Q is for Question Time - Fusilier in Fez

Can anyone ID this composition figure?

Possibly German made, but no base, so no base mark! And clearly an Ottoman infantryman from the period of the First World War, or from the blue, earlier . . . Russo-Turkish war of 1877? I'd love to put a maker's name to him. He's quite big as well; about 80mm?
 

Q is for Quickie!

I've literally just found this - below shot - looking for something else to post quickly before I go to work, and as it's 12th night/the last day of Christmas, today, I'd better post it!

 

These were part of a donation from Peter Evans back in the late summer, and I've mentioned that several donations and a couple of toy fair lots have rather been forgotten or subsumed into the general folders, several of which were from or involved Peter, so many thanks to him, but here's one of the lost images, with a couple of other Picasa-clearers!

 

Back to cake decorations! The footballer is a hard polystyrene Hong Kong copy of the earlier, larger Gemodels sculpt, the polar-explorer next to him come from an old Revell (or Monogram?) aeroplane model kit of a ski-plane, or so I thought, possibly the old Ford Trimotor? However, a quick Google says no, and neither does he seem to be from the Airfix one, so answers on a postcard please! Home-painted, but in a nicely commercial style, I feel.

 

Micky is one of the marked 'Culpitt' figures (I think, I can't honestly remember), very similar to the Marx/Combex, Bully and Comics Spain pieces, among others, there seem to have been quite a few of them, if it is Culpitt, it's the second seen here, but I may have more, and it's something we can return to another day.

 

Below left is probably a Hong Kong Santa, and he looks like he's meant to be holding a sleigh/sledge's handles? While the other two have been covered here before, the Gemodels stag and much later festival/Culpitt plug-together.

These are definitely Culpitt marked, and it was the Goofy we saw last time, shot taken from the Culpitt cake decorating book, which you won't be surprised to hear was called the Culpitt Book of Cake Decoration! And which doubled-up as a catalogue.

Last time I mentioned it, someone else rushed out to find a copy (or cover shot!) so he could mention it too, which was sweet "sincerest form of flattery" and all that, but actually there are two versions, presumably the 'ghostwriter' employed to provide the blurb, issued her own version!

 

Interestingly, there are a couple of page-differences and blurb-variances in the opening and closing sections, but otherwise it's the same tome, with different covers - both now in the library, for completion!

F is for Follow-up - Q is for Question Time - Sheep Joins Pig!

I'm sure the pig was a question time, but it might have been in a show report or contribution post and I forgot to Tag it unknown, however, I can't find it on the Blog now? I have shot it again below, but. sure of its existence on the Blog, I've concentrated on the addition, a sheep!

So this is the beast, it's very similar to the pig, in the crudity of it's sculpting and moulding, but still very naturalistic lines, 'Sculptural' is I think the term? A three part tool, with a large belly-block beneath two body halves the over the top split-line having been heavily fettled, the belly line less so, and the colouring the same yellowish-gray and charcoal/black, applied on the same neutral plastic.
 

The two together with a BMC figure for scale (they announced three new colourway pirate sets for later in the month, earlier today!), you can see scale in on the bigger side, and I wonder if they went with a tin-plate farm-truck or trailer, maybe even a railway wagon, but that's unlikely? Whatever, answers on a postcard if you have one . . . answer or postcard!

An hour or so later - I hadn't published it! This came from Adrian a couple of months ago, and I shot it, with Britains sizer, but never got round to the planned Question Time post, so, anyway, here it is, in better detail than the above, still looking for info on both though!

Q is for Question Time - Whimsical Lead

Again, not so much of a question, as I feel these are likely to prove to be Good Soldiers, but they came as a bulk lot of 'shop stock' with no packaging, which would be an uncommon escape from the garage concern that is Good Soldiers, I haven't seen them in Ron's immaculately-cut, foam-lined 'toy soldier' boxes, on his stall either, and they don't seem to be copies of other, older, plastic figures, as his more whimsical, or fairy-tale-TV-Disney stuff tends to be.

