P is for Posh Tiddlywinks!

We've seen the figures once or twice in comparisons or H is for . . . 's, but here is the whole game, with .gif! Wadington's Table Soccer, a football game in a board-game box, but not really a 'board' game.

The box, as we've seen the figures before the artwork's depiction of the player might come as a bit of a surprise as it shows a reasonable rendition of a chap in 'footie bags' waiting for the whistle, yet we know the actual playing pieces are more . . .

. . . blob-like! However, casting back to the previous shot - this is because it turns out they are, or need to be; robust 'sticks' for firing tiddlywinks! Although this was in storage I'd forgotten that basic element of the game, it's a fancy version of tiddlywinks!

The likelyhood of them breaking (and you often find them either broken or glued near the ankles (occasionally missing a head!), lead to a spare on each side, and the chap I introduced as a referee previously is - in fact - the goal-keeper, or 'pair' of goal keepers! I put an extra figure for each team in years ago, just 'cos I had them.

4-4-2 v 5-2-3!

A .gif which shows first all the components of the tray and then a set-up for a match with the 'casualty substitutes' placed with 2 spare 'balls' on the far touchline - well; you might lose one under the skirting-board!

Note also that the playing 'board' is not the usual hardback book-binders heavy card, but something more akin to washing-powder box card, which folds in three, and the goals clip to each end with a pair of little studs.

What she thinks of Deadbeat Hairstrand's meme!

You see me here, you see me there, you see me pretty-much everywhere! I was . . . err . . . looking for . . . stuff! Yeah! That's it, I was looking for stuff; he keeps complaining about all the stuff so I thought I'd check-see if there was any stuff to remove!

The lawn is looking more like an Arizonan 'yard' after the weird weather we've had this year!

P is for Penalty Shoot Out

It's funny, but 2018 has turned out to be the year of the footballer on Small Scale World, I don't think we even had the tag before January? But quite by chance they've kept coming, even after the deliberately queued mini-season in Jan'!

I picked this up today (Wednesday) as one of those odd things some charity shops carry from time to time; a corporate donation of over stock, end-of-line clearance or canceled-order stuff and £3.99 is near the retail price I'd imagine, I'd seen them a few days earlier, and they still have a few?

Desktop Distractions from Paladone Products it's been numbered PP3481, 707804 and - most recently - 134774, so has clearly 'done the rounds' of the retail world before ending-up in SCOPE (the mental health charity previously called MIND) the last numbering being added as a sticker over the previous codes and on the goal's stand?

Goal-keeper is hand-operated from a long stick which locates in his back so he would need a base (or a lump of Blue Tac - other proprietary blobs of squidginess are available) to be added to any cabinet/displayed collection! Sculpting is lacking in the facial features department, disappointing given the size, but it's a football game rather than a 'figure toy'?

The striker is a variation of the old rack toy one . . . one of which I think we saw here not that long ago, I seem to remember getting one the other month and shooting it? Try the Football tag!

Anyway, press his head and either a toothed rod running down inside his body activating a hidden cogged arc of plastic at the top of his thigh, or - as in this case - a simple off-set hinge/rod, similarly hidden, causes the foot to fly forward and kick the ball, a spring-return 'resetting' the figure for another go.

With a stretch you can play it with yourself! My 'berserker' needs to find some victims who are actually going to quake at his toothpick of a bayonet; recently he's been going-up against some much bigger opposition!

70mm and interestingly the packaging states it's manufactured from PET (Poly-ethyl[ene]-terephthalate) a polyester with similar properties to polypropylene, ie; it will take the punishment likely delivered from excited little handipuds trying to score goals - yer' typical executive in other words! I'll list it under PP to save having another tag; it's about type/properties and is only a guide!

Ghosts in the machine!

O is for Odds and Ends

Well, it seems we're having a second football mini-season this year, purely by accident or coincidence I can assure you, I thought I'd cleared the decks of footballers back in January, but then I regularly think that about insects, dinosaurs, fish, motocycles and various other perennials - which are all back in the queue!

This is from Terranova, who sent it after the January mini-season, so it started the follow-up folder! A printed card or plastic flat figure included in a goal-keeping/scoring game of the 'executive' toy or table-top game variety. It's almost a scale-up of one of the Yorkie Easter-egg premiums from Hasbro/Subbuteo we looked at a few years ago, or a variation of 'Blow football' wich tends to have two goalies and not much else.

Franklin also do a mini Table Tennis game. Cheers Brian!

