L is for Lots of London Loot - Sandown February - Vehicles

Two of the best pieces, which covered both vehicles and figures went straight to 1970 in Picasa and won't be seen until September, if I remember, but, if you've worked it out, they'll be well worth the wait! In the meantime, after a couple of quirt Sandown's in the second half of last year, I actually picked-up quite a bit the other week, and there were a fair few vehicles, several from Adrian, so many thanks to him as I got them cheap as chips!

 

This was the first thing I bought, from Alkwyn I think (?), during the 'car-boot' phase out on the terraces while everyone waits for the doors to open! What I loved about it, it's otherwise a pretty standard road-roller from Triang 'Minic', is the fact that it's a crossover piece with tin-plate body and plastic wheels, that the smaller details are turned-brass is just the icing on the cake!

 

A small sample of Hong Kong cars, unusual for being brittle polystyrene, less common for having metal axles, and, the more observant among you may have noticed, the same as four Chris Smith donated a while back; same colours but some different mouldings - an MG-type roadster and a drop-gate estate/station-wagon.

 

If I already have a few in the main collection, the three lots (or two - if I don't) make a better sample, and that's why I love this stuff - there's so much out there, finding it all takes an eon, and we don't get an eon, we only get an age - four-score-and-ten if we're lucky!

 

More conventional US-originating dime-store stuff, with one of 'those' cars (Banner version I think), at the back, and a similarly coloured one in the foreground which may be from another source/set (blocked-in windows), all have the simple moulded-on wheels.

 

I've had a knackered example of this in the stash for a while now, no trailer (which I didn't know about), missing the gun and steering wheel, possibly windscreenless too, so, it's nice to get a decent one, even if the box is a bit shot! Generic, or, if the HK in the shooting star is a brand-mark, related to all that ABC/CMV/HK piracy of Britains stuff we've looked at a few times here, over the years?

 

The trailer is pretty fictional, I don't know if it is based on any post-war camping/outdoors press-release, but google suggests they never actually got made/sold (too many ex-military trailers if you needed one, and fully-covered camper-trailer designs, for those who wanted to stay dry and relatively bear-free!), but one of the dimestore makers did one, and various rivals copied it, until Hong Kong picked up the design too!

 

Two Kellogg's Frosties Land-Speed record attempt cars, it was all the rage when I was a kid, I'm not sure Rochard Nobel/Andy Green's attempts have garnered the same place in public discourse, but it's a different age now, then it was all boys-own-annuals and cigarette cards, now it's the whole known universe on a hand-held device?

 

More here - they are all 'Campbell' cars!

The yellow one is more of a generic pocket-money job, probably German or French, or a Hong Kong copy of the same?

 

This is a step-up, in the world of dimestore vehicular modelling, he says in that faux-poshness he employs occasionally! Not marked, so, again, I hope it's in Hanlon's book, or somebody recognises it, the driver (not brilliantly shot) is a bit Pyro-like, but they didn't tend to this level of detail with the opening doors and boot? You feel Dick Tracy chased this down a canyon while someone shot at him, out of the back window!

 

Treats and treasures! The broken plane is a copy of the German premium/promotional we've seen before, so just for 'sample', while the red racer also seems to be a copy, of the yellow Rosedale we saw a few years ago, but this one is unmarked.

 

Behind them, two real veteran survivors, a carded Kleeware locomotive whisle, and what I've been told is a Poplar Plastic's novelty performing clown, but I'm not sure on the mark, and it may be a long-forgotten smaller maker? All four are polystyrene.

 

While this is definitely Poplar, it says so! Needs a good clean, what is it with ships, those MPC Minis from the James Chase collection had the same black smuts? Some sort of marine-subject only, polymer-loving mould! Bathrooms?

 

The red White's Scout Car seems to be an unmarked variant of the Gilmark, so possibly Bell? We saw a silver one in the Bell/Banner/Merit-related boxed set, along with a similarly red armoured car. So a mould-swap rather than a copy I feel, and it's on another Pyro-like piece, a fire appliance, missing its ladders?

