H is for How They Come In - April I - Chris - Combat Armymen!

So to actual toy soldiers and military model figures, for those loyal readers with stricter criteria to their collecting! And this lot had some real treats in it . . .

I've seen the two on the left somewhere in a catalogue I think, they are copies of Airfix (obviously) but quality is a cut-above the usual rack-toy 'armymen', the material too, which is probably polypropylene rather than 'ethylene and paint has been added at the production stage - anyone recognise them?

The mine-clearer also is interesting as while he pulls from both Tim Mee and MPC sculpting, he seems to be a unique pose, while in the background three Kamley/Kosi/KS types, in blue, for the Khaki Infantry page which is overdue for a major update (stuff from Chris, Brian and others), but which won't now happen for a while yet.

These were a real treat, and that's the official paint-job! Polands PZG copied the Airfix Paratroops and issued them in several colour-schemes, of which this was the leeriest by a country mile! Seven poses are known - click on 'Żołnierze' and then 'Spadochroniarze brytyjscy'.

It took me a minute to remember why I'd shot this guy in close-up, but Chris reminded me it was marked Macau (yes, I should have shot the mark and collaged them, but they are off in storage now!), I think I may have had another come-in, but can't remember if it was the same pose or the running guy, nor indeed, if it isn't the same figure confusing me as everything was being sorted and moved back in the summer, but unusual to have rack-toys marked Macau.

Aurora Sherman, a spring-loaded pistol, they also came as key-rings and are plastic copies of die-cast novelties, also from Hong Kong and also available carded or as key-rings. Another revolver; a cheap action-figure pistol (or Christmas cracker prize?) and a helicopter who probably belongs on the deck of a largish-scale aircraft-carrier, 'big-box' toy? The tank-trap (Czech hedgehog) is Matchbox I think, but fully compatible with the similar Aurora ones.

The de rigueur seated figures - the more the merrier as there seem to be lots of originators beyond the Payton history, and many colours! The larger one may be Hong Kong, while the yellow chap is jeep crew , definitely from HK, and again several variants. A Marx soft-plastic Brit' from the later window-boxes and a 1:48th scale German tanker completes the line-up.

The kit figure could be Bandai or Nichimo, who both had ranges in that size back in the 1960's, as I know more of the Bandai kits; I suspect he might actually be Nichimo? But other 1:48th makes were around, and in recent years it (the scale)'s seen a resurgence, so I'm only musing out loud!

Already seen elsewhere, a nice line-up of parachute troopers, they will - in time - all be sorted onto that page, which is on sabbatical for a while, due to real-life circumstances, but of interest here are the two on the right-hand-side with their weapons in their hands, the smaller ones tended to get a few issues - gum-ball machines, Christmas crackers and make-weights in larger carded rack-toys.

The small one on the end is almost certainly a cracker prize, and as always - I couldn't share it with all of you if Chris hadn't sent it in the first place, so many thanks to him.

Zee is for Zylmex is for Motormax is for Redbox!

I can't remember if the takeover of the Zylmex factory and tool-bank came out in the initial rebuttal of the nonsense from TJF and his onanistic monkey-lizard back in 2016, or if it had already come out, but suffice to say the demise of the Z's was good for Tai Sang!

I'm fairly sure this is an Argos code but it could have been Index? Not that it maters particularly; these sets were available elsewhere at the time (early 2000's? I'll probably have the date in the old book manuscript, or the Argos pages to scan sometime), and an outer liner is A) not pretty and B) hard to get a paragraph out of, which I seem to've done . . . phew!

I'm also not sure where I've got the idea (die-cast site somewhere?) but I believe Zyll produced some of these (or the Motormax brand), right at the end, and Redbox took over the stock as well as the tools etc . . . certainly the logo bottom-right would appear to be a generic's 'phantom' sub-brand, bearing no relation to Zee and not much to Redbox, although it is an R, while the only thing tying this to Redbox is a small, white, paper sticker on the back.