These two came in recently as well, one possibly at PW, the other - I think - was in the lot which turned-up out of the blue from Jim, but they may both have been from Jim?

The one on the right is a cake decoration, there are several generations with or without balls, with or without textured bases of the swoppet type and with or without shirt-numbers, figures and/or bases being PVC, 'ethylene and/or polystyrene.

I will be looking at them fully after everything's out of storage as the master-collection of these is there! This one is obviously missing his base, but there'll be spares in storage, so I should have him back on his feet by September.

The other is a converted (loop removed!) key-ring, one of a set of maybe four poses, each pose however . . .

Old eBay shot

. . . seems to have been sold singly in multiples of 12! The Henry Ford school of team-picking, you can have any 11 players you like, plus a substitute, but they must all be the same!

As you can see the carded set has a reverse of the above guy - dribbling with the left foot-  in a blue/white strip  and I've also seen a guy striking with the right foot in red strip with a white ball.

Although - I say 'maybe four' because I've seen a better-sculpted figure striking with the left foot, slightly more anatomically correct and with a realistic and more-proportional head, so suspect the short fat ones are bootlegs of the taller, thinner ones (also key-rings) with both sets/series having two dribblers and two strikers, but that’s all conjecture and there could be more, or less!

I love the card too, a German man-child taking-out a British goalie (in a clown mask), with 'Footballers' in a Kellogg's font and 'Key Chain' in a Chinese take-away, shop-front font . . . it's SO rack-toy!

Shot taken after I'd edited to this point, a blow-football figure as mentioned above (which did come-in at PW), there are dozens-upon-dozens of variants in tin-plate, printed card, wood or plastic and I haven't the faintest where this chap's from, but if I had to guess I'd say Merit or Spears?

Below him are three of the also mentioned cake decorations (which should have been seen here in January?) next to the new one, they are all 'styrene (with polyethylene bases) against the PVC of the new one and have unpainted numbers as opposed to the blue-chap's lined-in number.

It looks like they may all have balls, but I'm pretty sure some striking and saving poses don't - we will return to them! Also I seem to recall some figures (sub-piracies) don't have numbers at all?

 

Four . . . Years . . . Later . . . !

. . . and Deadleaf Hairband 'Strongly Suspects' they might be key-rings! Bwaahaahaahaahaahaahaa! They are so funny; these PSTSM guys - we KNOW he follows this blog, but somehow he's having to guesstimate it all by his little old lonesome! It's just too funny.

G is for Gem-erations!

I know, one of me' worst titles ever! And I've 'ummed and 'arred about whether to actually do this post at all, or wait until the rest are out of storage, but it'll do for a primer, and there's more to come with these so they can be returned to.

On the left is the first version Gemodels (GeModels, Ge-Models - et al.) footballer cake decoration, he has the little spigot which was designed to take a small football (I've never seen one but they must be out there somewhere). Second from the right is - at first glance - the second version, which was produced without the ball-spike, whether the balls were still sold along-side them or not is open to question, maybe in the small 'set' packets?

The two red ones (type 4 below) appear to be UK-originating copies, perhaps for a board-game; I think a Soccerboss (possibly not/pre- Ariel's version) carried figurines looking like Gem's. These two are quite good copies, but lack the finesse or facial details of Gem originals.

Also while I say cake decoration, it seems from the Gemodels game (Cup-Tie) shown to the Plastic Warrior team that the spigots of version one may be relatively exclusive to that game (no sign of the ball though!), and the latter - spike-less - issue being for onward shipment to Culpitt and Co., and he has paint which suggests a cake decoration; the Cup-Tie figures were unpainted in four colours (red and blue teams, green and yellow goalies)

There were UK-looking copies of the spigoted type 1's as well, they aren't illustrated in this post but I have them in storage and will include them next time we look at these. Type 1's and 2's are quite hard to find, but 2∙1's are even harder!

As well as dropping the spigots, Gem tried over-moulding, and I'm calling them type 2∙1 (for this post; it's more complicated than the small sample we're studying today) and this is actually one of them, I have more in the storage lot so we will return to them for a closer look one day.

Mr. Musgrave was quite dismissive of his firms over-moulding efforts his the interview with PW, but in fact this is a solid piece, which has stood the test of time; I'm exerting quite a bit of [bending] pressure to try to show the join line in the above shots

In order to obtain the upper cavity (red-polymer shot) you can see how the old type 2 mould was broken-up and then reassembled, in the course of the arc-welding (or braising) of what must have been quite small pieces of steel (or bronze-alloy), the player's left hand has been moved-out/slid-accross at the wrist and the right arm now looks as if it was reset by a quack after a heavy-tackle.

