D is for Driving Test

Not sure how a couple of these images will show, but you'll get the gist if you're not already familiar with the set, which I thought we'd looked at here at Small Scale World, but we haven't, or I can't find it, it may have been in One Inch Warrior magazine, and it may not have been my penmanship or photography on that occasion, while today Jon Atwood has helped with images!

This was me a couple of years ago, combining some loose bits with the stuff that had been accruing in the attic (card box) and the master collection from storage in a Really Usefull Box Co's 35litre 'Euro-Box' which takes A4 suspension files one way and foolscap the other, a brilliant design, which accounts for them going from a little company, you could ring up and order factory-seconds from, delivered to your door from the Midlands, to a multinational with a second factory in the US, who now tell you your nearest stockist on the phone and explain politely that they no longer do deliveries, and no longer do factory seconds!

The railway stuff is all in the little 4x5½" self-sealing bags, upon which the Driving Test game sits, with everything else Jenga'd on top! You can see how the 'Banner/Bell' artillery are about to be brought together at '1' and the ark/circus animals at '2', but it's the Driving Test we're looking at today, and I'm just going to load the rest of the images and text them up as they land?

 

1970's catalogue image, and we have cool dudes with longish hair and polo necked jumpers! The game is fun, and it does work, there's a hidden pantograph underneath, the two sectioned, sprung arms of which manipulate a magnet in response to physical commands given through the 'gear stick'. With practice, you can even get the car or motorcycle to point forwards (or in the 'direction of travel') at all times.

Late 1950's or - more likely 1960's box, and she's ready to go to the nunnery, he's dressed for a day at the office . . . it was a different world, and I was there! I think my most embarrassing sartorial experience of that era, was the pink velvet cummerbund I had to wear as a page-boy at Aunty Christine's wedding, it hung around in my chest of drawers for years, although I don't know what happened to it, it sort of disappeared around 1980!

This is from feeBay and I have a feeling that while the motorcycles and cars are plastic (with small staple/paperclip type wire inserts of ferrous metal, to give the magnet a 'hook'), the rest may actually be bought-in from Mastermodels (BJ Ward/Wardie, seen earlier in this series, and who will be in the round-up at the end too), which would go a little further to explaining some of the cross-fertilization?

 

Particularly if the ideas-men and buyers from the 'toy division' weren't aware of what the railway guys were doing, or if they hadn't been told about Collis Plastics likely efforts for both companies, in the railway sizes? Conjecture, not gospel! None of these figure-sculpts were carried-over to the model railway range.

The board, over the years they have been issued painted and unpainted and, apart from the possibly part-metal set above (the metal items would have been non-magnetic Zamac/Mazak, so wouldn't get picked-up by the magnet), they were - commonly - all plastic components, and are simpler copies of Mastermodels, again suggesting a 'firewall' on information exchange between the toy guys and the railway guys at Randall's?

I used to think these were also Merit, I have a few, but this faux-Blue Box set turned-up on evilBay, sans cars, and proved me wrong! A Hong Kong copy, was there anything between the war and 1970 they didn't have a stab at reproducing?

 

Obviously, the original idea is to get round a set course and/or park in the plastic garage (fixed to the board), without knocking into any pedestrians or street-furniture, or leaving the marked roadways! Many thanks to Jon for images, and Ed Burg has, coincidentally, been showing the contents of a similar-concept, but table/carpet Marx set on his Blog over the last week or so.

K is for Kemlows Illustrations?

These photographs are a sort of mystery, clearly sequential with those seen in the Brookes' book on Kemlows, but not apparently the actual shots used, I suspect they were sold to me by the Brookes, at the Alresford toy train day, many years ago, and while I say they are a bit of a mystery, I vaguely recall a shoebox type thing with pictures for sale?

 

Anyway, they were in the archive and can be shared with you after scanning.

So, for instance with this last one, in the book you get two shots, one of the five box types found, the other an end-on shot of the cycle rack with two green and two blue bicycles, neither with the white mudguards? The weird thing is, I would say all six of these shots are better than the corresponding ones in the book?

C is for Cast Communications Cabins!

Mr. B.J. Ward's 'Wardie Products' Mastermodels range of OO-gauge accessories weren't going to feature much in this 'mini season' of railway figure posts, as Jon hadn't sent me many images, and I didn't have much here, and what Jon sent will be in an overview toward the end of the sequence, however he did send me a pair of Telephone Boxes, and in looking for other things I found more Wardie stuff, and shot what little I have here for what will be two posts tonight - if I pull my finger out - which will take us to the not-so-subconscious next target, of 60-posts for the month, before midnight!

