F is for Follow-up . . . and Update, and Image Dump, and A-Z Page Update and Contribution and Apology! Highlander Miniatures!

Jason, who I think might be Jason Pontiac (?), sent the Blog a shed-load of Highlander Miniatures stuff, which has been languishing in Picasa since 2020. Now, with Covid-19 that year, then a Mother, Friends and two beloved Cat's, dying about the place, over the next three years, while I fought HMRC, HMCTS, local authorities here and in the Channel Islands, a lazy, belligerent Brother and an . . . uncommunicative Step Mother, not to mention venal auctioneers, grasping antiques dealers, and dishonourable Estate Agents, I hope Jason will forgive me for taking so long to sort this out, especially given that I have churned out some 2000+ posts in that time, but it needed time, it needed a clear head . . . and there's more!

Armour

M60 A1's, A2 'Starship's, M107 and M110 SPG's

 

All the work on this ephemeral firm has been done here at Small Scale World over the last 11-years, with help from several people. And as part of my own research, back at the start (2014) I found, when Google was still useful, a catalogue, listed in a University's research and reference library, back in the US.

I wrote to them asking if it would be possible to have a copy, for wider dissemination (on the Blog), expecting a small fee for a couple of stock images, only to be told it would be in excess of $25 dollars, which makes one wonder how people can afford serious research, the answer is increasingly, they go to European or other countries' places of learning!

Anyway, I didn't proceed at that time, knowing that if it existed it would turn-up, and in 2023, with the images from Jason still sitting here, I found one on eBay, which with postage was less than the American Uni' wanted, so now I have the whole thing, to share with everyone, for free, and which is on the A-Z entry, or it will be in the next few hours (by the time I publish this), covers, below;

Front

 

Back

 

It came with a 1977 dated price list, but there's an extra set, listed in the catalogue, and descriptions differ between the two, and with the cards we've already seen, so it's a hard one to annotate, and I've been re-writing the listing for an hour or two already, and thought I'd get this started to help sort out my thoughts, and the images, some of which will go over there!

Jason's main aim was showing us the longer-barrelled SPG, and the standard M60 A1, but he also has a lot of infantry , guns and other stuff, which he remembers going to a ". . . toy store 'warehouse' in Brooklyn in the mid 80's" with his father, and purchasing them, presumably as clearance?

Image dump - finally!

 

Another small development, was the purchase a couple of years ago of an A3 scanner, allowing for the scanning of larger documents, and so I scanned the old broadsheet-cutting as one piece, and because the catalogue is split here, and whole on the A-Z entry, while the split cutting has been on the A-Z page for a number of years, I thought it could go here, whole, for balance!

So, many apologies to Jason for the time it's taken to get his images up here, and many thanks for his sharing them with the rest of us. His subsequent purchases of carded sets, and some AFV close-up's, have gone on the A-Z entry, along with full-scans of the gate-fold catalogue, the price-list, a fully updated product listing and some card scans.

And to anyone else who's sent stuff, I haven't got round to yet, it will all get put-up here eventually!

 

It needed a quiet Christmas morning . . . and half the afternoon!

 

https://smallscaleworld-g-h-i.blogspot.com/2016/02/highlander-toy-and-miniature-military.html 

 

The full entry is still not 100% complete, and certainly not definitive, but it's the best info' on the Web, and seems to sum up the company's history and product list, to a satisfactory level.

C is for Contributions and Comparisons

As stuff comes in to the control centre here it doesn't always get sorted immediately, indeed, some sits around for ages - Chris sent me a box a couple of weeks ago, which I haven't shot properly yet, I've taken  a sorting shot I meant to get up on a Faceplant group but haven't yet, however I may do this evening (Wednesday).

But it means that sometimes things can be united with other 'additions' before they are fully reunited with things in the main collection (especially in the last few years with bits of it in storage or the attic, often both), while other things might be sorted quite fast and I may or may not do shots for a follow-up, this post is a few of those moments!

This was the simple bringing together of the rocketry in Chris's April lot with the similar items in Peter's March donation as they were still at hand and the rest had gone-off to storage already!

