H is for Hing Fat, Not 'DGN'

The forth corrective post today, except the calendar says it's tomorrow now, but I'm on an odd timeline at the moment, I'll schedule it for 9.30 in the morning!

 

You may have encountered the phrase 'DGN' in your Toy Soldier scrolling, over the run-up to Christmas, I don't know if it was aimed at me - He has shown a past preference for warming hostilities at Christmas, but hadn't for a year or two - or just a 'brain freeze', he's good at those, and he went on to link it to a sales page clearly crediting SCS Direct (sometimes Wicked Duals), not 'DGN'!

 

Now, I dealt with 'DGN' here, I wouldn't suggest you read all of it, it was tedious the first time round, but The Denouement will give you an idea of the conclusion, without reading the tedium of how I got there! But I thought I'd correct the new nonsense while I'm in a corrective mood!

 

 

If the comment was aimed at me, it might be these lots, all recently Blogged here at Small Scale World, which could have triggered the resurrection of the phrase 'DGN' after more than six-years? All the above are Hing Fat products, advertised on their poorly attended Faceplant page and offered for trade-sale on their difficult to navigate website, which has menus which only show themselves after you've clicked on one of the headings on the left.

 

Faceplant Page - https://www.facebook.com/hingfattoys

Older sculpts - https://www.facebook.com/hingfattoys/photos/pb.100063683895745.-2207520000/1725209017735366/?type=3

Newer sculpts - https://www.facebook.com/hingfattoys/photos/pb.100063683895745.-2207520000/1717159245207010/?type=3

 

Website - http://www.hingfat.com.hk/ 

Older sculpts - http://www.hingfat.com.hk/index.php?c=237

Newer sculpts - http://www.hingfat.com.hk/index.php?c=239

 

Basic research!

They are all based on the old Matchbox American Infantry set, with the smaller set in the lower image being those handled by such luminaries as D&D Distribution in the 'States.

While the other two samples are the newer set, from a larger line, distributed in Canada back in 2014 by Ricochet, as TJF told us himself in a post where the dreaded E. Sell said "These are the same DGN-not HING FAT figures run in different color", even though they are the same colour, and other people attending the post were happy to acknowledge the Hing Fat attribution and to them dating-back prior to 2014!

Peter Evans, roving reporter for Plastic Warrior magazine has been distributing them for several years now, and he gets them from Hing Fat direct, that's the Hing Fat who HAVE a website, who HAVE a Faceplant page, no matter how problematical they might be! And it seems SCS Direct are the latest to take some?

 

And yet, other Faceplant groups are full of 'DGN', several evilBay bottom-feeders (mostly Russians strangely?) are (or 'were', they're all banned until Putler looses the rest of his navy!) using 'DGN' in their listings.

 

But no one in the six years since my rebuttal, in the seven or eight years since Erwin's nonsense on the Vichy site, in the ten years since both types have been on the market alongside each-other, has provided a scintilla of evidence for a 'DGN' - no links to no factory, no website, no trade-ordering page or no Faceplant?

 

No address even, someone has suggested TJF said it meant 'Dounghan-Guandong Niunght', but that's nonsence, Dongguan (different spelling) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong (different spelling) province, while 'Niunght' is a made-up word!

I have in recent months highlighted the fact that with the second version, where sculpting has been taken away from the Matchbox originals, there is some variation in base, probably nothing more significant than different cavities in a multiple-cavity mould (by giving them different bases, you might ID the problem cavity if a problem is noticed further down the 'bench'?), which are the two to the left, but that theory is rather blown-away by the fact that they are approximately 1-in-3, rounded to oblong bases?

The older figure is on the right, or 'older sculpt', Hing Fat are still offering both, to anyone who wants them! Base-marking is the same font or letter type, but slightly smaller on the older design, and all are made of the same plastic, a dense polyethylene or polypropylene type with that slipperiness to the finger-nail of nylon components?

Shade varies slightly between batches, and with the newer design, the two officers in the bottom shot have different sized oblong bases! If you read my original post on the Japanese from years ago (the post which seems to have started the war, even though it took them four years to strike!), it doesn't read quite right by what we now know, but that's - in part - because we're all learning, and we've learnt since then.