That has then been joined or merged (Musgrave tells of both colours having to be simultaneously injected) with the simpler lower-cavity, here shot in white-plastic. However the clear mould line round the whole figure suggests a four-part tool, all very complicated for a 1-inch novelty figure.

Also one of the reasons given for trying over-moulding was to reduce painting, so the fact that the figure has had his collar and cuffs apparently factory-painted is a bit odd to say the least?

The commonest version in soft polyethylene plastic are the second figure from the left shown here, they are slightly smaller that the type 1 / 2's (with smaller bases to match), no doubt due to the 'destruction' of the type 1/2 mould tools in the over-moulding experiments, so quite easy to ID. Loss of both size and surface detail suggests they pantographed their own remaining type 1 / 2's!

Years ago I used to wonder if they were Hong Kong copies, as they remained alongside the real HK copies (third from the left - polystyrene giant) in the older baker's shops, although when I say alongside, some bakers would have one type, some; the other. Also they tended to be glossy, both in plastic type and paint, next to the earlier chalky, matt-painted variants.

Both the gloss paint and glossy polymer changes were down to Culpitt who handled most of this stuff and used a sub-contractor to manufacture and paint - much to Gem's chagrin as we learn in PW's publication - see below.

The three are here compared to a much smaller Hasbro era [brittle type] Subbuteo figure on the right.

But over the years; as the other colours came in, it became clear they were the same plastic as Gem's Pop Group figures or the skateboarders for instance, or late issues of some of the other cake decorations. In all three/four Gem types (and type 3 may have been issued by or catalogued under 'Festival' as well?) there are only the three poses;

Goalkeeper - standing ready*

Striker - kicking with left foot

Running/dribbling - right foot off the ground

* Paint black for referee, add white stick for World Cup referee!

Now, when you find (increasingly 'found') these in those older baker's shops, you will/would often discover the outlet had a whole bunch of the kicking and dribbling poses in say; red and blue or red and white (with contrasting shorts) with green, yellow or orange goalkeepers, but in fact, all colours/poses turn-up, so I'm guessing that elsewhere another shop would be sent green and orange players and red/blue (more probably all-white) goalkeepers?

This applies to the latter Culpitt years though, who were releasing both Gem and HK stock well into the 1990's, Gem themselves had a complicated issuing system, which is reproduced below.

Hong Kong's hard plastic ones (type 5 here) created another pose (b), achieved by varying the running guy (a); firmly placing both feet on the base, closer together. These can still be found around, but - sadly - less and less independent bakers exist, and of those who do, many are new businesses with little interest in stocking this stuff, some can still be found from on-line suppliers.

The 'type 6' is a second set of HK pirates, they are just as big, but skinnier overall and have lozenge or 'biscuit'-shaped bases. I only have the one here at the moment, but there is a bunch in storage, mostly the more conventional red/blue types, this one is a tad older maybe with his primrose-yellow strip! They sold alongside the British 3's and HK 5's.

In a 1979 Ge-Models pricelist shown in the PW Gemodels Special (ISBN 1 900898 32 2,  - and available from the editior at the above link) the sale of footballers (probably/likely type 3's) is broken down as follows -

Ft1A - Footballer (pose 1, plain – hair and flesh painted)

Ft1B - Footballer (pose 1, shorts or shirt painted)

Ft1C - Footballer (pose 1, stripped shirt)

Ft2A - Footballer (pose 2, plain – hair and flesh painted)

Ft2B - Footballer (pose 2, shorts or shirt painted)

Ft2C - Footballer (pose 2, stripped shirt)

Ft3 - Goalkeeper

Ft4 - Goalposts x2

FTT4A - 2 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost, (plain – hair and flesh painted)

FTT4B - 2 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost, (shorts or shirt painted)

FTT4C - 2 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost, (stripped Shirt)

FTT6A - 4 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost, (plain – hair and flesh painted)

FTT6B - 4 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost, (shorts or shirt painted)

FTT6C - 4 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost, (stripped Shirt)

FTT12A - 10 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost, (plain – hair and flesh painted)

FTT12B - 10 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost, (shorts or shirt painted)

FTT12C - 10 players, Goalkeeper and Goalpost, (stripped Shirt)

And orders were taken for individual team strips, I believe some of the four chaps in the goal-mouth's are from such orders - but they could as easily be home-paint conversions. I think the type 3 one on the right of the UK goal is the 'stripped shirt' variant, and as the chap below him has shorts in the same green-paint he may also be a factory 'shorts or shirt' job, top left of the four is a mess over-painted at a later date, lower left is a tatty standard or default paint.

