T is for Two - Marx Fort Bits

A couple of bits I scanned last night while looking for other things, and while I could have sworn we'd seen this first one here already, I can't find it under the 'Marx', 'Forts', 'Paper' or 'Cardboard' Tags, so I must have posted it on Faceplant and then lost it somewhere?

No matter, fresh scan, these actually look a bit flimsy against the card building kits Britains was doing around the same time, but that may have something to do with scale, they are a bit larger, and are probably unique to Marx Swansea and the UK? A fort and Hospital, scaled for the Playpeople (Playmobil under licence), and it's interesting that in the blurb they are called 'Little People' which was actually a Fisher Price thing.

 

For years, I'd never encountered these or their remnants in the wild, so, wondered if they were they ever issued, this is from the 1978 catalogue, and '76-80 (the same years the Playpeople were available) is what you might call the interregnum, no; 'drawn-out death', with Dunby-Combex at the helm, and while some stuff did get out, it was all a bit hit-and-miss? However, I have now/since seen them on evilBay, so they did happen!

 

At a figure-height of 7.5cm things made for Playmobil could/can be used with larger toy soldiers and model figures.

Just the scan of the instructions for the Miniature Masterpiece forts, which we looked at here. It's a bit tatty, but might be useful to print out, if you're selling one without an instruction sheet?

15th - I did find it and it is now Tagged-up the same as this one, so it's now on the Blog twice, but that's just how it rolls sometimes!

T is for Two - Card Forts

Competing with the Raytel (and other) forts in the mid-to-late 1970's (as seen here earlier today) were these card bulding kits from two of the bigger names in toys at the time - Britains and Marx.

Britains 1977 catalogue carried these four card play-sets, covering the main genres of their figures/vehicles and providing a quick and easy, affordable set of buildings or scenics. They reappeared in the '78 catalogue and then disappeared forever, I think? When they come-up for sale these days; they do fetch a premium price!

[Might take a minute to load, I accidentally scanned it at 600dpi, so it's ten-times the size of the Britians image, but I didn't realise until I was uploading it just now!]

Marx answered in their 1978 catalogue with these two, although they were scaled slightly larger to equip the world of Playmobil, known as 'Playpeople' in the Marx universe (the 52-page catalogue having no other figures in it, apart from the 12" Wild West dolls), they would nevertheless prove useful for 54 or 60mm figures.

The Marx kits are modular and slot-together for easy putting-away after play, the Britains' required gluing, another reason for their rarity today, but then I can't say I've ever seen one of the Marx ones, so they're probably harder to find! St. Marx Hospital . . . geddit!