S is for Still a Question Mark!

When I started this Blog, I was happy to get 40-hits a day, within a few months I was expectant of 400-hits, and that was the case for another twelve/eighteen-months or so, since when it's steadily climbed to the point that excepting bot days (20,000-plus!), if I don't get 4000-hits a day, these days, I assume something as monumental as a Bank Holiday, Royal wedding or cup-final is occurring, or where are you all, and why aren't you reading my blog!

But, joking aside, it means there are many more loyal (and not so loyal) readers now, and many more here, than over on the Airfix Blog, which is more of a niche interest, even if these may end-up there one day, preferably ID'd, to which end, I'm going to ask this question again, in the hope we can get an answer! It has been asked in Plastic Warrior magazine too, a year or two ago now, but generated no replies if I recall correctly?

Who made these?

 

Copied from the Airfix HO/OO model kits, I think specifically the 25lbr, Quad and Limber kit, but two of the poses were shared with the Bren-gun Carrier and 6lbr. They are approximately 45mm, manufactured in a dense polyethylene, or - more likely - polypropylene, and must go with an artillery-gun toy, but Hong Kong, European die-cast, or, something else?

The painted one is probably a home-paint, done to match the Marx figures issued with the Power Mite truck (mentioned a while ago)? And they have integrally-moulded bases, not the glue-on's of the small-scale originals. The lower figure having been removed from his. When they were in PW there was the sitting gunner as well, but also on a base, and I think the whole-shell guy? I only have the empty-case guy, but that puts them as copied from the 25lbr, not the 6, as I've yet to find the standing guy in this guise?

 

25lbr, Quad and Limber

Holding shell

Holding empty-case

Pointing

Swagger-stick NCO

Seated at gun

Seated in Quad

 

 6lbr and Bren Carrier

Holding Shell

Pointing

Standing

Seated in Carrier

But, have you seen them in the packaging, do you know what they accompanied, can you put a maker's name, or brand-mark to them?

 

Because I've mentioned the Airfix Blog - I added a bunch of my own stuff to the early figures post a while ago, followed that up with some shots from Chris, and his own and donation figures, also a while ago, and have just found and added some more shots from Glenn in New Zealand, so there's lots more on that post/page;

https://airfixfigs.blogspot.com/2010/06/1949-1960-approximately-early-toy.html

I is for If I Have To!

Not really in the mood, so expect an intermittent service in January! In case anyone else hasn't noticed, the World's going to hell in a hand-cart, and there's no sword-based baby to save us. And who had Putler turning out to be the mere Mussolini to Trump's Hitler, on the card for 2026?

 

Happy New Year!

I know from my job, this was generally, a crap Christmas, the most telling sign of which, was that all the fairy-light shit and illuminated/inflated, technicolour bollocks in peoples front gardens (hey, you can do it tastefully, or you can do it as half-arsed shit, or OTT classless excess, most chose one of the latter two options!) had gone by the 5th. Last year many were up through the second week of Jan', and we weren't swamped, at work, like last year.

 

Anyway, plenty more to say, and I'll keep saying it; those who pretend it's not happening deserve everything that's coming, for never getting involved! Getting back into the saddle with a simple box-ticker, this is from the UPC scans folder, and follows-up, or follows-on from the previous posts on the subject - Monograms many copyists.

 

I was promised a load of stuff on the subject back when we looked at them on one of the other occasions, but I've heard nothing more, and suspect Covid may have changed those plans? We looked at them, in no particular order, here:

 

Revell/Roco-Minitanks - https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2019/07/m-is-for-monograms-many-mates.html

 

UPC (1st post!) - https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2010/05/u-is-for-universal-powermaster.html

 

Fujimi - https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2019/07/us-army-is-for-more-clones.html 

 

Model Power - https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2019/08/r-is-for-roco-as-rack-toys.html

 

Hong Kong's finest! Still needs a lot of work, but this was a reasonable primer! https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2016/08/m-is-for-monograms-men-made-much_10.html

 

You'll also find Past the Post and ABC, and others, on the Monogram Tag, but this is the UPC supporting stuff:

 

Box art from the HO set (3034), copied from Roco.