To be fair, striped figures, or 'odd' colour-ways are uncommon, with most bakers seemingly taken what they were given (by Culpitt), which as you can tell is mostly 'hair and flesh' [and boots], with 'shorts' as common and 'shirts' rarer paintings.

While we're looking at painting, the 4th red, green and blue type 5's on the far right of each of  their respective rows are all stencil/sprayed against the commoner hand-painting of the rest. And the size of the HK copies is down to their having been copied from type 1/2's before the moulds were lost, to which you have to add deeper bases

Hong Kong play six-a-side on a very odd-looking pitch!

I was regularly buying type 3, these 5's or - occasionally - 6's in retail outlets until around 2010/12, but they are starting to dry-up as the older stores close-up. The HK ones are still findable, and another source for them is catering or kitchen suppliers/shops, although they are all slowly going-under, or on-line only!

We've lost three locally in the last few years (two in Basingrad and one in Aldershot - where I often picked-up stuff), and while a couple have opened in the same period (one in Basingrad the other in Woking), neither of them stock/ed this kind of thing and the Basingrad one has closed already. They did both have Christmas stuff including the Culpitt plug-together 'swoppet' Santa - a couple of Christmases ago though!

The 'Hong Kong' (see next paragraph) goals are really a bit shite, but once they have been anchored in royal icing, or oozed into cream or fondant they are stable enough to survive the whole cake-carrying-in-and-candle-blowing-out shenanigans, I suppose!

And - they only follow the Gemodels originals in not being very good at standing-up, although with the Gem originals it was down to a pair of very small bases! Indeed - the 'HK' goals may be UK-sourced - by Culpitt? They are a very crude moulding in a cheap, bendable polymer somewhere between polythene and polypropylene, and could have been located locally for just over or near cost-price? Perhaps from the same firm handling Gem's moulds for Culpitt?

None of my goals are marked, but then none of my type 2's or 3's are marked either, only the type 1's have the GEM ENGLAND 'post-mark' type moniker on the bases. However I may have some marked ones in the storage sample, I feel type 1's should/may have come with them? If I have; we'll see them next time

Heay - if you're on Subbuteo turf, you have to use a Subbuteo ball, that's the rules, that is! Ooof!

All late production of the sort Cupitt handled or carried with the exception of the Mary (who had a little lamb) figure which is an earlier transitional-piece in chalky plastic but with glossy paint. More of a size-guide than an attempt to prove the colour thing, if I wasn't sure of the origins of the type 3's there'd be more question marks in the text above - and there's quite a few anyway!

Previously seen but new layout; I've yet to see brown-plastic footballers, then neither have I seen red pop'sters, but their drum-kit is always red, so maybe that's why they didn't get red costumes from Gemodel's 'wardrobe'?

As far as size goes, with the footballers' there is quite a variation from the smallest (dribbling type 3) to the largest (Hong Kong goal keepers) giving a range of around 23mm to 28mm with the different bases.

T is for Toy Fair 2018 Reports - Paul Lamond - Subbuteo

I'm having a mojo-fail at the moment, March and October are never good months for me, the mind wanders, the extreme tides fulling me away from the flickering cod's eye of my laptop, to vastly better endeavours (I'll be working the rose thorn-tips out of my hands for a fortnight!), but there's plenty in the queue, so keep popping back . . . if you can be arsed - it'll all still be here in six months time!

One of the biggest new stories (for me, not the general public!) at the Toy Fair 'back in' January (where does the time go, it's our very-actual-bloody lives; tick-ticking away!) was the return of Subbuteo, which if I understood the sales-chap right is now in-house, or part of the intellectual-property portfolio of Paul Lamond, they having either bought the rights, or a long-term license?

Look for the sales display in your local stockist! It's green!

A nice display of what is already a growing range of teams, with seven strips already issued (last year?) including all the teams of the UK and Eire (actually - not sure about Wales while Curnow seems to have been left out!), backed up by accessories and larger 'starter' play-sets.

The main event is the International Playset which gives a pitch with hoardings, fences, two teams, goals, referee and officials, balls &etc - in a box. The only visible difference is that the goalies' beams are red now, rather than the green they used to be.