Figures were rubbery PVC copies of Matchbox American Infantry; 2-each of five poses, these have a very muted camouflage, others [in the collection] have more obvious contrast between paint and plastic, we may have seen a few here in the past, but I also think a second marque has been associated with them at some point - bought in?

The lorry has hardly changed in 40/50 years, the wheels have had a redesign and the markings/decoration are sharper!

We looked at the various half-tracks once or twice here at Small Scale World (most notably in this overview) with both Zylmex-marked and blanked-off belly-pans. The tanks are for another day, but those of a certain age will remember them butterfly-clipped to a piece of sloping landscape in their window-boxes, I have several AMX30's somewhere, which had obviously gone-cheap at some point! But there are others in a tub with the knock-off mini-mites (Cragstone or Kresege?) and Tomy minis. The helicopter is an improvement on some of the earlier Zee Toys stuff!

These are still out there in various configurations depending on the contract and Redbox are better labelled on this exact set, or were a while ago in TKMaxx. Now; there are too many question marks in this post, but I shot it because I happened to have it in front of me the other day as everything is in a bit of turmoil here at the moment (boiler died yesterday!), and there is one more question mark - I mentioned in the previous post they might be Macau not HK production . . .

There is somewhere, some data tying Tai Sang and Zylmex to die-casting factories, or a factory in Macau, yet you never find that mark on any products by any of the marques (Tai Sang-Blue Box-Redbox or Zee-Zyll-Zylmex), so I'm not sure about any of it; however they (or some of them) may have originated in the Portuguese colony rather than Hong Kong? As all marks are now 'China' and most of the tools still in production; I guess it's a moot point!

K is for Kick-ass Key-ring Kurassiers

I scored this pair for a song of-off that there feebleBay the other day, thinking "They'll go well with that knight" (I have a knight!), but in going to look for the knight A) found he was much smaller, softer and chunkier and B) that I had another from this series, so, as is often the way, the post grew from what might have been one collage into this - enjoy, loyal readers!

So my purchase, which was only a week or so ago - they came yesterday; Two rather over-dressed or flauxy, foppish chaps from the - vaguely - Napoleonic era, in all their finery trotting out to do some hawking or handkerchief-dropping or some such? They would complement the 'Prince' from Exin Castillos or maybe some of the Merten medieval court stuff.

Off to the 'unknown/unbranded pre-20th century military' box for the knight I knew I had and found both another of the 40mm'ish ones and that the knight was actually a bit of a stumpy-runt! The 3rd figure being in the same dense PVC Injectaplastic (and JSP) use while the knight is more of a silicon-rubber? I say that because . . .

. . . the 35/40mm European premiums of Wellintonian types also go quite well with the riders, and also have that Macau-sourced, via-Portugal, look about them! And bases in the style of the Wild West we looked at recently. Mine are both Bonbon-marked Napoleon-brand premiums (small sweets), but Nestle had a set, Kinder have been credited (pinch of salt there?) and Huilor as well.

I seemed to take more shots of the old figure than the two new ones - he was the only one who would stand-up before I took the chains off! After removing the key-chains; I used to cut the loops off as well, but that was when I was a philistine, now I just slip the ring out and leave the key-rings in the bag with the figures.

The funny thing was the seller had them listed separately, so it was 'shopping-cart and see what they look like together when they turn-up', then, when they turned-up, I wondered if they might be (from the colours) an old 1976 [1776] novelty opposing-pair, but after finding the third I'm now just wondering how many more there are in the set and/or; do colours change on the same figure? It's another rabbit-hole!

They would also probably go well with Spencer Smith as a bunch of foppish, Old Etonian, staff officers or ADC's, wot-wot! And they will look good with those cake decoration copies of Airfix's Washinton's Army?

H is for How They Come In - Week 18 - 1 Overview & Army Men

Hot on the heels of Peter's lot (looked-at a couple of days ago) came another parcel, from Chris Smith and it's a cracker, which should have been published yesterday (or weeks ago!) but I was struggling with the Internet, or certain parts of it, yesterday!

