NZ NMM is for New Zealand's National Maritime Museum - Dioramas

Closing a day-long trip to New Zealand courtesy of Brian B, but with him shouldering the expense of the trip, we pop-in to the National Maritime Museum for a look at a couple of dioramas, civil in nature, but interesting for being boxed-dioramas with forced perspective to give a lot of atmosphere in a small space.

Late Victorian/early Edwardian period dock-scene, with a funnel in the background and an iron-clad merchantman to the right. Merchandise from all over the empire is unloaded and spirited away to warehouses or customs sheds, while a bustling market or retail district seems visible in distance.

'Stu's Express Freight' seems a little reluctant to get going, whether it's due to the size of the load he's expected to pull or the erratic behaviour of the crane operator, only the modeller knows, but that horse is 'thoughtfully stationary'! Note the little rat, seagull and semi-relief figure glued to the background image.

A couple of close-up shots of the two main elements of the diorama, I particularly like the trundle-crane with its cast-iron wheels; we used to have a set of heavy-duty scales in the barn for weighing multiple sacks of stuff and it had the same wheels, given how hard it was to perambulate over bare concrete, I hate to think how hard that crane would be to manover on wood-planking or -god-forbid - over cobbles!

The cranes mechanism seems to have been modelled to a degree of mechanical accuracy, using watch or clock parts. The sand box is well greased on a slopping tray/channel, and attached to a drum by a wire cable, as you lower the crane, the box slides back maintaining a counterweight balance.

The human figures are entirely scratch-built by the looks of it, but the horse is a more commercial element maybe, but with hand-made furniture, mane and tail.

A modern container port is the subject of the other diorama shot by Mr. B, and it's even more forced in the perspective, with different scales of shipping container used to throw the foreground into the background. Two customs officials check out a container with a robot and a sniffer-dog, while the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchild of the seagull in the previous diorama looks-on!

Meanwhile the Rat's descendant looks a bit like a pangolin?!!!

A close-up shot shows the dog to be a rubber 'in my pocket' or rack-toy toob/bag type, giving an idea of the scale of both these dioramas. The safety-vest (gillet jeune!) also seems to be the finger of a washing-up 'gladdi' glove!

If you are a child, going round the museum, you would be shorter and view this from an angle where the perspective would make more sense, I think the idea is to be looking up at the seagull with the concrete apron more level model-to-photograph?

Cheers Brian - a New Zealand Day!

NZNAM is for New Zealand's National Army Museum - Gift Shop Figures

Reinforcing the figures in the museum's display cabinets are a small number of figures for sale, for which I have no details as to manufacturer if any NZ reader happens to know? Seem to be modern 54mm (that is closer to 60!), 'new metal'  to match K&C, Figarti, Gunn, Atkinns & co.?

WWI ANZAC's; interestingly, after the end of the previous post; the officer seems to be wearing a slouch hat, but un-pinned, the troops sport a slightly shorter 'spike' more like a Mounties, while - and it's not clear - the pack-mule handler, half-out of frame to the right, seems to have the standard 'British' service-cap?

A nice group of resisting Moari and two figures (also in service caps) who I suspect are not WWII, but - from the blue-ish shirts - WWI Mesopotamia or Gallipoli? There seems to be a WWII figure advancing out of the frame, to the right.

Many-thanks again to Brian for the images, he explained that they are all shot from the rear as the reflection on the glass-fronts of the cabinets was too bright for photography. Has anyone got some at home they can shoot for us?

NZNAM is for New Zealand's National Army Museum - Other Exhibits

Brain also sent me shots of other items of interest within the museum, along with some items from the gift shop (next post), and what we have here are a set of probably commercial metal kit figures painted to represent New Zealand military uniforms through the ages.

Colonising and 'colonial period in the two full line-ups with WWI ANZAC uniforms visible below. I don't know enough to start attributing units/eras, but the Cavalryman looks like the sort who might have been sent to help against the Zulu's or Boars?

I rather like the cavalry guards uniform - middle left - which looks like the Hampshire Yeomanry mess-dress, although I think the local version was more ostentatious with even greater swathes of silver-braid! The Victorian period seems to have made a big thing of formal dress . . . 'All those parties - don't you know, what-what!'