 

They were (the Japanese) in part - pose wise - inherited by Hing Fat from Rado Indistries/Ri Toys, and seem to be on their third iteration as Hing Fat with various changes in pose line-up and base-design? And with mine in storage, I haven't paid them the same attention, the three above came in with the Americans, and probably go with them. While an 'over the top' set accompanies the new oblong-based line.

 

All my versions of the newer set so far found, and they are all Hing Fat, not 'DGN'! And while I am only too-aware of the old adage 'the lady doth protest too much' in this case A) I haven't said anything for over six years and B) you have to nip this crap in the bud, or they will try to get away with more! Tiresome, and 'DGN' is 'Design', abbreviated.

D is for Dude Decorated Dastardly Droids!

Well. I am mid-move and by tonight will actually be living in the flat rather than useing it as a storage overflow, but experiencing problems a minute ago getting online here (BT-WiFi chose this week - of all weeks - to go tits-up and convert to EE-WiFi), and having now got online I thought I'd find something quick to post, as a test, before I go back to the house and grab the bed springs we forgot to put in the van this morning . . . of course they'll fit in a Nissan Micra - they'll bloody have to!!

These were sent to the Blog by Brian Berke back in 2021 (I do keep telling you there's 900-odd folders in the long-queue!), and are his Wicked Duels / SCS Direct droids, after painting, but before he did the bases.

I particularly like his treatment of my favourite, the tracked one, it's sort of semi-military sand-yellow, just the job for sending into the deserts of the post-apocalyptic, derelict wastelands of Badlands Central and eliminating all those rebellious, democracy-loving, 'freedom fighter' liberal scum, with extreme prejudice! 

Previously on Small Scale World:

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2021/12/t-is-for-two-dozens-of-droids-droids.html

Cheers Brian!

News, Views Etc . . . SCS Direct

Looking for something else the other day (current Supreme stuff!) I noticed SCS Direct have a new set out, a variation of an old set and new formats of existing sets, so this is a quick update with all Amazon/SCS Direct publicity images.

The zombie set is now available in glow-in-the-dark green polymer, this is the large tube with 98 figures, so worth getting together with a  couple of mates and sharing out the contents, but if I remember rightly, this was one of the less evenly distributed pose-count sets, but with only the one colour, there should be enough for two or three of you to get at least one of each? Poor image but you get the idea!

They are now offering a set of dinosaurs under the Wicked Duels / WD brand-mark, only ten poses, they are 'size scale', i.e. no particular scale, all around the same size and no Dimetrodon, so they can sodding wait! They also come in the larger tubes or as a set of ten in a new, smaller packaging.

NASA style astronauts are also new, it looks like the accessories (shuttle, satellite and rock) are limited in number per set, but they aren't the more important element if you're a figure collector, but to be honest the figures are not terribly inspiring sculpts either. Nice touch are the pair (man and woman) with their helmets off.

The new smaller-format idea has been extended to the previously-seen monster and fantasy creature sets, again with one of each you're getting what may not be a consistent half-and-half as far as the two shades of grey go.

None of these (above) seem to be currently available, direct from UK importers, yet, but some of the US / China sources probably ship if you can bear the postage and shipping charges; I'll wait!

T is for Two - Dozens of Droids! 'Droids Galore' even! A Plethora of Droids . . .

. . . more Droids than you can shake a big stick at! The Droid mother-load! Droidload? Droidsville, Droidsylvania . . . Droidtopia? This was as a result of a chance happenstance type of synergic coincidence'y thing!

I was looking for the SCS Direct Robots set, as it was one of two known SCS sets I didn't still have (the other is a set of 28mm Role Play figures I may have seen a while ago in a weird sort of head-shop in Basingrad priced-up for far more than they are worth!), in the cause of which search I found a bagged set of Wall∙E robots, so a 'T is for . . .' post was born!

Because - in the end - the 'find' arrived earlier, we'll look at the Wall∙E stuff first; but here are the two together, the Wall∙E in a header carded bag, the SCS in a huge but not really strong-enough plastic tube or 'Toob'. Contents also vary as widely with 15 pieces of harder plastic against 52 pieces of a modern PVC substitute.