I have lots of this sort of stuff, and a whole folder of eBay images over-texted to ID them all one day, and there are many, from the little red or yellow bullets from the plastic hand-gun key-rings through Corgi, Dinky and Matchbox up to larger battery-operated or push-and-go vehicles from Hong Kong, and at the moment I have them in four bags - small, medium, large and model kit!

You can see it will not be an easy job, the two large white ones are clearly from different sources or batches with notable changes in tool-design, despite being visually the same missile. The spring-laucher won't launch either of them, suggesting a missing collar, washer or widget of some kind, while the grey one is probably from a Sci-Fi thing or larger, modern 'China' aircraft toy? But, one day, if I live long-enough, we'll get a good guide sorted.

We've seen these before, and they come in all the time, but as you can see, there seem to be an infinite range of colours! This is the 'master collection, combined with what was quite a large bagful I'd built-up here, and confirm what was suggested when I Blogged the 'here' ones a few years ago; two poses each of cowboy and Indian.

They are very small, maybe 15/18mm, in Peru they had a similar set of race horses with moulded-on rider, they look to be larger 20/25mm and with only the one pose and Rolo Roncallo at the Minitoys Peru Blog (about ten steps down the page) reports "Race horses: usually come with a card and die race track. Also variations.".

Now; while I have many of the Westerners, I have none of the racers (despite having lots of other small cracker or board-game riders), so it would seem to back-up something I've pointed-out in the past - these HK (now China) novelty/generics companies had many items in their trade catalogues, and different customers could order different items, it happens that someone in the UK (probably Tom Smith) ordered a load of the Wild West figures, while someone in Peru ordered the race horses.

Which of the two, or which others in the same style/colours were in your jurisdiction?

This is just putting away the mine-clearer, or not putting him away - I decided he was so different he'd need his own bag with all the generics until more of his mate's turn-up! Chris's donation figure is sandwiched between the Toy Story bucket figure and larger Burger King Toy Story giveaway. But anyway, this is the current extent of Tim Mee and their takes-off's as of 22nd March . . .

. . . I've since had a couple more lots come in including some multicoloured ones with both bright-green and red mine-detector figures, who are now waiting to join the others in their bag, in that box!

Meanwhile the Airfix dog flat Chris sent is a totally different sculpt to the one on the Airfix card! And it's becoming clear there are two sets/tools for these, which raises the possibility of two sources; Airfix and . . . Kleeware? We have several cows extant or listed (one of which is a bull?), two elephant variations, two lions &etc.

Left shot shows the collection to date with enough variations for me to have already got confused and had to adjust the little word-for-windows table several times, on the relevant page, when I next update it there will be Dog - Type I and Dog - Type II!

However, and in the meantime; Paul Morehead at Plastic Warrior magazine has confirmed the greyhounds as being in an old, early Airfix catalogue (or price list), although there are six poses, I only have five.

I don't know if you (loyal reader) were here or recall when I got both excited and confused over these a few Rack Toy Month's ago, but it turned out the ones Chris originally sent had fallen down the back of a bookcase! I found them a couple of months ago, after the painted one (here on the right) had been added to the others and sent to storage, so the four on the left should be 'new' even if we've seen them before!

Basically I shouldn't have got so excited about them, I've since seen them a few times, there are several sources and they are recent-to-current and I think they were tracked-down to/as copies of New Ray originals? So Peter Evans and Chris Smith had ended-up sending me these, Chris twice, and one or two others have appeared, but thanks to both of them, for everything they send to the Blog.

F is for Fishy Phishing for Fish!

Although most of the 'family archive' has gone to storage now, some months ago; the odd thing still turns up, and while most of it is not of any interest to the Blog, this fell out of other papers a couple of days ago, so small I didn't know if it would scan at all!

My father, I think in Borneo/Sarawak (pretty sure that's one of the Iban tracker's huts in the background), but he had all four Malaysia clasps (in order of award - Malaya, Brunei, Borneo and Malay Peninsula) on his GSM's, so it could be any of them, but from his age; taken long before I was born!

When we were kids he would get us by the fire and tell us his "war stories", among which his tale of grenade fishing seemed to be one of his favorites (misbehavior! The apple never falls far from the tree), and from the grin on his face here, I suspect that that is how he came by his 'catch'?

