T is for TAG

Which may or may not have stood for something longer like 'Toby and Garry' or 'Turner and Griswold' but nobody seems to know? The general acceptance being that it just refers to the tags they came with, but I feel it may be a chicken-and-egg conundrum, especially with the capitalisation of the TAG, on the tags!?

 

RAF Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps, Infantry (with a camouflaged beret!), and the Parachute Regiment, done in what is almost a Belgian (Durso) style, the same sculpt being used with different paint on the berets to represent several of the main protagonists of the British Army in the then, just finished, World War.

 

The reverse of the tags have a small thumbnail sketch or written vignette of the unit/figure represented. Their post-war issue being revealed in the text - 'served', and 'earned', in the past tense.

 

 

 

The officer corps were also represented, and here we see a standard Army officer, and RAF 'wallah' and their corresponding tags, the arms of the flyboy are uncomfortably wrong, in that the left arm should be slightly forwards, in time with the right foot.

Our Allies were also modelled, and here we see two GI's, and it's nice to see them in both 'white' and African American skin-tone paint-jobs, because we appreciated everyone who helped. Although without the tags, the black soldier may have been representing Brazil, who sent troops to the Italian campaign?

 

This seems to be a better rendition of an Infantry beret, but again, might be representing Canada or something like that, I don't know how large the series was, or how many nations were represented?
 

A comparison between the two shows a marked size discrepancy between the different mouldings, and is that a fledgling (at the time) UN flash on the GI's shoulder, maybe he's the Brazilian?

Ceremonial uniforms of both our own and allied armies, with a 'Highlander' (no specific regiment given) and a Cossack. I have one in another colourway somewhere (seen on the blog years ago) and have seen others, there may be as may as four different treatments of the decoration on this sculpt, even six - black, red, and white coats, with reverse versions?

 

A difficult subject, the Cossacks, as they fought in large numbers on both sides, mounted troops being very useful in winter snow, and for covering distance over the steppes in summer. Those fighting with us, were of Russian descent, those fighting agin' us, were fighting for Ukrainian Independence rather than in support of Nazism, while atrocities were committed by both sides.

 

The Women's Royal Army Corps weren't forgotten . . .

 

. . . and both the Monkeys and Snowdrops got a look-in!

Quality of finish varies, my Cossack is so tough or dense, and so smooth I thought he was resin, for years! While the figure on the left is a much rougher moulding, almost as lumpy as the worst examples of wood/linseed composition figures.

 

The first four again, showing the berets a bit better, the Para's is far too dark, as well as the odd Infantryman's two-tone headdress! Also showing the identical obverse of the tags through this sample, I don't know how many series' there were, or even if they ever got round to a Series 2?

 

     

H is for Highland Sentries!

In addition to the aircraft we looked at last week, I had another Zang purchase back in the Spring, the Highland infantry boxed set. We did look at one I think back in the early days of the blog, but to see how they came, and probably how the guardsmen we saw a couple of years ago were issued too, is nice.

 

Unbranded lid

 

Full set

 

Close up

 

No sign of a gummed Timpo label, so I guess these were Zang's own retail idea, but as a generic for small stores? Like my existing loose fella', two of these are snapped-off at the ankle, but composition figurines in approximately HO-gauge, of men with bare legs were always going to be a long-shot!

L is for Last May's Lots of Lovely Loot - Everything Else!

Given that I got a shed-load of good stuff yesterday and still have to clear the Plastic Warrior Show stuff first, I'm rather glad to be putting May's plunder-posts to bed! Mostly civil subjects, with a couple of oddments, there were one or two treasures among them.

 

This was one of those frustrations, only associated with those who don't carry a farty, nerdy 'wants' list around with them . . . step-up that man, 'cos it's me! The seller had several of these, but I really couldn't remember which ones I already had, and thought this looked like one I didn't, when I did, doh! And while I looked for them again yesterday, I didn't see them!

