A is for Autumn Assortment - Gift Fair

Peter Evans, roving reporter in London, roved to Birmingham for the Autumn Gift fair, which I had hoped to attend, but Space, Time and Nathaniel waits for no man, and it wasn't going to happen, still, we do have these from Peter;

 

Possibly a bit big for war gaming, but in the garden the rules can change, they're only counters, when all's said and done! No figures though!

Variation on a theme, I don't think we've seen the packaging before, but we have seen the figures now, the ones with 'vignette' bases.

 

Kawong is a new name, so a new Tag! The stuff looks similar to the New Ray stuff (next shot), so fans of modern farm equipemnt can have a field day . . . field? Geddit? I'll get me coat . . . 

 

Just mentioned.

 

Dinosaurs, it seems you get a window-visible realistic dinosaur, and a dig-for-it skeleton, to match whichever Dino' is in the specific bag?

 

I think we've seen these before, but you can't have too many images of things!

All the above look to be from Padgett Brothers (A-to-Z) 

 

Definitely seen these before, I think several times, Tobar, House of Marbles and others, but we like a bit of paratrooper action here at Small Scale World!

 

Gotta get me one of these, preferably a Hugh? You don't always find a Hugh in these pre-personalised sets, but any company which does Anna and Annabelle, Ben and Benjamin, must surely do a Hugh? Also, note one of each colour are supplied with a blank lable (top of display), so you can write what you like - "Kiss my shiny metal arse"!

 

A Japanese merchandise store had a full range of Gashapon, including those which can be presented as Christmas baubles for placing on a tree (lower shot), although Peter noted "unfortunately, no Samurai". And many thanks to Peter for sending these over to the Blog.

A-Z is for Padgett Brothers - 2025

So back to Birmingham for this year's Spring Gift Fair, and Padgett had most of the stuff from '23, and most of the stuff previously seen in London, and a bunch of new space stuff, and some other stuff, so I took lots of pictures of their stuff!

 

The dogs have new A-Z branded cards.

 

And, as a range, are joined by more cartoony domestic animal sets.

 

Joke shop staples!

 

All-new Dinosaur sets, it's the same twelve animals to find/collect, but there are various assortments, and as people like me will be getting them over some time from charity shop bags, this is the image guide!

 

Not the best shot, but a larger tub of bigger beasts!

 

The insects are now on parade!

 

There's always one! Two years ago I managed to shoot the very bottom of the tub by accident, this year I wasn't in focus, but didn't realise, maybe next year or in two years time, if it's still on display!

 

Better shot's of the two window-boxes!

 

But I did get the 'new' (ish?) tubs in focus! Farm & Zoo.

 

All sorts of new NASA/Realistic-themed space toys, most of the figures are probably outside the parameters of even my collection, but there's a lot of useful stuff in there anyway, ground vehicles, satellites etc . . .

 

The guys sitting on moons and asteroids in the first shot are all over evilBay as hard, poured-resin versions, I suspect these are softer PVC-alike, and may be the originals, while there are [larger?] night-light versions, so a new 'thing' which will be around for a while, I don't know if it's one maker or several involved?

 

New 'army men', following the trend of having a piece of scenery integrally-attached to the sculpt/base, but not the figures we've seen here a couple of times, these are older sculpts repurposed/nth-generation pirated!

 

We've seen these before here, and in a subsequent follow-up post, which both produced a few comments sending me down a rabbit hole, and which also led to further purchases. Meaning, for several years there has been a follow-up in the queue, probably two or three posts-worth, or one very long post? Which I'd better bump-up the queue, now I've mentioned them!

I think the three above are the better ones with accurate chassis and detailed superstructures, while the lower set of eight are the poorer ones with generic running-gear and simplified, one-colour air-brush weathered bodies?

A-Z is for Padgett Brothers - 2023

I don't have as much Padgett as other brands in the archive pile, as their stuff is always interesting enough to post nearer the time of taking, certainly all the London Toy Fair stuff has gone-up in the past, but with everything else going on recently, I did leave 2023's Gift Fair shots in Picasa, so this is they, and then we'll have this year's efforts later.

 

Paint your own Dinosaurs

I think we've seen these elsewhere, possibly in different packaging

 

Lots of other Dinosaur stuff, some, like the silly (not if you're a kid, I know!) vehicles, have smaller 'companion' dinosaurs. Some of this is branded to A-Z, some of it more generic, and as such harder to ascribe, especially if you've seen it somewhere else first!

 

Farm, zoo, sea-life and more Dinosaurs, in sets. I'm pretty sure I recognise the larger bears; Panda and Polar, and I'm sure that the odd-coloured sheep is in the pile somewhere, so I suspect a fair amount of this is already in the stash, among the unsorted stuff of the last few years.

