S&S is for Scale and Size!

 Can you see what I did there! As well as our regular visits to the canyons of New York, there has been this for . . . about seven or eight years now, I think - the annual Christmas toy-related display by the Fleet & Crookham Local History Group in Fleet library, which this year is all about size/scale of like subjects.

Another 'lazy' post, in that it can be blurb-light, it is what it is! I would add that the FCLHG do other presentations through the year, local development, the medieval period, how the maps change, that kind of thing.

It's getting like we've seen most of it before, hence a different theme every year? I think the Furby's are new this year, they used to be called Gonk's, when I was a lad, and were made by Travellers on old loo-rolls for the fairground-prize trade. They were a good introduction to loss and death, as their little paper faces slowly dog-eared, ripped or even slid off, and eventually damp got to their cores or an adult's foot or arse flattened them!

 

The Exhibition normally comes down in the first or second week of January, so if you're passing, worth a quick visit.

T is for Two - Phidal's Recent Additions

We haven't looked at Phidal for a while, and while I do keep a look-out, and TKMaxx have had a few batches of deliveries since we last looked, they have mostly been duplicates or things no-one here wants to see! However, I have picked up two since whenever, and shot them separately as they came in, so here they are:

This one was shot back last December, and yet it missed both the December post and the April posts, plural, so I don't know what happened there, except if you're following things here, we all know I lost the folder in Picasa! Also, the PC was dying back then?

 

Not a lot to add, more Minions! Given the actual sizes of Minions and both the favoured sizes of infant playthings in general, and Phidal's 'premium' inclusions in particular, there are a lot of minions out there and most of them are around the same size, certainly you could force perspective on a huge crowd of them by placing the smaller ones closer to the camera and larger ones further back!

Meanwhile, this has been around for a while, and while I shot it in February, it had actually, already made the December round-up, albeit with a lesser figure shot, so no harm looking at it again for a second bite!

 

All the favourites are there . . . and Christopher Robin!

 

Rabbit reminds me of my own . . . 

 

Now, Hitler never got his hands on my pink rabbit, but we did have to look for him in the fog one night driving up to Ipswich on the old . . . must have been A13, A14? After he jumped out of the window!

 

In those days (before 1969) it was a series of dual-carriageways with intermittent roundabouts, and as I cried-out the instant he 'jumped', Mum had the presence of mind to make a note of roughly where it was (in thick fog, and the dark), as she had to go-on to the next roundabout, drive back to the previous one and then crawl up to the area where hopefully Pink Rabbit had stopped for some fresh grass, without picking-up a large lorry as a boot-ornament?

 

Anyway, he was found, without everyone dying under an ERF or Guy Ant! And he's still here, now guarding the Sharpie zone! He actually turned-up among Mum's things, and I thought he was in storage with my stuff, so she obviously rescued him from my teenage disinterest at some point!

 

He looks like a version of the R. Dakin pink rabbit, which back then probably wouldn't have been shipped over here (a US firm), so he may have been acquired in Bahrain which I visited at six months old, or maybe Granny Hall got him from somewhere like Harrods - who back then would have stocked all foreign brands, as their selling point was everything in the world under one roof, although the urban myth in the playground was that you had to order whale or elephant steaks in advance, and there was a six-month waiting list for a whole, live elephant!

 

Strangely, the playground gurus didn't have an opinion on the waiting time for a whole, live whale, or the instruments of delivery?

A is for Apropos The Previous Post

Just a couple of quickies; 

 

First, don't forget it's the Autumn Sandown Park Toy Fair tomorrow, it's going to be a lovely day for it, and while the air-con' might struggle to keep the place fully cool once it's full of exhaling, warm bodies, it's never too hot, although it will give the all-day attendees a dry throat! Anyway, get on over and fill your boots with old kid's playthings!

Secondly, I found a few more of Claire's Creations images from this Spring (couldn't find the Lifeguard?), so here they are if you're thinking of dropping her a line with an idea for a figure.

The Guardsman

The king

An old-school Gypsy wagon

A canoe! With a mouse!

This was the online image from which Claire modelled the Horse guard she made for me. I might have a go at sewing-in the red cord which runs round the centre of the cartridge-belt?

F is for a Bit Floofy!

Well, soft anyways! Some of you may have noticed that some event for non-self-determinist fan-boys occurred up in Laarden Tarn' earlier this year, in celebration of which an old friend of mine, Claire, produced some hand-knitted (or crotch-et-ted) members of the Royal Family,  Life Guards and Royal Guards, to which, when I saw them on Faceplant, I added my usual pithy call for Horse Guards, and damn-me if she didn't make me my very own Horse Guard

 

We had similar soft-toy animals when we were kids, my brother had 'Bill' the guardsman, who ended-up with some of Grandad Hall's miniatures, a sam-brown from a fancy pet collar and a paper-knife sword - he should appear on the Blog one day, he's somewhere in all the stuff I've been moving around.

While there was also a blue and white lamb and a Santa Claus, I think they all came from patterns you could buy in newsagents, or that came with housekeeping type magazines . . . there always seemed to be a table of them at church fêtes!

Beautifully made, he's about eight inches in his boots and the metallic wool is very clever. I'm sure Claire's Creations would accept commissions if you have a good reference for her to work from, and you can contact her on the above details.

 

Guarding one end of the bookcase!