F is for Follow-up . . . Vickers . . . Plus

And an example of my utter incompetence! Off the back of my Timpo Vickers MG post the other day, Brian Berke sent me a bunch of images from the Big Apple (a rather frozen Big Apple, I might add!), I thanked him, and mentioned I'd just seen two images of machine-guns somewhere in Picasa (literally a day or two before his eMails), and would dig them out for a fuller (more full?)  post.

 

I downloaded his images, and thought no more about it for a few days. Announced a machine-gun follow-up, as the next post (intended for that (Saturday) evening), and then spent about eight hours over the next two days, trying to find the images.

 

I went from the top of Picasa, to the bottom (some 1200 folders), and from the bottom to the top, even all the old college stuff, and non-toy folders, I tried everything on the desktop, I looked in other esoteric locations, I tried tricking myself by going back to one I knew I'd just looked at, in case they had magically appeared while my head was turned, I opened the folders in case they weren't showing in Picasa, I was going stir-crazy mad!

 

Starting to convince myself I'd imagined it, despite being able to picture both images, I thought I'd check the folder where things are waiting to go on the dongles, and bloody found them! Only to realise that when I'd found them the few days earlier, I'd thought "What are these doing here?", and moved them to the 'done' folder! We actually saw them here in 2022!

 

But, we only saw them briefly in posts which were making some vague point to someone, somewhere, so we'll look at them again, in this unstructured look at machine-guns! Indeed, the only structure, is the stuff from Brian, which is all Vickers, except some of them are probably Brownings, and technically, they are all Maxims!

 

Left to right in the upper shots, clockwise from the top-left, in the lower collage, we have a lovely bit of plastic, owned by so many of us back in the day, and among my favourites of the era, the Timpo 'solid', later Action Pack, 8th Army gunner, here the earlier painted version, Action Pack's were unpainted, but give us several colour-variations to look out for, we saw some of them here;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2019/09/m-is-for-monty-and-is-mob.html

 

Then we have two versions of the Britains hollow-cast gunner, one, the pre-WWI sculpt, which would become the early-war accurate representation, the other the inter-war head-sculpt, who is both late WWI and early (BEF/Home Guard) WWII accurate. A change Brian wondered if Britains were happy with having to do, but I guess, you have to move with the times, especially when you last as long as Briatins did . . . I've highlighted in the past how Zang, Herald, Swoppets and then Herald Hong Kong & Deetail, changed, over time, often while running along-side each other, even unto replacing Lee Enfield's with SLR's, and - these days -even our cheapo china-troop 'Army Men' mostly have Kevlar Fritz-helmets and bullpup automatics!

 

Lastly a US Dime Store, or home-casting figure, hunched over what would have been a Browning version of Hiram Maxim's steel-sleeved, water-cooled, single-barrelled, automatic-action, gas-blowback, rifle-ammunition firing 'Machine Gun'!

 

Brian then found a couple more, with the Bergan Toy & Novelty Company (Beton), on the left of each pair in a hard-wearing polystyrene, or earlier phenolic type polymer; dense, hard plastic, but relatively infrangible.

To the right another, more obviously Dime Store, or is he a die-cast, he looks pretty chunky, and relatively uniquely to America, there was a trend for cast-iron toys, from the 18-something's, to the mid C20th. Also, it's nice to see a Crescent sizer, they've rather taken a back-seat this last few years, as mine are in storage, I should try to dig one out, and keep it around!

 

Then he spotted another one hiding on a shelf! It's another Dime Store-looking chap, and if any American readers can ID any of the three US metal ones, that would be appreciated. Many-thanks to Brian for all the above, but, as discussed, I was on a mission by now!

 

Seen before, better light this time, one of the two errant images, and mostly 'Maxims'! My favourite here is the Japanese novelty blow-mould (back-right), it always amazes me that such delicate models ever survive, but thus is the creditable job of collectors, especially those collectors who aren't hooked-up on the 'big names'!

 

Down the left we have a bunch of minor-make composition, I can't tell you who any of them are made by, and they look to have been repainted anyway, so, as far as hard-core composition experts go, no more than curiosities, even if there are Lineol or Elastolin among them?

 

Bottom left is a less common Polish chap, probably PZG, but could be a lesser make, or even an East German? A modern-production Jap, in the top left corner (BMC or AiP), with a trio of Frenchies front centre, and a couple more foreign troops filling the corner, up by the blow-mould.