 

Should hold this for ITLAPD, but there's some nice stuff lined-up this year, so they can go here, they are soft, PVC, factory-painted, generic versions of the unpainted Webb's Supertoy pirate set, which is also still contemporary, somewhere, as both me and Peter Evans have been finding them.

 

Tudor Rose seesaw, I got it primarily to help ID the babies, and was surprised to find they are PVC like the Thomas ones (I was expecting polyethylene), which means I'll have to be doubly careful, when I come to sort all the pink babies!

 

Also, it's a bit odd that both companies chose a material which can melt the accompanying polystyrene toys they all came with, but then, at the time of manufacture, neither knew the potential for the melting, which AFV kit owners would be learning about by the 1970's! Not to forget the proud owners of Action Man diving suits - that sticky, orange hood!

 

Unpainted castings of possibly game-playing pieces, but I have to compare them with the Lilliput one, before I decide if they aren't actually just home-piracies of the Britains ones? If they are copies, I might paint them up, at some point in the future, before the task is beyond my eyesight!

 

These are composition, and a pumice type, which suggests British or French production, but the little red collars mirror those of wooden erzgebirge stuff, so they maybe from the Ore Mountains area of Saxony (Germany) or Bohemia (the Czech Republic - formally Czechoslovakia)?

 

The two nearest the camera are larger and lack the scenic bases, and also might be bisque porcelain or chalkware, they seem a little harder (but you don't casually test things this small) so I bagged them separately.

 

Some Japanese stuff I guess?, I don't know if they all go together or not, some are harder, some softer, some have pencil-holes, some don't, a few won't stand up, alone, some are transparent, others opaque, so I arbitrarily grouped them into three for shooting, and await further info' on what they actually are!

 

Circus! A Frazer & Glass clown, who has no signs of being glued to any of the accessories, or his compatriots, so one assumes that when they were being sold from the glass-compartmented shelf-displays in Woolworth's, you could purchase single, unadorned clowns? Of course you could, and he was in the sets as well; A1 Clown!

 

Two of the Merit 'Travelling Circus' wagons, which gave rise to various Hong Kong copies, both of the wagons as wagons, and as trains, and a lovely spirit-painted, wheeled, Japanese novelty, a celluloid blow-mould, of a monkey, in a fez, on a hobbyhorse, of course and why not!

 

These are definitely bisque, and probably French fèves, fox-hunters in hunting pink, with their hounds, around 35mm, they are a bit bigger than the common, modern fèves, so may have been more decorative, or even cake decorations, in which case they may be British; but, they need black boots?

 

These were a lovely find, Sima (Sixtus Maier, of Fürth, Germany) model railway flats, these were made for Märklin HO railways, back in the 1950's, although they measure a little larger, and presumably pre-date Märklin's own sets, and the similar Wettig sets? Note how the gosling doubles as a rearing chick!

 

I found another bird on the floor and retook the image, but the colour is all wrong, so I left it down here, purely for compleat'ness!

A is for Airforce One . . . Hundred and Eighty!

I know, I know, but if you think about it, there is some sense in that, a method in the madness!

 

I like to think that over the years a lot of the important ID work on both Zang (composition) and Palitoy (early plastic) aircraft has been done here, slowly, as I've found them, not knowing Mig Bonnefoy already knew more about the Zang than me, but wasn't publishing online!

 

In recent months I've had a couple of good chats with Mig, on the subject, and shared two of these Zang revelations with him, but in the meantime a loyal reader 'Down Under', sent more revelations on Palitoy and some Antipodean angles on 'dine store' plastics, therefore this post is full of interesting stuff, new to Blog, Internet and some further corners of the Hobby!

 

So, in the order in which they were revealed to me, let's get stuck in!

 

We've seen the Boeing B17 in both silver and camouflage, and both British and USAAF markings (indeed, the examples on that occasion, came from Mig!), but for years, people have always been careful to say things like 'believed to be', 'said to be' and such like, when discussing the 'Zang for Timpo', I know I have, and the confusion, aided by Joplin's big yellow book, was always best left as Zang if loose, Timpo if Timpo-carded!

