K is for Kit Bashing

Funny, I got back last weekend from the show to find someone had 'found' an internet image previously seen here, and posted it without context, but with the usual 'What do you think readers?', and fair enough, this stuff is out there, but if we're going to change the rules to cover stuff like that, I'd just point out I can now repost about a third of everything he's posted in the last nineteen years, while he will struggle to reproduce about 1% of my Blog?

 

Probably not something he wants to establish, but thought and action need to be coordinated first, and they're clearly not being - what to you think readers?! Anyway, as that image appeared on a kit-post, here's the kit stuff I picked-up last weekend, while Bushy was following me, again!

 

I think these are mostly from the Gowland & Gowland 'Highway Pioneers' line of old fashioned car kits, later taken-over by Revell (UK), before going worldwide, through the parent company. Useful to get them without the large (1:43rd) vehicle kits, and most will be easy to ID, the red stuff might prove problematical though!

 

There is a variation between them, with the green chap bottom-right, having the post parts, at a six-count, while the dark green racers (?) are single mouldings, and you have everything in-between, with two, three, four and five-part figures.

 

Some (the really early [1951] ones?) having a cartoonish caricature look about them, while others are more realistic or anatomically correct. And there seem to be colour variations of one or two.

 

Funnily enough, given the premise of the post, I have a ton of these Aurora 'Snap-a-roos' in the archive (some used by Bushy, most not seen over there yet!), but they can wait a few more years, becasue I picked this up on Saturday, and it's arguably the best of the bunch, being space themed, while some of the others are more assorted 'transport' collections, taken from R&L.

 

And while I'm sure these have been credited to R&L elsewhere, there's no evidence of the Rosenhain & Lipmann mark on the frames, and, as we we've seen with both Rubenstein and De Gruyter, it's never that simple, plus, there were several Italian makers of these micro-kits, too. So I'm wont to 'call' on these, although the fact they called them Snap-a-roos, gives them an otherwise inexplicable Australian link!

 

Modern, and most of the contents are cheap cardboard tat, but a re-boxing of an old 1:24th Jeep kit, and it was half the going rate I've seen on evilBay! Commemorating a date in 2019, the instructions dated 2021, it apparently didn't hit the shops until 2022, so current really! Presumably, the production schedule got hit by Covid19?

 

The chrome-coated runner is for the civilian 'Surrey' version, although it you drive an open vehicle toward a monster Kaiju or two, you deserve everything coming to you! The card stuff will go with all the other paper/card stuff, when I get round to making-up the Jeep.

 

Right let's see how many feeBay space images I've 'saved', that I can post in the next 28 days . . . oh, hold-on, I've got so much original copy and imagery, I don't need to copy him, or hoover-up his Internet scrapings!

B is for Beach Buggys [sic]!

When I was a kid I always wondered what '[sic]' or '(sic)' meant after a word or phrase, and while I did ask the odd adult from time to time, I clearly didn't ask the right ones (with 4-billion people to the left of the bell-curve [phrase du jour!], there's a lot of pretty thick adults out there, people; be careful!), and while I kept meaning to look it up, I'd never remember to, when a dictionary was nearby!

Eventually, when I started my Encyclopedia of Military Abbreviations (don't ask, several box-files of shite, all in long-hand, several formats/part-drafts and unlikely to ever be finished, but it probably kept me out of various troubles!), I did finally look it up! I'm sure many of you, too, now know what it means, but for those who don't - from the good old Oxford English;

 

Used in brackets after a copied or quoted word that appears odd or erroneous to show that the word is quoted exactly as it stands in the original, as in a story must hold a child's interest and ‘enrich his [sic] life’ or a hero of antient [sic] Rome.

 

In our case, here, the word should, correctly, be 'Buggies' or 'Buggy's', not the given Buggys. Now I know one or two idiots across the pond will assume I'm having a go, specifically at America/American and that therefore I'm being "racist" (again!), but I'm not, I'm just correcting an incorrection* in the correct manor [sic], because I like a bit of correctness!

*Noun. incorrection f (plural incorrections) a fault, default or impropriety, especially of language. State of what is incorrect. (dated) Character of what goes against courtesy and politeness (Heeheehee! The Rubenstein card is impolite!).

 

Rubenstein's Dune Buggys [sic]; As you can see, they - like ALL Rubenstein sets - have a stock code (3004), and you can find them in single colour sets and multicolour sets, two production tranches or one quirky production run? If anyone knows it will be Kent Sprecher, hopefully he'll tell us, with empirical supporting evidence, in his forthcoming, world-saving, Hugh-beating, article of grand-importance?

