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!

E is for Extra Tin-Plate Post

Brian B sent me a shot of his - probably - Shilling tree-hangers, so I went-off and found a cheap MC and sidecar to make a post! It's a little one, but perfectly formed!

Lovely colours; a deep lemon-yellow and a rich tangerine orange, with sky-blue highlights. The motorcycle has a series of thin plates running round and covering the main seam to prevent nasty cuts, as does the passenger, and the sidecar is on the right-hand side for those who have adopted the Napoleonic rule of the road - sword to sword, 'cos the Europeans are always fighting!

As per his comment on one of the recent posts here are Brian's TX507 (Bus), TX513 (Loco) & TX514 (Tram), using the Hawkin-Tobar catalogue codes, I don't know if they extend to Roggaz's ^Z_Z or Schilling, but they are the same tools, same for-Germany marks and same paint-schemes. Note the eclectic stuff around them and the now finished STS Direct impish cyclopean!

C is for Confused!

Right I'm confused, I'm sure the image I posted a while back was from Andy B, I'm sure Chris Smith sent me stuff on the same subject, which may have included a catalogue and I'm sure I found a catalogue the other day as stuff was going to storage, but that's as far as my being 'sure' about anything goes . . . it's been a difficult year!

I have these four images, which are not titled in a way I would have titled them, so they must have been eMailed to me, probably by Andy B? But they could have come from Chris with the written stuff, or did Chris send me a catalogue and was it the one I found the other day meaning there may be another Hawkin's Bazaar shop catalogue somewhere?

 

I think it's easier to thank both Chris and Andy again, for all they did on Tobar/Hawkin's Bazaar, or as here Hawkin - Tobar (no apostrophe-'s', no Bazaar), and get the images up before my head explodes.

 

Cover

Showing mostly the larger stuff

 

The motorcycles are actually quite big, so having said earleir I would look out for them; I probably won't! All 'China' and I rather like the Romano-Crusader and I'll have to look for the drummer instead of the 'bikes!

 

Space stuff, some of these are 'full sized' replica's of yesteryear's toys, I rather like the two small robots though, 80mm's is not that big?

 

A couple of Japanese made modern toys (but not Modern Toys), and the marked ^Z_Z tree decorations, I must have cropped the top right image out for context last time and meant to do these later, but at the time? [Yes - he adds, ten minutes later - I meta-tagged all the model numbers for the core tree-decoration range last time!]

 

I should probably try to locate the water pump (farm) and there is a smaller motorcycle and side car, but then I said I'd look out for it didn't I . . . heehee!!

 

Andy, Chris - thanks guys, I'm sure you realise by now I'm a flaky, disorganised amateur, but we're getting there, with your help!

T is for Two, no Three - Tinplate Toys!

One of the things which leads stuff to languish in the long queue for years is an annoying habit I have of getting the photos done, maybe even doing any collages or touch-ups, perhaps even starting the text, then thinking "Hold on, I really need x to make the post", going off to feebleBay, finding it's only available as a ten day auction and waiting for it to finish, by which time I've lost interest in the post, or finding it's not there at all and putting the whole thing on the back burner with a vague mental note to get one/some at some point!

Another reason, is that I imagine if I post it before I've located the 'missing element', y'all will rush off and find it first, so better to not raise it with you until I've got whatever it is first!

I say that only because when I posted the tinplate the other day, that's exactly what I nearly did, but in the end I published despite leaving bids on two items which would have made that a better post, and which you might have gone to look for after I published, which fortunately you didn't, despite Andy B mentioning one of them specifically in the comments to that post! Phew!

So, I managed to get both without counter-bids, leaving a T is for Two as the obvious direction to go in. And the first was this lovely inter-war (?) piece of generic WWI limber.

I say generic, it's more a French helmet than a US or British one, however the dark-on-light grey of the cart's camouflage is more a Wehrmacht thing, but then it's been buggered-about-with, the horses are pulled tight to the limber and a bit squashed at the rear-ends by replacement wire traces, so I don't know how original it is, and it's missing a crewman, but if it was pucker it would be 100-&-something quid or Euro's or dollars, or whatever and well outside my budget! But it will look the part on a little shelf somewhere!

