M is for Monogram - Product List

This has been imported from 'Boring Blog' (which I will close down) and may have images or other text added in the future.

Monogram
Plastic kits from balsa and Multi-media beginnings with a bit of white metal and die cast mazak thrown in for good measure!(very much a work in progress)
1/32 scale AFV kit series
PM21/6864/8211 – US Army Jeep and Gun
PM22/8214 – US Army Eager Beaver 2 ½ ton Truck (post-war 6x6)
PM23/8215 – US Army Half-track
PM24/8212 – US Army Amphibious Weasel
PM34/6863/8217 – Patton Tank
PM35/8213 – Military Figure Set (18 GI’s)
8216 – Personnel Carrier
6859/8218 – Panzer IV Tank
6860/7582/8219 – Flakpanzer Tank
6861 –
6862 –
8220/78001 – Sturmgeschutz IV(StuG)
7505 – Panzerjeger IV
7506 – Sturmpanzer 43
7535 – British Grant Tank M3
7536 – US Lee Tank M3
4100 – US M-8 Greyhound
4200/78002 – Screamin’ Mimi M4A1 Sherman Tank
4201 – M4 Sherman Hedge Hog
7851 – Panzer Spahwagen 232
78003 – Leopard II
78004 – T-80 Tank
Space and Missiles
5082 – Apollo Saturn V Rocket (1:144)
5083 – Apollo Space Craft (1:32)
5904 – Space Shuttle (1:72)
PD27 – US Air Force SM-62 Snark Guided Missile
PD38 – US Army Little John with Mobile Launcher
PD39 US Navy Regulus II with Mobile Launcher
PD40/6871 - US Rockets/Missile Arsenal (1:100)
PD41- Earth Satellite Missiles Jupiter-C and Vanguard
PD42 – US Air Force Rascal Air-to-Ground Missile
PD43 – Missile Mobile (6 missiles)
PS44 – TV Orbiter
PS45 – Space Taxi (became 6870)
PS46 – Orbital Rocket
PS47 – Passenger Rocket
6869/5081 - Moon Landing (1:48)
6870 - Space Buggy (1:48)
6872 - Apollo-Saturn (1:144)
Larger Scale Water-borne Vessels
PB3 - Dipsy Doodle Racing Hydroplane
PB - Sea Breeze Star Class Sailing Yacht
PB17 - Water Devil
PB18 - Wander-lust Racing Sloop
PB48 - US Navy Frogman and LCP
6857 - Voyager Cruising Sloop
75003 US Navy Swift Boat (1:48)
Sea Quest
13600 – Submarine Sea Quest (1:600)
13601 - Ocean Pickup Sea Quest (1:32)
13602 – Stinger Sea Quest (1:20)
13603 – Dolphin Sea Quest (1:12)
Miscellaneous Interesting Kits
6740 - Red Baran/Baron
6745 - Rommel’s Rod
Balsa-wood Kits
R1 – Hot Shot Racer
R3 – Mono-jet Racer
R4 – Mid-jet Racer
B6 – Aqua-jet
Monogram Merite’ 54mm soft metal castings
Series 1 (1968)
801 - Prussian Guard Infantry 1914
802 – US Army Special Forces Green berets 1966
803 – German Luftwaffe Paratrooper 1941
804 – Berdan’s Sharpshooter Union Army 1862
805 – French Horse Artillery of the Guard 1810
806 – Rogers’ Rangers 1757
Series 2 (1968)
807 – German Shock Trooper 1944
808 – German Tank Officer 1943
809 – Viet Cong Guerrilla 1968
810 – Texas Infantry 1862
811 – US Infantry 1780
812 – French Dragoon of the Guard 1812
Series 3 (1969)
813 – German Afrika Korps Infantry 1942
814 – German Waffen SS Officer 1944
815 – Russian Guard Infantry 1944
816 – British 8th Army Infantry 1942
817 – Japanese Infantry 1942
818 – American Paratrooper “D-Day” 1944
Pocket Force / Battle Links
8071 US 7th Marines Vietnam
8073 – Vietcong Guerillas
8075 – US “1st Infantry” WWII
8077 – German Infantry WWII
- US Special Forces Vietnam
- North Vietnamese
- US Paratroopers WWII
- German Paratroops WWII
1/8176 – Vietnam Firebase with US Marines
2 – Vietnam Jungle with Vietcong
3 – WWII Farm with German Infantry
4 – WWII Beachfront with US Infantry
5 – Vietnam River Bank with US Special Forces
6 – Vietnam Sniper Base with North Vietnam Regulars
7 – WWII Checkpoint with US Paratroopers
8 – WWII Eastern Stronghold with German Paratroopers