Branded to Thinkway Toys as the parent and imported (into the UK at least?) by Vivid Imaginations who are a brand in themselves, we get 15 different robots in a J-hooked, header-carded bag (it's going to be a geeky post as I have 19 images of 42 pictures/scans to blurb-up!) with colourful artwork.

The Wall∙E sculpts are an odd thing, not totally unique, but there are few examples in the whole hobby, and while I know there are some others; I can't think of any specific ones off the top of my head (actually; some of those European margarine premium flats of the larger buildings are an example) - they are semi-flats, but sculpted with a level of view-point/vanishing-point perspective, giving them a distorted look from some angles, but enhancing the 3D effect of a relief-flat, if viewed head-on, from the front or back.

Wall∙E himself is the only character to get duplicates, with one each of three poses as seen here.

The other yellow plastic (a softish but tough material, which could be a polyethylene, or a polypropylene or one of the modern hybrids?) figurines include - from the left a Light-bot (Doh! They're Bots not Droids . . . I'll have to redo the whole opening!); Umbrella-bot (behind); Beautician-bot (in front) and Defebrillator-bot.

Weird tombstones! The rest of the set are in white plastic (same tough, soapy polymer) and clockwise from top left in the left-hand image are - Steward, Massage-bot, 'M-O' (medical officer/orderly?), Eve (Wall∙E's paramour), Vacuum-bot, Autopilot, Paint-bot and 'Gopher'. If the card (next shot) is anything to go-by, we are looking at the back of Vacuum-bot in that left image, but it's all a bit academic!

Because I did rather go for broke on the imagery with this post, here's a confirmatory scan of the naming pannel! Heay; anyone who's followed the Eraser-bot posts knows I like robots, and let's be honest, the more bots you've got . . . the less bots you still have to find!

And - just a quick one . . . if I buy something I rarely credit the seller as it's mine to do what I will with (I credit donations and contributions, but no one can remember or find the name of every seller at every show or auction site), however I happened to purchase this from Eric Critchley, one of the old guard, a regular contributor to PlasticWarrior magazine and someone I've probably always looked-up to (or envied?!!), and he happened to send a second set in the parcel, free and as a suprise, so I was able to open one for the images and keep one mint.

As I'd bid without really looking at the set, and sort of assumed it would be like other rack-toys (or the SCS set), in having duplicates and had already promised those duplicates to another friend of the Blog, I was able to send that friend the lose set, with some SCS's. So many, many thanks to Eric for the kind act, which was very-much passed-on.

So, now we get on to the 'Droids' proper, deep-space, far-away, super-dooper, fighty-bitey battle-bots! These are under the WD / Wicked Duals branding, and while I'm not sure which is which, I think these are the older iteration, with the boxed sets branded straight to SCS being the newer issues.

And - of the four (or five?) sets we've seen now - I've had two of these older tubes (or three? God! It's all on the Blog somewhere!), and the tubes DO NOT travel well. Not only do they shatter, shedding their load, but the outer box can be damaged as well (Amazon; my money putting that slave-driving, popinjay fucker in space and he can't even send me a parcel in one piece!), so when the contents have the quirks previously highlighted here at Small Scale World, you can never be 100% sure it didn't happen in the Amazon warehouse rather than at SCS Direct's packaging department.

As well as the shattered tube/holed box, there was a certain amount of damage and one missing piece in the whole lot . . . sigh! It's the modern, run-out of ideas, sliding into oblivion, world we live in now!

However, it was the first set which had a 'correct' count, both in the advertised number (52 items) and a 50/50 colour/pose split. There were only one of each colour for two in total of the pairs at the front of the parade though, so me and the guy I split them with got one each; I think I kept the grey's and sent the two rusty ones!

There is a real mix of genres within the set and we see here a nice Japanese-style manga-anime type (bottom right) two 1950's 'pulp' types (top right - including one whom looks a bit like Bender, but a more businesslike Bender!), while the main picture has a droid who would look more at home in 2000AD's Robohunter strip.