Six different designs, very much in the style of Rosenhain and Lipmann from Australia, but are not R&L, and are not claimed as such by the R&L experts. R&L did do vehicle sets including the Dragsters which are certainly in the same vein, but where R&L have lots of fine parts (or several per kit - wheel hubs and axles in particular), these are much simpler kits.

Unlike some of the other vehicle sets from Rubenstein which are a softer polyethylene, mine are in a hard 'kit' polystyrene, however the multicolour set may be the opposite, and it might be that they all got issues in both plastic-types/colour-ways, I don't know, but hopefully Kent will tell us everything, about everything, all at once?!

 

I should point out, before some bottom-burping oaf in Pennsylvania hysterically reports "Ah-Haa, they've all got a name he didn't tell us!", that they all have a name and I haven't told you, only because I forgot to write them down before they went to storage, life is too short and it gives us an excuse to return to them another day! Like when I build the other four . . . I was in a hurry, this all happened about a year ago, you know? I can't presage the idiocy of idiots, 24/7/365.

 

R&L did however, supply Aurora with their little kits, at the same approximate time Rubenstein were carrying their Dune Buggys [sic]! Sold as Snap-a-roos, they were the cereal premium sets, as sixes, sold in little boxes, which is how these (and similar domestically produced) sets were also issued in Italy.

But then 'Burns' reports this group of three, apparently simple, small, clip-together kits as being announced in the 1973 Lindberg catalogue (or catalog, not a '[sic]', but an accepted foreign variation of English), which was subsequently never issued. The feeling being that they were supposed to be, or seemed to have a connection with; the eponymous 'Kilroy' of World War II fame.

 

Which, applying TJF's logic must mean there's a Kilroy 'of The World' fame, out there too! And can you hear that scratching noise in the background? That's Sprecher quickly adding a paragraph to his Magnum Opus! He's probably added several in the last seven days.

That they (the Aurora set) never appeared and Rubenstein's wouldn't appear until sometime in or after '77, suggests that the Rubenstein set, was whatever was left after the above three pre-production artworks went through the production process, those driver/Kilroy figures would have required much more complicated (and therefore expensive) tooling for undercuts &etc . . . so there is a possibility they were simplified into this set . . . but I stress, that it's casual musings on the subject, not canon-history or any fact of any kind.

Another candidate for the Aurora no-shows is this similar set from R&L, but again, not these, and again; fine parts, a feature. However, there are similarities in one or two of the main-parts, with both the Lindberg drawings and the Rubenstein set, so who knows; Burns didn't, I don't, Sprecher doesn't, The R&L guys don't and TJF never will!

H is for Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Rubenstein is the New Rock & Roll!

They just can't help themselves, can they? I knew exactly what I was doing, and they have proven nothing other than that there are more sets than the 12? I think I suggested as much, when I said . . .

 "which is not to say there aren't more"

. . . but twelve would have been neat, and ten seem commoner! TJF has practically had a real cum orgasm in public over a header-card for what are obviously trashy rack-toy clones! Is it any surprise that an import-export concern carried Hong Kong Stock?

Away from this still limited, but now 13-count toy line, they would have had knock-off torches, sewing sets, key-rings, kitchen gadgets that break the fourth time you use them, plant pots, macramé sets, cruet sets, shit scissors . . . you know what they would have had!

 

Kindly, TJF confirms that the card dates from the 1980's, and was 'closeout', which again takes us away from the 1950/60's cereal premiums, and could be old stock from the 1977 days or something more contemporary . . . pretty-much what I dug-up, and he's certainly done Kent's arguments (if he really has any?) no favours!! Fancy having the card without the figures?

And I'd already confirmed they 'do figures' - I showed them!???? He then says, "So it is likely they did a header card Soldiers of the World" . . . why? Why is it likely? Because they sound the same? Simplistic tosh, the evidence (circumstantial) is they took multicoloured shite from anywhere or anyone except Tatra, the dullard!

He then claims the Tatra are R&L, which even the R&L experts don't! They have the lovely Aussie flats of Diggers. And the grandiose shite in his last paragraph is hilarious, I'd be embarrassed to be caught writing such narcissistic rubbish! Or having it written about me!