However, there are two other major changes over the older versions (which we have looked at once or twice here at Small Scale World), the first has to be a matter of opinion, in that they claim the pitch material is better . . . if it makes for faster ball play, those who liked a slow ball game won't find it better at all, and if it's slower . . . vise-versa!

The other upgrade one of those no-brainer, rocket-science, euraka!, why-didn't-someone-think-of-it- in-1950-something applications - which I can attest-to personally as being a major contribution to player-safety (he misquotes the old Goodyear TV add's) because - the players are now made of a flexible rubber, silicon or substitute-PVC compound, making them extremely flexible and almost impossible to damage if you drop them, drop something on them or tread on them - genius! I bent one (after invitation to do so - I hasten to add) pretty-much flat and he just popped-up again!

A smaller pitch-set or goals are also available to build your league slowly on a budget, there seems to be a choice of white or coloured nets, probably indicated on the box-ends, I didn't notice. Other accessories are currently limited to the fence-hoardings, a set of officials and spare balls, but I'm sure the range will be expanded if sales are promising.

The teams, notice the set; hair colour varies, ethnicity is obvious and varied. Another seven team-strips have been added for 2018, and if that rate is continued for a few years they'll be back to the 1970's heyday when you could order from several hundred different strips, and while I don't suppose it will get to that point, there's no reason why it couldn't be done with computer-aided manufacture (CAM).

Indeed, with a dedicated support website and CAM-linked ordering system you could stipulate the strip, boot, ethnicity and hair colours individually for all 11 players, just like buying a new-car (or 11 new cars) these days! Hint-hint Paul Lamond - find a VC who loved Subbuteo as a kid, they'll lend you the money!

All new for 2018 is the beginnings of a Spanish league, flicking goalies and a leaping goalie for penalty shoot-outs, whether there are any plans for an English player who can't hit the goal for toffee, remains to be seen and for the English goalie . . . Vaseline his hands?!

K is for Kickabout

From yesterdays sublime to today's frankly faintly ridiculous, but they all have a place in the small scale world!

First seen in the spring, the new in-house branding of Funworkz or Fun Workz as it is here has now featured three times in these pages I think? Aimed at kids it's really an executive 'desk toy' and as such; just the sort of thing we can give ourselves permission to buy - especially at a quid a pop! Mr Trump seems determined to end the world early, so enjoy what you can while you can . . .

. . . with a little kickabout on the desk or coffee table! The four traffic cones supplied with the set allow for a penalty shoot-out with a mate, offspring or partner, while a bit of chicanery is the solo opption. A bit of practice might allow for keepie-uppie using the player as a bat?

Having only recently qualified in CAD myself, I can tell you that this is all the money in the bag as far as development costs go, and it's a beautiful solution to the problem posed; wanting the black hexagons and white pentagons to be made out of the different two colours rather than painted on or hinted-at in the moulding (like old gum-ball or Subbuteo balls), it's basically an 'Iwako eraser' married to a jig-toy/puzzle!

While complicated to CAD-up, it's a simple exercise in geometry, but it would take a day or two (like that bloody Dalek's head!) to get right as you have to build it out of polygonal-cones, then work out which ones will be white, which black, the subtract or union the two groups into the main five final-sections, then deal with the unseen interior, cutting-up and awarding that space to the different sections and then work out how to hold them all together with the two plugs - I would have loved to watch this going through its development!

B is for Bladder-ball!

I posted these about 10 days ago and have tried to text them several times with little success, I managed to get the tag-list done about Monday and gave it a title last weekend, but each time I open 'edit' I look at these and get that sinking feeling; "Why did I ever start this?". Well, I know why I started blogging; to share what I know and hopefully learn a bit from visitors, but the thing is, I really don't like football, it does nothing for me and the overpaid Prima Donnas who partake at a professional level just annoy me.

Therefore, getting enthusiastic about something that leaves me quite cold is not going to happen, so little chat tonight, just the facts. I understand that some people love football, and if they want to add anything to the post via the comments, that might help the casual visitor...I don't hate football, I just never 'got it'!

Given away with Yorkie chocolate-bar branded Easter-eggs in the last few years; Hasbro's return to flats. The dates I bought them/that are displayed on the packaging are at odds with those on Peter Upton's site, I don't know why.

"Kar'm-on yoouu reh'heads...and...ah'ther kull'urs", the reds are arranged from earliest phenolic-based figures to late tampo-printed team-specific strips.