I could get on Faceplant with no trouble at all from start-up, Hotmail was intermittent, YouTube was slow but trying to get on mine or any other Blog was not happening, and even getting Google's page up took forever, once I was there I could get to Blogs through their URL, but even then images needed to be reloaded and the blue-circle never stopped? Hay-ho, it's working now (middle of the night by the time I get these loaded!), so, onwards and upwards!

I think I bought my assistant off with some cheesey-dreamies as it was a trouble-free opening and this is a shot of the initial 'excitement sorting', it's just awesome, as every time you remove something, especially the larger pieces, you find half-a-dozen other things underneath, rapidly running out of room, you have to bring some order to the chaos . . .

. . . which is what has happened in this shot; like the last big lot from Chris, I started with thematic piles by subject matter which are;

1.      Trees & plants

2.      Robot 'set'

3.      Weapons, scenics and equipment

4.      Wild West

5.      Sci-fi / Fantasy

6.      Ships & boats

7.      Aircraft

8.      Ceremonial and historical soldiers

9.      Farm & zoo

10.  Ancient & medieval

11.  Prehistoric Hominids

12.  Dinosaurs & Chinasaurs

13.  Flags!

14.  Cartoon / TV/Movie-related

15.  Money box/bank

16.  20th century soldiers / 'Army Men'

17.  Civilians

18.  'Halloween' / Horror

19.  Sports

20.  Vehicles

And we can then meander through some of the piles looking at highlights and with both the above photographs it's a case of 'what can you spot', but we'll be looking at lots of them in close-up, the second biggest was the 'Army Men' pile which as it was closest to me, got shot first!

Again, mid-sort shows piles of like-figures being sorted from the main pile, although unrelated figures may end up in the same pile, this is because when they get further sorted into the main collection similar figures are often together; I know I've mentioned in the past the quandary over whether to sort alphabetically by makers or thematically by subject, it's bit of a hybrid arrangement at the moment!

Final 'exploded view', the blue rifle should have been in pile '3', but fell out of whoever it had got caught-up in as I was sorting them! It looks like a Christmas Cracker (budget range) novelty 'charm'.

Highlights not covered below include the two Aurora kit-figure Russians in shop-window display paint (I think, top right), some Matchbox Mega-Rig and Battle-King figures (centre) and a Corgi pair, various Airfix clones including some more Russians, Toy Story Tim-Mee clones (middle left) and another of those Spetznaz types I got all confused with a while ago, I think this is the other size, but I'll dig them all out and compare before I get it wrong again!

The pale yellow ones (middle top) are a new form or version of Airfix US Para-clones, and as I've now ID'd the third set I did have, I'll do an update on that Airfix page soon . . . ish (I must stop making rash plans as promises!).

Chris has contributed greatly to the parachute toy sub-collection and this lot contained six, the two blow-moulds on the right being different versions of a new (to me) variant, the Tim-Mee copy is possibly a Toy Story thing, but a knock-off I suspect, not a licensed one - which we have seen here. Next to him is a less common version of the smaller ones, while the two Airfix clones weren't duplicates of any I have here, and there are quite a few, but with about eight variants and many colours, there's loads to find!

Colour variations and mould variations of figures we've probably seen before, except the painted chap, who will get a full collage on the Khaki Infantry page, when I do the next update, as he appears to be A) an earlier, unmarked, better-quality version of the 'Empire'-marked one we looked at a while ago (from Adrian Little) with the scalloped-out base and B) possibly British? It's a hard call, the plastic could be HK'ish, or even South American, but it could be British, it's bloody-interesting anyway!

The figure on the left (a non-exact Airfix US Marine clone) is marked Macau which makes it quite unusual, then two larger figures one an HK copy of a US (?) maker and the other 'Rambo' probably Arco, they made the smaller Rambo set (see tag list) with bases, and I think these larger baseless ones were them too - plastic is the same and poses are similar? Finally a really nice, dynamic pose of sniper, who pulls DNA from the Airfix British paratrooper sniper, but is by no means the same.