What I've said, and I will say it again, is that THERE IS NO EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE that they ever carried the Tatra-for-Kellogg's/Nabisco/Peak Freans et al 'Soldiers/Warriors of the World/All Nations'. Nor any evidence for the link to silver/gold cereal premiums, beyond the hearsay present on Kent's site for years. I have never said they didn't 'do them', just that the evidence isn't there?

Now if Mr Specher is to send empirical evidence in his fantastic forthcoming article, then that query will be put to bed, won't it? And the whole hobby will know a truth, but as The Jabbering Fuck is relying on another card-top altogether, I suspect we'll be waiting a long time for that particular evidential revelation?

Is he going to show us the dogs . . . I haven't found the dogs card yet, either . . . let's hope for his sake they are silver and gold with no signs of the staples being tampered with, because otherwise he'll be adding nothing to what I showed/said the other day? Who bought the Dolls of the World on Tuesday, was that Kent? Oh, he could send those to the magazine, couldn't he?!

And wouldn't we rather an American collector tells us accurately, about an American toy importer, than have to wait for a Brit to come along twenty years later and try to undo some of the falsehoods and myths about cereal premiums! So I - for one - am really looking forwards to his article with a barely contained joy, indeed I think I might have fun going through it with a fine-toothed comb!

Now, don't get me wrong, DO NOT get me wrong, Kent has done some amazing work for the hobby (I don't think TJF has, particularly . . . new production? It's on 15 websites!), both by himself, and in league with others, and I have sung his praises here many times, I have posted about 100-links (?) to his pages over the years, but this day was always coming.

Indeed, I have had private conversations with (closes eyes and counts quietly), one . . . two . . . three . . . at least five/six people off the top of my head, over the last four or five years, some a decade ago, predicting this moment. So they won't have been any more surprised than me to see Standinger's arsegasm, nor even, if they noticed Kent's comments the other day.

He's always been conspicuous by his absence, it was notable how he almost seemed to start commenting on Shite Stuff more after the war started, so his associate membership of the PSTSM was always badge-clear! And he started adjusting his site to reflect things written on my Blog within months of my starting, never crediting, never acknowledging, even as I sent him traffic? Something I've also pointed out to people over the years. None of this latest skirmish is any surprise to those who matter.

So the question was only ever, is he going to avoid eye-contact forever, stay 'neutral', sit on his hands over on the verge? And it was beginning to look like he would, but for reasons known only to him, he lost the plot on Monday and fell off the wagon! And because - as you know - I was up on my high horse (it's almost like somebody else scripted half of this!), I couldn't help him up!

Far from Kent's "You got a lot of the history of Rubenstein International wrong" (I didn't even cover much history) or Stadinger's "....contained a number of mistakes", there was one error - on the status of a non-toy soldier charity-trust thingy! Nothing in Kent's comments on my post, nor in TJF's little turd of a piece . . . piece of a turd, corrects or contradicts anything I reported last Monday.

Still; Kent is going to put us all right, hopefully including his own site, which has always contained questionable details, as fact, on Rubenstien, with his future article, it's gonna' be awsome, let's all big it up - coming soon, the fundamentally stupendous, encyclopedic, vastly better than Hugh's, fuller than a full shit-truck's, history of Rubenstein, the article that will save the hobby!

Worth a re-read, as I knew exactly what was happening, and pulled no punches, while Kent was pretending he didn't, but read his words after seeing the Jabbering Fuck's post and it all makes a sort of gutless sense? And a rare link to the almighty arsehole's Shite Stuff, but given his posting rate recently, he needs the traffic!

Oh fuck!, NOW they've annoyed me . . . 

  . . . talking about traffic; TJF's idiocy has sent an extra 6000-odd viewers my way, and the 5-million clicked over a couple of days early! I was hoping to catch-it on the nines, the zerros or the one, over the weekend! Heay-ho, there's always the 10! If I live that long?

Notice we also clicked-over the 4,500 posts during Rack Toy Month!

See, a big bump! The trouble is Stad's Shite is such thin gruel these days, I only visit it about once a fortnight to see if he's posted, anything, at all! It just so happens, it's often on a Friday! [I can't take screen-caps as jpg's on this pice-of-shit Windows-11 machine, so I have to shoot the screen, and I'd already turned the main lights off, me and Bosey-Boy were snuggled for the night when I found the PSTSM arsholery!]

