C is for Carded Combat Crew

More minters from Sandwon, or, at least near minters, nothing 60+years old is ever that 'mint', bags fog with a million invisible folds, cards fade or discolour from sunlight or bleaches in the paper itself, but these two have held up pretty well;

 

No brand and a blank back to the card, so no clue to producer/issuer, and 43p (maybe around 50¢ US, at the time?), if only such things were still 43p! It looks like it might be the same quality as the Rosebud one seen here before, but I couldn't manipulate it enough to see whether there was anything in the parachute cavity? But still a nice item to add to the collection

 

I think these might be by Hugonnet/Féral, but it is by no means certain, they come in several different generic header-cards, but always unmarked/unbranded, so they could be another operation?

 

A site crediting them to Hugonnet pointed out that they are Starlux copies with the heads turned, usually through around 90º, and you can see for yourselves, they have been given oblong bases.

T is for Two - Far West Frenchies!

The last Sandown Park show was quite good for Wild West stuff, and in addition to the sets in the opener, and some Dulcop in a future post, I managed to pick this French production up, with established sellers Steve Vickers and John Begg , both stalled-out in the main/first hall, extracting not-many of my shekels, for this pair.

 

Starlux boxed stage coach; the trouble with boxed items like these, is that they are only ever box-tickers, by which I mean they sit there looking pretty, but can't be played with either in a child-like fashion, or something more formal and war-gamey! They can't be handled like loose figures, or compared closely with others, or not without getting them out of their packaging which can often lead to damage to the inserts, mounting cards, trays etc.

 

I believe I read somewhere that the coach itself was bought in from someone else, Manurba (?), or someone like that, and given Starlux horses and outrider, but I, or the person who said it, may be making that up, because the slip-in trays for the horses, are similar to other makers systems, like my own Cofalu set?

 

I also picked up this bag of 'bazaar' figures from France, as close to a generic as you can get, with graphics only for some child-safety outfit, which may or may not be official, and the contents, cowboys only, so assume bags of Indians too somewhere, being copies of Elastolin 70mm stuff from Germany.

 

 Some close-ups.

Hugonnet, Feral, LSP, 'PIH'? . . . Someone else?

 

1980 catalogue page.

 

The guy running with loot bag, shooting behind him, seems to be not only a late addition to the Elastolin line-up, but to bear a remarkable resemblance to the pre-existing Britians swoppet and/or Herald Hong Kong bank-robbers, not that it matters when the French rack-toy guys were copying everyone, including the other French producers, by the mid-80's!

O is for Once Upon a Time, in June! AFV's

So, the other half of the 'Army Men' post (which was going to be one post, but I couldn't face all that typing in one hit!), their transport, and it's an eclectic mix with a few interesting bits in it!

 

I know, but it was a Jeep! It was a Hugonnet card! It's otherwise the same rack-toy shite churned-out by Hong Kong, but a worthy addition to the collection, and confirms loose figures I've got somewhere! Starlux piracies!

 

These were from Isaac, who's surname I've never caught, but he'd saved them for me (along with the Wild West swoppet bags and some other stuff), and they were a real revelation, as when I got them home I found they were confirming one of the possible combinations suggested by me in this post;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2015/09/p-is-for-pick.html

  

With the 'Long Tom' on the odd coastal-artillery type platform, as well as getting the 'Speedwell' tank, with/in the same card/bag, so a very useful addition to the collection Something I would have been even more excited about, back when I was a small-scale only collector, and new things were getting thin on the ground! Now I've seen the all-scale polymer mountain to climb, I'm a little more jaded, but these are much appreciated.

 

The CTS (now BMC) Sherman Tank, apparently a bit smaller than the rarer Airfix one, and in a hard'ish ethylene or propylene, I didn't get this from Matt, who I now know WAS Matt!, But either from Steve Weston or somebody near him? On one level it's a gap-filler/box-ticker, but on another level, also a nice model, and it looks the part, which is important with Shermans, get one major dimension, angle or curve wrong and they can instantly look very odd, or daft!

 

They need a clean, but for reasons you don't need to be bored with, cleaning's out at the moment. Also, we've seen them before, they are pretty common, but belong to a family of rack-toy stuff, including the Jeep-trailer/gun combo's we’ve also seen here,with and without plug-in crew, and with two or even three new colours, they are adding to the story, if we ever tease the full story out!

 

And the comments on Sherman's were specific, because this gets a lot wrong! Can't remember of this was a purchase or a contribution, but it's the sort of thing you see on eBay, and think "Even if I get it for 99p, it's not worth the postage!", but it was a box that needed ticking, and it has its own rack-toy charm!