 

But here we have, on opposite tail planes, both a Timpo mark and the Zang mark, as a nice underlining confirmation of the relationship, and the first time I've seen it. And many thanks to John Begg for saving this one for me.

 

Then, a couple of weeks later, I found this at Sandown Park, and I've pulled it from those plunder-posts, to get it all together here. I was able to show it to Mig, literally minutes later, and an eMail exchange then ensured to decide whether it was a Yakovlev Yak-3 or an Ilyushin Il-2 (Flying Tank), and the Yak was settled upon! But nobody knew these were out there.

 

No Timpo blue-triangle label, although there may have been one where the paper blemish lies under the nose of the righthand Yak, but the box is quite fancy, and reminiscent of the JE Beale's department-store one, which reminds us they are still all Zang first, and only Timpo if so packaged . . . or, now, sometimes, marked!

 

Mig also gave me an updated list of the Zang/Timpo 'planes;

• Airspeed Horsa (Glider) 
• Boeing B17 Fortress
• Boeing B29 Super Fortress
• Bristol Blenheim 
• De Havilland Mosquito
• Gloster E28/39 (Jet)
• Hawker Typhoon 
• Lockheed P-38 Lightning
• North American P-51 Mustang
• Supermarine Spitfire
• Yakovlev Yak-3
•  
• Fairy Battle (mentioned in an Article by Sue Richardson )?
• 
  
• While we both think there should be a Hawker Hurricane!

So I still have at least, four to shoot, five to find, as the Horsa we saw here wasn't mine! 

 

In the meantime, a loyal reader who doesn't want naming, but is happy to go by the moniker 'Ozi', sent me this, from Australia, and it's clearly a metal copy of the later/better Palitoy spitfire moulding, under the name of Merry Toys, missing its landing gear and propeller, but, there's no missing those lines, as we've seen them here, on the Blog, most recently this January, just gone. 

 

Ozi said: "I will attach a few pics of the “Merry Toys” metal cast item; which I think owes a great deal in parentage to the Palitoy “Spitfire or whatever it is”.  The wingspan of the Merry Toy is spot on four inches.  I don’t have a Palitoy Spitfire” to go alongside it.  The casting of the Merry Toy is pretty crude anyway.  Would you please let me have your thoughts on the possible parentage of this item?  I found it in a model shop about twenty years ago" .

 

Well . . . my thoughts are, who copied who? There is clearly a relationship, but the Aussie one is both lacking the strange indented line down the fuselage (of the Palitoy one), and has a better cockpit. So I am minded to think, given how poor Palitoy's version-one Spitfire was, that they are also responsible for the first iteration of this beast, and Merry then improved upon it?

 

Also, haveing placed the Palitoys firmly in the 1940's, there is something of the 1950's tinplate about this Merry antipodean one, albeit, it's actually a die-cast alloy model?

Ozi also sent a very clean Mossie . . . from Aussie . . . sometimes I should just be jailed! Ozi found it on Gumtree, down under, so some made their way down there. I think I read, there is both a real Mosquito and a Lancaster being rebuilt in that part of the world?

 

It's not the only Mossie being rebuilt I believe, and likewise I think an American (or second Canadian?) Lancaster is under rebuild. Having seen the then, only two, flying Lank's together, at Farnborough, a fair few years ago, now, imagine what four would look/sound like, and likewise, three Mosquitos! 

 

In a follow-up eMail Ozi sent these four pictures (above and below) of smaller 'novelty' 'plane models, and I'll post his musing on childhood fandom and memories of toy aircraft at the bottom. Here a rather nice Vampire, in marbled pinkish-maroons.

 

 

 North American P-51 Mustang and De Havilland DH.106 Comet

 

Grumman F9F Panther

"In my school days, growing up in a smallish country town in OZ and later in a City, with only my imagination for company, it was natural to have a liking for toy aircraft.  It was a bit after WW2 and no one wanted reminders of it – but I was curious about the aircraft.  Over several years, I saw the Dinkies, the Timpo “Bomber Station” set (with what I later recognized as Lightnings!), a small scale plastic set of apparently locally produced items and – best of them all – the plastic Palitoys.  Particularly the Wellington with its transparent gun turrets with guns!