 

The Silver Morris-nosed van is unmarked, as is the sports car, but while the van is hollow, the car has a matching maroon baseplate with engine/drive-train/axle details etched into it, I think it could be British, but I don't know?

 

Noreda; I think I have both vehicles already, but this was a new (to me) packaging, so in the stash it goes, in order that the A-Z will be that bit more complete when I get round to it! I need some thin (ship-in-a-bottle or crochet?) tools to hook the bucket back on to the lower arm!

 

The second carded item was this Raphael Lippkin train in the Pippin line, a bit of fun, and early'ish plastic, I think it's wheels would fit the plastic Playcraft infant train sets based on Brio, and later copied in Hong Kong.

 

The card will need to be straightened, at some point, and I think the gentlest way to do so, will be with a wood-frame and clamps, overnight, or for a few days?

T is for Two - Mighty Antar's & Conquerors

We looked at both these back near the start of the blog and have revisited features of them once or twice I think, but the opportunity to do 'full line-ups' wasn't to be ignored, indeed; sorting and packing was held-up for a day while I struggled to find the Matchbox one, the others all lined up on the green-baize, with a gap ready!

From the rear/right; Raphael Lipkin/Pipin Toys (1:30^th'ish), Dinky (1:43^rd), Airfix (1:76^th), Budgie (damaged), Matchbox (painted, badly!), unknown - might be Scotia? The last being two at approximately 1:125^th 'box scale' and one 1:300^th 'micro-armour' scale.

Anomalies include the Lipkin load being an FV 214 Conqueror rather than the Centurion (from Mk.5/1 - FV 4011) everyone else went with, the Budgie having the later cab design of the Mk.III [not 'mighty'] Antar with narrower bonnet and Matchbox having a simple rendition of the Sankey 50-Ton Tank Transporter trailer along with the error of the name 'Thornycroft' as "Thorneycroft" moulded on the base of the tractor-unit.

The micro-armour one is a curates egg, seemingly based on a ballast-body variant (draw-bar trailers, for the use of) it nevertheless has an articulated, fifth-wheel, DAF style trailer like the others, and may be based on the RAF's lone C6T variant, but with added 'saddle' fuel-tanks? The fuel tanks being used as tool-bins on the Lipkin biggie!

The recent purchase of another Conqueror from [The] Lucky Toys meant that while the Lipkin was out . . . anti-clockwise from the top left; the red version I got at Richmond-call-me-Whitton (the . . . no . . . THE Plastic Warrior show!) a couple of three-years ago!

Then the standard green Lipkin one that came with the transporter (you may remember we looked at the individually boxed version a while ago and both colours were on the box-art), while bottom left is the new Lucky one - I believe a home paint in gray over the chromium-finish still visible on the tracks and running gear, and about the same as the Dinky Centurion at around 1:43^rd scale.

Then the two version of Tri-Ang Conqueror (approximately 1:72nd [00-guage compatible]), one from the Minic Motorway sets (I believe) as a tank, the other from the latterly Hornby-Triang 'Battle-Space' line of the wider railway range, as a well-wagon/flat-car load with twin rocket-launcher turret and finally two box-scale (1:76^th'ish or smaller?) Tri-Ang Minic's configured as imagi-nation armoured cars but with scaled-down Conqueror turrets!

Instead of an anomaly, we have a coincidence with these; they are all equipped with push-and-go motors! Actually - maybe the train one isn't; just free-rolling? I've sent them to the storage unit now!

For those who don't know the Conqueror; it was a post-war super-heavy tank in the same family as the Soviet Russian Joseph Stalin - JSIII and American M103. The Lipkin is probably the closest to the real thing, turret-wise, but none of them really do the actual vehicle full-justice.

The Lucky Toy's model (new to me when I saw it on evilBay for no money! What else is out there?) is clearly a copy of the Tri-Ang rendition, scaled-up and with an integrally-moulded, non-revolving turret and equally integral radio-aerial.

Base-mark; aft of the forward axle's push-and-go motor housing, which is very similar to the one fitted to TAT (see tags)'s Universal/Bren-carrier, and their dime-store lorry-copy. I don't know if there is any significance to the 'v' suffix of the model-number, or if it just means 'v-ehicle' range?