And what's Windsor Davis doing next to him . . . "Luverlyboy-luverlyboy"!

Some modern uniforms here, I don't know enough about metal production either, but would imagine some Stadden's, New Hope and Under Two Flags to be here, maybe the odd Cavalier or even a Scrubby? Anyone recognise any of them? I like the knackered dog.

The whole display; gluing them to a mirror is a brilliant idea, by moving your head slightly you get to view all the backs of the figures, so the equal effort the painter went to isn't wasted! Mr. B didn't get the artists name, but they all look to be by the same hand, and a different hand to those of the dioramist we saw earlier.

Note also the 'Lemon Squeezer' hat, from mentions in posts on the NZNAM fund-raising figures, which we saw after Glenn Sibald generously sent them to the Blog at the beginning of the year.

Another; from an alternate angle, you can see it's different to the US or Canadian versions, I think, with a taller, sharper point and wider head-band area? While it lacks the turned-up side of its neighbouring Aussie, smooth-peaked one (shared - with detail differences - with the Ghurkhas). However, it is similar to the old boy-scout version, but then Baden Powell would have worked with colonial troops?

There's a book in there somewhere? One of the little Shire Albums perhaps, or a rather esoteric Osprey! It would be interesting to know when which version was adopted, by whom and why, formally or casually.

The metal figure of the colonial cavalryman in jodhpurs (first image) has one more like the Australian slouch-hat, suggesting a common 'colonial troop' heritage, but was the Canadian Mounties' shorter-version also born out of 'Empire & Africa;, or taken from the US 'Smokey Bear'.

Or did the Americans take it from the Canadians? Were ex-colonial troops wearing their old hats while working on the railways, being built 'out west', or while rushing for gold? An 'etymology' of the squeezed-peak and/or slouch-hat, would be an amusing read, and not less than a little interesting!

I suppose the 'cowboy hat', Stetson and Fedora must be on earlier branches of the family tree, and the leather forerunner of Richelieu's musketeers or Cap'n Jack are ultimately to blame!

And thanks again to Brain for the images.

NZNAM is for New Zealand's National Army Museum - Dioramas

This is the first post in a contribution day, Brian Berke, of New York, a regular contributor to the Blog, sent these just before I stopped posting for family reasons, so they have been sitting here for a while, despite being meant - in part - as a follow-up to the contributions from Glenn Sibald back in Jan/Feb; there's four of them, so today, we rather hand over to Mr. B!

The first post looks at two beautifully modelled diorama's one credited to a Tim Ryan (1980) and the uniforms/paint-work of the other looks similar, so I suspect he did both.

First you have to find those recalcitrant native citizens who have shown so unwilling to subjugate themselves to the Great White Queen's Blue (?) Jackets! This requires going a' campaigning; a tedious business which involves yomping, tabbing, marching and wandering about in the uloo, bondu, sticks or boondocks, basically going for an organised walk in the woods - well; a disciplined camping holiday . . . with the odd ambush!

This is a lovely model, the greenery is superb, I feel there's probably a kakapo or two in there somewhere, watching, curiously! 'What are the pink-monkeys doing now?'

In the rear of the column is a GS (General Service) Wagon, this carries all the 'camping equipment', which often makes it a target for some of those pesky ambushes; as 'Tommy' likes his creature-comforts, he's quite keen to hang back and guard it! While the Maori are just as keen to separate him from any comforts!

"Why are you men falling behind Corporal?"

"Guarding the wagon Sir!"

"Oh, Yes! Very-good; carry-on!"

Officers like their creature-comforts too!

I tried to collage the two to give a better impression of the whole, if I lined the kneeling sentry up the horses were tailless, so this is the best compromise! It really is a lovely diorama, well laid-out and with lots happening, yet without it being too busy.

Once you've found the Pā or fortified village, there's nothing for it but a full-frontal assault to force the palisade and gain entry to the entrenchments, easier in those [claimed for the Great White Queen] countries where the locals hadn't provisioned themselves with modern firearms! Consequently; Afghanistan and New Zealand proved to be tougher nuts than others!