 

Rather dodgy early photocopy of the instruction sheet from the James Chase collection. 

Catalogue image, 1968/9.

From the same catalogue, the image (and box art?) for the "1:40"th set (5149), actually the same vaguely 1:35th of all the other versions which aren't reduced to HO/OO.

An instruction sheet I happen to have, and which may sort the question over some of my polystyrene samples, which seems to hint at an alternate box-art, closer to the Revell 'convoy ambush' artwork, of one of the larger sets. In fact, that's a clue as to Roco's being copies of Revell, as the Patton Figure was only in that large 4-kit set, he being the Sherman tank commander?!

 

That's it, just a box ticker!

F is for Follow-ups - Recent Bits

When Chris Smith sent his parcel a couple of months ago, I told him I'd seen another of those finger monsters, a day or so before, and then spent ages looking for it, real rabbit hole stuff, in the end I went through most of the near-thousand folders in Picasa, thinking I must have moved it by mistake (sometimes you pick something up, absentmindedly, on the cursor and dump it elsewhere, without even realising it, on the way to somewhere else!), only to find it the other day, in the short or 'this year' queue, in a possible post on an exhibition!

 

Definitely a forth sculpt/pose, and if the paint-chips are anything to go by (almost certainly home-painted), this one is yellow plastic, which reinforces my - still possibly false - memory of a brown one? And obviously some kind of Kaiju from the Godzilla or Ultraman franchises.

 

From two different show reports, the Reliable figures and probably Reliable side-by-side, the standing shooters look different, because the foot-plug on the older version is not fully pushed-home, but I lined them up, and they are almost identical, even down to the long, adjustable iron-sight, over the breach, so clearly they just added integral bases changing the tool from a two-part to a three-part mould.

 

And thanks to Anonymous for highlighting the link, in comments, I was using the Way Back Machine version of the now defunct Ponylope as a guide!

 

Also from recent posts; show reports and donations, we've seen three of these recently in two posts, the others earlier in the year, brought together, you can see the two sizes (bigger pair on the right), to which can be added the several base marks, which I previously highlighted.

 

When combined with the couple of dozen which have come in over the last three-or-so years (get-at'able in storage), it will give an even better picture. While the master collection, buried in the container, which also includes the big ones, when all the new ones are added to them, will be the basis of a much better overview, one day.

 

*     **********          *****          **********     *
 

In this post;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2025/02/t-is-for-two-roarsome-rack-toys.html

 

We saw a metallic dino'bird/pterosaur kind of thing, which bore little resemblance to the other four on the card-back, but separately, and also from BJ Toys, I've been picking these up at petrol stations, namely the Esso outlet at Tongham/Hog's Back, and Bordon's BP station!

 

Plant spider!

 

Reverse colours.

 

Balrog's horns on this one!

 

The trouble is, they seem to appear one or two at a time, in a large counter display carton on the bottom shelf of a dedicated/custom BJ Toys sales display unit, mixed-in with an assortiment of other novelties, so I don't know how may there are, or whether they all have reversed colour versions.

 

And if you think this link is tenuous, for a follow-up - I thought I'd already posted one! But they were in two folders, with the other not photographed, so I was happy to find the Dino-phoenix, looking for the non-posted dragon! The point being, I think they are from the same source, not BJ; in China?

 

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On the subject of ducks,

 

The two vintage British plastic foul, one from Peter and one from Chris (pretty sure I have another in pink, or a maroonish-purple somewhere), brought together with the TK Maxx crayon ducks and a generic CHINA-marked goose from a rack-toy bag/toob/tub, for scale.

 

Similar, but simplified toys from Sonsco of Hong Kong, again I have several of these in various colours, including a fluorescent pink one which is just as leery as the green one in this set!

