U is for Unknown Animals - Domestic

More 'Unknowns', this time domestic animals, I have a host of these and most are generic Hong Kong things no one will ever put a name to, the only hope is getting the undamaged carded or bagged set they originally came with. However some are of more interest, or poses the likelihood of having a 'named' history, these are some of they! [Yes, I know it should be 'them', but I served in the Glosters, not the City of London Rifles!!]

Top left bears a resemblance to both the Hornby 'O' gauge and Tri-ang/Hornby 'OO' gauge Horse-box horse, but is neither, and in size is smaller than one, bigger than the other, so; another model railway manufacturer? Top right is a copy of the Matchbox horse from the Horse-boxes of the 70's (Both 1-75 and Superkings), but made out of a more rigid nylon type plastic, it is very similar to some stuff carried by Lidl a few years ago which I think originated with Simba Toys?

The other two are hard Polystyrene plastic, maybe one of them is Plasticville or something??

I'm guessing these are from Christmas Crackers or some form of food premium? Either way it would be nice to put a title to them...

These will I hope attract the attention of bigger scale enthusiasts, as, while they are quite good for HO/OO adult sheep, I think they are in fact lambs for larger scale figures, and - more specifically - hope at least one of them will be recognised as Bo Peep's from the Gem/Culpitts range. Indeed if the other is Mary's from the same range, so much the better, but which is which? either?...neither!! [The one on the left is NOT the Airfix one]

These are much earlier, the lower one is blow-moulded celluloid and so fragile (not to mention - a fire risk!) I keep him (no udders!) in his own little wooded box! I think maybe a tourist type vignette? The Upper two bulls are in a relatively unique type of plastic, but there are hundreds of plastics around and most were tried on/for toys in the late 1950's and 1960's. The brown one has an attempt at a two colour run, and I'm guessing- again - that the die-cast guys may readily identify them as wagon/Horse-box passengers.

U is for more Unknown Flats

Some more flats for you to look at, some from the 'Unknown Military - Foot' box and some from the 'Unknown Civilian, Farm & Animals' box. Some will be premiums of some kind, one I know but am confused!!!

First - because I got the photo's loaded in reverse - is the odds and ends with an Airfix Marine for scale, the one on the far left is a favourite as he has more than a passing resemblance to a Gurkha Bugler. The second might be Spanish? [Scratch that, I've just noticed the HK running down his leg in the enlargement (click on the photo.) so he's a Christmas Cracker toy at a guess!] Third is I think recent and the last could be Spanish again or Portuguese, also; I think that's factory paint?

The top row here were sold to me as Built-Rite, however the quality of the lower sample (who also have larger bases) would suggest that they are the originals, so any ideas which is which and who copied them? The standard and plastic type of the figures on the top row, while poorer than the lower sample, is better/different from that which you would expect from Hong Kong?

I hope these will be recognised by an American reader/collector, they are bigger than most European stuff and have the colours (Colors!) of a lot of the dime-store farm stuff in fully-round.

Again the top row are a different sample, with thinner lozenged bases, while the lower group have big oblong ones. This time however the quality of sculp is the same.

I'd really love to discover that these are Winterhilfswerk (WHW) figures! If not from a National Issue then one of the Gau, however I fear they are just post war premiums, but in a pale blue (the photograph doesn't do them justice and has bleached them out), anyone know where from? When? They are not in Peter Konrad's book.

Finally, there are two sets of six of these faux-ivory, ink-stained vessels, with vacuum-formed bases, I think maybe a board game Circa 1950/55, but others have said - without knowing which/when - breakfast cereal? They could just as easily be decorative, or some sort of card-game counter/marker? [They might be place-setting card-holders?]

H is for Hail to the Chief

Presentation flag - 502rd Infantry - Clay Alley, Berlin Brigade

So, Barack Obama is sworn in as the new President of the United States of America, He is - in my view - the last hope for the human race. A bit dramatic? It is my belief that if we don't sort out the despotic leadership of the Second and Third Worlds, clear-up the planet, cease our profligate ways in the First World and get a serious grip of the bankers and wankers who are really running the whole show within the next eight years, it will be to late to bother.

We have already pushed back all our recycling and emission targets, oil replacement technology seems to be a case of two steps forward and three back, and every time I buy something the layers of packaging have multiplied and increased in thickness, Free-market capitalism was bankrupted sometime in the autumn and we're letting them look for a 'New Capitalism' while taking their bonuses - if they've still got a job that is!!!!

So good luck Mr. president, you need it, you have a lot of your own hype to live up to, and we the people of this particular planet need you to live up to it.

