N is for November's Sandown Park - Sci-Fi &etc.

On to the odd-and-sods of the last show, and these are a bit of a mix, nothing exciting, but it's all grist to the mill, and there's always something new!

 

I think the devil is probably a rather naff Valentine's Day 'thing', but it IS a bendy! While the green chap, also a bendy, is probably more modern, and wasn't easy to shoot, but I decided to leave him in his crinkled bag for now. He has something of the Muppets about him?

 

Straight from a shop-stock / counter display box, three colours/poses of the Cherilea 60mm astronauts, interesting that the whole box, only had these three poses, the non-EM2 Bullpup armed chaps? And colours tie-in with the Tibidabo issues, so I think it's fair to say the Italians just bought-in the product, but never had the tools?

 

If there's anything exciting in this post it's the left-hand of these two from Yolanda, of Spain, being a large Anime/Manga type robot, Marked Toei, while the other chap is marked Troma I think, the US pulp-Video Nasty producer, and both are the earlier polyethylene, some Yolanda were later issued in a softer PVC-substitute.

 

Adrian gave me this, his head is broken-off, so will need pining at some point, but in the last few years several whole, and part, Cherilea Batmans and/or Robins have come in with one or two bases, so I'll sort them all into the best pair and Blog them again properly, one day!

 

'Gygax' spikey, one of the Crossbows & Catapults figures mentioned the other day, home-painted and play-worn, he needs a good clean, along with a Bandai Power Ranger's villain - I think!

 

What looks like a 1:48th scale aircraft kit's gunner, and one of the Aurora figures from the Lost in Space set with the rock-throwing cyclopean alien. He's lost his hand, but as a first sample, will do for now, although I may have these in white-plastic (Mobius) somewhere?

S is for Seen Elsewhere - Space!

I got confused last night, that bronze figure wasn't Lido, it was Archer, but these (first shot) are Lido, seen elsewhere, not that long ago, but I'm trying to get stuff cleared from Picasa, and off the PC, so let's get these out of the way!

 

Lido, Captain Video, the large versions! I'm missing the robot, and there may be a fifth pose, but as a sample which didn't exist two years ago and has literally come in as one's and the painted pair, it shouldn't be too long before I've tracked down the missing miscreants! Note the 1930's leather American football or early Tank Crew helmet, on whom, I assume, is the actual Captain Video himself?

 

I don't know if the two painted ones are factory or 'home' painted, but if home, it was a long time ago, so contemporary with the unpainted issues, I'm not going to strip them, as I have unpainted versions, and you can harm 'styrene in a way you don't damage 'ethylenes, trying to clean them.

 

While this is the latest (and not even the best) line-up of Archer robots. These have all come-in over the last 24-odd months, and add to previously seen samples here, with two Archer on the left, a probably Tudor Rose in green, a - smaller - silver copy by Glencoe unknown and the 'heritage' reissue of the answer-robot! House of Marbles or Keycraft Global? They've both carried the game in recent years?

 

As with the Lone Star 'Richard I's, there will have to be a final comparison with all of them, as this makes about 11 robots now!

 

I wondered where the turquoise one had gone (it's in other images), and upon finding it realised the Glencoe are from the old tools (I think there's a long post, somewhere else on the Wibbly Wobbly Way, which explains it all), so I dug-him out on Sunday afternoon, and here's a corrected image with, from the left

• Archer
• Archer
• Glencoe (recent)
• Tudor Rose
• Unknown (smaller copy)
• Board Game 'Magic Answer Robot' (current)

M is for Marx Space - Other Bits

A few other images I took while getting all these posts into some sort of sense or order, mostly from the loose stuff I had here in the sort of, last 24-months-odd acquisitions pile, there is plenty more in storage, I've always regarded all the Marx, MPC, Briatins, Timpo, Starlux, Elastoline &etc., stuff a bit 'box ticky' as there's tons of it around, plenty of collectors and loads of sites, but actually, in doing these posts, I've found either a dearth of decent Info, or gaps/conflicts in what is presented, or said, so when I do get everything together, I'll try to box-tick more of the supposedly common stuff!

