang and a Comet in silver.  Wingspan about 2.5”.  Only ever saw these in silver, and I am pretty sure there was a Canberra in that series and also a Lincoln.  Next is a pic of an American Empire Grumman Panther.  Wingspan about 4.5”.  Despite looking for years for examples of the OZ made Panthers, MIG15’s etc, I have never seen a single one.

In more recent times I have obtained locally a very distorted Palitoy Defiant, a couple of Lockheed bombers; plus eBay examples of the post-war Wellington and Sunderland.  The occasional Timpo Lightning crops up here, and also their B17.  Usually very play worn.

 

A couple of ZANG Mossies were a welcome find a few years ago.  A local site had a listing some time ago of a collection of small plastic toys; FD2, Lightning and others and I put in a bid, but it was not good enough.  Apparently they were local KELLOGG'S giveaways and dated rather after my school days. . . . 

. . . I should mention seeing the toys section of one of the new supermarkets (COLES) having Palitoy “Spit-whatevers” and Vampires and possibly other types finished in what appeared to be chrome plating."

The 'small scale locals' would seem to be yet another iteration of the MPC 'Minis', also done in hard plastic by Blue Box, but possibly only one or two? And many thanks to John, Mig and 'Ozi' for helping bring this lot together!

T is for Two - Donations

On two recent meetings Adrian Little of Mercator Trading has given me small tubs of odds and sods, some of which are quite rare, unusual or interesting, and having found the errant pig hiding in one of the folders yesterday, I thought I'd better get the rest up here and shared with you.

Two of the pretty ugly, but quite rare Cherilea dinosaurs start this little parade of past plastic playthings, and while the Pterodactyl is reasonably complete, if rather playworn, the something ...nodon (tyranodon?) has lost a leg and the bit of the tail with the start of its name on! But, these will go with several others, some also a bit broken, in a growing sample.

 

Another handful of Blue Box Japanese, I will have some spares for swaps once they are all brought together and sorted for a final time, which is ironic, because for some time I had so few Nazar Marchenko sent me the missing figures as one of the first contributors to the Blog. Since when I've found and shown colour variations, painted examples and several mounted have either come in or been seen courtesy of Chris Smith!

 

Four Marx and a Deluxe Reading/Topper 50mm air-force/space types, very timely, as with the others in storage, they will be useful for a forthcoming comparison shot, and quite compatible with each other.

 

Another of the Taiwanese issue of the old European Asterix ice-cream/bubble-gum premiums, I opened the previous bag to shoot for a post here at Small Scale World, so I'll be leaving this one intact, as it's the less common one with shield etc . . .

 

I think these may be from Starlux, but are unmarked and probably from a boardgame, issued as premiums or possibly sold as die-cast vehicle set accessories, a' la Solido? I honestly don't know, and Starlux did have some unmarked stuff, and did issue unpainted toward the end, so?

 

Two of the figures from the MPC playset, on Planet of the Apes, the figures are in the style of Marx's made in Hong Kong WoW and Disney stuff, gloss-painted hard polystyrene, and while quite common are nevertheless nice examples of a subject which didn't get many toys outside the Mego action figure types.

This is fascinating, and anything you can add will be eagerly digested, it's a polystyrene novelty elephant, which is in two halves, apparently joined by a large ring and cavity thing which had me momentarily thinking it was a secret safe, hidden cavity type thing, before realising it's glued to its base (which also looks like the lid of something), even though there's no glue between the two halves which join tightly with no flash.

 

It could be the [sliding] lid of a vesta-case, cigarette case, or visiting/playing card case of some kind, maybe another version without the base does do service as a secret stash? Quite a good shade of 'ivorene', it's a charming, yet enigmatic little thing? 

Then, the other day, Adrian gave me a small tub of mostly die-cast vehicle accessories ad model kit figures, and these are the smaller ones with Lledo, Scalextric, Hornby and an unknown lead/whitemetal figure (O-Men?).

 

While these would appear to be the incomplete contents of both versions of the Airfix Old Bill/Omnibus kits, a Matchbox, a Dinky and a Britains Stage Coach lady passenger. I wasn't sure about the standing figure, but he's a heat-shrink which someone has painted-up anyway!

P is for Potpourri of Plastic Peeps! Peep's 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles!

The vehicular component of Chris's recent parcel contains some interesting bits and bobs, and with nothing more solid to put in the introductory paragraph, let's just get stuck into the imagery!

 

We saw them in the introduction, blocking the 'photo-booth'! Four of the polystyrene premium racing cars, along with, at the front; a robot-car (see below), a mazac game-playing car and a Hong Kong copy in soft polyethylene which has HONGKONG along the bonnet (hood) rather than a racing number.

The car/bot is channelling those odd weathered 'stones' from Kinder, with a sort of non-transforming Transformer twist! A small chunk of polyethylene, it's probably a gum-ball capsule-machine prize?

Artillery came in the forms of a Christmas cracker version of the old Giant gun in approximate 20/25mm compatibility, and a large naval piece, which I suspect once had a firing mechanism and probably knocked something down, but whether that something was figural or more skittle-like is still an open question!

Micro-minis, the trio to the right we've seen before, while the 'styrene PT boat could be cracker-fare or a boardgame playing piece, but looks to have some age, 1950's maybe, and possibly not actually polystyrene but a more phenolic or formaldehyde-based polymer?

Two wagons, both based on the early 'West' German stuff of Maurba, Siku or others, but both from Hong Kong, the nearer a sub-generation piracy of one of the commoner wagons, the circus wagon behind being as well-finished as the Wilton set we looked at here, but needing wheel sets, and suggesting another source, as the colour is both wrong for the same wagon in the Wilton set, and different from the Wilton green?

The Stuka to the left would seem to be a new version of the MPC Mini copies, being the fourth or fifth lot of those knock-off's, with two commoner rack-toy types behind, a Galoob Micro-Machine in the centre and two of the blister-carded rack-toy types to the right.

 

We will hopefully return to all these 'odds' in greater detail one day, as they slowly gather in their bags to make usable or complete samples, and I thank Chris again, for putting them aside for the Blog.