This is also a superb example of how adding uniform-equipment and headdresses and giving all the figures a matching paint-job can bring disparate figures together as a homogenous unit, in the centre I can see a Timpo-solid stabbing downward (Imperial Guard or 8th army?) along with Herald, Deetail and Timpo-solid ACW's! And is the being-shot-guy at the back a Lone Star Russian?

Another Herald ACW instantly recognisable here with 'multi-pose' kits in the foreground, but Napoleonic or FFL? The loader two is familiar (far left, I'm not sure they were still using ramrods in the Maori Wars, but the atmosphere is there - maybe he's clearing a stoppage!) however, is he Deetail or Airfix? Again, at the risk of repeating myself; the use of all these figures is both intriguing and instructional as to the secrets of the dioramists' arts - a few added items of similar accoutrement, straps and a matching paint-job (not to forget the headdresses) bring them all together beautifully.

The sense of chaos in the moment, yet of organised urgency in the face of opposition (on both sides) is got-across magnificently and this model is a joy to behold; It may have been an act of attempted genocide, or at the very-least; misguided dogma and doctrine on the part of the incomers, the 'illegal immigrants' and their 'state', or - on the other hand - an act of 'futile', too-late resistance or rebellion by the locals, but (as the late David Bowie put it) each man can be a hero, just for one day.

Can you hear the splintering of dry sappling-wood under the weight of rushing (or falling) bodies . . . the screams of the wounded and dying, the manic yells of frightened men, the shouted orders of command or warning, all over the cacophony of firearms, and - out of shot - artillery . . . can you smell the cloying, devil's breath of cordite, dust, fresh blood and fear, burning the nostrils?

Thank you Mr. Berke. It was a rare treat to find these in my inbox . . . and - quite by accident - due to the contributions of Glenn and yourself; 2019 seems to have become 'New Zealand Year' here at SSW!

R is for Robin's Roustabout Rebels - Part 2 - The Figures

I also grouped the earlier post's figures by character/thematically, for closer comparisons, and this post is the result of those shots, in the course of preparing this pair of articles, they all got put away and taken out again several times, and one of the archers has migrated to another set!

Robin Hood's above and Will Scarlet's below, along with the guy I used to think was falling or sitting, but who I can only picture hiding in a tree now! The guy middle-bottom is an unnamed character - one of the Merry Men - but could pass for Robin or Will!

Now, there is no discernible difference between the two smaller Will's, and in the course of taking these mages I came to the conclusion I'd had the Down Under version all along, which means I need to find a Canada one at some point, just to satisfy myself as to their differences/similarities, as all the other figures do have clear differences between the sculpts and I believe the Canada issue is an unnamed figure?

The Maid Marion/ian's; Marx's 'ian is Rubenesque sexy in a Viking-court sort of get-up, the antipodean 'ion is a bit Hippy-chick sexy in plain Anglo-Saxon villager's garb, the Canadian 'ian sculpt looks like a rather dry Mother Superior or a 'Flanders mare' in full Norman aristocratic finery and Robin would be a fool to get involved with her, she's just gonna' whine alot!

'The Tuck'; my kind of priest - a godless one! I prefer the Marx sculpt, if he's got a staff he can get fightey-bitey, but the smaller ones have him holding a scroll or torch/brazier - it's not clear? This is the other pose (after the archer, if mine are of different sources) which has little change beyond base markings between Australian and Canadian issues - the Canada one is better detailed/etched and slightly taller maybe?

The two sheriffs' (Nott's & Darby!) and tree-climber/falling guy again! He's actually the most dynamic pose of all four sets (I haven't shown/got the other Marx set), but this may have meant he was a bugger to manufacture - lots of weird undercuts, not in the pose per se, but in relation to the layout of the other cavities/rest of the tool?

Little John; the difference between the two smaller ones is clear here with heaver sculpting of the thin parts obvious, while the dagger on the Canadian chap is longer. Neatly; both/all three issuers have gone with a taller sculpt for the man whose name was a play on his notable height, he's half-a-head above Robin and has a good [scale] six-inches on everyone else.