 

These are more 'Good Soldier' like, as the two larger bears seem to be taken from a commonish sculpt, both sides of the channel, and both sides of the pond, often found with backwoodsmen or other Wild West, not holding bowls or spoons, mind!

 

And the girl holding a straw boater behind her back also looks vaguely familiar, but as a group a rather nice Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I would add that Baby Bear is doing a pretty good impression of Mary Plain, while Daddy Bear seems to be a stretched Mummy Bear - owch!

Whereas these Rupert the Bear snowball fighters appear to be unique sculpts, in that they weren't cereal premiums or similar as far as I know, The Tournament Collection did a whitemetal set back in the 1980's, but theirs were smoother finished I feel, and all just standing. From the left Rupet, Podgy Pig and the mischief-makers, Freddy & Ferdie Fox, although how you tell them apart is a mystery to me!

 

So anyways, any ideas, on either set, gratefully received!

Q is for Question Time - Astronauts

Not really a 'question time' per se, as I know they are converted key-rings, and from the sculpting style, from the same stable as the PVC footballers we've seen here once or twice now, so Hong Kong originally, but these are actually solids in a dense polyethylene, so possibly a little earlier?

 

I just wondered if - given the faces - they aren't trying, despite the garish space-suits, to be the crew of Apollo 11? The chap on the right looks particularly specific, rather than the usual generic baby-face of the later (?) footballers?

Collins in the middle, Armstrong on the right and Aldrin on the left? I know the orange hair's all wrong, so am probably being over imaginative, but it's nice to think they might be caricatures of the original crew!

Q is for Question Time - D is for Dutch?

Anyone recognise these, they have something of Der Struwwelpeter about them, and yet are polystyrene so can't be any earlier than the 1930's, while Struwwelpeter is from the mid-19C? Also, they look like they might be identifiable characters, from some artwork or another . . . 

 

. . . .even Struwwelpeter itself, I know there have been several illustrated versions over the 170-odd years of it's run? While the three figures are caricature-like, and the duck seems deliberately comedic, the rabbit and hens are really quite normal-looking!

 

For some reason I'm thinking Dutch more than the German of the original book, and while the French too had their 'sabots', there must also have been other books! Factory-painted polystyrene, about 80mm for the figures? Any ideas?

Q is for Question Time - Spanish . . . ?

These are a bit of fun, as they seem to be copies of the more common terracotta figures, of which a small collection has been growing slowly in these pages, or on this slowly scrolling page?! 60mm, polyethylene, civilian caricatures?

 

They seem to be cake decorations, something I've never considered - do other countries have their own cake decorations? The British and US ones are well documented and easy to find on evilBay, while I've had some luck with Argentinian sets (divers, fairy tales and 'Beatles'), but who else had locally produced, or national-referencing cake decorations, and why are they not annotated on the collecting sites? So, if anyone can add to/explain these two flamenco dancers, I'd be grateful!

Q is for Quiralux

I have to go out before work today, so here's a quick 'L is for Lazy Post'! Seen elsewhere, it's a scan of a not oft-seen Quiralux flyer, it got me thinking I've probably mixed-up Quiralux and Cofalu in the past and probably need to check both Tags, to make sure they are pertaining to the right maker!

If you click on it, then left-click again it should blow-up to a useable image, and if printed on A3 or larger, will be a useful addition to a paper archive. 60mm modern infantry and Wild West, 54mm mediaevals and farm, I think, mixed plastics.

Q is for Question Time - Wizards' Wizard?

And odd question as I know it's marked Wizards, presumably Wizards of the Coast, but what it he exactly, is he a giant from the 30mm sets, is he from a stand-alone board game, or is he some kind of mascot, or convention freebie?

The Star Wars, 2000AD and Lord of the Rings sets were also a factory painted, black rubberised-polymer, while he is unpainted polyethylene, in an odd shade of puce/mauve.