The other item I literally went and bid-on half-way through editing the post two weeks ago was the missing Roggaz/^Z_Z-marked military piece from Schilling/Tobar; the ceremonial sentry box with a slightly Prussian or Austro-Hungarian bent, as mentioned by Andy! Luckily no one else from the loyal readership went to look for one, or if they did they didn't bid and I got it for the opener! isn't it lovely? It's lost it's tree-hanger, but is otherwise pretty minty.

Then, a week ago I managed to find this at an otherwise very quiet Sandown Park show, which rather threw the T is for Two trope under a bus! It's a relatively common French 'penny toy' in the metallic 'spirit paint' finish such toys often came in, and again is probably a between-the-wars thing.

The boots and jacket should be gold'ish and blue respectively, but have suffered from degradation leaving little 'liver spots' under the varnish and fading the colours, but the red has held up well, and I'd photographed a better one on Mercator Trading's stall a few years ago (for the Tin Plate Page, if I ever get it finished!), so we will see a better one here at some point!

The two horses with the limber are marked 'MADE IN GERMANY' from where a lot of the early tin-plate came from (Schuco, Bub, Tipp, Carrette, Distler, Märklin et al.), which is why the Roggaz goes with its misleading ^Z_Z GERMANY ©, which can mean Roggaz from Germany's ^Z_Z brand, copyrighted to Schilling or some Chinese firm, or not at all!

Something Schilling would have been happy with, expressly for that 'Germany' provenance, whether they were instrumental in the operation at the start or bought-in after Ingo Roggaz had instigated the line!

So, three new pieces of tin-plate! You'll observe from the previous collage, I cleaned the limber after I'd taken all the other pictures! I wasn't just watching it Andy! And I will get the motorcycle and sidecar when I see a cheap one . . . for another day!

I've also found scans I'd taken, of the other catalogue, which I'll post shortly, or between now'ish and midnight, I must go and cook something!

ZZ is for Hawkin's Bazzar, Ingo Roggaz, Schilling and/or Tobar!

We've looked at them before, Hawkin's have gone under for a final time since Chris supplied his potted-history and the connection with Schilling was proven at a toy fair, but there was one item I really wanted, and another I quite fancied from the tinplate range, and both have been secured since January, so that's what we're looking at here!

The best! Only because I can't really afford those beautiful old French or German ones when they come up occasionally! Vaguely Prussian or Austrian (even Italian or French) cavalryman of that 'colonial' period 1840-1914 so beloved of figure painters (and print artists) for the colours of the splendor of often quite OTT uniforms, many - well 'a few' - of which survive, simplified, as ceremonial uniforms to this day.

The reigns serving as the gilded tree-hanger, and the whole being three sheets of die-cut tin-plate, pressed to shape and assembled with bent ears/tabs in the traditional way.

My line-up now looks like this, with the fictional Vomag (Vogtland Maschinenfabrik AG, actually subsumed under communism and surviving as IFA - Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau) fire-wagon/ladder-truck as the other 'newbie'.

When we looked at these last time I marked some up as not by Hawkin's or Tobar, as they weren't in the catalogues to hand, but they all seem common enough here in the UK for an assumption that all three importers (Schilling [USA], Tobar [UK] and ^Z_Z /Roggaz [BRD]) carried the full range in one catalogue or another, one year or another.

Really a generic fire fighting vehicle with lines that are more American (showing the input Schilling had from the beginning of this ^Z_Z-branded line?) than anything else, the overly complicated bar the ladder is fixed to obviously doubling as pipe-work for interest/external detailing.

Couple more shots of the additions, the ^Z_Z mark being something I've never managed to do justice to within the font limitations of Word-for-Windows! And Dinky's Centurion again shows how small these little tree-hangers are.

There must be loads in people's attics, cellars, sheds and under-stair cupboards, coming out every year and going back on the tree? And they are perfect to take off the tree as presents for sudden, little visitors . . . my late mother always had a few spare bags of chocolate-coins hidden in the center of the tree - on the fat-ends of the branches - for little people to search for, something she was still doing two years ago when the new neighbours brought round their daughter, and a tradition I will continue when I get to wherever I'm going-to.