 

They were all out of my reach and I just had to drool. The Defiant and the Wellington were moulded in a sort-of camouflage pattern [the distinctive marbling of early Palitoy's. Ed.]; which made them very distinctive. 

 

And then there was a series of plastic toys contemporary with the Korean War; Panther, MIG 15, Shooting Star a nice Sabre with RAAF markings and they had wheeled undercarriages. In various colours; blue, yellow, red.  I managed to somehow get a couple of them.  There might have others in that series. I am pretty sure they were local knock-offs of the US Empire brand – or they might have been licensed copies.  I don’t know, and I don’t think anybody knows now.

There was another series out about the same time – no undercarriages on this lot ; a Hawker Hunter (Only saw red ones), a Canberra and a DC3.  And a bit later were the giveaways with packets of “Aeroplane Jellies”.  I have illustrated the only one of those I have ever seen.  A Vampire, not very well moulded in a dark purple colour. Similarly, I somehow managed to swap for or find examples.

 
The first pics are of the “Aeroplane Jellies” Vampire.  Wingspan about 2.5”. Next are a couple of examples of the small scale locals – a Mustang and a Comet in silver.  Wingspan about 2.5”.  Only ever saw these in silver, and I am pretty sure there was a Canberra in that series and also a Lincoln.  Next is a pic of an American Empire Grumman Panther.  Wingspan about 4.5”.  Despite looking for years for examples of the OZ made Panthers, MIG15’s etc, I have never seen a single one.

In more recent times I have obtained locally a very distorted Palitoy Defiant, a couple of Lockheed bombers; plus eBay examples of the post-war Wellington and Sunderland.  The occasional Timpo Lightning crops up here, and also their B17.  Usually very play worn.

 

A couple of ZANG Mossies were a welcome find a few years ago.  A local site had a listing some time ago of a collection of small plastic toys; FD2, Lightning and others and I put in a bid, but it was not good enough.  Apparently they were local KELLOGG'S giveaways and dated rather after my school days. . . . 

. . . I should mention seeing the toys section of one of the new supermarkets (COLES) having Palitoy “Spit-whatevers” and Vampires and possibly other types finished in what appeared to be chrome plating."

The 'small scale locals' would seem to be yet another iteration of the MPC 'Minis', also done in hard plastic by Blue Box, but possibly only one or two? And many thanks to John, Mig and 'Ozi' for helping bring this lot together!

A is for Another One

Coming so soon after the recent expanding of the envelope with a B17 Flying Fortress (erroneously described as a B29 at the time), in part in answer to Collectors Gazette's apparent attempt to précis this Blog's work on the range over the years, comes an actual B29 Super Fortress!

Not exactly a rack-toy (yes, this August has been a bit of a wash-out on the RTM front), but I bet it was cheaper than a bag of chips back in the day! Another believed to be Zang for Timpo/Model Toys composition (Timpolin) aircraft model to add to the previous post's listing;

• Boeing B17 Flying Fortress
• Boeing B29 Super Fortress
  
• De Havilland Mosquito
• Gloster Whittle
  
• Hawker Hurricane (or Supermarine Spitfire?)
• Horsa Glider 
• Lockheed P-38 Lightning
  

Alphabetical this time, and new to blog, Internet and hobby, I think, what will turn-up next?

C is for Composition Crates

As well as regular dips into (and revelations on) the model aircraft range of early Palitoy over the years, here at Small Scale World, we have also had numerous dips into the output of Zang and Zang for Timpo, using their Timpolin pumic-based composition, including several looks at the aircraft, showing the Horsa Glider for the first time, and the Navy which has since appeared everywhere!

Today we're looking predominantly at the B17 Flying Fortress, of which these came in, via a rather convoluted deal, a year or two ago, I spotted them late at night on feebleBay, eMailed a friend who I knew would A) be interested and B) most likely to be a rival bidder, he knew the seller, and wasn't that interested, so messaged him and bought them, the seller then posted them direct to me, and I settled-up later with the payer!