So, this is the little treasure Jon sent in one of the donations we looked at a while ago, briefly, because these posts were quickly envisioned! One's a bit tatty, but I do have loose ones in the main collection, so I'll make this right again with a couple of near-minters!

 

As with the other 'phone boxes (AA, RAC, Police), there is a paper wrap-around with the detail needed, printed on, and this casting was used for an information kiosk as well, a later version had a flat roof.

 

I can't remember if Adrian, Jon or Peter handed these larger, touristy ones, to me or if I found them somewhere, or a combination of the preceding, but they're not bad for model railways, maybe 28mm-compatible? One has been a key-ring, the other must have been part of a boxed-set of UK icons, as it's not had its roof drilled! And they are Chinese in origin!

 

Between them is a funny little plastic kiosk, of a modern city type, possibly based on something Asian, closer to the maker's heart? And the sort of thing which might be from a rack-toy, but might be from a comic/periodical giveaway?

 

It's a gratuitous shot of some elephants!

H is for Huminiatures!

Miniature Hugh-Mans! Only an overview, visually, because all my existing collection, including the stuff that was here (or round the corner now!) in the attic, was combined and sent to storage a year or so ago! Also it was damaged in the 2007 summer-floods, so is a bit depressing, although it's mostly survived, it lost it's pristineness!

But both Adrian Little And Jon Attwood have between them found all the following, so we can have a half-decent look at their output, and the sort of revelation following, so many thanks to both of them.

The box isn't quite as bad as it looks here, enhancing the contrast so you could more-easily read the information on the labels has resulted in something which looks like a bloodstained artefact recovered from a murder victim in Midsomer or some New England coastal community!

 

Five shillings was a lot of money back in the day, and while these are believed to have been on sale from the war or soon after the end of it, they wouldn't have been that affordable, to the average buyer, even in the 1960's or 70's, more of a luxury, or something architects could put on the bill?

 

They are however (left and upper shots) exquisitely painted, compared to their J&L Randall Merit counterparts or Wardie Mastermodel clones. And I've just chosen my words very carefully, following what's come to light just in the last few weeks as a result of the Minikin find AND re-reading the Brookes book on Kemlows.

 

Before I continue - the lady in a pink top and grey skirt (top right) fixing her hair in a compact-mirror is an interloper, I'm not sure whose figure she is, perhaps Merten? I suspect the figures in the lower image are early Merit, they are quite well painted, but heavier sculpts, and brighter colours on pink plastic.

 

But, it seems the original story, which I got from the Brookes' at the lovely exhibition open-days held in Alresford, Hampshire by Bob Leggett, which was that Merit had got the tooling when BJ Ward went bust, and that the workers being laid-off without pay had carried them 'over the road' to Randall's, was in fact, a tad fanciful.

 

Having said that, I cast no aspersions, the story told, was made clear to be hearsay, and was some ten-years before the book was ready, so before the Brookes were even talking to Stephen Lowe (of the Kemlows family), but reading how Collis Plastics first played a roll in, and were later bought by Kemlows (the firm behind the production of Mastermodels), has made it all clear.

Not clear here - should have used a ruler like some over-efficient evilBayer - but these are the smaller TT-gauge, in the master collection I know I also have the larger O-gauge, both unpainted and painted, home and factory.

 

The clarity came in realising that there is NO crossover in poses, to/from Slaters and Minikins, and that therefore BJ Ward (who carried most of the poses of both!), knowingly, or unknowingly (through his tool/pattern maker Collis) copied, cloned or pirated BOTH firms, to produce the figures, for his otherwise pretty unique range of die-cast, tin, whitemetal, wire and wooden railway accessories. Because both firms were active, earlier than Ward's enterprise!

 

And that's enough for now, as we are going to be looking briefly at both Mastermodels and Merit in the next few days/week or so, and can polish-off the rest then, as it's all in the Kemlows book, sort of. Suffice to say, we have to believe, that for whatever reason, Slater's (a Northern-based firm) must have got their tooling from the early Collis Plastics just North of London?

A flat wagon courtesy of Jon, I may have one or two of these horse-drawn vehicles in the master collection, if so, and because they will be in flood damaged packaging, I will build them as a future project one day!