F is for Follow-up - Tobar / Hawkins Bazaar (Schylling / ZZ)

Well, that was quick! My inbox was full of useful stuff on Monday-gone, with Andy B and Chris Smith both adding to the weeked's post on ZZ and it's origins, but from the UK angle, with more on the back story of Tobar and Hawkin's Bazaar from Chris and a catalogue scan from Andy.

First the potted history from Chris, who has seen four members of his family work there; almost in his own words [he sent the following as a more personalised narrative, I've removed the personal bits]

●●●●●     ●     ●●●●●     ●     ●●●●●

Hawkin's Bazaar got its name from the old “Hawk Inn” public house in Halesworth, Suffolk which was used as one of the early company premises. Named by the company's founder Sid Templer, Tobar was similarly named after his two son’s TOby and BARnaby.

They then seem to have moved to a farm in the village of Ilketshall St. Margaret. At that time everything was still ordered via catalogue which came as a Sunday supplement with newspapers etc. With the rise of the Internet they went on-line, success outgrew that site and they built a new site on the Ellough Airfield industrial estate near Beccles.

The Templer family sold the business after that (Toby seems to have done okay for himself; he bought a country house; Cockfield Hall, near Yoxford). The new owners moved operations to an industrial unit on Eye airfield.

●●●●●     ●     ●●●●●     ●     ●●●●●

To which I can add that Hawkin's became a retail-shop arm, while Tobar developed into the feeder for Hawkin's shops, and - presumably - continuing with the mail-order side for a while?

Possibly about the time of the takeover mentioned above, there was a major expansion in the retail stores and suddenly (mid-1990's or slightly later?) they seemed to be in every high street, every shopping centre, precinct or mall, however they had over-stretched and there was a crisis - not that long ago - mentioned here in an early News, Views . . . , which resulted in a cutting-back of store numbers; they have survived, I visit the Basingrad store regularly, looking for stuff to buy so you don't have to - Iwako plug-together erasersaurs, stretchy aliens, jigglers, sub-sub-sub piracies of Blue Box 'Home Farm' sets!

I have a feeling that Hawkin's may have been sold to one of these corporate investment-management-asset stripper type concerns though, so may not actually be connected to Tobar directly anymore?

Meanwhile Tobar expanded the wholesale arm of the business/group, appearing in Army & Navy (before their demise) at Christmas-time (the ZZ tin-plate and both wooden and plastic toys), the links with Schylling and (through them?) ZZ and Supreme, and more recent supply to independent hardware / general-goods stores (like our own Izzy's here in Fleet), indeed, they may have contributed to Hawkin's troubles, by multiplying - too successfully - the number of outlets for their own products!

●●●●●     ●     ●●●●●     ●     ●●●●●

Having mentioned ZZ, and the tree-hangers marked-up to Ingo Roggaz's ZZ, but probably direct from the Chinese factory (maybe via Schylling), Andy B sent this at the same time as Chris's anecdotes were coming-across;

Which is an old catalogue scan, from a 1990's Hawkin's Bazaar cataloge. Points of interest are that A) it backs-up my "...and possibly/probably Tobar and/or Hawkin's Bazaar (in the UK)" from the other day (I was sure I'd seen them in A&N, but got mine from JB years later), B) presciently predicts the eBayer who's auction we looked at in passing with it's "We know that soon they will be passed off as being very much older than they are." and C) fills a gap in the ZZ listing!

Although, only the one car. While the numbering doesn't equate to the 10 of the ZZ zeppelin and the larger/smaller delineation will have to go; they are all really dinky. The changes will take the ZZ listing to;

Tin-Plate Christmas Tree Hangers (1990's, also carried by Schilling in the US, who work with the UK's Tobar, where they carried 10 in Hawking's Bazzar catalogues)

'Series 1' (probably numbered 1-12+ on boxes/packaging, Chinese (?) re-issues of old Japanese (?) or German penny-toy designs)

10 - Airship 'Graf Zeppelin'

? - 19^thC Steam Locomotive 'Nurnburg-Furth'

? - 20^thC Steam Locomotive 'DB 1571 Express'

