L is for Lots of London Loot - One of a Few!

A fair bit of stuff has come in over the last few months, most from Peter Evans, some from the late Michael Hyde's estate, some of it donated, some of it paid for, but often not for much, and some bits which have got in there, but may be from other sources, because they all got shot in batches. So I'm just going to post it all as H is for's.... but as L's! With many thanks to Peter and thoughts for Mike and the Brother who survives him.

 

Useful bits and parts including most of an Airfix 88mm gun and tractor, but the obvious item of interest is the box at the top left, which is a further packaging of the teeny-tiny AFV models we've seen a few times now, such as here - as Empress.

 

Another box of bits, half of them Rocco Minitanks, the rest quite an eclectic collection of components, beebo's and oddments! The Rocco will prove perticularly useful, I have a large tub with most of the main range (the first 150-odd numbers), and many of them are missing the odd bit!

 

Unbranded, as a generic, the Hing Fat American revolution figures, not sure it all the poses are here, and for reasons of intrinsic idiocy, I photographed the majority of the poses present in the red, and only the remaining odds in the blue, when it would have been better to shoot them the other way! Another project which went on the back burner, but will be done one day is a page on/of the Bicorned/Tricorne forces from Marlborough to the French/Indian wars, and I can shoot the blues then!

 

A bag from The Toy Project, which I didn't open, but which had some useful bits in, astronauts from two sourses, a kitten and a puppy and a Corgi/Dinky (?) firefighter. The kitten looks like it might be from a board game?

A cereal premium Wellington, I only mentioned them the other day! And a blow-moulded bear, which was probably flocked once, and almost certainly a key ring, the use of the latter employment leading to the loss of the former coating!

 

The vatican guard from MM, one of the more eclectic sets of 'HO/OO' figures, and almost certainly from Mike's collection, he had got around to undercoating one-each of the three poses, the full set is covered by Dave over on PSR, from the style and material, I wouldn't be surprised to learn of a connection between these and Caesar Miniatures?

 

The Life-Like State Coach kit, it seems to be complete, so will get a making in the future, if only so it can be photographed 'whole', it's an old Miniature Masterpieces tool, a strange tie-in between the - then - nascent giant, Revell and the soon to fade Adam's Action Models. Thanks again to Peter for getting all this to the Blog.

R is for Roma in Resin

Another purchase, a while ago now, was these resin Romans also going un-bid, on a low start price which I snapped up, as I've so much resin now I've stopped resisting its inexorable advance into the tubs of polymer loveliness! I am resisting 3D prints instead; 10,000 sculpts in any scale you want? That way madness lies!

A Centurion, three Legionaries, a pair of Gladiators (two Murmillo/Thraex types I think), and three members of the Vatican Guard, who may be modern or historical, I'm not sure if they've worn the same uniform for ever or if it was re-introduced at some point for ceremonials? As a lot they reminded me of some of the stuff we saw courtesy of Brian B in this post, and clearly are of that ilk - tourist souvenirs.

The Centurion; nothing special and at around 45/50mm they won't fit that closely with many of the others in the Roman tub, although the thick bases will help lift them into the ranks. All manufactured in a rather pallid flesh-tone resin, and being not well made (like a lot of this tourist stuff), they have the look of the undead about them!

The Troops; and indeed a repaint would improve the lot of them considerably, the throwing-weapon shafts are steel wire, so the odd lengths (see first image) make no sense beyond a lack of duty of care in the manufacture, and the four ancient soldiers are marked on the front-edge of the base 'Roma', Italian for Rome, so obviously tourist keepsakes.

The Gladiators;, improved by A) apparently having a better/different sculptor who fed them properly, B) having all-over paint including the flesh and C), being irregulars! I like these two, and not having Rome on the base may have come from somewhere else, there are lots of visitable circus arenas', beyond the Coliseum? But one suspects they were all bought together!

The Vatican 'Swiss; or Papal Guard; they have a flag-stone pattern on their bases, no title (not enough room for 'Guardia Vaticana'!) and some odd-looking pole-arms which should be beefeater-type halberds, but are all three different, in two cases due to short-shotting; they are resin, not the metal of the Roman Infantry, and again, poor quality control is to blame.

Having picked them all to pieces (it's the nature of this rough resin), I still like them, the Vatican Guard are unusual, they all add to the whole, and they were cheap!

N is for Not Fontanini - Part Not The 7th - Rome Today

When he heard I was preparing articles that would cover the Carrara marble figures, Brian Berke kindly sent me these shots of a trip he took to Italy a while ago; they give a flavour of what's on offer now that Fontanini has bowed-out of the tourist-trap trade to concentrate on its US partner - Roman Inc. - and explore the East; where the fourth generation of the company are stated to be looking for new markets.

These are timeless and - in various guises - common if not universal, but they are fun! They just wouldn't 'represent' anywhere, even if they reminded you of a visit to somewhere. We had smaller versions when we were kids (a tiger and a zebra I think?), and I've blogged a modern soldier-guardsman here before.

I'm always looking out for the ones we had as kids, just to replace them for nostalgia reasons (as you occasionally see older ones on evilBay), but the trouble with them is that the day their string or fishing-line fails, the bits fly everywhere, and they never get put back together again!

Looks like a poured-resin Swiss Guard, and long-time followers of the blog will know I don't rate the stuff, I'll collect it, I’ll blog it, but it's a low-tech, cheap tech, which damages easily. At least this is or says 'Italy' or 'Rome', anywhere in the world you'll find a tropical fish fridge magnet with that town's name marker-penned into the plaque-space left for such labelling!

I don't get the very long drum sticks? Is it meant for overnight storage of rings and jewellery, or just poorly finished? Or is it some form of foreshortening caused by the angle of the photograph?

These are starting to look better, hard to tell if resin or white-metal is involved and the chap out of focus (front left) seems to be a different make (heavier sculpt, different base?), now does anyone recognise these? The distinctive hex-bases should be known to someone and I'd happily bring that masked, wolf's headed signifier back from a trip to Italy.

More Swiss Guards and Napoleonics from at least two makes, again; does anyone know who they are made by - I know Figur are still going, are some of these theirs? The two mounted Napoleonic figures look to be rather superb.

Meanwhile; Carrara now seem to be using aged or distressed copper-bronze casts, they could just as easily be white-metal or resin, but the verdigris looks like a chemical dip, not a painting technique? Still - it's rather nice isn't it; that chariot?

It seems to have found an excuse to take the Thomas Toys charioteer's sculpt forward for another decade or two as well! Although scaled-up and just out of shot is what appears to be another scale-up; of an old Atlantic Greek! But might be something else entirely and more 'Roman' - a sword and a foot's not much to go on!

Can anything be added to this!

I think a caption competition - just for fun; put your lines in the comments, I'm going with the Danny De Vito lookalike saying . . .

"Are you representing the Army of the State of Rome, or are you representing the state of the army of Rome?"

. . . but at the back of my mind I can hear Waynetta Slob yelling "I AM HAVIN' A FAG!"

They look like they are recovering from a fight - with each-other! Thanks Brian, four interesting toy photographs giving us some idea of current tourist mementos where once Fontanini featured heavily - and one priceless shot.