And don't imagine all that traffic came from him, this will be the word getting round, the Vichy will be there, a cock-wacking monkey lizard or two will be there, a cheque-keeping Spanish author and his fan-boys, Deadleaf and the other one, the AFD will be there, a right-wing antipodean, then there are a couple of facebook groups which have been infested by some of my 'eemies', so the word got around; "There's a fight in the playground, Kent finally got off the fence!" All the people who pretend they've never found the Blog will be there, as they were - like Kent - all along, as they will be - tomorrow!

 

You see, all these guys are to the left of the bell-curve, if you know what I mean, while I'm to the right of it, so if I'm never going to see eye-to-eye with them, I might as well learn to enjoy rebutting their stuff!

 

Consider this, up until 48 hours ago, Kent had four sets I think, on his Rubenstein page/section, with some questionable facts. yet when I show eleven and mention the dogs (which Kent's got) The Jabbering Fuck busts a blood-vessel over a thirteenth, at me! Not the 5th, 6th, 7th . . . at 'well-researched' Kent? Why? Why is it, that they hold me to a higher standard, than they hold even themselves to? Huh? Why is that?

Back in the autumn, last year, or the year before? Or every year! TJF did a post with six figures, he got four of them wrong, and it was five corrections from three of his mates and some input from a Brit over two days, before they were all singing from the same hymn-sheet!

 

And that was fine, that was nothing more than an unfortunate series of multiple 'brain freezes', totally allowed . . . I get one detail out of whack, not even a fact, sometimes; just if I don't mention something, I get "Card or paper? Where was they from? How many? Who's that? When? Why?

I am literally held to a higher standard than everyone else! Why is that? I know! And why isn't all this fantastically new and accurate 'history' (of which I got "lots" wrong, apparently), not already on Kent's site? Was he saving it? Was he saving it for us all to enjoy on a rainy day?

There is one inaccuracy in my previous post on the subject, the family's [non-toy soldier] Foundation is not still active, there were about eleven companies between the three (Irvin, Ralph and 'L' - no inaccuracies there), ten had nothing to do with toys and I didn't follow-them up the other night, turns-out that when I downloaded it all, way-back-when, it still was active, I suspect the other 'still active's will prove not to be, too!

Apologies for that, mea culpa, and I'll wear sackcloth and ashes for the rest of the weekend! And sorry for the poor imagery here, really, but it was short notice and I only had a few unused images left-over from the other day!

To be honest, TJF's latest . . . spat? Attack? Is more sad than anything else, the attack on me personally is lacklustre and half-hearted, his own input is wrong and inaccurate, I think he used a similar title before, and it's only a few paragraphs? The whole thing lacks substance, lacks meat; it's pallid, he's not even trying, while Kent hides in my comments, pretending he can't see, what we can all see with our own eyes?

And I know what you're thinking, "Hugh, did you climb on your high horse just to get the Jabbering Fuck to push you over the 5-mil, with or without the fortuitous intervention of Kent Sprecher?", and, would you know it, in all this excitement . . . I've clean forgot.

Oh . . . and there's still three Rubenstein posts in the short queue!

R is for Really Rubenstein!

Ooop . . . just let me get up on my high horse . . . that's better, now, where was I? Oh yeah! Rubenstein. There isn't much on Rubenstein within the hobby and most of what you will find seems to be conjecture dressed-up as fact! So I thought I'd add my tuppenceworth to the mix and probably ruffle a few feathers!

 

Rubenstein were a US jobber, one of a dozen or so companies/entities started by Irving Rubenstein, sometimes with his Brother Ralph, or possibly a wife, 'L' (?), always in or around North Hollywood, California. Rubenstein International were incorporated in 1977 (too late for some of the premiums they are credited with?), but are no longer active, although several of the companies (mostly involved in B2B sourcing, services, or marketing) are still extant, along with a family foundation.

 

On the left are the Euro-premium pirates (eight sculpts in the UK [Kellogg's] and 20 poses elsewhere, under several brands), on the right my fledgling Rubinstein collection about two years ago, I went on to add about three or four more sets, but they all went to storage about 12-months ago! Some described - by Rubenstein - as 'Made in Mexico', other's (most), 'Made in England' (not 'Britain', not 'The UK'). I have so far found one set credited to having been 'Made in the USA'.

The Robin Hood figures are the same version described elsewhere in the hobby (marked with small 'Canada' monikers), and seen elsewhere on the Blog against the New Zealand-made versions. As one of the 'made in England' sets, this would suggest someone larger than Tatra (for instance) as they must have been big enough to have a Canadian office/subsidiary?