U is for Unknown Flats

Well there were a shed-load of unknown trees in the last post, so we will stick with unknowns for a few days, looking first at Flats. If you think you can identify any, you can comment here or email me.

These are very similar to the standard European flat of the 1950's and 60's, but are near full-round rather than FLAT flats, if that makes sense. I suspect they may be early British cereal premiums, any ideas? 40mm, polystyrene hard plastic in a faux ivory colour, they may be Salvation army band, but I think they are more of a civilian concert orchestra type set-up, or part of a circus.

These are a good 20mm, semi-flat, soft green plastic with Airfix hunter for scale comparison. All four marching figures are slightly different and they seem to be Garibaldi types OR Spanish Civil War? I have another similar sized sample, but with two vignettes, one of which - I'm sure - is different, however - yes! you guessed it - I can't find them!! [Update - I found them, they are by the same company, but are Wild West, they contain several vignettes, and come both in the same green and in blue, I will therefore post them separately another day][Second update - both these and the wild west set are by Serjanboys, a Spanish 'sobre' manufacturer similar to Montaplex]

The real reason the Hunter was dug out; this set is again similar to European margarine or tobacco premiums, but are in white plastic, not cream/ivory, also they seem to be in a phenolic resin or Bakelite type material and came in a very large sample, suggesting old factory/out-painters/shop stock from here in the UK. A vague memory prompts the thought they were given away with biscuits in the early 70's. [Coke-Cola copies or reissues with thinner bases, a world-wide series of promotions, quite common, except a Springbok added to the South-African promotion...I'll come back to them one day]

T is for Trees

Clive over at the Hinton Hunter (link to right) covered the Merit trees the other day, so I thought I'd cover the originators and clones. Which is which is as often with early plastics, a moot point!

We start with the most likely candidate for original tree of this stacking clip-together design, the Faller fir tree. Faller started making papier-mache trees - I think - before the war, or very soon after, I don't know exactly when they first produced this plastic version (self seal bag on right) and it differs from the Marx/Merit design in having a separate base and trunk. I have a complete bag somewhere but like too many things it's lost in the heap and will have to be shown next time I do Trees or Faller!

The Marx set came in hard or soft plastic and was probably a copy of the Merit rather than vise-versa, manufactured in one of the Blue Box plants that seem to have produced most of the Miniature Masterpiece range. You would get a bag making six models in most of the larger play-sets.

Playcraft had most of their stuff made for them by Jouef, these trees however follow the Faller pattern and came in various colours, the Minitank trees again have the Faller Trunk arrangement but are soft plastic.

Some other firs, all but those in the second bag from the right on the bottom row follow the same design as the above. Best to click on the image to see the few notes attached to those I have a vague clue on.

T is for Thunderbird's are GO!

The best lumpy jerky stringed puppets ever! Hell the Americans loved it so much they let Hollywood screw it up with a lousy sequel/movie thing!

21st Century Toys, a company similar to Blue Box but working exclusively in the larger scales and with TV/Movie related stuff produced this, along with plastic models of T2, T3 and Lady Penelope's pink Rolls Royce. This is a bit tatty, but it still works!

This is the approximately 1:48th scale Tracy (Dick? ha Ha!) I neither know or care which, that lives for ever at a time, by himself in a space ship not much bigger than a long-wheelbase high-top Transit van! I hope he's got satellite TV!

These are the figures made for Kellogg's and Tom Smith by Crescent Toys. Lady P and one of the Tracy's are missing. The Tom Smith one's came in a set of 12 Christmas/Party crackers and were available for some time, and seem to have survived in larger numbers than the Kellogg's ones.

The only difference between them is that the base-plate on a three-block mould was changed for each contract. The markings are also inverted on one set, the above is a photograph of two Parker's - both facing the same way.

A few other bits and pieces I had in a tub of general space stuff, the top one is from a recent set of Carlton Toys, I think the Orange one is as well. The small T4 is a modern re-make of the old Dinky toys one, the two at the bottom are some sort of premium, issued about ten years ago to tie-in with some TV/Video/DVD/Satellite/Cable release/re-release/Digital remaster....Oh whatever!

The whole tie-in industry is - to plagiarise the immortal words of Andy Warhol - eating itself, it's got so hard to keep up with the endless issuing of regurgitated pap, wannabe classics, remastered shite, directors cuts and whatever that it's fruitless trying to keep up. Add 'Buy to Collect' or 'Adult Collectables' to the mix and you begin to see why the planet is in danger of being totally destroyed by the wants of needy people and the wish of the marketing men to serve those greed's!