? - Bi-plane ('31' with German WWI balkankreutzen)

? - Car (2-seat sports-saloon)

? - Fire Engine Ladder Truck 'Falke 13' ('Vomag 13' with Tobar/HB version)

? - Flying Boat / Sea-plane 'Dornier 18 / DO 18'

? - Horse-Tram / Railcar 'Pferde Bahn 15 Altona St Paula' (no horses)

? - Military Cavalry Rider on Horse (not carried by Tobar/HB)

? - Monoplane (not carried by Tobar/HB)

? - Motorcycle and Sidecar 'Sport'

? - Omnibus '103 Nivia-Puder'

There is also D) the very interesting phraseology; "German design & control", the message (also backing-up my previous assumptions) being - made in China! While the note about safety-loopholes in equally interesting because they highlight the 'loophole', but in language which suggests they want you to order them as playthings, not decorations!

●●●●●     ●     ●●●●●     ●     ●●●●●

Thank you so much, Andy and Chris, it's nice to confirm a few points and it's fascinating to learn more about these jobbing novelty import guys, there were/are so many of them and most are still quite mysterious.

For instance I didn't discover Marshall's until weeks after they went under, and while I downloaded the catalogues, they were poor-resolution .pdf's I only occasionally throw in the mix as screen-caps!

Another one which seems to have disappeared now was Studio Gifts who were still quite big in the early 2000's but their business model (if I recall correctly) was more like Christmas hampers, WH Smith / Doubleday book clubs or old 'catalogues'; you ordered the stuff as a member and paid installments on the never-never, the monthly-due being adjusted to reflect subsequent purchases . . . what happened to them, can anyone fill-us-in?

ZZ is for Whatever You Want to Believe!

But belief is the realm of the religious zealot, or the tabloid-reader of limited mental-faculties, not the empirical researcher.

A funny thing happened recently, or, at least; I think it's funny, but then I seem to have a lot of amusing enemies at the moment, enemies and critics, or critics equating to enemies (or 'emies' as TJF calls his!), so when they advertise their own idiocy, it amuses me, if it doesn't amuse you, read no further and I'll try to post some toys later.

Back at the beginning of August 2016 I published the results of much digging by several people on the subject of cheapo-knockoff plastic figures, farm & zoo animal rack-toys and tin-plate tree-hangers by Ingo Roggatz's ^Z_Z-branding here, yet recently Hildabreath Dildobrand (side-taking, self-identifying, associate of the PSTSM, so 'fair game') has been informing people (as fact) that the brand actually pertains to George Zimmermann's ZZ-branded metal fabricator's in Zirndof, Germany - this is a falsehood.

Firstly because '^Z_Z' the rack-toy importer started after 'ZZ' the German household goods manufacturer ceased trading and second because 'ZZ' the German household goods importer has been associated with few toys or playthings, there being a reference to their tin-plate 'piggy-banks' and a single example in the local museum (above link) of a toy truck, around 1:24th/25th (or larger) which is a huge chunk of beach/garden/sand-pit plaything composed of tin-plate, rubber and die-cast parts, showing its age, not a shiny, minty, 1990's, small tree-hanger of the sort imported by '^Z_Z' the rack-toy importer!

Now, this is not me being a 'clever-dick' (as someone calling herself 'Pardeilhan' would have you believe), this is my putting the record straight before more damage is done to the hobby by that group of loudmouthed, gobshite, blowhards centred on TJF and the Penn State Toy Soldier Mafia and their various AFD associates, idiot affiliates and Vichy hangers-on.

Witness the fact that some people are still using DGN in feebleBay listings as a brand-mark, despite the fact it is now appearing on other toys, by other brands, for its true purpose; to denote the English word 'design' as an abbreviation.

It should be noted that while the above illustrated dealer has tried to ride the coat-tails of 'vintage' tin-plate, he knows he's pulling a fast-one, hence the £3.50p start price, and the single bid was either speculative or made by someone who wasn't taken-in! £6.75p - with postage? . . . bargain; but only a small one!