Also, re. the other day's Officer Recruitment adverts, he is wearing JG (jungle green)'s which led to the temperate OG's mentioned then, although by the time we were old enough to pay attention he referred to them all as OG's as they saw out their lives as gardening clothes! No equipment, so clearly a safe-area?

The picture as found, I was amazed it blew-up well enough to use here, as I never set-up my new scanner, just plugged it in and tried it and it started taking scans straight-away! But these modern machines are all more automated in their thinking (AI?) and seem to know to increase the pixel-rate exponentially when you present them with a postage stamp!

It may have been cut out of a bigger image (there's a sequence of Roger Woodiwiss giving first-aid and medical help to Ibans in their village, one of which is often found in the better books), or more likely, been reduced for use as a postcard, and then cut-down for a/Mum's purse's stamp-window thing?

U is for Unknown Paratrooper and Other Animals

Another lazy-post in that I don't need to do much more than post someone else's photographs, but of interest, if only in the hope that if anyone knows Lieutenant Cole, who served at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, probably in 1969, they might show him these (I can even let him have the originals) if he's still around, he'll be in his late 70's now, I guess.

Whether the snakes were unwelcome visitors to the base or a training area/range, or part of some survival course's training equipment . . . or menu (!) I don't know, but Lieutenant Cole seems pretty at ease handling them, although he's staying pretty alert in the second shot I feel?

Probably taken - as I say - in Fort Bragg or it's environs in 1969, but I don't know who by (so the LT may have had his own copies?), and showing - I think Eastern Diamond-Backed Rattle Snakes? In the first shot certainly, the other two . . . it's hard to tell in B&W! The shots could have been taken earlier, my father had several trips over there I think, helping Charlie Beckwith, so these shots could be from '66 or around thereabouts?

In 1969 Dad had a six month liaison-exchange at Ft. Bragg, and took Mum, they were billeted with a US army officer's family I believe, but my brother and I were left here, staying with friends . . . we got smart orange/black sneakers (early All Stars?) and army-green tank-tops with Staff Sergeants stripes out of the deal though!

As Mum had possession of these photographs; I'm guessing they are from that visit? Also as a young woman, she had had a pet Grass Snake (Jezebel) - which she wore round her neck - in London in the 1950's, so would have enjoyed seeing these.

That's it, a couple more curious 'tears in rain' among the many I've been unearthing . . . Gallipoli later.

RTM is for Really Tat Miniatures

This is so bad I'm posting it now so I can hopefully bury it with something better tomorrow morning! This is not even from the 'We buy this so you don't have to' department, as A) it must be vintage now, it's 12-years if not 20 in some kind of storage/hidden from everyday view and B) I really can't remember how or why it came into the collection, but it's here and I do say [hopefully] from time-to-time "Everything will appear here in the end", so it has to have a place!

Totally generic, the sort of thing you find in large open-air markets from dodgy stall-holder geezers who say they'll be here again next week and are never seen again and who purchase their stock from equally dodgy wholesale geezers in old railway arches!

It doesn't get any better when you get it out of the box and set it up! But . . . it IS a military train and you don't see them every day huh? AND . . . It doesn't get any worse when you get it out of the box and set it up! From the technicolour track I'm guessing a civilian version of the set exists - batteries are long dead!

As I got this image up just now to work the blurb I had a de ja vue that someone will send me similar shots of their better one (more accessories?) bought recently! Weird? No - I'm not telling you who, 'cos if it happens that will be too spooky!

All three loads are screwed to the flat-cars (Force Chariots!) and gauge is best described as O-to-G! If you're five and it's a wet weekend this might be fun . . . with some dinosaurs, Kinder Egg superheroes and a pencil-top Panda Bear!

Action Figure is for Points of Articulation

Following-on from the earlier post's large sandy-coloured gentleman; this is not the normal output of the Blog, and is presented here as an easy read, to clear Picasa of images going back to 2016, for general information and because it's Rack Toy Month, and these are classic modern rack toys!

I don't collect these, I don't think many of you do, but they come in . . . there are shelfies here from Brian Berke and myself, there are donated samples from Peter Evans, stuff I've picked-up and things which have been included in mixed Charity Shop lots . . . they just come in!

Once they have been annotated and photographed they tend to go on to the Blue Cross charity shop here in town, where hopefully the mint/near-mint stuff provides a nice surprise for a kid who's parent may only be able to afford toys from charity shops?