T is for more Tractors

While looking for the piece of rolling stock which seems to have fallen off the face of the earth, I kept coming across tractors and thinking "damn, I've just done them", anyway this evening I thought weeeellll...I've found all these tractors, lets put 'em up, only to find I'd hidden them all again!! But I dug out enough for one more post, so...

This is the Airfix tractor which comes with early issues of the Stirling Bomber, but was dropped from later boxes. I think it's complete as there seem only to be bomb-trolley parts left in the tub concerned (because it can take me 10 years to finish a 'Bright idea' I have little trays for each project), however the slot behind the seat is worrying me...and a seat would be on my list - if I was the driver!!

Hong Kong Copy of the Corgi 1:48 scale tractor, (similar to a Massey 135) with the most over the top coupling for the plough I've ever seen, it's a male/female spigot about 2cm high (behind the chair)!

Prieser Hanomag and two trailers, one metal and one wooden, also two sets of wheels allows you to crate up to 4 visually different wagons.

Tractor from the Blue Box copy 'Happy Farm', similar to some of those I posted the other day, but the rake-harrow is non-articulated. Close to 1:72 and bearing a passing resemblance to early John Deer designs.

T is for Trains

Bit of a cheat this one 'cause most of them are more Triang, but there are some non-Triang among them. The one I really wanted to post I can't bloody find, despite going through most of my stuff twice in the last few days, hence no posts!! Have to save it for neverwhen!!

This is a Jouef/Playcraft low sided plank wagon, being prepared for the HaT Colonial Artillery (which - co-incidentally - was posted on the HaT forum yesterday, and it looks good), I started with Humbrol body-filler but it was a bit hard, so I painted it with liquid-poly cement and it went too soft! Finished up with terracotta Miliput and toothpicks for the cross-bracing. The bogie's have been removed so I can give the whole thing a military paint-job and Hornby couplings.

Behind is a Triang bogie-bolster wagon, which is another one you can build up with sand-bags, I may use this for the same colonial train, or use it to try and replicate the oft-reproduced picture of a 1939/40 era German train loaded with troops (I think it was originally from Signal, and is in all the Purnell/Pan/Ballentine part-works of the '70's), using the ridiculous Revell 'firing on my mates shoulder' posed MG42, and similar posed on wall MG34 from Italeri?

Another Jouef for Playcraft, this is the entry-level clockwork locomotive, which comes in a reasonable shade of military green, and if you buy an old one for 50p at a car-boot sale...it comes ready weathered!!!! I think the track may be Playcraft as well, but it might be Triang, as it's a piece of child-hood surviving stuff, and we had Triang clockworks not Playcraft.

Comparison between the two best loco's for a military marshaling yard, without the need for lots of repainting, although you can also use black 'GS' types with most armies.

T is for Triang Battle Space

Some more movements on the Triang rail network.

Here we have some regular wagons pressed into service to move some HQ elements up the coast from Alex, protection is provided by a 6lbr. travelling forward of the locomotive.

These trucks are on the early, non-military well-wagons, in grey, orange and blue, Triang would issue many variations of their rolling stock, with further variations coming from places like New-Zealand.

Khaki well-wagons with East-German armour moving up to their start positions for a race to the Fulda Gap!

The first incarnation of 'Battle Space' was in a British racing green NATO scheme, this is the helicopter launcher and the searchlight wagon, it's missing its little bits, but the light still works. The helicopter was a bit of fun, couldn't fly for toffee, no working tail rotor to keep it strait so it would spin off at a rakish angle and fly into the locomotive bringing the whole train to a catastrophic halt in the middle of the station, which is why the man with newspaper and bowler hat is always missing his feet, which were glued to the platform in the factory!

Khaki version of the helicopter launcher and 'plane launcher, I'm missing the 'plane, but most people are, unless you want to pay Monopoly money for a mint boxed version! I have the body as it was plastic, but the wings were card and have not passed the test of time.

T is for Triang (or Tri-Ang)

Both are correct, both were used on packaging. Well...what have we here? Another of my favourites, that's what! The beauty of having your own blog!!! Triang Battle Space, the best range of trains anyone ever had to run round the living-room floor!

I couldn't find the correct rocket for the rocket-launchers, until I'd taken the photo's and put everything away, so here is the correct missile, I have no idea what the other (yellow one in below shots) one was from! Crescent's Space Rocket

These are early issues, when the items were stand alone rolling stock, 'Battle Space' had not yet arrived as a concept, the first aid wagon is - I think - a guards or parcel carriage with a new paint job.

The sniper who pops up and down due to the action of a track-side accessory on a counterweight under the wagon, the same mechanism was used for the giraffe of which this is a khaki version of the same wagon.