Not from Chris, but currently on sale under the probably phantom-brand of 'Black Temptation', these hark back to the previous Rambo figure (and the mentioned smaller set) in that one or two of the poses here are taken from there! You get 12, six green and six . . . primrose! There's a bit of Marx and a bit of Bundeswehr in there too!

Back to Chris's donation to the Blog, and saving the best to last; Chris got a nice 'score' of Tiny Trojans, among which was one which hadn't been painted on the base and another which has a pod-foot effect caused by a short-shot on the tool and he kindly sent both to the Blog.

The significance of the unpainted base is there as all my brown weapon and/or black helmeted ones have plain bases, while the pea-green helmeted ones always have painted bases, as did the rest of Chris's substantial find, so it's not that it's an interim or crossover 'version' but rather a mistake!

All superb stuff and I can't thank Chris enough for sending this lot to the Blog, except by sharing it with you, the loyal readers and next-up we'll have the ceremonial/historical types!

I is for Intermediate Scales - 40mm Wild West; Introduction

The following image is the comparison shot for the three posts which should have appeared immediately below it.

Both images consist of a Merten 40mm Wild West figure on the far left of the line-up, followed by - from left to right - an early Culpitt's cake decoration with separate base, also issued as carded rack-toys in France by Jouets Super Plastic (JSP) shipped into Portugal by Injectaplastic, a late Culpitt's version with integral base, a - probably Hong Kong - copy of Atlantic in that tinny plastic of the 1990's and a similar Waddington's clone - except it may not be a clone, but more on that in the relevant post below this, so scroll down if you want more on all four types.

I couldn't find the Elastolin box, so I couldn't add one each on the right of the line-up, as I had intended, but they are much-of-a-muchness with the Merten's, only Elastolin's sculpts tent to be slightly sharper in the sculpting/finish.

I is for Intermediate Scales - 40mm Wild West; M is for Macau

It's also for Injectaplastic of Portugal, Jouets Super Plastic of France, and - as we know them here - Culpitt's the cake decoration people. We looked at them years ago, and as far as the figures go I haven't got much to add, but hopefully the imagery is a little better this time . . . or at least - I think we've seen them before, but finding the old image un-cropped in the dongle folder, I'm not so sure, and  - in case I don't have time to check - I've added it to the end of this post.

So - the Indians or Native Americans first, and the upper row are the earlier versions, the lower two rows are the latter ones, possibly only issued as cake decorations, but the more we learn about all this stuff the more they turn-up elsewhere as something else or claiming to be someone else's!

The separate-based set has more poses and are slightly larger/better etched and - as stated - here in the UK were cake decorations handled by Culpitt, on the continent however they were imported by Injectaplastic of Portugal, and - through their packaging - we know they were made in Macau (a 'free' colony (similar to Hong Kong and just along the coast from it . . . also 'handed back' at around the same time?), they probably also supplied the sets branded to JSP over the Pyrenees mountains in France?

Unlike the cowboys we'll look at in a mo', the Indians are pretty original is sculpt/posing, with a slight nod to other makers in the spear-thrower and maybe the chief?

From an evilBay-lot a while ago, the Jouets Super Plastic set from France, as almost certainly supplied by Injectaplastic, these sets don't have any more poses, but they do have various accessories including both a teepee (or tipi) and a totem-pole, both of which seem to equate to the 'eighth pose'. There was also a camp fire and the fort, along with some rock piles which were issued with both cowboy or Indian cards.

Note the different coloured trousers on one figure, from the 'UK paint-scheme'?