An overview . . . chronologically according to the dates on the .jpg's!

These are two on the left from Brian, which he sent to the Blog back in 2016 (Combat Soldiers) and 2017 (Desert Force), the latter branded to both Hunson (obverse) and JPW International (reverse), the former a generic. The one on the right is from Peter, much-later (2019) and was just collaged into the trio, it too; lacks a brand mark.

Two of the 'laws' of rack-toy army-men are established immediately; loads of SF (Special [or Security] Force/s) panoply festooning the figures and over-sized accessories - play value comes before realism with these! Although - to be fair - the left hand figure has received a semi-realistic wash paint-job.

Also from Brian, also 2017 came these chaps, similar to the figures in the middle set of the previous trio of sets, these are nevertheless new sculpts and shrinking their berets on the correct side!

A further 'law' makes itself obvious; random accessories such as undersized flags, or oversized rockets from WWII German halftracks! I'm not sure if Super is a phantom brand or an over-optimistic corporate QA statement from the otherwise anonymous manufacturer!

This gets us to 2018, with the two on the right from Peter (we may have seen another in a similar post last year or the year before?), both 'minters' I hope they went on to bring joy to a small person, the larger one branded to Maxxi (a Middlesex-based importer) the other generic.

Some further close ups of the previous pair from peter; the franchise-tied (Call of Duty) but outherwise generic one is actually a very well made and finished figure, possibly Blue Box (BBI) clearance?

While Maxxi have been connected to those crude 54mm'ish Wild West sets also issued by about five other 'brands' in the last three or four years, their figure comes with candy (and may have been seen already, in a candy-container post?). I have a lot of novelty stuff kicking about in Picasa and tend to grab it without much planning during RTM!

Speaking of the Maxxi 54mm solids they are responsible for this chap too (right-hand image); Apache Big Chief, also from Peter, while the Accoutrements (Archie McPhee) Oscar Wild came from Brian, the two prooving that non-Army Man, rack toy, action figures are out there!

Also JPW; Brian sent these shelfies over 2018 and 2019, and there's no way they are in any way connected to a certain stony movie franchise, on no, not at all, and the white guy doesn't even look like Mr Stallone! These are actually quite cool toys, if I was younger . . . and etcetera! They each come with a piece of boxing-gym equipment, so you can build-up a little training-regime, while Sly . . . I mean the guy in the stripped shorts worries about failing the big test!

Taken last October is this overview of some of the above with others that had come in from various sources as lose figures including some pricier branded civilians from younger kids 'big name' toy ranges, I haven't given any sizes, as I haven't noted any as they went through, and those who know about these things will . . . err . . . know!

A couple more loose ones and a set we have seen before I think, from H&H Distribution. I can see the appeal of them, but action figures need more space than I have ever had, and - on the branded side - more funds than I can or am willing to provide!

Bum Slot is for Montaplex!

We might have had that title before but I think it's worth having again! I was looking for something to make it a thematic day and thought about the smallies, but we've seen them once or twice over the years, except the Atlantic set (which was the other obvious absentee in this morning's post, but I should leave something for you-know-who to dust-sit with), when I found these whilst looking for something else in the garage!

BuM got hold of the old Montaplex sobres (surprise [bags]) moulds back in the 1990's, or - at least - they got hold of enough surplus product to start churning-out boxed sets, I'm not sure as to the full history; I think it's all been on Akala's Kiosko Blog, but my Spanish isn't good enough!

Anyway, this is two ex-Montaplex sets in one box; British Commandos (ex-Airfix) and an original-design (?) submarine.

The commandos are unremarkable, the two grappling-iron guys being notably poor short-shots, but the ladder is a whacky thing and possibly more dangerous to the user than climbing the enemy cliff-face naked except for a pair of mittens and some bedroom slippers!

It also ironic that Airfix-Heller were churning out the same old set (having apparently 'lost' not one but two new tools in the previous decade!), at the same time, in the same shit-brown polymer!

But this? Now . . . hold on a sec' . . . over here we had to wait for Birthday's or Christmas for pretty-much anything in the past, but the Spanish were getting these brought back by Mum or Dad, uncle or granny . . . with the morning paper!