Source:

https://www.zirndorf.de/Die-Metallwarenfabrik-Georg-Zimmermann-100-Jahre-Zirndorfer-Industriegeschichte.o4167.html

The dates may refer to a temporary exhibition, but there seems to be a permanent display (or collection) at the museum as well?

Text reads:

"Founded in 1880 by Georg Zimmermann sheet metal processing company employed in the year of the city survey 1912 over 700 employees. Today only a few things are reminiscent of the once flourishing metal goods factory Georg Zimmermann, which exported to the whole world. The company founder, who was awarded the title of "Kommerzienrat" because of his pronounced social commitment, was given a street. The former family villa on Nürnbergerstraße is still standing today. Behind it was the large factory area with an imposing main building and numerous workshops, sheds and other attachments. In the exhibition you can still admire them on old photos. To trace the former importance of the company, the museum team has spared no effort in recent months to reconstruct the wide range of Zimmermann products. Some came from far away by mail, others were carried by Zirndorf citizens and former employees into the museum. In addition to metal and celluloid mirrors adapted to the respective zeitgeist, smoking sets, picture frames, housewares, gift items and children's money boxes made of sheet metal, the broad assortment. Because they were usually cheap commodities, their lasting preservation was given little meaning. All the more we smile today about the shiny table accessories and household goods of bygone days, some of which are now quite in the status of an antique ascended. Since over the decades a comprehensive modernization of the company and the product range did not occur, the company, which was run in third generation, ceased operations in 1972. This ended a large chapter Zirndorfer industrial history. In 1990, all buildings were demolished and the whole area with a supermarket and parking built."

The upshot being; the factory Mr. Bildaburg Beiderbecke wants us to believe imported plastic shite from Hong Kong into the 1980's and carried the same tin-plate tree-hangers as Schilling through the 1990's, actually ceased trading in 1972, and seems to have made few toys, and then only larger ones; manufacturing them, not importing them?

Meanwhile - and well within a year of Zimmermann's demise - Herr. Ingo Roggatz was registering a ZZ trade-mark (after all: one had just been 'freed-up') with the German authorities responsible for such things . Now the fact that he would select a moniker rendered as a cipher, similar to one recently defunct, would add weight to the theory that the Rissen Farm and Riesen Zoo logos were deliberately similar to Stock chocolate's brand marks . . . what we have here is a consummate entrepreneur, exploiting the visual power of brand-recognition! And . . . as far as listings go; ZZ is second best to AAArdvark; one tends to look at both ends of a list first!

Nice try Deadleaf Hairbrand, but no banana! The red triangle is an old Victorian/Edwardian shipping-trope signifying 'quality' as Nabisco used to tell us on their cereal packets . . . every cereal packet! I think it goes back to old dock-side or Customs/Revenue stamps on imports (or exports?), but I haven't studied the origins, maybe they painted a corner of the crate to show it had been checked or passed or something?

We shall return to the ^Z_Z (not ZZ) tin-plate when I find my three in the garage . . . which - according to my notes - may only be two, after-all! I found them! There are only the two, and you can see from the 'Berserker' that they are actually very small, 1990's Tree-hangers!

Carried by Ingo Roggatz's ^Z_Z (in Europe), Schilling (in the USA) and possibly/probably Tobar and/or Hawkin's Bazaar (in the UK), not Zimmermann, who further; definitely, never handled the plastic tat from Hong Kong!

And while these state 'Germany' it is cleverly positioned before the ©-sign, the ©-sign being positioned alone, meaning nothing (officially), the whole basically saying whatever a lawyer might need it to say at some point in the future! This is modern Hong Kong-Chinese production for Herr. Roggatz.

ZZ is for A-Z

Just a quick one, mid-1970's, Germany via Hong Kong, although also handled in the USA (as this set was). Posted here to announce that the ZZ entry in the A-Z has been posted, if anyone can answer the call for more information or product listings, which would be nice. Or help get the animals and their coded-bags twinned.

Two scale-up's of the Britains zoo-keepers, to feed the mostly Elastolin animal knock-offs in 70mm.

Z is for err.... ZZ!

An unknown maker, or at least; we know it because it marked all its stuff with a very distinctive logo, but it's unidentified, in that we don't know the whole name of the company, or whether or not it's extant like Blue Box, or gone for good like Lucky Toys?