I know they came from one of the few decent toy museums still going, and may have been spares or just surplus to requirements and sacrificed to raise funds for more 'grail' or exhibitable items, but it was the first time I'd seen them. Note how the British one has 'our' camouflage scheme, the two US ones 'theirs', while a late-war (8th Air Force?) machine is finished in silver, and clearly caught flak!

 

I'm not sure if the rust-brown colouration in this damage/crack is the linseed-oil often used as the main mixing-liquid in compositions, particularly European ones, or signs of a metal armature being deemed necessary, on these larger models? There's no hint of them on the other aircraft, nor the figures, so I suspect not.

Having seen the Gloster Whittle before as an archive item, I now have my own, which Adrian Little of Mercator Trading kindly put to one side for me a while back. So I now have personally;

• Lockheed P-38 Lightnings (and the later Timpo diecast version)
  
• Boeing B17 Flying Fortresses
• De Havilland Mosquitos (two brandings)
  
• Hawker Hurricane/s (or Supermarine Spitfire/s, I can't remember!)
• Gloster Whittle

and we've seen here before, the;

• Horsa Glider

What will we see/uncover next? Or maybe Collectors Gazette would like to have a punt? What? All publicity's good publicity, isnt it? Heh-heh-heh!

A is for And Those Pilots . . .

As mentioned earlier . . . well, a few minutes ago, it didn't take long to find the other image!

Here the 'second maker' theory is not so clear, but I believe the one on the far right without painted gloves, but with the much heavier base may be the cloned imposter? It's not made easy by dint of Zang giving, or leaving (?) heavier bases on a couple of theirs?

However, the fact that the two small ones on the left are there, rather helps with the size difference on the sentries seen previously; there seem to have been two tranches or two sets of moulds for both figures?

C is for Comparisons

I actually did this with the pilots a while ago, elsewhere, so I'll dig them out and follow this with them . . . or 'it', I think there's only the one usable image! Comparing the composition output of - believed to be - British makers of the 1940's, and musing on the fact that some 'Zang' may not be Zang, or Timpo? And a bit of luck on the Timpo front.

 

From the left and we have three metal ones I haven't looked-up in Joplin yet, of which the third looks more die-cast that the two obvious hollow-cast's, but he seems to be lead, so it'll be a different moulding process I expect, then three of the recognised Zang for Timpo 'Timpolene' sentries, then two others which are accepted as Zang and/or Timpo but which I now suspect are unlicensed copies, similar figures are found in the Pilots 'line-up', and I suspect the heavier bases are from a third party. They could be earlier or later Zang production though, so it's still only a theory?

Close-up of the most similar figures, given the size difference between the first three could be down to material shrinkage or different moulds; I don't think we can draw much from that, but the right-hand figure has detailing differences as well as a marked size variation and the heavy base. Which is also oblong, while all the definite Zang's from Timpo boxed sets have the round bases. So I feel we have a second maker here? Who also produced the black chap (armoured corps?) and a pilot - coming later.

This set IS die-cast, and contemporaneous with the Composition era of both the fighter set we looked at here (third image from bottom), and the navy sets, several of which have turned-up since I first blogged them here a few years ago. Believed to be bought-in (by a member of the 'old guard'), it's clear that Timpo was experimenting with media, as hard as some of those multiple-material French toy soldier producers of the same era?

And just as the composition naval stuff is now seemingly everywhere (I've seen about five sets in two sizes and various loose lots since that initial post), so I have had the 'at ease' figure for many years, adding a couple of duplicates, yet only picked the machine gunner up a few months ago, the prone and the other sentry being all-new to me!

 

But it's all out there! This set was part of a large lot in the last SAS auction, which I failed to secure with a tight-wad bid, only to see it on eBay less than a week later! Cheap for what it was, and unencumbered by its accompanying composition ship sets and a couple of those cross-over fighter sets; it seemed destined somehow!