P is for Pocket Force; and Battle Links by Monogram

I tend to look upon these as being, like the various Bluebird issues in the UK at around the same time, a nice idea, but - if not actually daft, certainly born in the wrong time. Issued in 1990, when the small scale (non-war-gaming white metal) market was pretty stagnant, Esci/A-Toys were phasing out and Revell had barely got started with a few down-scaled Hausser/Elastolin.

However, like Bluebird and Galoob further afield, there was this piecemeal, drip-drip attempt by the established toy guys to re-capture the electronic computer-game generation with Toy Soldiers and/or wrest people away from action figures and back to something more traditional.

This was Monogram's stab at the impossible task (not that impossible as within a few short years (1996 onwards) A Call to Arms, Accurate/Imex, HaT and the Eastern sculptors would create - very quickly - the renaissance we are in the midst of and still enjoying), being sets of 5-each, factory painted, die-cast zink-alloy (mazak) 'Pocket Force' figures from World War Two and the Vietnam Conflict.

Unusual, but then we are talking about the company that produced the 'Monogram Merite' 54mm lead figures - while ostensibly remaining a Plastic Kit manufacturer - in the late 1960's! No scale is given for these but they come in at 25mm exactly, plus depth of base. 

There were two main product ranges, the figure sets themselves in a substantial styrene carry case with built-in magnifiers to see detail of the figures (well executed, but a flat and basic paint-job) and a thumbnail sketch 'Collectors Card' of the troops on the card reverse, which - I guess - you were meant to cut-out and place in the box, although this instruction wasn't given.

And then (Never start a paragraph with 'and' Swany used to say...sorry Mr. Swan!) they were issued with the fold-up rubber 'Battle Link' fire-zones! This was the probably true downfall of the range, mine is mint and I can't get it to fold-up or stay folded for five seconds; you're not going to buy a second example of an 'interactive' toy that refuses to interact!

So, with 8 sets of 5 figures and eight Battle Links there are only 40 figures or 16 mint items to locate, and these do turn up relatively inexpensively, quite often. Distributed by Revell Plastic GmbH in Europe, they were licenced from Dixon-Manning Ltd, the UK toy design firm started by ex-Marx/Aurora guys John Dixon and Peter Manning.

One slight mystery - around the mid-naughties (an awful expression but 'the twenty-hundreds' is a right-old mouthful!) there appeared a pre-production shot of a then forthcoming range of Corgi military sets with figures, and I'm sure they showed some of these guys - complete with the oxide-brown bases.

However; I now can't find the catalogue or flier I saw the original in, indeed it may have been something like an issue of Die-cast collector, however if it turns up I'll add it to this post. I definitely remember mentioning it to Paul Morehead during one of our chats, but I don't want to be a Barry Bullshiter, if it's some false memory, the Dixon-Manning link though, is a likely clue, they may have had a set lying around that could be used for pre-production press release photo-shoots, especially if they were involved in the birth of the new Corgi range. In the end Corgi issued new, vinyl sculpts titled; 'Tactical Strike'.

Pocket Force
8071 US 7th Marines Vietnam
8073 – Vietcong Guerillas
8075 – US “1st Infantry” WWII
8077 – German Infantry WWII
- US Special Forces Vietnam
- North Vietnamese
- US Paratroopers WWII
- German Paratroops WWII

Battle Links
1/8176 – Vietnam Firebase with US Marines
2 – Vietnam Jungle with Vietcong
3 – WWII Farm with German Infantry
4 – WWII Beachfront with US Infantry
5 – Vietnam River Bank with US Special Forces
6 – Vietnam Sniper Base with North Vietnam Regulars
7 – WWII Checkpoint with US Paratroopers
8 – WWII Eastern Stronghold with German Paratroopers