 

 

From the Carriage Foundation;

 

"Dog carts were so named because they were originally used for carrying sporting dogs in the boot, some would have louvred sides which provided ventilation. First built at the beginning of the 19th century as two-wheeled vehicles, they were later built with four wheels. They carried four passengers sitting in pairs, back to back, and were so useful for all country pursuits that they were found in every country house and used well into the motor age, many of the later examples never being used for the purpose for which they were originally designed."

As well as the O, OO (HO) and TT-compatible figures Slater's also did N-gauge stuff and, I think, the odd-bit of the bigger 1, H, or G stuff, at some point? But I'd have to check with the collection to be sure!

W is for Who Made Who!

Bit of a surprise when these turned-up, as they looked familiar, but, err . . . better! Obviously I knew of Minikins, they are in Garratt, where he both spelt them wrong, and was pretty disparaging! O'Brian gives them quite a write-up, but mentions he's omitted the HO set (singular), so these should be new to most and new to the Internet, but I think we did look at them briefly in a show report, so they're not new to Blog!

 

Minikin or Minikins as they are sometimes dubbed, also, really nice presentation boxes for a make better known for dowdy or 'transport' packaging, but they may have been given this packaging at their destination, International Models Inc., of New York?

 

As Minikins were known for copies and derivatives, these would appear to be piracies of BJ Ward's Wardie Mastermodels? Except, as we shall see, they are better, so a new question mark present's itself? One set of station-staff and line workers, the other of passengers, they are reasonably painted, but just far-cleaner castings than Mastermodels.

 

The thing is, I never knew of them, so I've never looked that closely at my Wardie's, and with quality, scale and base-style (among other details) differing across the Mastermodels output, I may well have a few Minikins in there already, but these are probably the only two sets, so we may have them all on view here?

Now, they are not all Mastermodels sculpts the three railway employees for instance, and the central pair on the bottom row are questionable, Wardie did a version of the lady, but she's not quite the same. However, neither are they Comet-Authenticast sculpts, which would be the obvious direction to go in if these were repackaged AHI (see below). They are closer to the Hornby Dublo actually, aren't they?

 

A couple of seated figures, are they Mastermodels sculpts, or cleaned up Comet? They don't seem to be either, which points to original sculpts, and if two are, the rest could be, especially with the question-mark over the station staff?

Obviously the tied-in ones are the Minikins and the three loose ones are Kemlows' finest, except that next to the Japanese production, they aren't that fine at all, are they?  Rougher finished, with huge release-pin marks, heavier tool-handles and a marginally greater 'woodeness'? It's as if the Ward stuff are the copies?

In the Brooke's book 'The Illustrated Kemlows Story' these marks are credited to AHI (note above), but I suspect that was because he was familiar with AHI imports, of which these bear a remarkable resemblance - to wit; being the same!

 

But AHI (Azrak-Hamway International) were a US jobber (importer), Minikin was a Japanese brand, and (through work on the Khaki Infantry, not my non-existent knowledge of most 'BMSS' subject-matter!) I've always thought the better AHI stuff may have been or had a cross-over with Minikins, so the first thing to suggest, is that AHI's imported 'HO' railway figures, were Minikins product. And it would make the correcting of me on the ACW stuff more problematic for the corrector, as AHI had to be getting them from somewhere!

While dates give us the next clue, and with Minikins operating in the late 1940's and Kemlow's helping Ward with Mastermodels after 1951, it has to be suggested that Wardie are the copier here?

 

Also, because we will be looking at other arms of this tree in the next few days, it would mean that those copies of the Merit driving-game figures (themselves copied from Wardie) which come out of Hong Kong with a petrol-pump (a'la Blue Box) may have come straight from these?

Anyway, it's all only thoughts on new evidence, and if anyone would like to throw their tuppence-worth into the mix they're welcome! I'm just asking who made who? And I'm not looking to denegrate Garratt, O'Brian or the Brook's, they are the sources I turn-to for the earlier work on the puzzle, before adding my own tuppence-worth!

H is for How They Come In - London, March, Everything Else

A bit of a mixed bag to finish off, and we'll see which order they load themselves in! I'm not imagining it am I? Computing is getting harder not easier, it might be easy for 'smart phone' owners, but for people who actually work on/with PC's or laptops it's becoming increasingly glitchy and fragmented, the Internet is becoming less a tool for the advancement of civilisation, and rather an entertainment vessel for people glued to their idiot-phones!