 

These were already in the recent stash (rather than the collection), and they highlight one of the more interesting things I've noticed about all these Marx sets, each set has adjustments made to suit that set, which has lead to lots of variations to collect, more, I'm sure, than the few I've mentioned. Here - for instance - the tall rocket tower in gunmetal, doesn't sit flat, because it has two longer spigots in its hollow underside to local into a base-moulding that only came with some/one set/s.

 

While the yellow set here, which I assumed was a reissue, is actually a third size, to the two I've already highlighted. Also down the front you can see the triple-disc thing, now complete, along with a sort of searchlight thing, and the 'computer-table', now complete with its radar basket/salad dryer! Note also, the middle silo of the fuel-storage facility now has an extra collar at the base of the joined-pipe.

 

To which end, I shot these three, and you can see there is a 1.5/2'ish millimetre difference between the three mouldings, more than can be accounted for by shrinkage between harder and softer polymers, say, but, in fact they are all of similar density, although the gunmetal is a 'styrene, the mustard probably 'ethylene, and the lemon maybe 'propylene (and a Mexican re-issue?), however, the fact is - they are three separate tools.

 

Which does rather call into question, the whole 'mould (or 'mold') shot' shtick, some American collectors have been using to annotate their research, could we, in fact be looking at one tool list, from one factory, or one period in the company's history, or one auction?

 

We know some Marx figures (Warriors of the World and Miniature Masterpiece) could be produced in several factories (US, Hong Kong, Taiwan, 'Holland', Germany, Swansea), sometimes at the same time, and it looks like the same may be true for a lot of Marx's output, and that maybe, the tool lists are only a guide to some production, for a limited period, in one region/territory? While other, duplicate tools were authorised, or sent-out, with changes to the 'standard'?

 

A comparison between the 45 (Moonbase), 54 (Kennedy) and 70mm (Woolworths?) figures, It's not terribly clear, as I should have placed the tape-measure the other way up, so it started level with their feet, but you get the idea!

 

While I was shooting that, I shot this, the 7 humans from the 4-ich set.

 

But the white Alien was in another bag, which led to this all-Marx 'scaler' shot, with my only polyethylene 45mm, one of the Space Patrol, in the same metallic-blue as the 70mm robot. And I have another PVC-rubber crawling alien, not mucked-about with added home-paint, like the PVC sample!

 

The red figure is from the Mystery Spaeship, the yellow a re-issue 70mm, the sea-green a 4-inch original, and I added a spare 54mm silver astronaut, I also had here, there may be more of the smaller ones elsewhere in the storage.

 

The yellow 70mm was also in a separate bag, and has now joined these chaps, three reissues (Mexico, courtesy of Brian Berke) and one blue original, I think I have the whole set in blue somewhere!

 

Another one, I seem to have shot at some point, with a load of vintage stuff!

 

While Theo van der Weerden sent this to the Blog, several years ago, and again it seems to show the Mexican reissues (or are they from Marx Germany, Marx Holland, Heimo or a Charmore tool?!), in two shades of yellow and blue, with red, silver and green.

 

There were other things which seem to have missed the photoshoot, or just been lost in the first box-content's shot, a couple of the base-mouldings, again one was from the Moonbase sets. A NASA lifting body type thing, missing its missiles, in 'Marx' metallic blue, but made in polystyrene, got put to one side and not photographed, and there were other bits, so I'm sure we'll return to it all one day, not least - once I've found enough rocket sections, to make sense of all the part rockets, I've still left from the Kennedy and Space Patrol sets!

W is for What Might Have Been!

The future's bright, the futures white with orange highlights!

 

Original artwork for what was proposed as the next generation of Britains Starguards/Aliens, Star-Force/-Raiders/-System and their other 'Space' lines, within the Deetail range. I don't recognise the artist's signature, if anyone knows who he or she was, I'll add it to the post.