J is for Juvenilia!

Although the box says 'children over two' so; "Phew! That's me off the hook!" I'm definitely over two! But seriously; there's only one rule on Small Scale World, it must be figural, and even that's not always adhered to! It must be figural, or military, or associated vehicles, equipment, accessories, or small, or in-scale . . . Doh!

This has been bugging me for years, as a few of the figures and animals have turned-up from time to time (indeed, I think there were a few in last autumn's donations from Jim or Chris?), and those figures will remain in the collection - properly labelled, as a sample, long after the set[s] looked at here has gone back to charity.

I say 'set[s]' as the research conducted (cursory - because it was easy!) suggests that the above shot is two complete sets, the maths doesn't quite add-up with the box-lid message, but I suspect that's the copy-writer getting confused as to whether the two boards and two connection lugs were part of the total or in addition to it!. See below!

Trees, and hedges, animals and people, sadly no farm equipment or wagons, and while they are 'flats' in the style of the old wooden ones, they also carry the property of having a thickness that gives them three-dimensionality.

There are four figure sculpts, basically; mum, dad, boy and girl, the classic sixties 'nuclear family'. They have four animal types to look-after, sheep, pigs, cows (6-each) and horses (three). While you get two pine/fir trees, three rather (or equally) amorphic deciduous plants and eight-pieces each of two hedge-lengths, along with six-each of the two yellow road/path pieces, which can be used in blocks as a crop.

One of the design flaws with this set is how hard the road-plates are to un-pin, being stuck-fast and near-flush with the surface. The other is the connector-plates (small green pieces) which are better used on the underside as they don’t have a cut-out for the boundary-ridge between the two plates.

You also get several buildings which would be excellent for a very 'old school' war gaming table, perhaps with wooden blocks in red and blue for the opposing forces! Consisting of a farmhouse (door; no windows), a Dutch-barn type-thing (filled-in ends) and two pig-sty shaped structures; these can obviously be arranged in a verity of ways.

The scenics also would go quite well with the similar set we looked at here which may well turn out to be one of the biggish-names like Hasbro or Mattel, or one of the Lines group's brands or companies?

The undersides of the grid-pierced, sheet-form, base-plates are marked with a clear Made in England, and that is the only marking on anything, which is why they were 'unknown' for years, however once I'd found these in a charity shop the other day, it encouraged me to dig deeper (there's tons of this stuff in the unknown boxes) and they proved easy to find.

Down on the Farm by Pippin Toys (part of the Rafael Lipkin group). You can see the two three connectors shown in the artwork, as being visible, but - as I mentioned above - I found they fitted better if placed underneath. There should be 134 pieces in two sets (65 pieces + two base-plates x2) but I only have 132, hence the note above., but it might be that there should be four horses per set, or three connectors?

A while later - Duurrr! It's there in the artwork (in the middle by the corner of the hedge), I'm missing two connectors; smallest parts, easiest lost!

Which gives us a full set count of;

·         x1 Farmhouse

·         x1 Dutch Barn

·         x1 Farmer

·         x1 Farmer's Wife

·         x1 Boy

·         x1 Girl

·         x2 Base Plates

·         x2 Pig Sheds

·         x2 Fir Trees

·         x3 Deciduous Trees

·         x3 Connector Plates

·         x3 Horses

·         x6 Pigs

·         x6 Sheep

·         x6 Cows

·         x6 Short Path Sections

·         x6 Long Path Sections

·         x8 Short Hedge Sections

·         x8 Long Hodge Sections

=========

·         67 Pieces (65 + 2 Base plates)

=========

It's juvenilia, but it's figural, it's been identified, shot from both sides and presented here for posterity, properly tagged . . . box ticked!

S is for Six of the Best

The bulk of the show plunder has been sorted and put away, and while some of it will be seen again - in closer detail - soon, some of it may not be seen again for years! While I was sorting it I photographed those things that perticularly cought my eye or imagination, later we'll look at a 'top five' figures, these both figural or not are the also-rans, or the other half of a top ten plus consolation!