 

While the front-right corner is mostly early British plastic; Charbens, Cherilea (note the similarity of the Cherilea Russian and Sikh soldiers with Bren Guns), Crescent (WWI), Timpo, and a Zang composition, along with a late Toyway version of the Action Pack, in shiny grey.

 

Terrible photo (me being an idiot!), but the more interesting shot. The grey machine-gun is probably a Marx reissue, but anyone following Ed Burg, this last few weeks will have seen several versions from Marx and Payton, and I know T Cohn/Superior/Brumberger had several goes, among others!

In the middle we see the late polyethylene Beton, with a lead Timpo GI and two of the metallic-bronze tanned Charbens crew, serving an Atlantic mortar!

 

The Atlantic Maxim is being fired by a Spanish figure, but Russian equipment means a Republican defending democracy from the Fascists (how the Republican movement has changed, eh, Donald?), crescent barbed-wire defending his flank, and a spare Timpo Vickers is up the back-left!

 

Another modern figure in front, an unknown semi-flat, from right, just behind the Atlantic Navy (or Air Force?) gunner, with a bird's eye view of another Spanish figure front centre. The WWI gunner with service-cap, may be Crescent, with a Speedwell/Trojan/VP type in front? And the lead gun next to the Timpo Vickers, could be a 'new metal' jobbie?

 

Which should leave four; three flats and the other wheeled Russian Maxim . . .

 

The more interesting is the metal semi-flat, upper left in the previous shot, as he is a short-lived attempt by Timpo to produce die-cast alloy figures. The common one found is the standing pose, I have picked-up several, over the years, and various sellers told me various tales as to who made him (Sacul was a favourite, as were Clarke Brothers), but, as you can see, Timpo was the culprit. I now have to find the prone rifleman loose!

 

However, it's clear, reading Garratt, Joplin or Opie, that nobody knows what Timpo were really doing at the start, and with moulds bought, borrowed or copied, and the still partly mysterious Zang/Timpolin thing, we probably will never know everything, so these could have been bought-in, or commissioned from a third party, maybe even Zang!

 

The other two RPD-equipped flats are Polish (lower shot), and I used to think (having been told so) that they were Centrum, but I think one of the Poles elsewhere, questioned that attribution, in one of his locally published articles? While the Maxim Gun above, is for PZG gunners, I think?

 

Which brings us to this, and while I've been strict about not doing Russian stuff since the illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022, I'm slipping this in here, as Chris Smith sent it to the Blog ages ago as a follow-up to the Leningrad Forging Factory post;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2014/02/l-is-for-leningrad-forging-factory.html

 

In which I mentioned plain, grey plastic versions, and Chris sent examples (for another day) along with this 40mm (scale, not calibre!) machine-gun which I hadn't encountered, and which wasn't included in the chrome-finish set, in that earlier post.

 

While this 35mm Starlux piece (looks more like an anti-tank rifle!) has been seen before, without crew (and the crew have been seen before, with a different weapon), and the shot has been hanging around in Picasa for ages, waiting for a machine-gun post, I guess! And this, over 53-hours late, is that post! Cheers to Chris and Brian for their help.

SPC is for Spectrum Patrol Car

Up to London on Saturday last, and managed to get to the toy dealer we'd failed to reach, through a diabolical mix of sudden torrential storm, and pre-existing line-failures, before Christmas, where I bought all sorts of lovelies, and Peter Evan gave me some plunder I haven't shot yet, but I did get an odd box-ticker, which is the subject of this post.

 

 

But first, another labyrinth maze, (explanation in the comments, thanks to Brian B), and the one I doubted I'd ever find, given the nature of the station, the miles of tunnels, escalators and travelling walkways, not to mention the various entrances and exits, at Waterloo.

 

But in the end it was just there, blankly staring at me! It's on one of the main pilasters at the major entrance, between platforms 17 and 20, at the top of the escalators, and I'd passed it many times! An apt one as it mirrors, or conjures-up the Spectrum symbol from Captain Scarlet!

 

Not a nostalgia purchase, but more of a settling of scores! No, not Bushy the twig, he's an idiot ("Oh, look, I just watched this movie two days after Hugh mentioned it"!), but that we never had this one as kids, although several of our friends did, and we hankered after it, but it just never happened.

 

 

And, it wasn't for trying, when asked what we wanted for a Christmas or a Birthday present, we always asked for something better - the SPV with its tracks, rocket and sprung-loaded figure, the Security Vehicle with its treasure chest, gull-wing doors and folding walkways, the Thunderbird 2 with it's T4, pod and delicate folding legs, and frankly, we just never got far enough down the wants list (along with the Airfix, Action Man, Lego . . . etc. ) to get one!