 

The Hexagonal 'turret' was to be a modular, plug-together construction system, like the hub-UFO's in the Swizzles Matlow candy-holder set, which would build up to ships, stations, or - as here - accessories on a set of vehicles of which this was to be the vanguard! There were both constructional/connecting tubes and plug-in weapons/equipments, proposed.

F is for Follow-ups - Various, Old & New

A few follow-ups which have been accruing over the last few years, and an eclectic mix of bits enhancing older posts and a couple of more recent ones.

 

 

A couple more KUM pencil sharpeners, these being a small pistol, and a revolver with a drum magazine! We looked at KUM, with more relevance to the Blog's interests here;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/search/label/KUM

 

While this is an advert for pre-printed bookplates, with an emphasis on Sci-Fi / Fantasy, there's also a more traditional, even 'monkish' design. Found on the Internet and credited to David O. Knuttunen, it's the back cover ad from IF (not Galaxy), October 1966, and enhances this post;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2023/04/b-is-for-bookplates-1-overview.html

 

BEM - Bug Eyed Monster, an acronym which has faded from favour!  

 

Meanwhile as a backup to the recent posts on Holly, Lik Be (LB) and the 'Gygax' monsters, on the left here is the copy of the Monster Manual, which I was using along with the later lever-arch file.

 

The other two, which came in at roughly the same time, are a fascinating book on the Tommy Gun rival to Action Man, made by Pedigree Toys, and it's surprising how much Tommy Gun stuff my brother and I had, thinking it was Palitoy-Hasbro, because most of our stuff tended to come from the Church fêtes and Jumble Sales of Heckfield and the surrounding environs, or the local tip (dump)!

 

While the other book is a useful history of Marx, an updated volume, I still don't have Vol.I in any version . . . it will turn-up, everything does! 

 

The Mechanoid bits in the smaller inset, came in a while back, and the two ladders are the real treasure, as none of mine had them, now two will be completed, and the radar disc will finish the green one, while a near complete one came-in recently, with nice turquoise legs - also needing a ladder!

 

Looking at them, I think I may have a couple more spares in the 'unknown ladder' drawer of my old multi-drawer cabinet! So when it all comes together I should have three complete, another one with two-each different coloured legs and the gold-accessories one still needing a ladder, along with a few bits - that's a fleet!

 

 

A couple of rather poor images of a set of the Marx copies, and a generic set of the same copies of Cherilea astronauts/spacemen, I actually managed to buy the foot-pump set, twice from the same seller, because I'd forgotten I'd bought the first one (generics from Italy), so we will look at them properly another day, but all three above adding to this post;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2024/03/e-is-for-expelling-few-myths.html

 

While this will add a bit to this post from two years ago

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2023/05/e-is-for-eggcellent-effigies.html

 

He's a Humpty I shot at Sandown Park this weekend just gone, is a lead-solid from Sacul, and has had the base repaired/replaced.

M is for Marx Space - Space Patrol

Some of the stuff which did belong in the box, the Space Patrol figures, and basically a set of generics who could also fatten out sets with the Tom Corbett or Rex Mars figures at their centre. Indeed, they have, pretty much, the same uniforms as the Rex Mars, but make useful 'ground crew' for the Corbett's.

 

Family Photo', I'm missing the two girls, one standing one crawling, and a seated figure (for the 'office furniture'!), and again these seem to be home-painted, and not brilliantly, with the black, particularly, splashed all over the place!

 

One of mine is a heat-shrinkage victim, but as it just makes him look like he's bringing in a still hovering machine, or, waving it away before it hits him, or lands on his noggin, . . . it's quite a cool mistake!

 

I got two each of most (one each of the Aliens) so it would seem to have been a full set, and the missing figures, including a pair of the seated chap, really are missing!

 

The Moonbase station, I think you can mount the 'doughnut' station on the top of this three-part contraption, which looks more like how the V2 ballistic missiles engines were nestled within the rocket's outer casing, than anything else!

 

Fuel storage tanks, I'm missing the pipework for the yellow-green version, but the silver fits, which is useful for photography as without it, the whole moulding rocks like a banana! But, as you can see, it still has its stickers, so is the better example, and the fuels; Oxygen, Hydrogen and Florine, are the same as those labelled on the sides of the 'space tank'er!

