I had forgotten that I posted these a while
ago, so re-shot them; if you click the Dinky
tag you'll get the other post a little below this one. Dinky's firemen; older than other Dinky figures; like those we saw yesterday, so not showing the
distinctive hand of Charles Stadden, but rather the smoother style of some
unsung sculptor.
The base marking (not a brilliant shot but try
tipping your screen - or moving your head up or down - and it may become
clearer); similar to the rail staff that came in the same blue plastic, but they were
in an OO-gauge compatible size, rather than the approximately 35mm of these firemen.
Four of the poses were subsequently copied
in roughly 50mm by the Hong Kong firm Lucky
Toys, who used them in various sets, both badged to themselves as The lucky Toys and their subsidiary
brand Laurie Toys, however they were
also supplied to the importers/jobbers Clifford,
Cragstan, Fairylight, Jimson, and Larami (among others), sometimes with
the Lucky logo retained on packaging (some
Fairylite), sometimes not!
There were other sources through further
contract manufacture (Century21)
while other brands OK, TAT and Telsalda for instance may be connected through contract or
subsidiary brand status it's not clear and further complicated by some of them
having ranges in different scales of the same vehicles - mostly Corgi or Dinky clones. I can't possibly pretend to be an expert on them all,
but there is a fair bit in the plastics section of Planetdiecast. [Thanks to Woodsey at Moonbase Central
for that tip]
Lucky numbered all their figures in the
larger scale and the other two poses may well be out there as there is a gap in
the numbering which points to them existing? We will be returning to the
numbering (and its gaps!) in future posts.
548 - Fireman standing, both arms forward (ex-Dinky/Meccano,
Polystyrene)
549 - Fireman with breathing gear (ex-Dinky/Meccano, Polystyrene)
550 - ?
551 - ?
552 - Fireman with hose end (ex-Dinky/Meccano, Polystyrene)
553 - Fireman running, waving with right hand (ex-Dinky/Meccano, Polystyrene)
Top left is the probable first or Lucky original, with the HONG KONG
removed from the right-hand one, possibly to facilitate demand from a client
selling in a country that was finding the buying public adopting the 'all Hong
Kong is crap' of my parents!
The other two will be for subcontracts I
think, but it's not hard and fast and as we will be seeing in a day or two,
there are actual Lucky brand base marks
(with the horseshoe looping an 'L'), and as yet none has turned-up on these
firemen's bases?
We will also find that the 1112 sub-number
is a batch (or contract/customer) code being present on all bases of the same
type, irrespective of the figure-pose, and applied to two of the round marks
we'll look at later as well as one of the lozenge bases.
Examples of three of the base types and some
paint/plastic colour variations, I have three figures with the fourth type base
mark (or I wouldn't have bothered CAD'ing them up - I know some people will go
to extraordinary lengths in their attempts to make stuff up, even to inventing
a whole port - huh Paul? But that's not my way) however; they are all damaged
and didn't get photographed.
Models they
were issued with is - again - not my field, but among the few I know of are;
Lucky
114 - Fire Engine (with push-and-go gyro-friction motor, US style ladder truck)
178F - Fire Chief (Buick saloon-car)
195 - Fire Engine (Dennis?)
196 - Fire Truck (forward-control Land Rover)
- Land Rover Fire Service (series-3 Land Rover)
Clifford
22/4175 (? or ..73) - Fire Engine (AEC, friction powered
with siren, ladder/pumper)
No. 232R - Fire Chief Ford Zodiac (saloon-car)
- Fire Engine ('No.21 Fire Brigade', Dennis (?) turntable ladder
truck)
SYS
50411 - Fire Engine (friction motor, extending ladder,
1950's type vehicle)
Marx
- Fire Chief (copied by Clifford,
station wagon)
Hover
- Snorkel Rescue (US style cab-over hydraulic ladder-truck)
Which of these models also appeared in another
or each other's branding, or whether they all had all or any of the figures is
also unknown - to me!
Other figures supplied to Cragstan were unpainted or minimal-paint
versions of Lucky's (VW camper van
for instance) and as I haven't found such firemen yet, I'm proceeding on the
assumption they didn't carry the Lucky
fire appliances, but Cragstan were a
US concern, also imported from some of Lucky's rivals and seem to have
concentrated on 'autos & race-cars' as the Americans would put it, but on
fire trucks American collectors may know different, Erwin Sell probably went to
all twelve factories the year before he was born; in Port Tain Sang no doubt?