It's a whole submarine! OK, it's a bit simplistic and there don't appear to be any holes for the two missile-things, but how much fun could you have over breakfast with this dropping out of a little envelope . . . it's a WHOLE SUBMARINE . . . for pennies!

Highlander is for US Rack Toys

Seen before here, but I had them out to shoot other stuff in the same tub the other day and as it's a while since we saw the set I took the opportunity to try and shoot some decent close-ups of the figures without de-carding them.

All the info is on the 'Highlander' tag, or the Highlander page in the A-Z, so just a reminder.

The 'gun crew' consist of a loader with shell, a radio-operator and a gun-commander, all kneeling, all unique poses, all approximately 35mm

The set also includes an observer/spotter who can go with the gun, or help the .50Cal machinegun crew do their work. All have got green berets so; Rack Toy Rambo x6! Or should one be John Wane? Nice to see two African Americans in a set of six US figures.

B is for Box-ticking - Revolutionary Russians & Modern Spetznaz - Italian Makers

Back across the pond and heading south to the Med'; like my US sample, the Italian sample is nothing to write home about, which is probably why I'm writing it here! However; I do have all of them in small-scale, so at some point we'll have a look at them, probably over on the Airfix Blog as comparisons with their late-issued set.

A revolution era Cossack (who would cover through to the end of WWII and our shameful repatriation of the German-allied Cossacks) from Atlantic, on a slightly small, flying horse!

He's one of those figures who tends to slide off his mount as soon as you glance at him, but if firmly fixed and painted-up, he's be a really nice stand-alone figure.

The Esci/Ertl/A-Toys set of Modern Russian special-forces or Spetsnaz should probably contain the 15 poses of the small-scale set, or at least twelve, so very much a part-set, and at a 1:35th scale, a bit small for most of their contemporaries in the toy world.

Size apart; accuracy with these is nice and all the weapons are recognisable while the kit/uniform is vary Afghan campaign 'summer' dress. The hat looking a bit like our 1930's boy scout hat (or the US 'Smoky Bear' hat) was (is still?) also used by the border forces, while the wide, flat beret is also used by regular paratroopers and marines.

HT-109 is for Tank Combo Pack

An all contribution-posts day today, and while I would normally save the smaller or lesser one for the third, afternoon 'bonus' post, I thought that as all three are 'small' in imagery and most of the work on this firm has occurred here over the years - most of it aided by contributions of one kind or another -we'd return to Highlander first, with some rarities in a hour or so and some Dan Dare this afternoon.

Bobbi Kukal sent this in to Small Scale World the other day and it's fascinating as it manages to fill another unknown stock-number in the inventory (see A-Z Entry), show most of the other 'known' foot-figure poses and contains a model of an uncommon tank design, being the M60A2 'Starship' main battle tank (MBT), with the mad Sheridan 152mm/6-inch rocket-assisted Shillelagh projectile ammunition barrel-thing, going on there!

The ratio of ethnically black to white troops in the known figure sets is around 1-in-5, here we get approximately 1-in-3, and a nice spread of six different poses. 3-each riflemen advancing, standing and kneeling firing, 2-each advancing with-, and prone with; machine-guns, and a chap with binoculars.

All are wearing the green beret, which rather confirms my previous thought that this small series of toys were piggy-backing the eponymous John Wane movie. It's also more obvious in this shot that the larger sets get two standard backing-cards, un-separated; one assumes there is a similar set for the M106 SPG already seen here.

Another shot of the M60A2 'Starship', definitely something to look out for on feeBay! There is also another clue as to the line's apparent failure (or lack of popularity), apart from, or in addition to the fact that it was released just as anti-Vietnam War sentiment was at its highest, and/or the odd scale, is the fact that the whole range including figures, armour and a WWII German Pak-40 gun were issued in a rather insipid fawny-beige, with a green-blob camouflage.

There is no enemy, no European theatre or desert option, no obvious Vietnamese troops have surfaced, no Russians, no 'reds', orange or blue-force . . . although you could make an enemy from the even more uncommon Spencer Smith 'modern' troops, but each range is rare on the opposite side of the pond!

Now - of course - they have the charm of old, unusual stuff, that you have to search-out, AND are depicting an unusual subject - and this is the best to have surfaced yet - many-thanks Bobbi!