Well, we're back to the yesterday system and they loaded in the order they should have, bargain! I know I did need a Vitacup reindeer with both antlers intact, and can't remember if I've already rectified the omission, so I may have two or three now, but this was going cheap.

 

Three little rack-toy old-fashioned cars, I think they may be crude copies of the Charben's 'Old Crocks', but I have to check, the orange one is the same moulding as the blue one, but seen from the rear.

 

Already joined by the two Chris Smith sent, this is a different-coloured plastic and mane/tail paint, so both lots only increasing the whole sample. Exin Castillos 40mm medieval figure; Prince on horse.

 

Premium flat dinosea-saurs! I mended the broken Plesiosaur I picked up a while ago, now I have an undamaged one - often the way! While the Ichthyosaur looks suitably mean and vicious!

Bog-standard rack-toy accessory, but seems to have factory paint, so I thoght I'd hang on to it and see if I can find it's set over time, Hing Fat had a copy, fantasy set, at one point, with a  'Halloween' tree that had a splash of paint, so it did happen occasionally!

 

We looked at these Lone Star African clones with a lot of help from Chris a while back, but worth getting more when you see them cheap, as there may be something new in them/their marks (I don't think so), and because one day you may have a plan to paint some up!

 

Lido or copy on the left, probably Tudor Rose on the right, nothing exciting, and we've looked at both under their tags in the past, including various copies of the Lido and a Tudor Rose bagged set. I've mentioned before that the Lido are among my favourites.

 

Hornby and Mastermodels, the Hornby five showing signs of lead-rot (a sandy whiteness to the exposed surfaces), while the Wardie stuff is safer, being die-cast alloy, but they can crack-up too, with their own 'disease'! A dip-wash with white vinegar and a new gloss paint-job, all over, might save the lead?

 

Cereal Premium!

Someone gave me these, I think, and I didn't look to check the base mark to see if they were Archie McFee/Accoutremants or BuM Slot? But the re-issues of the old Giant Mongols, which give us hope the spaceship, space tank and Viking longship mould-tool's are still out there somewhere?

T is for a Tale of Three Trolleys

Well, it's all got to appear here eventually, so by way of box-ticking toward that goal, and because I picked-up the first, die-cast version the other day, it's trolley madness at Small Scale World today; like Reefer Madness but with less murder, divorce and . . . err . . . madness . . . maybe?

Wardie's Mastermodels OO-gauge compatible 1:76th scale die-cast platform/post/parcel/baggage trolley and trailer, this one in an odd colour - as far as railway company liveries is concerned - but I don't know if they came in other colours?

The driver too is die-cask zamac/mazak and plugs-in loosely to two holes in the standing-platform, the control/power lever (sort of dead-mans handle) for these, which is not modeled, were on the face where his left hand is hinted at being, I think?

Merit inherited some of the BJ Ward moulds when the latter went bust and unpaid workers took themselves and some moulds over the road to Randall's in Potters Bar, or so the story goes - one suspects that actually Merit probably shelled-out for some of the intellectual (or actual) property?

Later Merit and current Modelscene sets only supply one unpowered trailer, but the early 'matchbox' issues (which aped the earlier Mastermodels boxings) had two.

Merit have re-cut the driver thought, whether as a new tool, or just in 'cleaning' the cavities//re-servicing the tool, I don't know.

 Airfix's set (bottom right) dates from 1958 (if memory serves) so was probably more contemporary than copy, but they have 'previous form' and the Wardie one would have been around by then I think so . . . no matter, it gives us our trio! I'll chuck a different comparison in the relevant entry on the Airfixfigs Blog.

S is for Sentry-Box Ticking!

Not the greatest sample I'm sure, compared to some of your collections, but I've only been fagged with this large-scale malarkey for ten years, and larger items - like 'large-ticket items' - tend to be a lower priority! But, and as with totem-poles, I do grab them if they're going cheap, others have come-in in mixed lots, while a core of British designs were in the big purchase.

The two main British makers have both had a stab, Timpo (right) went with one tool, manufacturing in two colours and then gluing opposite-colour pieces to each other for a choice of two, otherwise identical boxes!