 

Also, a generic, over-branded to Woolbro, and it has a telescopic barrel, to keep the box as small as possible, while the turret on the box art is even whackier than the turret in the box!
 

Thanks especially to Issack, but also Graham Apperley, John Begg, Barney Brown, Brian Carrick, Peter Evans, Adrian Little, Michael Mordant-Smith, Trevor Rudkin, Steve Vickers, and with no emails since the intro-post, anyone else who gave me stuff, who I have forgotten to add.

O is for Once Upon a Time, in June! Ancient & Medieval

So, the 'Ancient and Medieval' vein was both rich and numerous, although I've got them down to ten images and a close up. Probably my favourite section, after space, and maybe ceremonial, although you find a lot of interesting Wild West stuff, and new civilians are always turning-up to amaze, farm, zoo, jungle . . . Pirates, pirates are my favourite, or they bloody-well should be? Anyway, we've got the opening paragraph; Let's play show repooooort!

 

Small-scale; Another bag of our Auther and his mounted Roman Gladiator Knights! To be compared with the other bags, as I think there was a hint at one point, the content's supplier changed, or the horses got diluted with a second type or something, none of it's actually Giant, but the story still needs to be accurate!

 

A few of the other Hong Kong knock-offs, Quaker and Elastolin Romans, and a Britians Trojan War figure, along with a broken Airfix and the ex-Montaplex runner of BuM Slot's Vikings. The mast and furled sails on their cross-spar have to be made from the central tree-runner!

 

Someone came and asked me about it, and I told him what I knew, then I either bought it off him later, when I found I still had cash in my pocket, or he just gave it to me, toward the end of the show? But he's not in the credit list? One of the Liverpool or Birmingham 'gangs'?

 

Hot on the heels of the three we saw the other day, both blog wise and literally, as the show was a couple of weeks after I acquired the others, came a fourth Marx 6" Egyptian pose, on the right here, and a broken duplicate, on the left. The good one needs a bit of a clean to match the others, while I intend to give the broken one a Kopesh curved sickle-axe-sword, and I'll use quite thick Plasticard, to match the chunkiness of the originals.

 

Between them, a Gashapon Samurai (not well shot!) and one of the Lik Be/LB cavemen. 

 

Hong Kong Timpo piracy on the left, also carried by Ideal in a fort set I think? Cherilea in the middle, and another Hong Kong (Britains 'War of the Roses' swoppet-copy) on the right. All good stuff!

 

These are very interesting, copies of the Lone Star/Hubley/Kresge 'Metalions' (it's increasingly unclear just what the history of those die-casts is/was), I think someone did give me some info' on them at the show, but so much goes-on, on the day, I'll be damned before I can remember what they said! In the style of some French reissue/Bazaar stuff and may be by Norev?

 

Did I say fourteen Richard I's the other day? Make that fifteen! And Bonux here, have simplified the folds of the cloak to such an extent it's getting back, closer to the Lone Star original, and further from the Jem/Norev it was copied from, for these washing-powder premiums!

 

Dom Landsknecht, Lone Star medieval and three Cherilea's, two of the early 'swoppets' and a solid in a nice greeny-yellow plastic. There is a forthcoming post on the swoppets, as you may remember I got four at the previous year's show, and have since obtained more besides.

 

More modern stuff, the old Marx/Tudor Rose knights, and the Romano-Greek motorcycle-raider 'knights' currently still findable on Amazon and similar platforms, all grist to the mill; colour variations etc . . . 

 

A bunch of Starlux, I think I picked a few of each a few years ago, from the same seller, but they went on clearance near the end of the show, so I just bought them all, doing him a favour, really, you understand, I didn't need them, they don't even look good en masse!

 

Bloody-lovely, that's what they is! And the unpainted one is a Starlux moulding, but perhaps issued as a premium, by a third party? We saw the white, polyethylene ones from Spain years ago.

 

Me box-ticking, or bag-ticking (playing catch-up) on Replicants!

 

Biblical figures are a difficult one, they can go with the civilians, or get their own section (which they often do at Christmas!), but as they are ancient, they might as well go here, two Marx nativity animals, home-painted (?), a French Santon, looking a bit like Mary, mother of the bloke standing next to her! He is also Marx, and was called Jey'sus'ah!

 

Again, many thanks to - Issack, Graham Apperley, John Begg, Barney Brown, Brian Carrick, Peter Evans, Adrian Little, Michael Mordant-Smith, Trevor Rudkin, Steve Vickers, and with no emails since the intro-post, anyone else who gave me stuff, including the BuM Vikings (?), and which I have forgotten to add.