 

This is loose, and a bit chipped, no bad thing, as a good one with box is £250-plus, this was in the tens! And it struck me that it's quite a retro' design, even at the time, compared to the other vehicles in the series, it's half 1950's American car, half early jet fighter, and a bit ambulance!

 

Without flash!

T is for Thunderbirds' 2, 4, 6, FAB 1, and a Whole Bunch They Didn't Bother to Number . . . are GO!!

Funny story behind this one, the guy wanted (and I don't normally deal with the grubby stuff, but it's central to the story) 55-quid for this, a bit steep I thought, but I know this imported stuff commands a premium, so I thought "Fuck it, I'm playing catch-up with bushy the twig, I might as well?", and got sixty out, "Have you got a fiver?", I asked the dealer, at the start of the day . . . bear in mind, the dealer I was with, had a wad of fivers, and a bag of £1 and £2 coins, because he's prepared his float!

 

"Err, no" he says, so I asked him what we were going to do, and he half-heartedly muttered 'the wife' or something, and with no further words, exchanged a glance with her, and said "No". "Well, I'm not going to give you sixty?" says I, and he leaps back indignantly "I never asked you to!", "No" said I, "But that's the other logical solution?" To which he hummed an acceptance of that logic, and after a laboured silence, I said "Well, I'll leave it than, maybe later?" handed it back and walked away.

 

And I would have left it at that, indeed I went back past the stall a couple more times, gave it the once over, and studiously ignored the set, and would have left it. If you're setting yourself up as retailer for the day, no matter what your 'day job', you either go to the bank and get a wad of fivers and a bag of coins, or, if you don't do that many shows, save your one's, two's and five's in the two-to-four months between shows? It's common-sense as much as anything else.

 

However . . . on the other side of the hall, another chap had the exact-same contents of this set, in two window boxes, one with T2, T4, Pod 4 and - I think - Fab 1, the other having all the other vehicles, and the spare Pod 3, he wanted £60 or £65 for the first, and £40 or £45 for the second, I can't remember the exact amounts, but it was going to be over a hundred-quid for the pair, so in the end, I went back to the first stall, and I bought it after all, while he wasn't there, as it happens.

 

But, that was only half the story, as when I first spotted it, it had no price on, and I asked the lady (who would transpire to be the dealer's wife), how much it was, and she said she didn't know, but that 'he' was coming back, so I hung-on for a minute or two, then she said she didn't know what had happened to him, so I left it with her, assuming she would keep it behind until I returned.

 

The standard approach at shows, when someone shows interest in something, and the helper, for whatever reason, doesn't know what's going on. However, when I returned to the stall, it was back on display, for any Tom, Dick or Harry passing-by, to purchase, with it's newly added pink £55 label!

 

It takes the shine off the day, dealing with these fuckwits, you know? It's not rocket science, there are rules to the art of pretending to be a retailer for a day, and this stall literally failed all of them! Fackin' ell, G'want! An ironic cultural reference, as they went through a phase of wearing Thunderbirds Are Go T-shirts!

 

Anyway, I am now the pround'ish, owner, of a maybe cheaper than I thought it aught to be, Thunderbird Two from Bandai, with most of the more memorable pod-vehicles, to add to the already growing collection of micro-mini's we looked at here;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2024/01/f-is-for-five-four-three-two-one.html

 

To which I've already added a vinyl tree-hanger, the dug-out 'Colourform' ones, a board-game foursome, and a couple more, in plunder-posts which didn't get the T-bird Tag!
 

 

Mole, Firefly and the Excavator, which should be red, and which I saw in an episode the other night, there's one of these 24-hour live streams on YouTube, which seems to be connected to the remastered Blu-ray, and I'm dipping into it from time to time, but you never know where in the loop you're going to drop-in, so you then have to fast-forward through a few, to get to where you were, after which the episode cursor stops progressing, all very confusing, but great-fun seeing them all again!

 

Fab 1, and the two blueys, the ray turns on the Transmitter Truck, and the grabs (I don't know this vehicle's name? Another Excavator?) are articulated, the only other interactive one is the Excavator above, where the bucket is clip-on and can be configured for travelling in the Pod, or as shown.

 

I'm minded, if I ever get the time, to scratch-build a few more to go with these, the last episode I watched was 'The Uninvited', about the mysterious pyramid of Khamandides, with the half-tracked 'Jeep', it would be fun to do that in this scale!

