About Me
- Hugh Walter
- No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
- I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
B is for Bagged, Boxed and Blister-Carded!
Sunday, December 3, 2023
E is for Edibles, Seasonal Edibles!
We've seen these before, but not with perforations and gift tags, I think? Lindt bears, in Christmas jumpers! They are not the same as Granny's sets of five, which were relief-flat solids, these are rotary-moulded 'hollow-casts'!
These appeared in my Faceplant feed the other day, an independent chocolate company; Chococo, who make all sorts of figurals, in milk, plain, white and caramel chocolate, so I collaged a bunch of them for the blog!
Because I'd clicked on a bunch of Chococo's thumbnails, the Faceplant algorithm decided I was in need of even more tooth-rot, and started sending me links to every Tom-Dick-&-Harry firm doing the online 'your childhood favourites' sweet shop thang, so I grabbed a few more screenshots before marking all the posts 'unwanted'!
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
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?
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Q is for Question Time - F is for Four Fierce Freebies and other Feathered Fellows
A bit of a follow-up to the previous post because for many years I had this chap . . .
. . . in the same bag as the Hong Kong chromium-coated Crescent chaps we saw the other day, as he looked to be a well finger-worn member of the same clan, but in fact he belonged somewhere else and is actually just marbled in grey and purple with a slightly metallic sheen.
He's actually a Clairet-copy, previously issued (from the manufacture) as a Nestlé premium at some point and copied by Starlux in more than one version. As far as I know both French 'commercial' types are based, rather than the tripod arrangement of this chap, while the Starlux have the left forearm raised (Indian doing 'How', backwoodsman holding an European pipe) and a taller, thiner log-seat, but this chap is a mystery to me.
Also and because I thought he went with those HK 'plated' chaps I'd assumed (never x-assume and all else my very great friend!) he was polystyrene, but I now suspect . . .
. . . that he belongs with these other three? They too had been mis-christened, and were in with the Koho's (also seen here recently) as the bases are similar, but more have turned-up now and all in the same subdued/darker colours, so I think they are separate.The kneeling guy is a copy of a Linde coffee premium, while I think the running guy is taken from another (to Clairet) French make? I have seven or eight now (already put away!) but only the four poses and the same shades of cooked and uncooked meat! I suspect they are all premiums of some kind, probably French or one of the Low Country's (someone tell TJF that's a geographical reference, not a 'racist' epithet!), and I would love to know more about them?
In the meantime [this was supposed to follow-up on the Crescent post the other day but for a bunch of reasons the best part of three weeks have gone-by!] I have picked up an actual Koho pose (previously show to us here - as Koho - by Theo van der Weerden), but not in Koho's cloth, being clearly marked MIR, French laundry powder (and there's a couple more here).The green one, which in common with the 'meaty' ones also looks (from the neat, thinnish, ovoid, parallel-sided base) like it could be Koho, also isn't! It's actually one of the old Siku sculpts (issued in various guises and two sizes), but is manufactured in soft plastic, and has more in common with those polyethylene copies/issues of the Lido 'Captain Video' figures we saw here . . . earlier this year? I mention that only as it may prove in the future to have been a clue as to who is/was producing these apparently modem soft plastic copies of old 1950's stuff?
A close-up of the mark, no doubts as to this one's origins, the figure is half-ruined by the mark - slap-bang in the center of his chest! He is however a better 54mm than the Koho-proper's in my collection being halfway between their 40 and 70mm.A bitty post, but hopefully of some interest?
Sunday, January 5, 2020
P is for Persons of Interest - Chris's Parcel III
Friday, November 23, 2018
News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Events
Saturday 24th November 2018

Tel. - 01513 343 362
10:30 - 14:30
Admission - Adult £2, Children £0.50p
Kidderminster - Tony Oaks Toy Fairs
Guilt Edge Leisure Centre, Zortech Avenue, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, DY11 7DY
Web-presence unknown
Tel. - 01270 652 773
Mob. - 07825 631 323
10:30 - 14:00hrs
Admission £1.50p
Free parking
Web. - www.vectis.co.uk
eMail - admin@vectis.co.uk
01642 750 616
Web. - www.vectis.co.uk
eMail - admin@vectis.co.uk
01642 750 616
Web. - www.vectis.co.uk
eMail - admin@vectis.co.uk
01642 750 616
https://www.toyretailersassociation.co.uk/press/dreamtoys-photo-gallery
Thanks to the ladies at Vectis for the three auction-day images






