Britains (left) had three, the Herald one in the middle we'll return to in a second, there was a larger one in the later years (which is a near-copy of their (or T&B's (?)) earlier hollow/slush-cast one I think?) and the semi-flat or relief 'stage scenery' one from late Herald [Hong Kong]'s windowed, long-box sets.

Returning to the earlier Herald version; it gave rise to a family of near-identical, but different boxes, with here from the left; Herald, Kentoy, Cavendish, and two unknown's either of which may (or may not) be Trojan, UNA or VP, or even Speedwell . . . or someone else entirely?

Rather than try to explain all the differences, it's easier to present them as a table for those whose levels of geekiness equal mine to pore-over and compare with the above images!

I will waffle over the marks though! (1) is obviously the Herald design, (2) is the Kentoys version, which - frankly - is the [slightly] better design, it's a tad 'cleaner', more symmetrical and better etched than the Herald version. (3) is the Cavendish version, it's clearly had an attempt at removing the 'KENTOY' first line, although it remains readable if you do that 'turning-it in the light' thing!

I think (4) is the one credited to UNA in the Plastic Warrior 'special' of 2009, it's also seen in grey (as a copy) in the Kentoys special of the same year; it has a heavier gable/roof edge? Trojan don't have one listed (so far!), neither do VP (yet), but then there is (5) waiting for an ascribing too!

Also; given the similarities between the Herald and Kentoy ones, might Gemodels' Musgrave be in there somewhere, I had presumed Norman Tooth for both similar designs? Although there's no larger ex-Herald one in the new Speedwell 'special' (post due . . . overdue!), one has to consider them for the unknown '5' above along with the other possible 'names'?

I seem to have crammed the rest into one collage, but that's how the cookie crumbled, so that's how it is and what we have to work with!

Image A has the 'foreigners', with Афина (Athena) from Greece at 1, and Reisler's equally common Danish box at 2, both have been sold as tourist keepsakes for decades and are just as common as Britains' examples. 3 is from Hong Kong and must be from larger playsets? The Riesler has an incorrect flag, actually taken from a Guards musician!

Image B shows - on the right (2) what I'm pretty sure is Crescent's wooden one which ran alongside their figures through both the hollow-cast and plastic years, but I have a half-an-inkling the heavy steel 'tin-plate' one is Crescent too? But I stand to be corrected by someone who does know! Chris Smith is to be thanked for sending the wooden one to the Blog the other day.

Image C is not that clear, I used to think they were die-cast (and probably Wardie/Mastermodels; they're quite small?), but they may be a hardish whitemetal ('lead') slush-cast, which would open the field of possible makers considerably?

Image D has the diminutive Speedwell box on the right and an unknown wooden giant (also from Chris Smith - thanks again Chris) on the left, the chevron stripes are a bit 'Euro' looking and I suspect a reasonably modern, probably infant's wooden castle or building-blocks type set?

All of them in size-order with the two 'middle' ends duplicated and the addition of the little Airfix one from the Guards Colour Party on the far end of the last line-up. The Athena one should have a sentry glued to it - like the Reisler one

Favorite? I quite like the little may-not-be-Mastermodels may-not-be-diecsat, I'm 'pleased' with the Speedwell from the big purchase, but I don't think you can beat the octagonal Reisler with its pointy, fairy-tale roof and Royal-cipher transfer if you are thinking of starting a collection of these.

Now, it was the arrival of the two wooden-ones from Chris that pre-empted this post, the two (now three) tubs had been here for some time waiting for a post's photo-shoot, but also waiting to have the sentry-boxes here sorted into them, which may not have happened? I can't remember!

It doesn't really matter, but there may be a creamy- or dirty-white version of the yellow Hong Kong one somewhere, and possibly a Starlux one (another common one for tourism reasons) although we have seen the small-scale version here at Small Scale World in the past. Also missing is the Hong Kong [and/for] Cavendish one, with its plinth, but that's also been on the Blog, recently!

I have another small-scale lead one somewhere, which featured with a penguin and some Danish Guards years ago, possibly on HäT as a long-gone Imagshack-upload, but I'm not sure where they've ended-up . . . they're here somewhere; along with a flat one.

There are plenty of cheapie-kahki types from rack-toy playsets, but they are another thing altogether, there's a few small-scale card ones kicking around in the 'paper' crate I think and I used to have the mail-away with 'stars' 1:12th Action Man one, which differed in design from the retail one, both were heavy, mounting-card.

