F is for Follow Up . . . From Ages Ago!

Do you remember when we looked at the Nazi board game Friegur;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2012/05/f-is-for-friegurwhatever-that-means.html 

 

Well, I managed to pick up a few of the pieces at the BMSS show last weekend, they weren't cheap, but well worth it, to add them to the stash, and they also add something to that previous post, being unmarked and introducing a new colour, useful, as the link to the Leipzig set found by Paul at the time is now dead?

 

A full squad of twelve infantry, with the standard-bearer.

One each of the German Army's poses, the officer has lost his hand, maybe his Mauser exploded! And we can see the oxblood red of the mounted figure (in German helmet . . . ish) must be from another set, as we saw with the whole game, last time, each army is one colour.

 

Likewise, there are 'Frenchies' from two sets, but there were only three items, two foot officers and one mounted, again in the oxblood red.

Comparison between the not very German helmet (the foot figure's helmets are a better shape, as can be seen in the previous images), and the more obvious Adrian helmet of the 'French' side, and a difference of base design, one's thicker too. So we have examples from at least two sets, possibly three, and none of these were marked, whereas there were clear base-marks last time we looked at them.

 

I'm guessing here, but I suspect the different tech' involved in producing Bakelite mouldings, over the later petrochemical-polymer injection processes, might have led to larger tools or bolsters, for oven finishing of whole 'sides', with all the pieces required of a game, being made in one colour batch, then another, and the two opposite sides swapped for contrasting colours, at the packing stage?

 

Certainly the larger components made in the phenolic material for the electrical industry would suggest such large tools/components were not rare, although nowadays, Bakelite is, or can be injected, in quite small moulding machines, so I guess it's a moot point!

Howitzer, trench mortar and the 'lozenge' tank, as seen last time.

 

Notice on all these, the uneven finishing/sanding of the bases, as opposed to the marked set we saw last time, where they were all clearly ground level, in a uniform fashion, here they've just been touched to the sanding belt, to remove high-spots. It would be interesting to know if these are earlier or later production, I suspect the latter, maybe licensed to another maker, the Leipzig connection from last time? Although I've tagged them Denkmeier and Fischer to keep them together with the previous post.

 

The cockpitless Messerschmitt Me.109 'drone'!

 

So, marked or unmarked, in black, khaki or oxblood, I still have a few to find before I'm happy with the sample, given that an actual game will stay well outside my budget parameters! But this is a nice start! 

J is for Jährliche Osterhasenparade

Did you anticipate this post? I'd totally forgotten . . . again! But Brian Berke has done one of his regular photo-essays for us, by heading down to Scully & Scully, at 54 Park Avenue, an address, to Americophiles, as prestigious or exciting, as something on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées would be to a Francophile, or Park Lane to an Anglophile! And why has it taken me nearly a decade to look that up?

 

Brian had real problems with reflection this time, hence two visits were called for, and he even tried different cameras, and while I've done what I can with cropping and contrast, you can see a camera in three or four of them, and I cropped the mice out of a larger image, so that one is a bit fuzzy, because they were background!

 

As always, the sculpts, and their painting are exquisite, and while we've seen some of them before, it's all new painting, and/or some new vignettes, along with new trees, I think. I didn't reject any of the images, so there's a bit of duplication.

 

Nothing else to add, as they are a perennial here, now, so please enjoy a bit of Easter magic from the Big Apple.

 

Many thanks to Brian for these, they are a real treat!

F is for Feelin' Feline!

An obvious title, I'm surprised I haven't used before now! We actually had a roundup of cat stuff not that long ago, and while half the stuff in this post is recent, some of it was found elsewhere in the unused archive!

A largish resin lump I picked-up at a charity shop back in '22, made by Sheratt & Simpson, I guess it's from one of those overpriced series of such stuff in jeweller's windows? But it's a reasonable sculpt, and when £20-something becomes 50p or similar, I ponce . . . like a cat!

Boysy-boy eyeing it with a modicum of suspicion! I still miss him every day, his weight on the end of the bed, his little complaints when he thought he ought to have a treat! But I miss both his Mum's too, and that's the burden of getting to this age, dealing with more and more death, in one's life.

Large Japanese blow-mould, marked on the other side with a three-leaved clover mark, and Japan in ink, and moulded on the body.

This is a modern set from Shing Hing, the people who brought a four-nation 'army man' tub to Smyths a few years ago. There's a lack of imagination in the decoration, but otherwise they are reasonable sculpts for a rack-toy type thing.

Three from Schliech, we looked at five back in October and I think two are duplicates, but the Egyptian-looking one is a definite paint variant, and the long-haired Persian is a new addition.

They are no better as cat's, than they were as dog's, who buys this shit?

Shelfied in Home Bargains.

Oh . . . I do! I actually grabbed these at Waterloo yesterday, a series of mini-adventures I could have done without - Travellers closing Charing Cross, football hooligans, and cancelled trains - led to my browsing the 'boutiques' on the new mezzanine, and I thought these were particularly stupid! The cord already hangs over the side of the vessel, how is a cat's tail going to make any difference, or improve things, one iota?

I found they preferred to sniff the fumes of sloe gin!

What? It's Christmas! 

S&S is for Seasonal and Superb

Brian has sent his seasonal shots of Scully & Scully's window display, he said he was fighting refelction, but they all look good to me, and as we all know what's coming, we don't need any more of my waffle; enjoy!

 

Many thanks to Mr. Berke for these, it's an unpaid mission, to fight the New York shopping crowd, and get these images, not just at Easter or Halloween, but especially at this time of year, and they are the most exquisite examples of the slate-etcher's art, even if, these days, they are cold cast rubber, or even metal moulds? And they are beautifully painted as well, a real treat Brain, thank you. It's starting to feel very festive!

 

09/12/2025 - Late addition!