This is the sniper wagon (I'm missing the roof) and the exploding wagon, again a track-side gizmo tripped a switch and the whole thing blew sky high.

Finally the khaki rocket-launcher and the Command Car, this was nothing more complicated than the travelling post-office in military colours, it would pick up and drop off post-bags...sorry, secret dispatches!

T is for Totem Pole

One of my 'side collections', like trees, all totem poles are far too small for the figures they are issued with, so actually some of the best - height wise - for 1:76/72 scale figures are the poles issued with 54mm figures, although if you include realism, the only ones that come close out of all those below are the first one from Playmobile/Fisher Price/Exin, the Reisler and the second two from the left in the second photograph (unknown and Greg Wolf). All we need now are decent Northern or Backwoods/Woodland Indians to dance round them, as they have all been issued with Great Plains or Southern Indians who never used them!!!

Left to Right;
Playmobil, unknown european polystyrene (probably French), Labere School, unknown tourist item from Canada, Reisler, Commansi/Novalinea

Atlantic 1:32 (see 1:72 below), unknown - Marx re-issue?, Greg Wolf - "Handcrafted in Canada", Modern "China", two piracy's of the Britains pole, Feu Orange air-freshener - possibly made by Brevete S.G.D.G.?

Cherilea 60mm (See 54mm below), Britains piracy, Britains Herald - late polystyrene, Timpo, Timpo colour variant, Britains Piracy, Timpo Piracy.

Britains piracy, Unknown, Timpo Piracy, Two different unknown cereal giveaways (came on small sprues with other scenic items), unknown european vinyl - possibly Koho or German Marx late production, Charbens, Cherilea 54mm (see 60mm above), unknown metal - possibly also Cherilea?

Factory painted Korona Imperial giveaway, unpainted Jean original of previous pole, two Britains piracy's, Speedwell/Trojan/Kentoys/Hill?, modern vinyl from micro-machine type playset - Hong Kong/China, Marx - Miniature Masterpiece, two Atlantic 1:72 (see 1:32 above).

Notable absentee is a Britains original from the Swoppit/early Herald era, It's around somewhere with a few more big ones, but I can't find where I hid them! It came in two versions (big ovoid and smaller round base) and many colour variations, both base plastic colour and paint-job.

Baravelli Indians have been used as a size comparison, they are both piracy's of Airfix mounted Indians who have been given bases.

T is for Tractors

These are a few of my tractors, I have a soft spot for farm vehicles and figures, my fathers family have a farm near Retford in Nottingham and in the days before Health & Safety we spent many a holiday riding the grain trailers, running under the chaff-walkers of the combines and jumping out of the old Victorian loading stage into the grain mountain two stories below! I've also spent some time working farms in the past. This is the Paramount tractor, it came with various implements (which I will cover another day) and the figure is approximately 1:72, although the tractor is a bit big. These are by Jean and as can be seen, the tractor came in civil or military colouring. An added touch was the lifting bonnet (hood) which revealed a very basic engine for the farmer to work on! A selection of Hong Kong production with an old hay-turning rake-harrow and a tipping trailer. The little green one is the sort of thing that may have come with Kinder Eggs, not that I believe it did, it's small enough to have originated in a Christmas cracker? Behind is the Britains Lilliput Farm Tractor, with the nearly always missing driver, in front of which is the Hornby Dublo tractor, which never had a driver - as far as I know - being designed to be used as a load for rail flat-beds and low-loaders, or left parked around the marshalling yard! Finally a carded set of Hong Kong efforts, there is actually a piece missing from the bottom right, I suspect a trailer, and keep meaning to test fit my lose HK trailers to see if one fits. The yellow one above looks like a good candidate, but came with a completely different tractor, however such details mean nothing when dealing with HK output!

T is for TSR

Dungeons & Dragons, the first great 'system' for fantasy role-playing games, ultimately sort of lost out to Warhammer in Europe, but still holds it's own in the USA. And like their great rival - Games Workshop - the system supports a magazine, and various spin-offs. Also like GW they have from time to time produced a stand alone game to introduce new players/fans, of which this is one.

Strangely I've never seen one that didn't have the 6 extra figures or the 'limited edition' flash! It's a lot of box for not much content, this is due to the fact that there are a load card flats included and once they're made-up, storage becomes a problem.

Both sets of character figures, the metal set being provided by Ral Partha, who ironically have also worked with Games Workshop. Some of the figurines are straight copies of the plastic version, some are quite different, also there is a size differential between the two sets.

Sample of some of the hundred or so card stand-ups also included in the set. I think it's a 'live' side and a dead (but undead) or invisible (?) side.