 

And on GI's,

 

This set of re-issue ex-Marx figures, being a mix of different sets, has the chap, both Chris and me thought "looked like Marx?", middle-top, and, sure enough, he was a Marx sculpt!

 

But I'd totally forgotten that Chris sent me this shot ages (six years) ago, when discussing something else, probably wanting it to feature in a Question Time, so, to repeat the earlier question, we know the re-loader is a Marx pose, now, but can anyone give a maker/brand to this marbled maroon-brown chap, and B) does anyone know anything about the figure on the left?

T is for TAG

Which may or may not have stood for something longer like 'Toby and Garry' or 'Turner and Griswold' but nobody seems to know? The general acceptance being that it just refers to the tags they came with, but I feel it may be a chicken-and-egg conundrum, especially with the capitalisation of the TAG, on the tags!?

 

RAF Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps, Infantry (with a camouflaged beret!), and the Parachute Regiment, done in what is almost a Belgian (Durso) style, the same sculpt being used with different paint on the berets to represent several of the main protagonists of the British Army in the then, just finished, World War.

 

The reverse of the tags have a small thumbnail sketch or written vignette of the unit/figure represented. Their post-war issue being revealed in the text - 'served', and 'earned', in the past tense.

 

 

 

The officer corps were also represented, and here we see a standard Army officer, and RAF 'wallah' and their corresponding tags, the arms of the flyboy are uncomfortably wrong, in that the left arm should be slightly forwards, in time with the right foot.

Our Allies were also modelled, and here we see two GI's, and it's nice to see them in both 'white' and African American skin-tone paint-jobs, because we appreciated everyone who helped. Although without the tags, the black soldier may have been representing Brazil, who sent troops to the Italian campaign?

 

This seems to be a better rendition of an Infantry beret, but again, might be representing Canada or something like that, I don't know how large the series was, or how many nations were represented?
 

A comparison between the two shows a marked size discrepancy between the different mouldings, and is that a fledgling (at the time) UN flash on the GI's shoulder, maybe he's the Brazilian?

Ceremonial uniforms of both our own and allied armies, with a 'Highlander' (no specific regiment given) and a Cossack. I have one in another colourway somewhere (seen on the blog years ago) and have seen others, there may be as may as four different treatments of the decoration on this sculpt, even six - black, red, and white coats, with reverse versions?

 

A difficult subject, the Cossacks, as they fought in large numbers on both sides, mounted troops being very useful in winter snow, and for covering distance over the steppes in summer. Those fighting with us, were of Russian descent, those fighting agin' us, were fighting for Ukrainian Independence rather than in support of Nazism, while atrocities were committed by both sides.

 

The Women's Royal Army Corps weren't forgotten . . .

 

. . . and both the Monkeys and Snowdrops got a look-in!

Quality of finish varies, my Cossack is so tough or dense, and so smooth I thought he was resin, for years! While the figure on the left is a much rougher moulding, almost as lumpy as the worst examples of wood/linseed composition figures.

 

The first four again, showing the berets a bit better, the Para's is far too dark, as well as the odd Infantryman's two-tone headdress! Also showing the identical obverse of the tags through this sample, I don't know how many series' there were, or even if they ever got round to a Series 2?

 

     

L is for London Toy Soldier Show - 2 of 2

I must confess I didn't stay long at the show, and wasn't carrying much cash, but I bought a few bits off everyone I knew, and ended-up with enough for two posts of mostly interesting stuff!

 

I can't veer into 'new painted metal', but one should support one's mates in their endeavours, so I try to buy the odd piece off Matt from White Tower, and this lovely Mongol/Hunnish horse-archer came home with me, beautifully wrapped in tissue paper by Matt!

 

Three Reliable interwar 'doughboy' infantry from Canada, these used to be considered copies, but I think everyone now accepts they were a licensing deal, or cross-boarder mould-swap, as there's nothing in them bar the different marked bases.