I bought this early British bath toy from Steve Vickers (who I think trades under the same name on eBay), like divers or parachutists, these small submarines are becoming a 'side-bar' collection of their own, and as we've recently had a quick round-up/recap on them; if I don't show it now it might be ages before it's seen again.

Totally unmarked and with a semi-transparent upper hull/deck/conning-tower in what can only be called cherryaide-red, lower hull in a charcoal grey-brown and photographed on a mirror to take advantage of the flat bottom; I once saw the Indian Ocean - as far as the horizon - this still, flat and mirror-like.

Adrian Little had put this aside for me, it's about N-Gauge compatible (maybe a little bigger - 1:100th?), and is marked nicely 'Lemco No. ML 75', all wheels go round and I think Adrien thought it was Scandinavian (where there is a Lemeco copying larger die-casts), or might be? I can't find anything about a Lemco or a Lem Co., so it may be a tool-engravers typo? But isn't it a dinky little thing?

A bit of a cheat as three of them are extant (in the collection) from one or two years ago!

As I started saying on Tuesday, Mike Harding had sold me three, he thought last year, I think two years ago? Anyway, I was chatting with him toward the end of the show and saw he had some more, "You have some more Gem skateboarders!" I said, because there's nothing like stating the obvious! "Yes..." he said, "...you had a couple last year didn't you?" . . . "Three, I had three but wasn't it two years ago?..." I replied - yes; this anecdote is in danger of becoming wheels within wheels and disappearing up its own fundament!

"...But you've got new colours?" I continued, and began wracking my brains to remember which colours I already had, luckily I'd only looked at them a few weeks earlier when I had the box out for something else (footballers and over-moulding posts - proper discovery!), and I knew there were only two of the 'flame' colours and couldn't picture the yellow as clearly - in my mind - as the green so I took a punt on already having red, orange and green and I knew whichever 'flames' I had were in rainbow-sequence and yellow would lead to green which I knew couldn't be the case - Heay, this is how Aspergics work!

Which all turned out to be good guesstimation as he had the red, orange and green again, but I took the blue and yellow . . . phew! Then, when I got home and started sorting through the plunder;  I found Trevor Rudkin's bag had a very nice subdued fawn-coloured one which is an unusual polymer colour for either Gem or Culpitt - I think, the whole leading to the above squadron-in-line images!

This was in a little tub of stuff from Adrian I think, and what interests me about it is that it looks a lot like those US-Emenee-Transogram/UK-whoever Fairy Tale sets we looked at here.

Now having tentatively suggested there's still one set to be found (which should contain Jack & Jill), the 'rule' with those sets was 5/6 figures and an accessory or two. Jack and Jill are two, with bucket and a well; you still only have four items, could he be a play-value, make-weight from the missing set/s?

I'm not suggesting he is, his sculpting is poorer in my opinion, but he is the same 20mm lump of PVC and something went in the 8th set - if it existed . . . actually I AM suggesting it, I'm just not committing. Nice addition to the collection anyway!

We've looked at this before, but in green, it's the Raphael Lipkin ConquerorTank, but in red. I've never seen one in red before and presume it must be a 'Ruskie'-red one from a two-sides play-set of some kind, maybe Pippin Toys?

The green ones turn-up more often and I'm hoping to find an otherwise 'clean' one going dirt-cheap with a broken barrel so I can cannibalize the running-gear, which - missing on this example - led to it's also being very reasonably priced!

Presumably from a large vessel toy's deck, I'm tempted to remove the locating/mounting spigot, but I know that if I do I'll immediately see the parent toy on evilBay, missing it's deck-gun, going for a song, but equally; if I don't remove it, I'll probably never find the originator model! I have some large, deep plastic washers somewhere, if it needs displaying in can sit in one of them!

What I like about it is the throwback to early US pod-foot figures of the Barklay/Manoil type, where a guy (often smaller than his set-mates) is posed operating some huge artillery piece all by himself. I think It's an anti-Dalek ray-gun! Does anyone know offhand where it's from?

All good 'Stuff'!