 

Three more, I don't know what the first one is, a laser-cutter - should it also be red? The second is one of two Recovery Vehicles, the other would need to be scratch-built, and it can be red or yellow? While I remember a trio of the Elevator Cars (which should also be red, or white with a red cab?) trying to save the huge (and rather silly) Firefly, I can't remember the whole story, and will catch up with it soon, hopefully, but I think they sort of succeeded?

 

Thunderbird Six . . . it's not a Pod-vehicle! My late father's Tiger Moth, which was an ex-WWII trainer, had a very similar paint-job, but blue, not red, and I wonder if the MOD-approved sellers painted them like this, to hide the military markings, prior-to-sale, but, like so many things (you realise, after they have gone), I never asked him?

One of the great continuity errors of Thunderbirds, which niggled me, even as a kid, was the fact that Thunderbird Four, was named thus, and got its own Pod, while none of the others got either a number or a dedicated Pod, I don't even know how many Pods there were, was it six? The two Pods in this set are only numbered on the front, they should be numbered at both ends, and the registering of the sticker here, leaves a lot to be desired!

F is for Follow-up - Wild West Plunder

A couple of things in the archive pertaining to this morning's post;

 

On the subject of pencil sharpeners, I caught this on feeBay last year sometime, very 1950's, so quite a quick cloning! The die-cast mazac/zamak tourist trinket, a copy of Britains Herald's campfire chap in full war bonnet, probably came from Hong Kong, and the headdress looks sharp-enough to open a finger while you're honing your pencil - these days you'd get a recall notice from 'Health & Safety!

 

From 2023, is this colour-sample of the Torgano archer, not really clear if it's a boy or a girl, and all of them missing their bow, I don't know if they were always a short-shot, or if they just snapped off? Below them is a yellow chap, who looks to be a Tyrolean in lederhosen, along with four of the Lucky Bag pod-foot Indians and, bottom left, an unknown flat of similar ilk, but on a more standard base.

F is for Follow-up - Antique Antipodean Aircraft

So, Ozi sent these a few days after the previous post involving his images, and it's more, rare to the point of unheard-of outside Australia, model aeroplane news, so I'll let him tell it in his own words, but first the images;

 

 

 

 

"About twenty years ago I ran into this diecast model of the Boeing B29A – or, seeing as it features RAF roundels on the wings – an RAF Washington B1. Made by Pope, Australia (local manufacturers of household appliances including washing machines) it survived in not-too-bad 'play worn' condition. Wingspan is nine inches. 

 

The hollow undersurface of the fuselage has the legend “Made in Australia A Pope Product” and the undersurface of the wings is “Supa-fort”. Close examination of the nose of the model shows that some attempt at shading was made to give the appearance of windows.  

 

The Washington B1 was in RAF use between c1950 to 1954 (as an interim waiting the arrival of the V-Bombers) was reportedly a better performer in all respects than the Avro Lincoln. That is despite what “Aircraft of the Fighting Powers” says!

On the internet is shown a similar Pope product with USAF markings and legend on the fuselage.  The markings on that item look to me like transfers."

 

Many thanks to Ozi for this rarity. 

L is for Lord of the Jadas

I can't remember where I found this now, I have a feeling it was discounted, so probably TKMaxx, but I can't swear to it, it was in the last few weeks though (July shots), so may still be out there, if like me, you do regularly irregular sweeps of all the likely sources!

Having waxed lyrical about these Jada die-cast figures in the past, and specifically their decoration/paint-finish, I have to say I don't think these Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) figures, are quite as nice as some we've seen, but the green cloak guy has the lustre I liked so much on my first figure, while the silver chap could march straight into any 28mm biblical force, although at 40-odd-mm he'd have to be a specific Philistine!

A is for Airforce One . . . Hundred and Eighty!

I know, I know, but if you think about it, there is some sense in that, a method in the madness!

 

I like to think that over the years a lot of the important ID work on both Zang (composition) and Palitoy (early plastic) aircraft has been done here, slowly, as I've found them, not knowing Mig Bonnefoy already knew more about the Zang than me, but wasn't publishing online!

 

In recent months I've had a couple of good chats with Mig, on the subject, and shared two of these Zang revelations with him, but in the meantime a loyal reader 'Down Under', sent more revelations on Palitoy and some Antipodean angles on 'dine store' plastics, therefore this post is full of interesting stuff, new to Blog, Internet and some further corners of the Hobby!

 

So, in the order in which they were revealed to me, let's get stuck in!