M is for Marx Space - Tom Corbett

For years, I thought this was Tom Cobet, I guess you read what you see, and the dyslexia (now known to be Asperger's) may have been a part, but I think a lot of people probably read words, new words that is, or especially names, wrongly! As a kid I read tons of Sci-Fi, and rereading now, you realise how poorly you understood the made-up names of aliens or their planets, and I suspect lots of us do it! Also, some of my LotR/Hobbit name-readings were way off too!

 

Still missing a couple of poses, and I think all the paint's going to have to come off, as I said in the Introduction, Tom Corbett - Space Cadet was a TV serial (as they were called before they became series (UK) or seasons (US)), on all four main US Channels (not just the NBC of my notes), and these uniforms seem to tie-in well, with the costumes of the TV series. The crawling figure, middle left, is an Alien.

 

More here;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Corbett,_Space_Cadet_(TV_series)

 

I already had one of the missing chaps, with the mic, who I seem to have shot twice now, and there were two unpainted figures in the lot, which leaves two other blokes and the single female sculpt to find, I think, but that's the fun of collecting! Throwing money at complete sets, if/when you've got it, gets boring! All mine are PVC, aparently later ones were polyethylene, with bases added to earlier baseless figures.

 

These were pretty ubiquitous I think, and included in lots of the space sets, and while it looks a bit classroomy, they are all mean to be more 'control-room' than office! I think I got the small cabinet of component drawers on its side, without my glasses I thought it was a bookcase full of box-files!

 

Big important machine on the left and uppy-downy-side-to-side radar array to the right, there is a small hole in the top of the giant cash-register, which is for a mesh-cullender-dish type thing, missing from these two examples, but we'll see one in a later part.

 

Educational interactivity was provided by the morse signaler boards, which changed over time, with at least two versions of code sheet. On the right is one missing the code sheet slider-insert.

 

From behind, obviously by sliding them up or down, you can flash morse messages in either red or black, with the printed dots offset by just enough to allow for them all to go white on the push (red), or pull - black.

 

Close-ups of the two different sheets I have, there may be more?

Black includes numerals, red has letters only. 

 

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a big computer or a giant filing-cabinet, or should I lay it flat as a cargo-pod? The beauty of imagination in play! One thing I discovered while shooting all these was that the scenics/accessories were completely replaced over time, apparently by some pretty casual pantographing, resulting in the replacements being smaller all round.

 

Early versions were polystyrene, later stuff is in a tough polyethylene type polymer, with some (the red-orange stuff) having more of the feel of polypropylene?

 

Size difference is quite notable, and while I say I 'discovered' it, I couldn't find anything on the Internet about it, but I'm sure the experts in the defunct Plastic Figure & Playset Collector, or it's still extant offspring, Russel Kern's Playset Magazine will have highlighted such details at some point, and previous to my observations! The Americans take Marx as seriously as the Germans worry about the colour variations of Timpo Apache legs!

F is for Follow-up - LB Spacetronauts!

I picked this set up in the November toy fair at Sandown Park, and it's interesting for a couple of reasons, one wouldn't necessarily get from online images, or, without the benefit of poring over it and comparing it to other examples.

 

Whole set.

 

Full extant of the graphics.

 

Card slid-out and opened-up.

 

Moon-shot landing module, and this is the first interesting aspect. Obviously it's missing its little antenna-dish, but I think I have a spare one, possibly in white, but there may be a chromed one kicking-around somewhere, so? And, if I only have a white one, you can get this media in paint-marker pens now, the Ad's keep appearing in my Faceplant feed!

 

However, you can see from the off-white at the hole, this seems to be the same lander which came as a cake decoration with the late NASA suited pair & flag, from Lik Be (LB), via Culpitts, which matched the robot aliens. Something that may not surprise the average viewer, as the figures look to be the larger LB figures?