A year ago I still thought they might be an East German outfit, as they were always turning-up in Germany, and seemed to have a Soviet-bloc 'quality' to them - i.e. better than Hong Kong, but not up to the mark of West European toy finishing.

The distinctive logo being two letter 'Z's superimposed on each other, which I put up here a while ago, the serif is a bit lumpier than I CAD'ed, but the basic idea is there. Sadly there was no feedback that time, maybe these will trip a memory or two...

These are some semi-swopett Indians I photographed on Adrian's stall a while ago, they are around 70mm, and I say 'semi-swopett' as they only have a swivel waist and plug-in bases, or the foot figures do, the mounted figure doesn't even get a base. The figures are copies of the Elastolin swopetts, which were more articulated, with separate weapons etc...

They also copied the cowboys (see the Figuren Magazine link at end), and I suspect knights? I've also read/heard somewhere that VEB Plaho might have been similarly plagiarised by ZZ, but have seen no evidence?

Some close-ups of markings and some more shots of the figures, you wouldn't know the mounted figure was a ZZ if it wasn't found in situ with the foot figures. Equally; if you find foot figures without a mounted figure, there's nothing to indicate that they are from Hong Kong!

In addition they made farm and zoo animals taken from Britains' 1:32 scale range and Elastolin's 1:25 scale range, along with some unique designs (see also the STS link at end). I suspect from the logo's on the cards that they were premiums for the chocolate brand; Riesen [Giant, Colossal], but due to the size of each carded bag, possibly a mail-away, or token-save exercise to be exchanged at the retail outlets counter? If not; they were definitely trying to link themselves to the - rather lovely - chocolate-coated toffees. However, they were also distributed in the USA by R. Dakin and Co., San Francisco...claiming to be a product of West Germany? And Skyline of Milwaukee "Made and hand-painted in W. Germany"

I also have two (or three?) small tin-plate toys with the mark on, basically either copies or modern designs of old penny-toys, one is an airship, the other a WWI type 'plane and there may have been a third, but I might have let it go as being well outside the collections range (interactive toy? clicking frog? something like that), but they are in storage so we'll have to look at them another time, the thing about them though, is that they seemed brand-new about 6 years ago, and it's very hard to fake newness with tin-plate, you can fake age, but that shiny, mint paint is err...shiny and 'mint'! So they may well still be manufacturing, now 'Chinese' not Hong Kong per se, but Google's no help.

Couple of Links

German language Figures Journal page - the 54mm mounted Indian with base and bag of Cowboys near the bottom of the page are probably not ZZ originals, they're more common Hong Kong 'generic' figures.

Riesen Zoo and Riesen Farm on STS Forum

Can anybody add anything to what's been found on the two links? It may well be that they ARE a German company, copying animals from closer at home, while buying-in the Cowboys & Indians, and sourcing the tin-plate from a third company? But then why the ZZ logo on the HK bases? I think they've got to be HK and the Dakin packs were (deliberately?) misleading...help!

News, Views Etc...All Sorts

Since I've been diagnosed with Asperger's I am able to be both more critical of myself and more self-depreciating...while remaining arrogantly self-assured underneath!

One of my foibles is....I like order...and it was my intention to continue with the Hong Kong small scales until I'd finished the British from Britains and Crescent sculpts, then after a week or so - once everyone had seen them - was going to use the new time-of-posting change feature to stack them up in reverse order so 'Type 1' was at the top of the page with the others in numerical order below them! In the past I would have loaded them in the right order and published them all at once!

However the need to pop a panicked message up here last night re. the hacking of my eMail means that that plan is now untidy, it's not going to look right (in my head - you can only ever see one or two posts on the screen!), so I will publish a few other thing that are stuck in the queue, and return to HK Brits next week or so after I've taken a few more photographs. Having mentioned Giant at the end of the last post I know a few of the incurables will be twitching, but they'll just have to sit on their proverbial for a day or few!

In the meantime there are a few bits and bobs to clear so we'll have a quick News,Views etc...