Another Futurama'esque droid here, I don't know if it's a helicopter or a press? But, as it's fiction - it can be what you want it to be! The arms are very Bender-bot and will also go very well with those rack-toy 'Bat-bots' of which we looked at a new one the other day courtesy of Chris Smith, who have the same kind of shower-hose/ducting arms!

Bottom left - every SCS Direct set seems to have a dragon! I'm lovin' the tortoise battle-droids (top) with pop-out weaponary, something Star Wars Genosian about him, while the wheeled 'Bird-bot' one (bottom-right) looks energetic to the point of demented!

Top left is another who could be from a 200AD strip or Japanese TV series, while the others are more steam-punk, with a pulpy one top right and a insectoidal-droidal across the bottom.

Pure 1950's pulp here, but also harking back further to HG Well's War of the Worlds with all those tentacles and the tripod perambulation? Or Jules Verne - I can imagine rows of these hanging limply in racks in the hold of the Nautilus?

Two big cheats with this set were A) really heavy bases, so heavy they all suffer from shrinkage warping after mould removal and B) eight rather pointless pieces of scenery! The tool box (right) is half-useful I suppose, but the wall (left) is a hollow-backed piss-take!

The 14th sculpt - which was probably my favourite - is another 2000AD'esque one, but more Judge Dredd or Ro-Busters and is tracked, like Wall∙E, hence the comparison here, although I suspect the SCS Direct one would eat Wall∙E for breakfast! He's telling Wall∙E what he saw off the shoulders of Orion!

A couple more comparisons. Between the two sets and ignoring the odd sculpting trope of the Wall∙E set, there is a Robot for every occasion/eventuality here, and being inanimate objects lend themselves to any type of painting from polished chrome-spray through glossy showroom, battered, to rusty, military or mauve!

We haven't seen 'Berserker' much this year, but then it's been an odd year (2020.2), anyway here he is giving a scale to one of each of the SCS Direct set's Droid-bots! It's the Mercedes showroom circa the year 2525 - if man will still be alive!

Mah'favourite!

L is for Last Minute Present Idea

If you're the other side of the Pond! Sent by Mr. Berke, who has been busy ensuring his grandson has a roaring time on the 25th, these are the latest in prehistoric entertainment from Greenbrier in the 'States and DTSC in Canada.

From the left we have a Stegosaurusaur, a Rex-sized raptor, a actual T-Rexington and a flappy-chappie down the front! These are in a larger size and look to be very good for the pocket-money/rack toy price-range they will be in, I saw similar stuff in The Works the other day, but hadn't taken my camera, doh!

Ray Harryhausen eat your heart out! The Pterasaur fights one of the now finished SCS Direct fantasy figures, he (the skeletal human) doesn't look too fazed, but if you're [un]dead and already pretty-familiar with Hades, I guess another demise is just part of the job description!

I had to look twice at the knight, I thought he was one of the K&M/Wild Republic set! While the ladies aren't taking any chances, that shot will go through the roof of Rex's mouth and straight into his very small brain! The SCS figures paint-up nicely and scale well with these beasts.

Oh! . . . Well, it's a very big axe and he's quite a small target? I think the Steggie' is just a panicking veggie, so it's those two-foot long, Atlantic-grey claws old Gimli needs to watch-out for! Cheers Brian, they are nice dino-sculpts, and the SCS are looking good!

E is for Extra Tin-Plate Post

Brian B sent me a shot of his - probably - Shilling tree-hangers, so I went-off and found a cheap MC and sidecar to make a post! It's a little one, but perfectly formed!

Lovely colours; a deep lemon-yellow and a rich tangerine orange, with sky-blue highlights. The motorcycle has a series of thin plates running round and covering the main seam to prevent nasty cuts, as does the passenger, and the sidecar is on the right-hand side for those who have adopted the Napoleonic rule of the road - sword to sword, 'cos the Europeans are always fighting!

As per his comment on one of the recent posts here are Brian's TX507 (Bus), TX513 (Loco) & TX514 (Tram), using the Hawkin-Tobar catalogue codes, I don't know if they extend to Roggaz's ^Z_Z or Schilling, but they are the same tools, same for-Germany marks and same paint-schemes. Note the eclectic stuff around them and the now finished STS Direct impish cyclopean!