Alan-a-Dale/Minstrel, a close-up of the base marking differences, the 'Canada' sculpt is on the right. I find red plastic a bugger to shoot (so don't know why I concentrated on this one!) but with a black & white filter and some stopping-down it seems to show what's needed. The unnamed 'minstrel' could used as/taken to be the Coeur de Lion's lover; Blondel?

Much the Miller; I seem to remember him from childhood stories, although Marx haven't named theirs, they all share the same hood and similar kilt/surcoat tails, so they were all watching each-other or the Saturday-matinee's for their fashion leads, rather than historical sources, although they can all be painted-up for medieval armies!

Down Under this one's Will Stutley, another one I recall from tales told to me as a child, or read in comics, elsewhere he's the anonymous 'signaller'! One of the missing Marx versions has the green guy shouting with cupped-hand and no stowed-bow!

♪♫♪ Stick-fighting Maaaaaaaaaaaaan! ♫♪♪ The best candidate for converting/repainting to court jester or fool!

The other three! Australia/New Zealand give them all names, Canada doesn't bother, but they still make-up the numbers. The rock guy needs a siege-engine, but there are plenty around to chose from, and Will Stutley would make a good No. 1 to this chap's No. 2. While you can never have enough medieval archers, for Crecy, Agincourt or the other one where we gave Frenchie a good spanking!

Done did!

The lack of available information on the 50mm set from Down Under leaves questions still outstanding, for someone to follow-up, somewhere, sometime;

• ·         Which cereal were they issued with?
• ·         Were they Australian or New Zealand-issued, first?
• ·         Who made/manufactured them?
• ·         Did Canada issue a license or are they pirates
• ·         Was there a Sherriff or 'tree-hugger'!?

And - to be honest similar questions remain over the 50mm 'Canada' figures!

Many thanks again to Glenn Sibbald for revealing the antipodean versions and donating a set to the blog - New to Hobby/Internet - cheers Glenn!

R is for Robin's Roustabout Rebels - Part 1 - Sets

I think (with the pink guitarist) we've looked at all the stuff in Glenn's excellent parcel from New Zealand, bar one item . . . it is that item, kindly donated to the blog by Glenn we're looking at in the next two posts.

And . . . Glenn lives literally yards from the epicenter of the horrendous atrocity which struck Christchurch the other day, so please spare a though for him and his neighbours, as I don't think anyone expected the 21st century to visit the fair lands of 'The Shire', so soon, or so violently.

I did cover this topic back nearer the start of the blog due to a lucky find of the smaller figures from Canada, and the larger figures being in the 'Big Purchase' or a tubbed PW Show purchase, I can't now remember - which are mostly the Ri-Toys re-issue figures also supplied to Marksmen.

At the time, I told the story as it was presented elsewhere on the Wibbly Wobbly Way, but the story seems to have changed once or twice since then, and still doesn't seem to be set in stone, so we'll ramble though it and each can draw his own conclusions!

The total extent of my sample with the previously-seen Marx/Rado 60mm's at the top, the new figures from the Antipodes in the middle and the Canada set - also seen previously - below them.

Now a complication in this, is that the Canadian/Southern Cross set/s are based on the Marx 54mm set, of which I have no examples! The 60mm are from Playsets I think (I'm missing all four of the original 'pose variations') while both the smaller sets were issued as Breakfast cereal premiums.

Another complication is that the smaller figures (specifically the Canadian issue) are also credited to Rubenstein, in the 'States, after the Canadians had finished with them (?) but I have never seen them in Rubenstein packaging, nor any empirical evidence for the accreditation, or for the link between Rubenstein and the Tatra 'Soldiers/Warriors of the World/Through the Ages'?

Knowing - as I'm sure by now you do - how much I like my empirical evidence for statements of fact, I'm maintaining a healthy scepticism of the Rubenstein link until I see something more concrete, but it's credible.

However and having said that, my sample - in multi-colours - is supposed to be Rubenstein not Breakfast cereal, which were [apparently] all-green, and an apple green not the jade-green of a couple of mine? Mine are mostly marked 'CANADA' though, which would suggest that even if Rubenstein handled them; they handled them as a wholesale jobber (Erwin's "...so called joggers"!) or a contractor, not as a manufacturer/mould-tool holder.