One Inch Warrior Magazine

Paul Morehead at Plastic Warrior dropped me a line the other day pointing out that there are still a few back issues of the old small scale sister magazine; 1W.

Limited numbers of issues 3-11 are still to be had of what was (and remains) the only magazine dedicated to small scale figures. This author contributed a certain amount to the publication and I have published an index for it on here somewhere.

Anyone looking to fill their missing numbers should eMail Paul directly at; pw.editor@ntlworld.com



Plastic Warrior Magazine

I also popped round to see Paul the other day and drop off the Doctor Who kit figures I'd grabbed for him and mentioned the website wasn't working before Christmas and he pointed out it was a temporary measure in the Autumn and is now up and running again, but will eventually be dropped in favour of the combined new Facebook/Blogger platforms.

I've checked it and it is up and running again! Link is to the top right of this page.



Horrible Histories

Paul also mentioned that Peter Evans (PW's roving reporter) had dropped into the UK Toy Fair in January (I used to go and aught to start doing so again?!!) where he had seen the second tranche of HH blind Bag figures, these were said to be due to have an April release date I believe.

Yet I also believe it won't happen - The entire range was heavily discounted in the run-up to Christmas as I reported at the time in my attempts to track down the last few figures. And they were HEAVILY discounted - sets that were previously around 12-odd quid were going for £3 in Toys'R'Us as well as the Entertainer chain, while on-line everybody - including the traders on Amazon - was shifting all sets and figures for next to nothing.

Now it may be that the profit target had been met and they just wanted to clear the selves, but they were discounting the core and starter-sets as well, so I think it was 'claerance'. Equally, while they may have taken them to the show for real, I suspect it had more to do with saving face (they won an award at a previous Toy Fair) or because they had designed the stands and had nothing else to fill the gaps?

I hope they do appear; as you know, I've done what I can to promote them, they are a lovely bunch of figures, but I've heard nothing from the PR company since the late summer of last year and there's nothing happened on the website for the longest time?

What it does mean is that the new figures have been down the production line of some vast factory in China and - even if they don't see the light of day under the current marketer - will turn-up as clearance somewhere in the next two or three years for sure...lorry-loads of them.



Help Needed - I

Can anyone help identify/put a name to this company, it's a Hong Kong producer, copying German and Italian figures, tin-plate toys and animals.

Shown is my vague attempt at the logo litho-printed (tin-plate) or raised (plastic) on the toys/items produced by them...

Star Wars Names

This was passing round Facebook the other day....take the first three letters of you last name [Wal]ter and add the first two letters of your first name [Hu]gh to get your Star Wars first name.

Then take the first two letters of your mothers maiden name [Ha]ll and add the first three letters of the town or city where you were born [Ald]ershot to get you Star wars second name.

Walhu Haald is mine, what's yours?



Some Links of Interest

Jean Pierre Seguin This is a bit old hat now, and while some of the previous artists we've seen have used their imagination, this guy seems to have jumped on the bandwagon with a pixellation programme in tow...or am I being unkind?

Sd.Kfz. 8/DB 10 Rare as rocking-horse shit armoured half-track recovery and restoration.

Haribo - again! Where will the stupidity end!!



New Pages

The pages I've added so far have been up for a while now and had a few hundred hits each but little feedback - I take that as a good sign! If anybody would like me to produce other pages let me know and I will see what I can do, likewise corrections or additions are welcome and will be credidted.

Pages coming soon include; Gauge/Ratio/Scale/Size, Polymers, Other Materials, Manufacturing Terminology, Marks and Markings, Abbreviations and a 'general glossary', can anyone suggest other subjects they might like to see?



Help Needed II

Can anyone identify these....I know they were early premiums in - probably - breakfast cereal over here (UK) and always assumed they were Siku mouldings, but now I'm not so sure, can anyone tell us who made/supplied them and where else/with what else they were given away...margarine? Soap powder? There were wild animals as well and domestic/woodland types and they are a dense hard polystyrene 'Ivorene'

That's it for now, thanks for visiting, following etc...H

Animals now identified as Coleman's (the mustard people) 'Vitacup', they were also issued in Europe as Vitacup and it would seem there might have been an airbrushed 'stained' issue as well.