The cowboys; here there are eight poses, and a definite Marx influence to most of the poses, from the larger 4 and 6" figures - much copied, particularly in Hong Kong? Unlike the Indians, the cowboys get different-coloured bases, with consistency between pose and base . . . or at least there was consistency before the green ones which match the Indians started turning-up! They're possibly Portuguese/French examples (?) and the two in the full row always have green bases, so it's not an exact science!

The upper row are darker fleshed (possibly Injectaplastic/JSP) and seem older, below them the full row is Culpitt, then the replacements with the moulded bases and finally a set which seem to have an all-over tan paint (on tan plastic!) before the other-colour highlights to match the usual scheme?

Each generation gets paler flesh . . . they go from the harder tanning of the early figures to almost white!

Backs and bases, the drummer and the native woman could almost be used as pencil-toppers, but I think it's just a material-saving device on the part of the manufacturer?

I may have shown you this already? Anyway; I showed more colour variations but in a less clear fashion and with the earlier figures in the centre of a sort of exploded graphic or pictogram. And with a smaller sample in those days (shot was taken in 2009) the separate base cowboys are a mix of [what might be] earlier and later figures.

R is for Return . . . to Romans

We've seen these before here; on the Roman page (where I think they are waiting for blurb!) with their anachronistic card-art, and possibly in a rack-toy month, but having found another header-card set and got the loose figures out of storage, it's time to look at them again, and a few others of similar ilk - Hong Kong/Macau clone'ery!

Not the largest sample but it meets the purpose; there seem to have been three generations of these, the gold/silver ones which were mostly (all?) rack-toys in the 1960/70's, a set of muted colours (Christmas cracker/capsule-toy contents) through the 1970/80's and an issue in 'neon' or electric colours which were quite common as handfuls in the early days of evilBay and must date from the late 1980's/1990's, probably from similar cracker/capsule origins, or - from the bulk findings; those Maltese festival 'window-throws'.

The emerald green figure (in the little bag) was the first of these I found back in the early 1990's (it's the running pose), and I have glued him back together once or twice, but he has the consistency of candle-wax, so I hang on to the pieces for loyalties sake, or until a similar coloured sample turns-up with a bit more backbone! If I chucked him I'd be unable to show he came in that colour - it's how the collection works!

There are minor differences in the bases, with the early metallic figures having their mould-release pin-marks as punched-through holes, the mid-era figures have a slighter 'dink', while the late, bright-coloured ones have barely a sign of the pin, or no visible showing at all. It would seem that the release-pins were a separate process, possibly triggered by hand, or by hand in the early days of the tools life, with some operators forcing them through the still soft plastic, later batches showing more finesse in the phase application!

Compared with other HK clones, they (pink one) are the smallest, and were probably copied from the Elastolin 40mm figures as would the lollipop figures (orange brown one)* have been, after the original figures (far right and middle of bottom row) are the not Hong Kong, but 'Made in Macau' figures in gold and silver polyethylene.

These were probably copied from the 70mm figures, pantographed down to 50mm, but could have been grown from the 40mm Hausser originals. I'm not sure if the painted fighter is home- or factory- paint, but overall they have the makings of cake decorations, although I think they were carded rack-toys in France?

*This is one I think is probably not the Platicom/Soldabar series, but rather, another similar lolly-stick sweet-with-prize issuer as we saw here a while back with the contributions from Konrad Lesiak in Poland; it has the hole, but without the collar and with a smaller, more-oblong base. My sample is also a bit heat shrunk from early removal from the tool. - On the subject of which; there is a section on the Plasticom figures coming to the Khaki Infantry page with new poses courtesy of Chris Smith as soon as I get the blurb sorted!

These (upper figure) were also sold in France (by Jouets Super Plastics?) imported from/via Portugal (by Injectaplastic) as carded sets and are also believed to be from Macau in origin, this one was given to me by Peter Evans many years ago, and is missing what looks to be a polystyrene weapon - probably made soft at the hand-hold by the actions of the free-radicals in the dense PVC, the same thing you see with early tracks on Airfix AFV kits. Below is an Elastolin 40mm original for comparison.