The athletes are after the 'Euro' versions (with Olympic flame carrier), not the Kellogg's or Marx sculpts, and while both figure sets are soft polyethylene, the dune-buggys [sic] are hard polystyrene, like the R&L mini-kits, from Australia, but not marked-up to them.

Other figure sets include the ex-Raja Conjunto do Espaço 'space set' (which explains a question-mark from the very start of the Blog; my shiny yellow one is Rubenstein!), ex-Commonwealth Plastics dolls and possibly the dog breeds, but this is where I need to point out that so far, and I have been looking hard for over three years, there is NO empirical or circumstantial evidence for the Soldiers/Warriors of the World/All nations having ever been in Rubenstein packaging?

 

And if the dogs were issued by Rubenstein (and I suspect so), they were the multicoloured ones (from Mexico; not England), NOT the silver or gold ones issued with Nabisco breakfast cereals in the USA, for which the evidence is as sketchy as for the military set.

 

Indeed, let's get this out of the way, Rubenstein International were an 'Import & Export' outfit, according to their licences, and it's very unlikely they ever "made" a single toy! So whoever was supplying Rubenstein, would also have supplied the cereal or ice-cream guys &etc., and earlier, I think. Also - we know Tatra (for instance) were responsible for the warriors/soldiers . . . in silver and gold!

The R&L styled mini-kits, I now have three of these for us to look at in greater detail another day, indeed I think most of these are the shots of the auctions/BIN's I won, I wouldn't use so many evilBay images in one article if I didn't think I had a tad of moral ground under my tippy-toes! Not sure if I ever succeeded in getting the Cars, but I know I bought two sets of motorcycles, so I can make one set up, for a Blog post!

I actually managed to get the Antique Cars photographed, though! But I think I might also have got the set of Wagons, although I might be confusing it with the Historical Vehicles which I know I got but also didn't photograph? Interestingly, while the Dune Buggys are polystyrene, these are polyethylene, and the Penny Farthing in the Historic's set is probably the one Brian Berke sent to the Blog, as an addendum to that premium kit post!

So far the only set sourced in the 'States which I've found, which is not to say there aren't more, but the same eleven sets keep turning-up, with a possible run of the dogs in multicolours, making a dozen.

 

These are also nothing like the others, and we saw a pale-blue Hong Kong example of one of these in Chris Smith's last donation, so, a common gum-ball machine prize, or those rack-toy cards with a bunch of teeny header-bags for a dime or sixpence?

 

All of which gives us;

• Action Athletes - Mexico, after Manurba/Linde et al.
• Antique Cars - England, after R&L?
  
• Comic Animals - USA
• Comic Moon Figures - Mexico, ex-Raja premiums
• Comic Pirates - Mexico, ex-European tool
  
• Dogs - Mexico, ex-Nabisco premiums
• Dolls of the world - Mexico, ex-Commonwealth 
• Dune Buggys - England, after R&L?
• Historical Transportation - England, after R&L?
• Horse-Drawn Coaches - England, after R&L or Pyro/Kleeware?
• Robin Hood Figures - England, previously/also Canada, after Marx
• Soldiers of World War II - Hong Kong, contents unknown, Airfix clones?
  
• Super Motorcycles - England, after R&L?

Sourced from England x6, Mexico x5, Hong Kong and the USA x1 each, for a twelve-count, which make-up grosses, which is how this rack-toy stuff is ordered/wholesaled thirteen-count; a bakers dozen!

The reason I've question-marked the possible R&L connection, is because R&L is another one where there may be falsehoods hiding as fact. When they turn-up in British or European products as premiums, they usually have A) very fine parts, B) 'R&L' somewhere on the runner, these four/five sets (the Dune Buggys may be from another source) are simpler and unmarked, while there is the various Italian sets of similar kits and the De Gruyter connections to consider.

Still no soldiers/warriors, though! Four days later - Still no soldiers/warriors!

Thanks to the Jabbering Fuck and Kent Sprecer for their contributions, not!

S is for Squirrelling Around

Spring struck suddenly a couple of days ago, and I got out and mowed! Only took the tops off to help the lawn dry out, and I'm hoping to get a lower cut done today or tomorrow, but it got the old blood pumping and I managed to sort out all the missing image folders and import them into Picasa, that evening!