 

We've seen the Boeing B17 in both silver and camouflage, and both British and USAAF markings (indeed, the examples on that occasion, came from Mig!), but for years, people have always been careful to say things like 'believed to be', 'said to be' and such like, when discussing the 'Zang for Timpo', I know I have, and the confusion, aided by Joplin's big yellow book, was always best left as Zang if loose, Timpo if Timpo-carded!

 

But here we have, on opposite tail planes, both a Timpo mark and the Zang mark, as a nice underlining confirmation of the relationship, and the first time I've seen it. And many thanks to John Begg for saving this one for me.

 

Then, a couple of weeks later, I found this at Sandown Park, and I've pulled it from those plunder-posts, to get it all together here. I was able to show it to Mig, literally minutes later, and an eMail exchange then ensured to decide whether it was a Yakovlev Yak-3 or an Ilyushin Il-2 (Flying Tank), and the Yak was settled upon! But nobody knew these were out there.

 

No Timpo blue-triangle label, although there may have been one where the paper blemish lies under the nose of the righthand Yak, but the box is quite fancy, and reminiscent of the JE Beale's department-store one, which reminds us they are still all Zang first, and only Timpo if so packaged . . . or, now, sometimes, marked!

 

Mig also gave me an updated list of the Zang/Timpo 'planes;

• Airspeed Horsa (Glider) 
• Boeing B17 Fortress
• Boeing B29 Super Fortress
• Bristol Blenheim 
• De Havilland Mosquito
• Gloster E28/39 (Jet)
• Hawker Typhoon 
• Lockheed P-38 Lightning
• North American P-51 Mustang
• Supermarine Spitfire
• Yakovlev Yak-3
•  
• Fairy Battle (mentioned in an Article by Sue Richardson )?
• 
  
• While we both think there should be a Hawker Hurricane!

So I still have at least, four to shoot, five to find, as the Horsa we saw here wasn't mine! 

 

In the meantime, a loyal reader who doesn't want naming, but is happy to go by the moniker 'Ozi', sent me this, from Australia, and it's clearly a metal copy of the later/better Palitoy spitfire moulding, under the name of Merry Toys, missing its landing gear and propeller, but, there's no missing those lines, as we've seen them here, on the Blog, most recently this January, just gone. 

 

Ozi said: "I will attach a few pics of the “Merry Toys” metal cast item; which I think owes a great deal in parentage to the Palitoy “Spitfire or whatever it is”.  The wingspan of the Merry Toy is spot on four inches.  I don’t have a Palitoy Spitfire” to go alongside it.  The casting of the Merry Toy is pretty crude anyway.  Would you please let me have your thoughts on the possible parentage of this item?  I found it in a model shop about twenty years ago" .

 

Well . . . my thoughts are, who copied who? There is clearly a relationship, but the Aussie one is both lacking the strange indented line down the fuselage (of the Palitoy one), and has a better cockpit. So I am minded to think, given how poor Palitoy's version-one Spitfire was, that they are also responsible for the first iteration of this beast, and Merry then improved upon it?

 

Also, haveing placed the Palitoys firmly in the 1940's, there is something of the 1950's tinplate about this Merry antipodean one, albeit, it's actually a die-cast alloy model?

Ozi also sent a very clean Mossie . . . from Aussie . . . sometimes I should just be jailed! Ozi found it on Gumtree, down under, so some made their way down there. I think I read, there is both a real Mosquito and a Lancaster being rebuilt in that part of the world?

 

It's not the only Mossie being rebuilt I believe, and likewise I think an American (or second Canadian?) Lancaster is under rebuild. Having seen the then, only two, flying Lank's together, at Farnborough, a fair few years ago, now, imagine what four would look/sound like, and likewise, three Mosquitos! 

 

In a follow-up eMail Ozi sent these four pictures (above and below) of smaller 'novelty' 'plane models, and I'll post his musing on childhood fandom and memories of toy aircraft at the bottom. Here a rather nice Vampire, in marbled pinkish-maroons.

 

 

 North American P-51 Mustang and De Havilland DH.106 Comet

 

Grumman F9F Panther

"In my school days, growing up in a smallish country town in OZ and later in a City, with only my imagination for company, it was natural to have a liking for toy aircraft.  It was a bit after WW2 and no one wanted reminders of it – but I was curious about the aircraft.  Over several years, I saw the Dinkies, the Timpo “Bomber Station” set (with what I later recognized as Lightnings!), a small scale plastic set of apparently locally produced items and – best of them all – the plastic Palitoys.  Particularly the Wellington with its transparent gun turrets with guns!

