V is for Volkseigener Betrieb (VEB) Part 3; Civilian Plastics

A selection of bus models from VEB Plasticart, Espewemodelle and MK, they are all Icarus prototypes, although the company did manufacture other makes. Modernisation in the East consisted of new bolt-on features, a system that was easy to reproduce in braille-scale. Here a new radiator assembly is all that's required to update one model from the range. As economics improved prior to reunification, peoples diet also improved, this is reflected in the larger driver of the later issue!!! (This is a humorous aside and should not be taken as a serious social (or socialist!) opinion of anything). Also; in the East you either got a coupon to get your hair done, OR, your face made up, but not - apparently - both! And; Can someone tell me what Herr. Hitler is doing driving an East German bus?!! The little 1:120 scale model (TT gauge) Icarus 'Reisebus' (coach) from MK, halfway between 1:87 (HO gauge) and 1:160 (N gauge). The MAB Mobile Tatra 815 truck model, sold in three versions, this one with a plank load, as a flat-bed with no load, and with a canvas tarpaulin. The chassis was also used for a fire-engine. The plastic cab assembly was sourced in the West and actually supplied by Wiking, while VEB Kombinat Metallaubereitung Halle produced the die-cast body. A small sprue with the rear-view mirrors was included for home assembly to prevent damge in transit, a very Western practice, which shows how the East were trying to 'raise their game'. Tie-ins like this were quite common with West German companies like Herpa and Brekina supplying parts or whole re-packed models to their Eastern brothers. As E.Germany was a sealed economy there was no real competition and it was a useful way of getting a slice of a market they were otherwise unable to penetrate. As an aside; The West Germans did whatever they could within the Soviet structure to help their fellow Germans in the East, and the Berlin senate - as well as picking-up the tab for three occupation armies (Brit, French and American) - made regular 'donations' to E.Berlin, either financial or as more practical technical aid, as did Bonn to the wider E.Prussian 'Lander'.

V is for Volkseigener Betrieb (VEB) Part 4; Military Plastics

The Mini Car G5 Army Crane-wagon, one of the favourites from my collection, VEB Plasticart produced a really nice range of trucks - primarily for the model rail market - and military versions of many were turned-out. Given the neither Roco nor Roscopf made much Warsaw Pact stuff, it is worth tracking these down if you wish to war game the Cold War in 1:76 (not far-off HO).

Tracked stuff in Plasticart/Espewe packaging, the best - in my opinion - is the Soviet designated; ZSU 57-2, here called a Fla-SFL 57. Far more successful than Sgt. York (and pre-dating it by a decade or two!) and much cheaper than the Gepard family. The BTR 50P, as already mentioned is the first to carry a MAB die-cast body, while retaining Plasticart packaging.

A comparison shot (click on it for a better look, until I post it I won't know how good it is, as I've had to work on it in Picasa, and it's pixelation may have been degraded?). From left to right, rear of each pair first;

Roco Minitanks - plastic T34/76
Roco Minitanks - plastic T34/85 (same chassis)
Roco Minitanks - plastic T44
Roco Minitanks - plastic T54/55 (same chassis)
Unknown Russian - die-cast T34/44/54 (???)
Plasticart/Espewe - plastic T54/55
Roscopf - plastic PT76
MAB Mobile - die-cast & plastic PT 76

This image throws up some interesting stuff, not least of which is the Russian effort, these were sold right through the 1960's/'70's and '80's, yet have all the sophistication of the funny little semi-fictional slush-casts of 1930's/40's American companies like Barclay, Manoil, Grey Iron and Ideal. A lot of these simple Russian toys (which I will cover in greater detail another day) were produced 'ad-hock' during factory down-time, in facility's that were - in the normal scheme of events - supposed to be producing tractors or washing-machines!!

Roco claimed to produce in 1:87 scale and Roscopf claimed 1:90 as their preferred scale and this is born out in the photo, however, the plasticart T54/55 is a tad on the small side while the MAB Mobile PT76 is equally off the other end of the scale, being to big!. It's worth noting that the Roscopf range of 'warpac' stuff while not great, was considerably better than the Roco Range, as they were different scales, there is no 'not treading on each others toes' reason for this , and it made using them as recognition models in the forces problematical, as soldiers got the impression all Soviet stuff was smaller than the equivalent NATO vehicles!!!