 

A range of domestic dogs with what looks to be three sizes of card, six small, three-each mediums and larger, or is it a trick-of the eye, due to how they have been hung?. They are very reasonable sculpts, and well decorated in what is several colours for most of them.

 

The Insects clearly weren't ready, so get a colour print of the catalogue/online artwork! And another set/size of Dinosaurs!

 

More retail counter-display boxes - farm, wild animals and leery lizards!

 

Pretty sure these cows were in a donation from Jon Attwood or Peter Evans?

 

Likewise, I've already put one or two of these chaps in the stash, I think?

 

A BTR60pb/VAB hybrid? Nice-looking model for 54mm figures, though.

 

Another farm set, with different animals to the previous one, above. These have the look of those thin-walled, hollow dinosaurs we've seen here on previous occasions, but they might be solids, it's hard to tell from looks alone!

E is for Empirical Evidence!

Many thanks to Gisby for these, he probably sent them over a year ago, I really can't remember, what with the passing of Mum, Covid-19 and everything associated with both horrors it's all got a bit hectic in Hugh World and time is running to its own tune here at the moment.

But I've a few hours to spare over the next few days, and while I should be in the garden or taking stuff to storage/charity/clothes banks, it's too bloody hot, so I'll try and get some stuff up on the blog, and try to make it all contributions as it's unfair to the contributors to have ALL their stuff pile up with mine . . . SOME will, inevitably, but not all!

I posted these as part of a Toy Fair revue thing a while ago here, on Padgett A-Z, and said at the time "... if you do manage to track them down, do try to send the Blog a picky or two of the runner/contents..." to which call, Gisby answered in full!

Further comments I made about possible motors and potentially simplistic design were both out, as you can see from this StuG IV (with StuG III undercarriage - on the artwork!), the kits are well executed, dense PVC clip-together 'puzzle-toys' seemingly from the same stable as those I purchased in  . . . . The Works (?), ages ago . . . "Yes, The Works!" he says after finding the requisite link, but branded 'Build & Play' not 4D and a better scale.

The Sturmtiger, I said last time that it could be a useful conversion platform, but in this material that's not so likely, PVC chunks can turn a blade quite easily, while sawing will render it a rather furry material! However, plumber's pipe-weld will glue it solid for all time, so construct; then cut-up?

Not seen but mentioned last time -
Pz.Kfw IV -Tiger 1E

Not sure about the green of these, yes, it's a shade of 'feldtgrau', but their vehicles tended to grey or yellow as a base coat, however, looking at the stuff on Blogs and in the modelling press these days, there seems to have been an 'acceptability slip' on late-war colours and I don't know if that's just fashion (like heavy towers on Elephants, parade finery at Waterloo or using shoulders as firing-rests for machine-guns!), or more empirically-based; on the stuff being pulled - almost daily - from Eastern/Central European bogs, lakes and rivers these days?

This does look like it might be better than the Airfix Panther (less 'hybridisation'!), but hard to tell with the pieces face down, however we will have a follow-up as I've just helped myself to 12 of them, not twelve Panther's, 12 AFV's!

OK, here's a fun thing that just happened while writing this up . . . I went and looked for them on feebleBay, and found that prices vary from a little (£3/4 each) to a lot (12-quid+, each) for these four, but that there are another eight! They also vary equally with some price-scalping the arse off them and others being quite reasonable!

Best for the eight (very cheap) is

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324451888581?hash=item4b8ad6edc5:g:~X4AAOSwPZhfocYK

While this guy has the four @4.49 each, some of the eight (similarly priced), and other nice things!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/aha21/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

As I say; we'll return to these one day to look at the whole fleet, iron-out any construction issues and compare with the slightly sub-scale 4D's!

Bought this the other day going cheap, intending to put it on the Airfix Astronauts page, but realised it could go here first! I 'de-bagged' it 'cos it's a modern thing, and found it hard to put together once I'd chucked all the pieces in a pile, even though about ten of them were already assembled/part assembled!

But, it IS a puzzle, and with the photo of the finished thing (the exploded drawing is less than useful) found that constructing the three main sections (landing-plate and legs, engine-box and recovery module) and then lining them up together and adding the four fiddly bits made sense.

Things I learnt about the Apollo landing module: 1. More than half of it gets left on the moon. 2. The whole thing is bigger than I thought and 3. The recovery section is tiny!

Also I would note - if you're minded to seek it out - the four little frame pieces (retro-rocket deflectors) are very fragile, but if you line them up with their little holes they do go home firm.

Branded to Fame Master Entertainment Ltd., imported by Quay Imports and carrying the 4D trope - 3D + details! A second iteration in which the main sections are completed in the packaging is also available under the 4D Master labeling.

And thanks again to Gisby for the tanks!