 

I know where I got him from as well, Graham Apperley, at last year's Plastic Warrior show, and he probably told me something about the figure, but that's a day when the brain is sent more information than it can store in short-term memory!

 

Anyone recognise this chap, and know what his role or employment looked/looks like, within the Wizards empire? An empire swallowed by Hasbro since we looked at them here, back at the beginning of the Blog!

Q is for Question Time - Space Play Mat

You'll either know this 'cos you've got it, or you won't have a clue, the only clue I had was that it might have been from one of the larger Hing Fat sets, but a bit of googling/EvilBay serching revealed that the only plastic mat they seem to have had, in one of the NASA sets, was a sort of sandy/desert scene?

Hard to photograph without reflections, when it's been scrunched-up and your landlord's put 18 downlighter spots in your ceiling, but i soaked it in hot water and then used kitchen roll to streatch it flat against the wood-floor. The only actual clue is a small PART NO .0031, located in the large crater against the long side, in black print? Anyone recognise it?

Haha! See comments; Marx/Mego - 4206 Galaxy Command, 1979, or the previous year's Star Station Seven, two of the very last play sets;

https://2warpstoneptune.com/2013/01/25/marx-toys-galaxy-command-play-set/

Q is for Question Time - Ceremonial

Another question mark, this could be Commerical or homemade, it's hard to tell, as it may have been repainted, if the former, but seems to be a single [white 'styrene] moulding with glued arm, which would be unlike the normal/expected basis of the latter?

I think he's Danish and possibly from a while back, the Oslo Royal Guards can be found wearing these helmets, but only with white trousers as a summer uniform, while with the blue trousers they are usually to be found these days in bearskins, so maybe mid-20th Century 'colonial' style?

Q is for Question Time - Unknown Plastic Truck

 Can anyone help ID this to a maker;

It's unmarked, about 1:50 or 1:64th, and I'm hoping someone may know it local to their territory - US, Canada, Australia . . . to work out who may have carried it or imported it here, or indeed, where it came from?

Q is for Question Time - Seasonal Subjects?

Right! So that's the Bird in, with a carrot and a parsnip and a red onion, it's had half-an-hour on 190° to soften everything, I've basted it, covered it and put it back for another half at 200°, then I'll get it out for a bit while I do the spuds, which I'll squeeze a white onion in with 'cos I ran out of room!

 

Tray prepped with pigs-in-blankets and some very posh stuffing balls because I nearly forgot them, and all they had were rather smart ones with rosemary and a cranberry crown wrapped in bacon! And I've added a beetroot to roast with them, while I sort the rest of the veg out! No leeks, I forgot leeks!

In the meantime, and assuming you've consumed the previous post in full (there's been two hits in half-an-hour - everyone who ate early is asleep in front of the fire!), here's a quick question mark . . . 

 

We may have seen these before in various posts, and at least one is probably from Chris Smith? Plastic on the left, Hong Kong, composition in the middle (with a wood-slice base) and an all-wood, erzgebirge on the right, but who, what, when, where and why?

 

The Hong Kong one (approximately 75mm) is holding a key, which here in the UK might make him a 21st birthday-cake decoration, but normally that's just a key, set in the icing, and he's more of a wizard or even a Santa'? The one in the middle is probably a Noah, but he looks a bit prophet-like as well, St Peter? And the lady on the right is probably Mrs. Noah, so it's the one on the left I'm really keen on more info' for? Any ideas, as you digest your Crimbo' feast?

Q is for Question Time - Gymkhana Horse?

We've had this before I think, or one of them, the little Shetland pony from Britains for kiddies' gymkhanas, was copied by someone, in a nylon'y plastic, I'm guessing for some kind of Polly Pocket micro play-set compacts?

So, the simple question is, who? To which I suppose 'when?' can be a supplemental! There's no sign of the locating stud being attached, so it may be that no riders were involved, and the little piracies were background interest, as it were, but they're not that rare, so getting it ascribed should be easier than it's proved so far, and would be nice?