 

It took hours, in batches of like-stuff, or random lots of 24 folders, which had to be done one at a time, but once I'd got a rhythm going the time slid-by, until - suddenly - it was done! I even found a few folders which had been lost on the old machine, but I still have a lot of sorting and minor 'housekeeping' to finish!

One of the folders I found was this bunch of squirrels, which is a bit Easter'y, he says; watching them all charging around in the beech trees, over the road, as I type!

The original starter for the folder was a TBS bag heading into storage a while ago, nothing too exciting, with an R&L 'Stretch Pet' cereal premium/novelty telescopic one at back left, and the Schleich one from Mum's cake-decoration tub, back right, it'll now join the rest of the animals, having done sterling service on chocolate-logs for years now! And, I know; two rabbits and some other less than tree-squirrel types!

 

In front are a bunch of more cartoony ones, with the grey one on the right having some age I suspect (1970's?) and the little one's a Kinder type. The two on the left go together - I can't work out if they are cake-candle holders or missing something? While the other two with their contrasting tummy paint look like they may go together, but I'm not sure that they do, just both following the Hollywood cartoon trope re. decoration!

 

This was in our bedroom when we were kids, and it was sort of accepted I'd inherit it one day (my brother got the silver dragon match-box!), cold-painted bronze, probably German. It would be employed as a night-light during the power-cuts of the 1970's, Mum would put a new candle in it, and in the morning there'd be an interesting stalagmite growing off the roots, to be removed with satisfying waxy 'snaps'!

The glass was cracked and went to recycling about 18-months ago, but I've seen packets of them for affordable sale on evilBay, so I'll sort that at the other-end, it's in storage now. Lead weighted and with the squirrel a separate piece who can be removed for cleaning, the long branch makes a carrying handle, and I love it!

 

Shot these last night to fatten the folder/post! The one on the right is a copy of the Schleich one, so I assume the - very Easter - hare is too? Modern Chinese and from a mixed lot, which may have been from Peter Evans or Chris Smith, so thanks to both for everything. They follow the pattern of those cheap two-half dinosaurs I found in Farnborough a few years back?

Anyway, that's a few squirrels . . . and things; Happy Easter readers!

H is for How They Come In - Week 18 - 4 Sci-fi, Fantasy and TV/Movie-related

We'll start with the Robots in deference to the recent passing of Florian Schneider (we are not the Robots, but you were!) and because I listed Sci-fi first!

They are in many respects (colour, plastic type, sculpting style etc . . .) similar to the Arco Robots, but are clearly NOT the Arco Robots! They have a cavity in their backs which has what appears to be a mounting spigot for something, but no 'somethings' came with them, which in a sample of such numbers you'd expect; if only one, so it may have something to do with the way they were sold, a secondary function (attached to a bigger 'thing' or part of the production process?

Also, as is always the case with these autograndizedmecha's I have no idea if they represent any known license, or which set of characters they might be if they do?

 

Now known to be Bi-Tron rack-toys, issued by Pikit in the UK and probably Gordy International in the USA, they come with a 'space' helicopter/lifting body thing and various micro-armour multi-wheeled AFV's, who's turrets probably go in the holes on the backs of the Mecha's/giant battle-suits, there's also an articulated recovery platform which seems to be lifted from Takara-Tomy's Votom range, seen here at Small Scale World passim.

These are the best! Believe it or not, they are bendies! I have a small bendy bear which I thought was as small as they could get, but these are teeny-tiny bendy! All given three blobs of black paint they cover quite a range with another autograndizedmecha, a more conventional R2BenD robot microwave and home-entertainment system, and a clown! Bargain! Absolute, total, bloody-bargain!

This is interesting; it appears to be a modern dense polyethylene/polypropylene re-issue of one of the old Post cereal-premium bird-men, themselves downsized from the Lido captain video figures we've looked at before?

Given the way old novelty and premium moulds seem to have migrated to South- or Spanish America over the years, I'm guessing it's from there, but it could be French . . . maybe, or a China-made gum-ball machine capsule-prize? Lovely thing to receive in the post, for free!

More conventional territory here, with two bug-eyed 'Martians' and a couple of astronauts, the three to the left being Matchbox Mega-Rigs, the chap to the right being the unknown, like Wing Mau but smaller chap we've seen before, he differs from that example in having a numeral '1' on his base suggesting cavity codes, not pose numbers?