Or it means the apple-green ones are Kellogg's US Suger-smacks (and/or Rubenstein) while the multiple coloured ones are Canadian Kellogg's? Kent Sprecher's site says unmarked are from Canada and marked ('CANADA') are from the USA, but doesn't mention the unmarked Aussie/NZ ones? But then there are other colours, and I've seen half-and-half apple-green/orange-brown lots/sets being offered which seem to have come together?

Upon posting this - it's changes again! Colours are less of a 'set-in-stone' now and apparently the Canada-marked are Canada-issued, the opposite of two years ago . . . like I said, draw your own conclusions it'll likely have changed again in two years time!

The Marx/Rado-Ri Toys/Marksmen set, from the top-left to the bottom-right;

• ·         Robin Hood
• ·         An unnamed 'Merry-Man'
• ·         Main Marian
• ·         Friar Tuck
• ·         Sheriff of Nottingham
• ·         Little John . . .
• ·         . . . and three more unnamed Merry Men.

I am missing the four 'adjusted poses' from the original 60mm set which are on Kent Specher's site here (just over half-way down the page), but my 'guy blowing horn' seems to be my only Marx original - the more astute of you will have noticed he had some 'work-done' half-way through preparing the articles - he's as brittle as hell!

The Rubenstein-via-Canada-whoever set was a fourteen count - with the missing archer now in the Antipodean line-up below (see note on next post), these are the slightly finer-detailed of the two sets, but really only noticeable in the thickness of weapon-handles/bow-strings and other thin elements.

Base markings are on one or two circular depressions and are also reading from top-left to bottom-right are thus;

• ·         Canada / Robin Hood
• ·         Maid Marian Canada (single ring)
• ·         Friar Tuck / Canada
• ·         Canada / Sheriff of Nottingham
• ·         Little John / Canada
• ·         Minstrel / Canada
• ·         [large release-pin mark but no text]
• ·         Canada / [blank]
• ·         [blank] / Canada
• ·         Canada / [blank]
• ·         [blank] / Canada
• ·         [blank] / Canada
• ·         [blank] / Canada 
• [other 'Will Scarlet' archer unknown]

The new kids on the block! An apparent set of twelve poses; the Canadian 'Nottingham has seemingly gone 'walkabout' (with a teenage Jenny Agutter?. . . Who wouldn't?) along with the falling-back/sitting guy, who Glenn suggested might be hiding in a tree, which I thought was a lovely idea. Glenn hasn't seen them Down Under and I don't know if the two were part of that issue?

Again - left-to-right, top-to-bottom

• ·         Robin Hood
• ·         Maid Marion
• ·         Little John
• ·         Will Scarlet
• ·         Alan-a-Dale
• ·         Friar Tuck
• ·         Much the Miller
• ·         Will Stutley
• ·         Derwent
• ·         Quentin
• ·         Timothy
• ·         Archer

They are all named with the exception of 'Archer', understanding - of course - that the modern surname (much encountered in Borsetshire!) is based on the old occupational title!

One should also note that while the Canadian set carries a scaled-down version of the Marx 54mm Main Marian (as the whole set is copied from the Marx 54mm set), the Australian/New Zealand issue uses a new pose as Marion - which I've seen credited to the Marx 60mm 'Richard Green' TV tie-in set's version, but she seems to be actually a wholly new sculpt.

The Ri-Toys packaging; Marksmen used a variety of their own header cards and the guys who ruined the market by going direct to Ri-Toys (Rado Industries would only sell in large quantities) sold loose. Note the additional colours (over my sample) of red, blue and white figures. They only seem to have carried the nine poses, not the 'conversions', so a separate tool for the other four?

I can't find anything on the Australian/New Zealand end, or - at least - not on-line; there's nothing on Astronit and nothing on Crater Critters, so I'm assuming we have Mr. Sibbald to thank for bringing them to us as 'new to hobby' or 'new to Internet'. Cheers Glenn!