L is for Last May's Lots of Lovely Loot - Military Figures

On to the second post of the plunder from May's Sandown Park (the next show's on Saturday), and it’s the military stuff, which was a quite eclectic assortment from across the ranges of scales, materials, and eras depicted.

 

This was a lovely find, a very, very clean Kentoys guardsman, with the correct (for purposes of identification of several vertions ) Sentry Box, in a near mint box which also shows how the stretcher-party was sold from the same carton.

 

And, speaking of stretcher teams, this Starlux set came home with me, I know I have the small-scale set in several configurations of base-type, paint, or plastic colour, but I'm not sure about the big one, I think I may have a stretcher, but no casualty or orderlies?

 

And these were a nice find, despite being the less loved of the company's output, they are every-bit as historical (as artifacts) as their earlier Nazi brethren, being instead, the East German, collectivised Lineol factory's production of Volksarmee Cold War soldiers, with both the Soviet-influenced helmet and side-caps. The sculpting is much more 'wooden' that their pre-war/wartime stuff.

 

This came with them; I always like a bit of scenery! But I have no idea which side of the border, or even which side of the war, this was made! The pack suggests West, the quality post-war, so probably Elastolin, but unmarked.

 

 

Grist to the mill with these, and the foot figures are a bit bashed, but it's all useful stuff, and these Culpitt/Wilton cake decorations are polystyrene, so paint and glue is probably in their future? It would be nice to do a few of the French/Hessian uniforms.

 

I can never resist these smaller-scale, early British mounted subjects (here, Cherilea 50mm'ish), as there are quite a few of them (Cherilea, Crescent, Rocco & Hill), they tend to come in various plastic and/or paint colours, and are often a bit play-worn, so making sure you have the best sample, means grabbing them whenever you can!

 

A soap guardsman! Needs a careful damping to lose the white bruises, but I'll save that job for a day when I have the time, space and tools for the task, as you don't want to wreak it! I tried an Avon search, and he doesn't seem to be one of theirs (which were normally ' . . . on a rope'), so a minor make, a seasonal or touristy novelty!

 

Chess set figure, seen before, I think, but all need bringing together and comparing.

 

And from Adrian's cheapie tray I got some nice, hollow-cast lead samples. Without the books in front of me I won't try to ID them definitively, but US Marine and colonial Brit', on the left, colonial and regular French on the right, and some of them Britains (including the small one, a B-Series?), maybe a French made one or two?

P is for Perfect Polymer Propine - Wild West

So we arrive at the Wild West section of Theo van de Weerden's lovely donation to the Blog, and there are some real treats here too, starting with the best thing in the box . . .

 

. . . the Koho Wigwam (Teepee / Tipi), unusually, for the era, a blow-moulded piece, looking like a Hong Kong-produced beach toy. And when I saw it, I was ever so pleased and eMailed Theo to the effect I'd chatted to someone about it a while ago, only for him to remind me that he was the co-respondent in that original exchange, and it was his photograph of this item, which I was remembering, from a follow-up post! I can't retain it all in my small head!

 

So, we have seen it before, but worth a second look, as it's actually quite fragile, in it's shopping bag thin material, and complicated moulding, and therefore probably quite a rare beast these days?

 

The Timpo Teepee, I used to think it was the 'late' version, but, in fact it was the counter top version, being to big/bulky for the boxed sets, and actually ran alongside the slot-together for many years, with the similar over-moulded design elements on the alternate sections.

 

Starlux Tipi in a hard polystyrene, I think this may be a later version, as I have seen heavier mouldings of the same tent, and it would seem the walls were thinned, with a wider male insert to the mould tool?

 

Theo also sent us his Koho figure sample which greatly enhances mine, and with one or two having come-in in odd lots, or from Chris Smith, since we last looked at them, when we return to them next (in a few years?!) it'll be a far more comprehensive post!

 

Britains spares.

 

These are useful, I think, in time, they, like those knights the other day, will turn-out to be ABC (or 'HK' or CMV), but it's a question of finding them marked, while they do turn-up in other packagings, either unmarked as generics, or with what are probably phantom brands?

 

And, like the 'Khaki Infantry' of those three otherwise unknown Hong Kong manufacturers, there are - across the set - Britains, Crescent and Lone Star copies found, in several versions, from full size with larger squared bases, through to very small ones with bulgy alien-eyes.

 

Three larger figures, middle is Cherilea, right is Hilco, and the guy on the left, crawling with rifle, has me stumped, one of the less common Jean's? Another Koho? Something European though, I'm pretty sure!

 

Two Crescent who may benefit from a repaint!