I first sorted this into the animal pile as a nice-looking humming-bird, but a closer look revealed saddlery! When I raised it with Chris, he managed to find some on feeBay and ten minutes later we had this link and the knowledge that they were McDonald's 'Happy Meal' premiums for Epic.

Seems to have been a good film, but swallowed-up by a couple of other blockbusters that summer (2013) and rather forgotten, I'd never heard of it; but I'm gonna' find it on DVD!

Three bits of fun; a Crater Critter from R&L, a gum-ball lion with charm/key-ring loop, I had a loopless one, so that's a useful upgrade and a flocked rabbit, blowing a raspberry, who can stand-up or up-stand! I love this stuff!

A mix of  . . . probably . . . Pokemon and/or Gormiti and/or Exogini and/or Ben10 &etc? It's impossible to follow all these with everything else going on, but there are plenty of sites carrying the information/data, for when it does all need to be sorted for 'proper'! Obviously; a robot dog with a kukri for a tail . . . IS a bit special!

Again, thanks to Chris for all we've seen in the last four posts, there is one item to come in a separate post, but there was plenty more than we've seen just-now, and it will all be sorted away and come back as full sets or in thematic posts months or even years from now as the Blog's still only a few % into the total of 'all-everything' figural!

F is for Follow-up - Kit Cars

I'm definitely in an unproductive phase, not a lazy phase, just an unproductive phase - as far as the Blog goes; I'm busy sorting the various bits of the collection together, photographing like mad and dealing with eMails in a vaguely timely manner! This week I'm shooting Airfix readymade AFV's for what are well-overdue pages!

There are a few follow-ups I'll try to get-up here, over this week, this one comes from the De Gruyter post the other day,, not the best photo's but they're sufficiently illustrative of the pints; it struck me the unknown green one might be the Jet Petroleum premiums, so I dug out the near complete set we looked-at a while ago, and the part set in storage (pleased to say I had the missing '3'), but the question-mark car wasn't one of them!

Eight of eight Jet premiums to the left, manufactured by Rosenhain & Lipmann. The other three - from the other day - on the right.

Colours for the jet premiums tend to match the colour of the cars' artwork, but there are shade variations, and left-field alternatives like the orange '4' (the black bits have been painted on by the previous owner) and a black '7'.

Kellogg's (in the tub - for a whole other post another day) introduce a pink, but seem closest to the green of the unknown car.

D is for Dutch Daimler from De Gruyter

I'm not sure if it's pronounced 'greweeter' or 'groiter' or even 'grew'it'er', but I first learned of De Gruyter many years ago in an article in Plastic Warrior magazine, penned by Jan Boers, on this issuer of little novelty playthings (with coffee) in the same vein as German Wundertüten (they actually carried the Jean knights with De Gruyter bases I think), Spanish Sobres or our own 'Lucky Bags'.

I have to say they have proved hard to track down, but I do have the same church as was included in Jan's article somewhere (in red polyethylene) and this (polystyrene 'mini-kit') came into the pile a year or so ago, I can't remember if I bought it, if Mr. Little found it for me or if Mr. Evans chucked it in one of his bags, but I'll thank Adrian and Peter just to be sure!

In the same format as the Kellogg's stuff made by R&L 'down under', but seemingly a locally-produced item in Holland (similar stuff comes out of Italy) the 1899 Daimler model has only eleven parts of which eight are wheels and hubs!

Packaging to the left while on the right I've shown a couple of the R&L/Kellogg's models for comparison, both have similar part counts and the same pin-through wheel/hub arrangement, and the same basic size. Indeed - packaging is everything as all this premium/giveaway/freebie stuff went around-and-around!

If I were to find another I'd take one off the runners and assemble it, but then the chances are it's more likely to find a started/finished one anyway, so I won't ruin this unnecessarily!

I say the other two are both Kellogg's, but I only know the blue one is the 1896 - The First Ford from the 'Century of Transport' issue we looked at here (link), the other is unknown and while I suspect another Kellogg's set it could be a second De Gruyter?

C is for Crazy 'Crazy Pirates'

Phew - it was the power lead (forty-quid) not the receiving-port (sixty-quid, plus parts and another two weeks without the laptop!), so here's the antipodean pirates . . . a bit late!

=====

===============

==========

I know - it's not International Talk Like A Pirate Day (ITLAPD) yet, but this was the other jewel in Glenn Sibbald's parcel, and as they are cartoony, and the pirate 'rule' has been broken (with whole ships) two Christmas's running, we're having some more pirates out of pirate season!