 

Marx on the left, in the box, I believe he's called Bill Mason! Lido in the middle, the rider's lost most of his lasso, so I think the kindest thing to do, will be to pare-away the remnants, so he can concentrate on fighting the bucking bronco! An early kit figure, on the right, is the third American here!

 

Three from Eastern Europe, with two of the Drevopodnik figures from the former Czechoslovakia; a railway platform guard and a medic, while I think the third is what we call a fake, a deliberate attempt to deceive - I stand to be corrected, and he's marked Elastolin Germany.

 

But the material is all wrong, and I think this is an East German fake of something which, by then, was the other side of the wire? It looks to be a pumice type composition, not the correct wood-chip and linseed? If I'd been doing it, I would have stained the base with coffee before I painted the green on!

 

 

Obviously removed from a very big, probably mostly tin-plate jeep, this guy is a 'dolly' rubber, probably PVC, with a mostly-polystyrene gun, which had a glowing-tip at some point I suspect, there's the remains of wiring up the barrel (so also battery operated/supplied)?

 

And there's what appears to be the remains of a mechanism for traversing, probably as the jeep went along? The figure's roughly in the four-inch bracket, and his toes are pined-trough the plinth and the pins have then been heat-sealed.

A Starlux diver, bought to compare with the smaller ones, the Dinky one and the unpainted (Solido?) ones, he's the full 54mm, while I don't know the maker of the colonial soldier, but he's another French figure I think?

A Charbens press-ganger, LB (for Lik Be of course) Indian girl and one of Cherilea's Elizabethan types, an eclectic trio, but all nice enough samples, clean and with good paint!

 

Another trio of the Vilco copies of old Cofalu aluminium figures, except these are in a rather nice marbled red, hard polystyrene, so may be by someone else, I thought maybe Toumoulage, but without any evidence! I have a feeling, though, that I did get an ID for them in silver & bronze hard plastic at some point?

 

Whatever the truth, I have a growing sample of these now, in hard and soft plastic, painted and bare, and think they are among my favourite French figures, although only the four poses (the standing firer is missing here), so far?

 

A couple of Spanish bullfighters to finish, Reamsa I think, the one on the left is very brittle, and has been repaired and repainted at least twice, and is to be considered only a pose-sample, until a better one appears, and there may already be one in the stash?

W is for Wehrmachtsmodelle

Wiking, the company best known to railway-modellers as a manufacturer of HO vehicles, and now owned by Siku, began life before the Second World War, as a maker of a larger range of small-scale (1:1250) ships and vessels in a lead-based Zamac, these ships were used as recognition and training models by the German Army, and were joined by 1:200th aircraft models, a range to which, AFV models known as the Wehrmachtsmodelle line, were added, and that's what we are looking at here.

 

Sadly not in my collection, I shot these on Mercator Trading's table about six years ago, and the group shot is taken with a Britains limber (#1726) for scale. The sample would appear to a complete air-defence unit.

 

Heavy trucks, a command/control 'office body' vehicle and GS troop-carrier/ammo-truck, both variants of the Mercedes G3A I think, but that's off a quick Google, not personal depth of knowledge! The nearer one may be a Krupp L3H?

 

Opel 'Blitz' and a command car/utility vehicle.

 

Staff car and two of the guns, which I think are the WWI forerunner of the famous eighty-eight, the 8.8 cm Flak 16, also known as an "Acht-acht" by the Germans, which became anglicised as "Ack Ack".

 

Two Krupp Protze medium trucks in the passenger configuration, one towing the searchlight and the other a generator needed for the power to the searchlight, and the equipment in the command vehicles, lights in the tentage/shelters &etc. Not the best shots, but they are very, very small, and shots at shows are always hurried!

 

By 1936, these were being made in plastic (probably the same grey plastic as the WHW's we've seen here several times, I've suggested Siku as a source for them, maybe it was Wiking?), so these metal ones are quite early, and quite rare. Ironically, they would fit-in perfectly with the Skytrex range of my childhood!