WD is for Wicked Duals

A double joke as they are both two sides in a fight (duelling), and two colour-ways (duel), and seem to be running alongside the more standard boxed version such as that seen in the previous post . . . we arrive at the fourth set (of six?) from SCS Direct, and while not really that Halloweeny, being technically Sci-fi, you will see there is a nightmare element to some of the Aliens!

When I first looked into these I got the impression the tubes/'toobs' were older, and the boxes newer (and either that, or the opposite, may be the case, as far as original production went), but last year's offerings were one of each (zombies in a tube, fantasy animals in a box) and the same is true for this year (fantasy: box, sci-fi: tube), but you can find some of them the other way and with a gap between last year's and this year's listings on both feeBay and Amazon, the circumstantial evidence is that there's a warehouse or two somewhere with healthy stocks of both, released each late-summer for the Halloween season?

As with last year's, the tube arrived broken, and while I don't think it contributed to the short-count (again! Four-out-of-four short-counts!), it's clearly a problem with the gauge of plastic used, against the weight of the PVC-like material!

I didn't do a table for these, and re-distributed them to the other two guys before I took note, but it was short (98 again I think) and there were anomalies with the contents against a straight split, or 'fair' distribution.

However, because these are slightly different from the three previously-seen sets, in having one side in light-grey (the humans) and one in dark (aliens), there were at least three of each and I think everyone got a full set with a couple of handfuls in the 'spares' box.

Top-left is an Imp or Gremlin-like alien; it certainly doesn't look terribly friendly! To its right is the closest to a movie-alien, in being humanoid and carrying sophisticated technology/weaponry in an 'atmosphere' suit!

Bottom-left gives us a Cthulhu-Turtle thing! While the figure bottom right is a sort of elemental; I can see people painting-it-up as fire, water, lava or even a plant-like finish would work?

Top-left is the Dragon we saw in the previous post, it's actually quite sweet, more of a baby dragon than anything else, sitting in a nest of planks! Bellow the Dragon we find the Arse-faced, Flame-haired, Seal-pig . . . very rare I can tell you - due to their tendency to combust when they fart.

Next to that Arse-pig as they are known locally (and from the same planetary system) is the Arse-faced, Shaggy Octo-Gute, very tasty! And in the top-right-hand corner is the Squid-headed Scooby-swine, a useful tracking animal. You know when you are near the tracked pray as the Scooby-swine either bolts and runs away or jumps into your arms and slobbers all over you with its many slimy tentacles, so PPE required!

With the humans we get a mixed bunch of figures which are quite useful in various settings/scenarios, on the left a gang of vigilante survivors who have armed themselves for a fight, the girl on the right is sculpted as a child, but bigger than all the rest, weather she is supposed to be a giantess or something I don't know, but she's in 'Human' coloured plastic!

The other pair are more tremulous citizens, clearly not dealing with an alien invasion in quite such a focused and determined manner as the first three!

The final trio include a pair of 1950's pulp spacefarers, who look more like kids in Halloween costumes, or scientists on Horsell Common - where my Brother and I played a lot as kids - swampy mass of mosquito-breeding, elephant grass puddles, orange-algae poisoned drainage ditches and struggling juvenile fir stands! And there's a comedy sketch in there - "Try it now, it should work?"!

To whom is added (several years before BMC) a Rosie the Riveter! She's posed here with the Auto-Union DKW 'Munga' from Injectaplastic, showing the 1:48th/40mm range of this set, although the aliens and Dragon can be any scale you choose! Rosie, and the uniforms, are clearly placing this lot in that 1940/50's realm of black & white matinee movies about bug-eyed lumps of glowing jelly from that dying, red, militaristic, swamp-planet beyond the stars!

A comparison between the two Dragons we've seen this year, remember last year's sets contained a man-bat and a Dragon which was more like a chess-piece, while this year we get one seemingly from D&D and a heraldic Dragon, so SCS've ticked all the boxes on leather-winged beasts!