And believe me; there's already plenty in the TLAP folder for the 19th of September - six or seven posts-worth so far.

Now, I think most of these were sourced from New Zealand, certainly 'in' NZ, but a couple have an Australian origin, where they were issued (or are believed to have been issued-) by Nabisco in 1971. Four of eight poses (the other four will be along in a minute) in various colours of a soft (Airfix type) polyethylene and almost certainly sculpted by the same chap who did the Working Dogs (Crazy Canines for Kellogg's here in the UK; November 1972).

In Australia they were given names known to be (from the left above);

Black Captain Cutlass

Long Thomas Thumbscrew

Pierre Pegleg (who I've dubbed Peg-legless Pete!)

Sir Swashbuckler

But - there's no evidence of them being given the same names in New Zealand, or of them even being a Nabisco promotion, both Sanitarium and Griffins being more likely as the issuer, but no packaging or advertising seems to have come to light . . . yet?

I think it's worth reminding ourselves here, that while people tend to block them together (much to the chagrin of the locals), Australia and New Zealand are much further apart than say Britain and France, or Britain and Holland (or the US with Mexico or Canada), and their markets and brands, their 'household names'; differ just as much as ours, as anyone's does with their near neighbours.

The rest of the motley-crew; again naming from the left, we have;

Hook

Mr. Jonathon Greed

Scarface (Dagger-legged Derek!)

The Right Dishonorable Roger Jolly Esq.

Is it me, or are the three to the right all cousins of Dick Dastardly!

Glenn has been trying to get a 'complete' complete-set, e.g. one of every pose in every colour, and while it's proved harder than he anticipated he's getting there, but the number of colours and the relative rarity of the figures down there has been exacerbated by the fact that they are quite hard to find in good condition.

You can see that Scarface/Dagger-legged Derek (my favourite!) has at least six points of vulnerability, and Roger Jolly is very hard to find with his rapier A) still attached at both ends and B) still intact. All eight have either thin, sticky-out bits or very narrow pinch-points, most have both!

And for that reason - again - I can't thank Glenn enough, as while we've benefitted from his duplicates; he has also made to send the Blog complete, undamaged and shiny-clean samples, which is incredibly kind of him.

He has in fact sent us six which his research leads him to believe are the [also] New Zealand colours, with two - probably - Aussie [only] one's he couldn't spare in NZ-origin pigments.

The Oz collectors list - in alphabetical order - thirteen colours;

Aqua

Blue*

Brown*

Green

Grey

Lemon

Lilac

Lime*

Orange*

Pink

Purple*

Red*

Yellow

Those with an asterisk are the [only] six colours Glenn believes were in the NZ Issue, while in the quarto above the outer pair are New Zealand  or believed to be NZ colours, the inner pair are the Aussie set's two, but clearly; there are more colours or shades than those listed. It should be noted that elsewhere they were issued in still other colours.

And I don't want you to think they are New Zealand exclusive colours, it's just that six of the colours out there are those commonly found in NZ, the Aussies seem to have got some extra colours, among which is an unlisted, second red, assuming one of the above blues is 'blue' and the other 'aqua'?

Scame in Italy produced a set of eight 'homage' copies as tourist 'mocherettes' (a word of my own invention, which I will explain, one day!) for museums and gift shops; these were also carried by Ferrero in their Kinder Eggs, in the 1990's - if memory serves?

Some sources state that 'some figures' are marked MADE IN AUSTRALIA or plain 'AUSTRALIA' but Glenn - who has seen more of these than most (I suspect) - has yet to find one. Other collectors 'down under' wonder if they were from a British designer/sculptor, and while they are credited to Rosenhain and Lipmann (R&L), there's a lot of stuff credited to them which I - for one - maintain big question-marks over.

Glenn has a note to the effect that a Consolidated Plastics in Auckland may have produced these for the NZ issue, he's not sure where the note comes from, but thinks there's some mileage in it?

He also talks of "...some scuttlebutt...", re. the moulds ending up in Mexico (sometime in the 1980's), however, given the number of premium moulds known to have ended up somewhere in South America, a cursory search reveals that indeed that seems to be the case so it's probably not scuttlebutt, but the reality?

Many, many thanks to Glenn for donating these to the blog, he calls them his 'Precious', yet he sent eight to this 'orrible little 'obbitsis! If I remember - I'll do a comparison with other caricature pirates in September; just to get them up here again!