 

They were all out of my reach and I just had to drool. The Defiant and the Wellington were moulded in a sort-of camouflage pattern [the distinctive marbling of early Palitoy's. Ed.]; which made them very distinctive. 

 

And then there was a series of plastic toys contemporary with the Korean War; Panther, MIG 15, Shooting Star a nice Sabre with RAAF markings and they had wheeled undercarriages. In various colours; blue, yellow, red.  I managed to somehow get a couple of them.  There might have others in that series. I am pretty sure they were local knock-offs of the US Empire brand – or they might have been licensed copies.  I don’t know, and I don’t think anybody knows now.

There was another series out about the same time – no undercarriages on this lot ; a Hawker Hunter (Only saw red ones), a Canberra and a DC3.  And a bit later were the giveaways with packets of “Aeroplane Jellies”.  I have illustrated the only one of those I have ever seen.  A Vampire, not very well moulded in a dark purple colour. Similarly, I somehow managed to swap for or find examples.

 
The first pics are of the “Aeroplane Jellies” Vampire.  Wingspan about 2.5”. Next are a couple of examples of the small scale locals – a Mustang and a Comet in silver.  Wingspan about 2.5”.  Only ever saw these in silver, and I am pretty sure there was a Canberra in that series and also a Lincoln.  Next is a pic of an American Empire Grumman Panther.  Wingspan about 4.5”.  Despite looking for years for examples of the OZ made Panthers, MIG15’s etc, I have never seen a single one.

In more recent times I have obtained locally a very distorted Palitoy Defiant, a couple of Lockheed bombers; plus eBay examples of the post-war Wellington and Sunderland.  The occasional Timpo Lightning crops up here, and also their B17.  Usually very play worn.

 

A couple of ZANG Mossies were a welcome find a few years ago.  A local site had a listing some time ago of a collection of small plastic toys; FD2, Lightning and others and I put in a bid, but it was not good enough.  Apparently they were local KELLOGG'S giveaways and dated rather after my school days. . . . 

. . . I should mention seeing the toys section of one of the new supermarkets (COLES) having Palitoy “Spit-whatevers” and Vampires and possibly other types finished in what appeared to be chrome plating."

The 'small scale locals' would seem to be yet another iteration of the MPC 'Minis', also done in hard plastic by Blue Box, but possibly only one or two? And many thanks to John, Mig and 'Ozi' for helping bring this lot together!

E is for Elgate - Spring Gift Fair 2025

As last, another image dump, but many more figural items on display, this year. With Scotland and Wales having a bigger presence in the various lines, and Paddington putting in an appearance!

 

Poured resin

 

Those non-sharpening pencil sharpeners again!

Not for the collection, but could interest someone? Christmas trees?

 

I've seen a boxing Kangaroo in the last few days, don't know if it was Elgate (didn't look), but they are a bit naff, fun for kids though, which is the main function of novelties!

 

 

 

Nothing of the 'piper' about them, just Guardsman on decorated pens!

 

Roman big 'ed!

 

Keyrings, might be one of the new soft/foamed rubbers? Rather in the style of the old Xandria keyrings from the Netherlands, but modern and made in China.

 

Metal keyrings, if I see the guardsman, I'll grab one for that novelty stash, but the rest can stay on the peg, being more bottle-opener than figural!

 

Egg-cups!

 

The resin parade again, and more egg-cups.

 

A 'Photoclip', what the novelty industry calls a place-name holder, when everybody likely to buy place-name holders have bought a set (or two!) of place-name holders! Also, selling them singly, results in a higher profit-margin per unit . . . and more packaging for a planet which just hasn't seen enough packaging yet.

 

The resin bears!

 

All, also seen before!

 

The big-heads have been replaced with rubber Leprechaun keyrings.

 

Nessie - die-cast Mazak/Zamak

 

Scottie-dogs and a bear!

Close-ups of the snow 'eggs', I think the thinner one is manufactured from poured-resin, the chubby chap may be plastic or a synthetic rubber compound?

 

Various Welsh Dragons in die-cast alloy or resin, mostly smallish, baby 'Game of Thrones' dragons (the die-casts), the larger poured-resin examples could be useful for Role Play, or fans of the Nottingham Mafia system.

 

Paddington!

 

Mostly novelty stuff and pretty ephemeral, but, that's given Elgate a decent presence in the Tag list, and covered most of what they have, which may be of interest, currently, but they're not the only purveyors of this kind of stuff, and we'll look at another soon.