Also Fujimi, Hasegawa and Nitto produced small ones with check-point kits as did Airfix in 1:32, in fact I think I have one somewhere? I seem to recall a bag of grey polystyrene bits (no bridge?) came in at some point - possibly from Jim?

So, we'll have to return to them sooner rather than later! In the meantime, thanks to Chris for triggering this post.

F is for Feedback - Triang and Husky

The following post is a complete update of the Triang post I published a while ago ago HERE and the Husky article from a few weeks earlier (link below) and is the result of several months of eMail traffic between Bernard Taylor and myself...emailing which it has to be said consisted mostly of me asking questions and Bernard providing the answers! As a result nearly all the images and most of the information in the text has come from Bernard, for which I am very grateful. As a result this as much his post as mine!

Bernard has a range of railway modelling accessories in various scales HERE and while of limited use to Toy Soldier collectors and Historical war gamers, there is a lot of stuff of use to Sci-fi/Car Wars fans, and anyone looking to populate their games or dioramas with civil bits, while one hopes the odd railway modeller visits these pages! So do please give his site a visit, he's contributed quite a lot to these pages in the last few months.

All above images courtesy of Bernard, showing clockwise from top; the Minic Motorways version of the Industrial Workers in their guise as pit crew, the correctly numbered catalogue image - this is an artists impression and shows some figures who were substantially different when they finally got to the retailers, and three more mint sets - again with the correct numbering. Later the combined Tri-Ang-Minic catalogues would have the figure sets photographed in the Minic section.

So where did I go wrong last time! Well the first mistake was one of a fundamental nature, I had taken the set numbers from one of the catalogues in my run, without checking the others, it turns out that those numbers were actually misplaced in most of the catalogues that carry the figures sets, both from the correct catalogue lists and from the numbers actually printed on the sets! I should have spotted that. So - while the numbers in the original article are correct, they are only correct to certain catalogues, not the 'Factory Door' issued products.

Another mistake (and again a pretty fundamental one!) was to assume, that because I'd seen them in Minic Motorway header bags, they must all have been issued thus, and further to assume that the codes would be the same as the Model Land catalogue codes. Assumption is a dangerous game and not something I'm usually that guilty of, luckily this is a blog and we can produce these corrections, updates or additions and anyone can contribute either through the comments section or by emailing me - so the picture grows whole'r!

Here is the correct numbering;

Tri-ang Model Land

RML.70 Pedestrian Figures Set No. 1.

RML.71 Workmen's Figures Set No. 2. ('74' in incorrect catalogues)

RML.72 Children's Figures Set No. 3.

RML.73 Urban Figures Set No. 4.

RML.74 Industrial Workers Figures set No. 5. (issued in blue overalls, '75' in incorrect catalogues)

RML.75 Road Workmen Figures Set No. 6. ('71' in incorrect catalogues)

RML 74 - Industrial Workers [Minic Motorways ref: was M1709]

Mettoy Minic Motorway

M1709 Mechanics/Pit Stop Crew (RML.74 Industrial Workers issued in white overalls)

Bernard has also sent both the images to the left in the above collage, showing the missing dog-handler from the Husky sets we looked at a few weeks ago HERE, along with a comparison with the Triang Model Land one. I have reproduced the comparison from last time and the Corgi version of the dog handler which is larger.

Another problem which had reared it's ugly head also from the Husky post, is the 'other' dustbin man ('refuse operative' in today's lingo). I placed him with the 'pedestrians' set, as I - again - erroneously felt that if some sets had six figures [Public Servants/Officials and Garage Personnel], and another - most obvious - set [Public Workers/Workmen] didn't contain the figure, he must go in the other!

It now looks as if he was a stand alone figure from one of the Husky, Corgi, or even Dinky (?) dustbin lorry models, but Google has not revealed the correct model. This sort of ties-in with the fact that he is far more common than the other figures. The shot of the Pedestrian set is also from Bernard. We need a die-cast expert to knock this one on the head...John!

Finally, between Bernard's picture of the Triang Model Land lollipop-man ('School-crossing patrol person' in today's lingo!), my picture of the Husky one, the original catalogue artwork and a recent feeBay lot with the Mastermodels metal one, we can see how social history is reflected in the change from square hoardings to round 'lollipops' and how much finer the Triang figure is in comparison with the Husky Hong Kong effort.

Also the artwork from the Husky catalogue which also shows the little road-sign set.