 

This is lovely and not that common, a Texas mounted Indian, while the foot figures are often found at UK shows, or on evilBay, the mounted figures are harder to find, and he's sitting on the donor horse for the small-scale Hong Kong one I call 'Mexican', which, while commonly associated with Giant, was also a wagon-puller for several brands (such as WHC/Success and MPC) for years after the demise of Giant.

 

A couple of Swoppet parts, neither of which is immediately obvious to me, but there is a large box full of minor makes, unknown and Hong Kong samples, and I'm sure these will prove useful in helping complete stuff in that box. Is it late Elastolin legs, and . . . a French-made hat?

 

Many thanks again, to Theo, for all these, as I'm always keen to say in these contribution posts, it's all useful, helpful, and grist to the mill of the 'bigger picture' and all gratefully received.

P is for Polymer Plunder Package - Combat

Getting near the end of Chris's latest donation to the Blog, and we come to the proper toy soldiers, the guys in green, the khaki-whiskered gentlemen the feldgrau and desert sand of actual military chaps!

 

But, first we have a ceremonial who snuck into the wrong post, by dint of being in his sentry-box, I did finally track one down, but it didn't have a hanger-cord, so this one WILL go on the tree, I'd remind you Chris's Mother used to work at Tobar, so there's a familial connection there. I think I ID'd the yellow one as being Marty/M-Toys (Maysun - May Moon), while the anti-Terminator post probably came with 3 or 4" action figures in some generic big-box, but as you can see, it helps make for a useful comparison shot, and there will be more in the future!

 

A tradition now in these posts; the parachute toys! Seen elsewhere already, and nothing new, possibly new mouldings of the small ones, but always new colour variations, and while I know that page rather ran out of steam, it's partly because I need to bring everything together and re-shoot it all to reflect all the stuff from Chris, Peter, Gareth and my own finds!

 

And here's a carded one by an importer/jobber I'd not heard of before (Anabas Products of Romford), he's the smaller one, often found in Christmas crackers, especially as the brighter-coloured varients, but here, probably a sixpenny pocket-money job, or a later 10/25p type?

 

The upper three were in Poundland (or 99p Stores?) a few years ago, and we did see them here (along with firefighters I think), but I can't remember what colour they were, and I know Brian B found different-coloured ones in the 'States. While below them is a comparison with one of the old Arco Rambo figures, converted to a generic GI, with a helmet cover, and a nice five-inch figure, probably Hong Kong.

 

There were quite a few if these, off the back of the Marx, MPC, Blue Box and Lincoln 'biggies', and while they are slowly gathering in a larger tub, I still know very little about them, their packaging doesn't seem to survive like smaller figures/animals' does, probably because they would have been in open, counter-display boxes, sold individually?

 

Toy Story figures, I've rather lost track of these since we looked at some when doing an overview of the Tim Mee GI's, a few years ago, but there are several different generations/licences of them, mostly Mattel, but also Burger King and a mobile-phone stand thing, so we will gather them in one place and look at them again one day!

Mixed Hong Kong; the stand-out is the large figure, who's a modern PVC-substitute, and seems to be a scale-up of previously seen small-scale copies of the Revell 1:72 paratroopers, but until I can do a direct comparison I'm not 100% sure of that attribution, suffice to say he's new to me, Blog and possibly hobby?

 

Kamley/KS (Kwong Shing) in blue are useful, the kneeling 8th Army is that lesser copy with the oblong base, and the Monogram clones are in an unusual sandy-khaki, while I know I'm short of those chromed 45mm piracies, so a very useful handful

 

Starlux 30mm, but when found in pairs like this, technically, probably Solido!

 

Small scale, going clockwise from the top left;, three of the Euro-premiums, found in various branding of bubble-gum, and typically referred to as 'Dunkin', an Airfix sentry-box (which should have been in the first shot really?), HK copy, three Marx soft-ethylene polymer Brit's, an Indian (Imex? Italeri? I used to instinctively know this shit - it's all on PSR!), and a minor-make/new production Prussian (Strelets*R or Orion?).
 

Which leaves the chap in the centre? Only the best thing in the whole bloody parcel! If you weren't more enamoured of the dice-shaker, that is! It appears to be a reasonably good quality (if slightly play worn), small-scale copy of the Lido French Foreign Legion standing firing pose! How cool is that? And . . . it begs the question; whothewhatthewhenthewherethehowmanyposes???!!!!

 

Definately new to me, Blog and hobby, but, somebody, somewhere, probably has a biscuit-tin full of 'em? Can anybody shed more light on the figure? Still a real find, and many thinks to Chris for it, and everything above! Marche ou crève!