Q is for Question Time - U is for Uglynauts

These were flagged-up by Fred Barratt in an old Plastic Warrior magazine . . . Around the 150's I think, he'd found them on holiday in Australia, I seem to recall, but didn't have a brand name/mark for them.

 

I have a horrible feeling I've even lined them up the same as the PW article, which, if I have, is pure coincidence, but it's how they lend themselves, with the firers to the right and wavey-hands-man over the lowered arm of the next guy!

They are not very good and look like a group of over-acting firefighters! About 50mm and fun, they are - at least - more spacemen! But hard to place in the oeuvre, they're more 'pulp' than anything else? Cardboard helmets, mechanics overalls and wellington boots!

 

Looking at them enlarged, you could claim they are Star Wars knock-offs, one of those dodgy Italian ones with original space-battle clips over pop-numbers and ninjas! There are two 'AT-AT' pilots and four 'stormtroopers'!

Being spacemen, they do have an enemy! Or, the denizens of several planets to conquer/destroy! These are not much better, but marginally more believable, and I have a red example of the chap holding the cattle-prod (2nd from the left) somewhere in storage, so they must have been issued in other colours?

 

Base mark is like some Toy Major stuff, and some of the similar pirates we've seen from Redbox, or even the buff/tan Halloween sets we've featured in the last few years, can anyone add anything other than "They were in Australia around 2010"?

 

Now known to be [earlyish] Toy Major.

Q is for Question Time - Famine?

It's been a while since we had a Question Time, and this is an odd one, but I feel it should be more obvious an answer than I have so far uncovered, or failed to, so can anyone help ID this figure?

About sixty or seventy millimetres, but of a child so 100-mil plus in scale. He is clearly holding a bowl, but is it an empty food-bowl, or a begging bowl, and is he in an aid-queue or looking/waiting for non-existent food?

Polystyrene and with no signs of glue or other fixing on the underside of the base, I feel he must be some kind of famine-relief fund-raiser, or token of such, but who issued him, the UN, War on Want, Oxfam . . . There are so many NGO's trying to save the millions of souls failed by capitalism and dictators (there is enough food, land and money on this planet for all eight-million to enjoy a decent standard of living), it could be any of them.

And when, 1970's, 1980's or earlier? If this rings a bell with anyone, I'd love to know more about it. He seems to be more Asian than African or generic, and the lack of gunk on the base-underside, suggests he wasn't attached to a donation receptacle/collection-box, but issued as a figurine? Was he part of a set, maybe a family group?

Q is for Question Time - Rack Toy Question

Sean at Fantasy Toy Soldiers had these somewhere, and I think he has more poses than me, but he too was asking for further information, so, hoping there are different readers here, I'll ask too - does anyone know anything about these chaps and chapesses?

They are about 50mm (a Hing Fat trait?) and pretty mid-to-late 1980's in style; a bit Star Wars, a bit Nottingham Mafia, a bit post-apocalyptic and straight-to-video! Medium density polyethylene and, apart from the sci-fi subject, typical 'army men' rack toy fodder.

Colours are also very Hing Fat, ignoring the two shades of grey, and these are also very reminiscent of the Galaxy Rangers from Hing Fat, which is not to say they are Hing Fat, but might be, or might have been supplied by them for someone else?

 

Looking at the two in the larger picture, could they be meant to be Buck and Wilma from Buck Rogers, after the 80's TV series? They carry no mark (which is also the case with the Galaxy Rangers I think?), and I have one heat-shrinkage figure who is useable - the white plastic chap in the small picture.

Q is for Quintet of Queerish Questors

Yeah, I dun'know, it sort of started with Quartet and just grew! At one point it was diving divers di . . . it got samey! Just a quicky; it's been a long day! We're looking at a group of pretty diverse divers - oh, could have run with that?!! - I picked-up in the autumn and spring.