I can recognise some of them, the German National team particularly, as I always root for them when they play a UK team! What? I'm a stubbornly contrary near-professional iconoclast and half-German, it's begging to be done!

Goal keepers and throwers-in, various, ball handling for the use of, Mk's 1 - 4!

There, that's the players done, now go back and look at the pitch-side figures they're much more useful for crowd scenes, model railways and zombie war-gmaes, these figures kick a bladder about...Right! Sgt. Major - kicking a ball up and down the PITCH!

P is for People to Populate the Pitch-side, Photograph and Pander to Prima Donna Players

The real reason a 'toy soldier' collector starts collecting Subbuteo, is that a lot of the figures designed to add realism - as 'backgrownd' - around the pitch-side have use as civilians in war-games, or; because they are a hard styrene plastic - useful conversion fodder. So this post is a brief overview of the non-playing figures from Mr Adolf's little empire...

The first thing you need at a football match is a bunch of people to watch it! Strangely, given that they first appeared during the days of hooliganism so apply commented-on by the cartoonist Giles, throughout my childhood; these five poses included a woman, a rare visitor to the shores of 1970's football terraces!

Originally sold in little sets of ten factory painted (out-painted!) figures as five pairs, the second of each pair having a vaguely reversed or contrasting colour scheme. later they were issued as 50 unpainted castings (middle bottom). Top left shows the results of allowing Subbuteo fans to play with modelling paint!! Bottom left shows the slightly translucent plastic of late issues on the right of the two girls.

Photographers and film crews are a common sight at all sporting events and featured strongly in the Subbuteo world,with a set of Cameramen a mobile film crew with satellite links and a TV camera and a static TV camera on a scaffold tower with a reporter and monitor on the lower level.

The two TV sets would be combined into one set which I've illustrated bottom right. It should also be noted that the scaffold tower is similar if not a virtually identical scale-down to the larger model made by Mini-Models (bought by Rovex-Triang) for the Scalextric slot-racing system in 1:32.

It was the purchase of Scalextric that brought the Mini-Models Havent Plant to Tri-ang and so to all the links with Stadden-designed figures in a similar unpainted or matt paint, hard plastic, disc-based style going to Tri-ang, Hornby, Subbuteo, Omnia, Dinky, Waddington's, Almark and others. Stadden also designed the figures for Scalextric.

The St. John Ambulance organisation have traditionally provided first aid cover at football matches and they also star in the pitch-side accessory range. The first set seem to have been designed by Nibblett and bear an uncanny resemblance to the stretcher-teams in the Airfix first version German Infantry and Combat Group sets, the stretcher itself being almost identical. I will eventually post comparison pictures on both those listing on the Airfix Blog.

They were replaced with a chunkier set from the hand of Stadden, who - a few years later - produced a third version (green bases above) with standing holding folded stretcher and kneeling seeing to a casualty I haven't tracked down yet. The first and second versions came with two helmeted Policemen one pointing (also missing), when the last version came out a separate set of Police officers with a mounted officer and a motorcycle cop were introduced. this time the standing and pointing poses had flat peaked 'service' caps instead of the helmets.

The previously separate sets of ball-boys, photographers and Police were brought together in the Waddington's years and are shown with their packaging in the upper shot.

The middle picture shows various Stadden officials (referee and two linesmen) with a broken skinny replacement figure from the 'Zombie' years (keep up, you're supposed to have visited Peter Upton's site after the last post and have a grasp of all this!).

The lower image is of the bench staff who should be in the shelter below. This was the last version of this essential pitch-side populator, with the manager holding his head in his hands, it's clearly not going well for one team! They are sitting on a mid-period card team-box liner, watching their team-mate 'warm up'.

The rest of the bench staff sets; the first version (top left) was quite literally a bench and for years I thought these figures (for those 'years' placed in the unknown seated and drivers box) might be Hasegawa due to the similarity between the US troops in that manufacturer's American half-track kits and the blousing of the track-suit legs on these guys! Also I wonder if these first ones are not Stadden's designs? They also came with a figure of 'Ken Baily' the unofficial mascot of 'National Squad' games when I was a kid, differing from the one illustrated below, he was holding the rattle in the other hand.

Below them is the second version, with the later design of Ken Baily, and two Stadden designed substitutes. while to the right - above a colour variation shot - is the third version with a new rain-proof shelter and a combination of previously available poses, it also came with the substitutes in blue.

So - all we're missing now is players...