 

But, as you can see here, they are actually the smaller ones, which were new to me with the little chromium-plated one we saw last time we had a catch-up of these old favourites. The original is on the left with a dodgy paint-job!

 

And, as a reminder that there's no fool like an old fool, a friend picked several of these out of a bowl I'd already ignored at a show (actually the September Sandown!), because I thought I had them all, but then I looked at these two remaining ones, and under the show lighting, they looked to have different paint, so I grabbed them both slightly chagrined I'd missed the other six, only to get them home and realise in the cold light of day, that the red, the gaiters and the silver on the rears, are all some other Muppet's home-painting! Hay-ho - a full strip awaits them!

 

But, by the time I realised my mistake, I'd already shot this comparison with an Athena spaceman from Greece, a UK knock-off of Premier's fellow (I don't know for sure, if the paint is home or factory, but they do turn up like this, occasionally) and one of the diminutive copies of Ajax/Archer, both of which may be Tudor Rose or Kleeware? All of which, I picked-up at the same show.

 

This all, above, led me to shoot a couple more comparisons the other day, and here, only from the stuff which has come-in over the last 24-months or so, we can see various treatments of the LB (for Lik Be!) and clone figures.

 

Of note here is that the hollow-based copy (forth from the left, is copying the earlier LB paint, which extended to the rears, and was dropped (probably as a cost-saving) on later LB issues, before all painting was dropped around the time the robots/Aliens were converted to chain-hangers.

 

While the yellow issue is a solid based version, despite hollow based monochrome examples also existing in yellow, and the small chrome chap (middle-right), is the same as the painted trio in the new set.

 

Coming with the lander, there is a strong possibility that it/they (set/figures) may be later, reduced-scale production from Lik Be, for a specific client/contract. But equally, one has to maintain the possibility that a pirate just bought-in some LB landers? Until I've compared with the known Culpitt stuff in storage, I'll sit on the fence!

 

The robot/Aliens, we actually had a very similar shot, not that long ago, but with 90%  of the LB & clones in storage, since before I shot the space-tanks, it's only the recent stuff I have to work on!

 

In both cases I've used the same sucker on the jumper and while previously seen here as a clearer HF, on this one, it looks a bit like it could be a poorly registered HE, so I've annotated both images to that effect! Personally, I think it is HF, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Every time I post Lik Be (LB) stuff (or even mention them in the text), one of two or three individuals will post an 'LP' article, usually within two or three days, as their stubborn refusal to accept it's an LB logo, apparently knows no bounds!

 

Their logic being backed up by the fact they think (with no empirical evidence) that it (the 'LP') is arrived at from;

The Lik Be Plastic And Metal Factory Limited,

 

. . . which totally ignores all the rules of English, and/or abbreviations, acronyms, initialism or shortened form/shorthand! By their own logic it should either be LPM, LP&M, LBP&M or LBP&ML, it's not any of those, because it's LB for Lik Be, but stupid is, as stupid does.

 

Just as it's not [technically] Spacex, but LB for Lines (Triang-Hornby and Raphael Lipkin), or LB for MPC, or LB for Ward, Sears, or LB for whoever, and Lik Be went on to produce many other versions/formats/packagings, with other Hong Kong numpties responsible for all the many copies, some also bought-in by Western branding's. Lines, Multiple, Culpitt, Clifford and co., just bought-in limited parts of the range from a catalogue, or, after a sales-rep's spiel, from Lik Be, from a Lik Be sales-rep'! well, Clifford might even be an LB branding, or partner?!!

 

One of the 'LP'-stubborn brigade has even used one of my clearer LB images (with the heavy corner where the bottom of the B's lower loop is), without permission, to try and maintain it's an 'LP'! But stupid is, as stupid does, and it's LB.

 

The new boxed-set with the more recent carded LB and other acquisitions (the hollow-based yellows are in the Space Patrol set).

 

You can copy all the feebleBay, Worthpoint, Scalemates, SAS, Vectis or wherever, whoever's images you like, but if you're not holding the stuff, looking at the stuff and comparing it in the palm of your hand, you're pontificating half-blind. . . Sigh!