It's the five on the left we'll inspect in a minute, but I shot them with a few commoner plastics (trio to the right) to give some idea of size/scale and bulk/sculpt. From the left we have Manoil's hollow-cast US lump, a fully painted/matt-glazed bisque from Japan, Argentinian plastic cake-decoration (seen before) and Britain's own ceramic classic from Wade, the last is a Murano style, hand-made/blown vitreous example of the glass-carftsmann's art.

So Manoil's lump, and I don't call it a lump in a derogatory fashion, just that it's a heavy chunk of post-war lead-rich solidity! For it's time, it's a surprisingly modern suit with no cage-windows; although he seems to be carrying his air-hose, so deck or dock-side?

Also carrying his hose, this chap makes a quite good alien, being unrealistically short with a huge head, and fanciful suit-design . . . pressurised rubber? Slip-cast hollow-bisque and marked 'JAPAN'.

Wade's is similarly as fine a material as bisque, but a solid cast with a full, translucent glaze which settles after firing like a heavy wash. Not a Whimsy, but a larger, stand-alone piece aimed at the tourist keepsake/seaside market I guess . . . I shouldn't have to guess, I have the Wade book somewhere, but currently in a storage unit!

The fourth of the new additions and what a peach! Probably not as difficult to produce as some of the little animals, but still, it's all very clever . . . one of my secret pleasures at the moment is watching glass-blowing and twist-marble manufacturing videos on YouTube! So I have some idea how he's been rolled out and split, the colours added as hotter blobs, the fins squished down with steel pinchers, and so on!

We did see this chap, not long ago, but he was still around, so he gets a second outing! A polyethylene cake-decoration, with icing-spikes, under his feet and simple paint; that silver again, the Argentines like their silver paint! But a unique sculpt, as far as I know?

A second group shot, the number of photographs is due to the fact that I shot 'an article' . . . twice! Only a few days apart, I totally forgot the first photo-shoot - when I uploaded the SD-Card, there they all were; a few hedgehogs apart! Doh!

Q is for Quickie - Three Wagons on Mah' Page!

I picked these up the other day from the Republic of Ireland, of note as it may point to the wider spread of Giant and Giant-like rack-toy 'stuff' back in the day, but they could have been bought-in more recently by a collector, so proves nothing!

This kind of stuff is really meant to be over on the But is it Giant? page, and the above will all be heading there in the next 18-months (with any luck!), once these three have been added-in to the relevant posts, but I thought as they are a nice mix, as a trio, I'd post them here, and plug the new, temporary, horse page.

Before (left) and after (right) cleaning, we have, from the front; a Giant or post-Giant buckboard/box-wagon with the tarp'ed load inserted, and a marked Giant stage-coach (the reason I bid, it had remained elusive for many years!), with a buggy behind, this has the horse I call 'Large Draft', and came in various branded and unbranded sets as well as Christmas crackers and being issued as a Quosh soft-drinks premium (cheers Chris!), we've also seen them here before under the National brand, but with the two smaller versions of the horse.

From the left; the coach with its full GIANT MADE IN HONG KONG mark, it needs a replacement wheel for the Airfix one it's been given, but I have a bagful of spares, both 8 and 12 spoke (and possibly some 10's?), so that will be easy. Note the unique separate axles of the coach, which leads to a pivoting draw-bar allowing for better photography on uneven surfaces!

Then the 'standard' wagon (it isn't really that standard; there are various version of them), copied from . . . take your pick; Crescent, Tudor Rose or one of several US makers! It has a neat Blue Box style MADE IN HONG KONG mark, but it isn't the Blue Box version, just has the same tool-stamp!

While the clip-together 'kit' wagon is marked MADE IN HONG KONG NO 261 which is similar to some Lik Be (LB, formally LP/IDL) markings, but the letters aren't as rough as the items marked like that by LB. In all there are eight in the series to find and I'm not sure I've found all of them, but I've a better sample now than the last time we looked at them!

Come-in's over the last few weeks!

 

Last Time We Looked At Them (coincidentally with the Christmas-pudding battle story!)

Temporary HK Hollow-Horse ID'ing Page