G is for Gigantics - Giant Monster Insects

Except, it can be argued Spiders and Scorpions are not technically insects, but they meant well! Originally issued by Fundimentions, (Miner Industries/MPC) when General Mills became involved they were re-branded AMT/Ertl, but MPC and Airfix boxes can be found, although these (below) are the common iteration; certainly in the UK.

 

I got mine out and shot the boxes a few years ago, and then scanned them, a while later, I didn't shoot the kits, as they were unmade, but as they are quite simple, I hope to do them as future modelling projects, with posts on them, here, then.

 

There was originally a fourth model, a Giant Wasp, but it was only issued in the early days, and I won't speculate on the reasons for its lack of re-issue, nor will I 'research' it by nicking other people's stuff, one day, hopefully, I'll just get one! 

 

July 2022, and the lawn's looking a little better than in did the previous summer when I shot the board-game .gif's! I think I got two of these from Modellers Loft, one at the old site off the M25 (Coulsdon Road/Brighton Road?), the other at the Croydon Road shop (I believe they're now based in Bournemouth?), with the slightly crushed Scorpion box, being a Car Booty prize!

 

 

The original reason for my interest in them was the HO/OO-gauge-compatible figures, and while the Giant Wasp isn't listed here, it seems to have had the same figure-count/pose distribution as the 17-figure Giant Scorpion set.

 

Each kit contains, in addition to the monster insect, and figures, a few scenic items, in mixed scales, and card 'corner' to make a display for your kit. And - if I work this out right, below this post you'll find three image-dumps, of the scans I took a week or so later, one for each of the three sets.

 

Other people's research;

 

Blog overview;

https://parlorofhorror.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/model-kits-amt-gigantics-1975-1979/ 

 

And he did a Wasp video! 'Funland' has never been less fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwMOp306rDg 

 

Gigantic Wasp on Scalemates;

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/fundimensions-1-0503-gigantic-wasp--605514

 

There were also flyers for a magazine included in two of the kits;

 

Giant Tarantula

 

Giant Scorpion

It seems to have been a very short-lived enterprise?

G is for Gigantic Spider

Yeah! . . . The worst nightmare! Not carried by Airfix, but as common as the two below (if I've posted them right!), although it only got a few figures (eight), and not all the poses. I think I did start to make this one at some point, so may already have a complete Tarantula!

 

Box.

 

This is clever, and the other kits would have benefited from something similar, it's a rest made from a copy of a section of the tool, so the body (thorax and abdomen) rests on it while the leg-glue sets, ensuring they are all positioned correctly and are flat to the ground.

 

Instruction sheet.

 

There was an additional French instruction sheet.

 

Printed card backdrop.

G is for Gigantic Mantis

The first of the two carried by Airfix, for a while, and I guess, being cut in half by a giant Prying Mantis would be a quick and relatively painless end, if accompanied by a deal of sheer terror! This kit got a full complement of the vaguely HO-gauge compatible figures, but only one of each. And - apparently, a male, due to the presence of wings.

 

Box

 

Instruction sheet

 

HO figures, N-gauge tunnels, micro-amour buildings . . . Forced perspective!

G is for Gigantic Scorpion

A sting from a scorpion this big would fill you with so much liquid, instantaneously, you would explode like a water balloon, before you felt the burning seer of any poison! Continuing the image dump/Picasa clearance exercise, with the last of the three AMT-Ertl Gigantics, and the other one carried by Airfix immediately prior-to and during the General Mills years.

 

Box.

As far as I know, this kit was the only kit with a waterslide transfer sheet, for the shopfronts of one of the damaged building mouldings, included in the kit.

 

Instruction sheet.

 

 

Card background/backdrop for arranging the other elements in a rudimentary disorama.

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.