Also - given the rarity of models of T44's in any scale, I will continue to believe the Russian one is supposed to be a '44, note the flat sides to the turret and post-war extended fuel tank positioning!!!! IT'S A FORTY-FOUR!!!

V is for Volkseigener Betrieb (VEB) Part 5; Tracked Metal

The complete range of MAB Mobile badged military vehicles, to which can be added the BTR 50P, which follows the same construction layout of die-cast main castings with plastic for the wheels, add-ons and more technical castings. Mild steel wire is used for axles and the elevation mechanism of the FROG 4 (Free [-flight] Rocket, Over [the] Ground, 4th identified variant. NATO designation).

This sheet of transfers comes in every box of late production, with various markings for Warsaw Pack forces. The problem being the roundels were usually only used on parade - so no good for war gaming, while the two tactical numbers were the same for every set!!

The FROG 4 has various angles of elevation cased by little bumps in the moulding, a slight knock and it would fold down for a quick getaway!

This is a nice model, the detailing is fine, and unless you are a rivet-counting purist worried about the position of every little detail and hatch hinge, as good as anything Dinky, Corgi or Matchbox produced, simply by dint of having a thin matt coat rather than the multiple layers of two-pack gloss most Western die-casters would employ.

It is however - as hinted at above - closer to 1:76 than true HO/1:87th scale.

V is for Volkseigener Betrieb (VEB) Part 6; Wheeled Metal

BTR 40P-3, equipped with Snapper ATGM (NATO designation), in E. German service this was an SPW 40 PAL-Raketen. As shown above, early ones were given a black mounting in the factory and had the transfers applied, later ones were left silver and issued with THE sheet of markings.

Note the richer olive of the earlier issue.

BTR 60PB APC, with behind the earlier BTR 60P by Roskopf. Roco never did a '60, so I've shown their Sd.Kfz. 234 Puma instead as a vague guide to size (at 6 meters the Puma should be smaller than a BTR's 7.5 meters). For those interested and new to the hobby, the BTR 60PA was a '60P with a metal roof and no turret.

Digressing for a moment; this has always been one of my favourite AFV's. when I was a kid I dreamt of one day having a Alvis Scaracen on the drive, until I discovered in latter life, that they were in fact, top-heavy, small-arms fire liabilities that could 'wind-up' their axles on prolonged road journeys and come to a grinding halt! But BTR 60's, oh boy! the late versions, low-slung, ballistic boats, amphibious, HMG turret, variable self-pressurising wheels....in the last few years they've gone '70, '80 and now BTR 90 (which visually doesn't look so good?) take one of these down the town hall and ask them to re-appraise your planning application!!

BRDM 1 recce. vehicle. Years ago I was taught Soviet recognition by a member of the Belgian SAS, who used to say BRDM in such a distinctive fashion, I hear his voice every time I see the abbreviation, he sort of said Beerdiem, in a low baritone like Santa!

Note also the final colour issued (nearest in the photo) matches the little Matchbox 1-75 series military vehicles tone-for-tone!! The BTR 40 is - of course - a beerdiem underneath.

Well, that's everything I know about this group (or; group of group) of companies. I have a few of the military one's to swap, and will happily swap one-for-one for equally rare or unusual AFV's. I'm particularly after those Plasticart trucks not illustrated above, but will swap for Banner/Pyro/Wannatoys type things, the HK Playart type stuff or Polistil plastics. eMail me...I also have a few of the Vauxhall/Opel's if they are any use to anyone?

V is for Votoms

These turned up in a mixed lot the other month, modern production tied-in to a Japanese Animé cartoon, they are tiny; about N Guage!!

I haven't the faintest idea what any of them are called or who is on which 'side', but they get their own tub in the collection as a piece of the picture of overall toy figure production...Photographed on a 'moon-base' that I suspect came with a Kit as part of the stand for a space ship, or the base of some kids scientific educational toy type thing? Anyone recognise it?

This is clearly a recovery/robot launch vehicle of some kind, with a hook-equipped hydraulic lifting-arm and flat-bed. I side-lit with a red bicycle lamp to give an effect of far-off battle. Click on the photo and tell me the guy in the right foreground isn't sulking because the robot lost an arm and a leg!!

These are the robots, or; are they battle suits? Something that looks like a Gundam anyway (and; No, I don't know what a Gundam is either!!). Anyone tempted to rush out and buy some would be advised to glue them, as otherwise they will keep falling apart, and with most parts smaller than a 1:76 figure, they are easily lost (still - it gives the recovery vehicle a purpose!!).

I love the elephant-eared gun-platform!! There's another one in grey. Made by Takara, they are here photographed with an HK copy of the Matchbox US flame-thrower for scale.

Votoms - Wikipedia

[Now I know more than I needed to!]

W is for World War One (Part 1)

I know I'm dragging the arse out of 'W' but I can't find the next 'V' I wanted to do!! Looking at a few bits from the First World War, prompted by a purchase at the weekend. After years in the wilderness, both WWI and the late 19th C colonial period are enjoying a resurgence, with Emhar, Hat and Strelets*R all providing pieces of the picture that were - like a second hand puzzle - missing! Top row are Clive Knight for Tradition, middle row are all Stadden's while the British Lancer is a Willie by Suren, an Airfix German feels rather inadequate while providing a size comparison! [See also; The two Prussians in the following post.] Sky Birds 'Boche', I thought there were three poses, but I only seem to have two, as it's a large sample from dozens of sources over the years, I must have imagined the third pose!! As if to confirm the false memory syndrome; I can't even decide if I'm imagining an advancing pose or a standing firing pose!!! Doh! Unless I've got some more somewhere else, I guess it's just the two, these go with Airfix, size wise but are chunkier and from a different - later - period of the war. The good old - complete with all faults - Airfix tank, made-up as per the instructions, with a couple of the Galoob Micro machines in the foreground. Airfix have in the last few weeks announced two new versions of this kit, with 'new parts' added, the female will NEED new parts, whether they will add new parts to the male, is another matter, and I think both will still have the rear steering wheels included. This is relatively recent Hong Kong/China production, based on (but not the same as...) the fictional WWI tank in the (2nd?) Indiana Jones movie. Loosely representing the Anglo-American Mk VIII 'International' of 1919, it's a very unusual and pretty unique design for a HK company to come up with, and it came with a similarly coloured/camouflaged modern USMC LVTP!! Both in a reasonably usable 1:76/72 scale...Bargain!

W is for World War One (Part 2)

Continuing the theme, a look at some other odd and ends in the collection...

We start with some siege artillery, the rear one (missing wheels) is by the American company of Tootsie Toys, who made vehicles and aircraft that were the die-cast equivalent of the old pod-feet era dime-store stuff, at around the time the switch-over from lead to plastic was gathering momentum. In front is a boxed-set 'enhancer' from Crescent, usually used with their 54mm range of hollow-cast lead figures.

I bought this the other day, I am hoping to make it a project on these pages, once I've set up a work area here at our new home. I have somewhere - in one of the many still unopened boxes, the original article on the A7V's in either a Military Modelling or Airfix Magazine, or one of the eponymous annuals, so intend to make it slightly more interesting by converting it to one of the versions not covered by the kit!

I bought this at the NEC on Sunday, from Mercator Trading

Mercator

It's a modern remould (or 're-pour' from the original mould?) of a figure from one of the minor French makes of the early-to-mid 20th C. What's unusual is that it's clearly a British Soldier, one would have thought that a French company would place one of their own 'Pilous' in the staring role of such an exquisite piece.

Size wise, he is somewhere in between the Suren/Tradition figures above and the Airfix figures in the picture, however as he is in a naturally awkward pose and hidden in the canopy of a tree, he goes quite well with either/both - just not at the same time!

I think these are two of the character figures from the Tradition range of Imperial Prussians, but as to which two I'm not so sure (the one on the left may be; GK3 General of Cavalry in Lancer uniform). Again I've used the Airfix figure as a comparison, these go well with the Stadden/Knight/Willie figures in the previous post.

W is for even more Wagons

Continuing with the 'theme de jour'...

These are nearly all marked 'Germany' or 'W.Germany' and are usually Manurba (Manfred Urban). The two upper ones are Hong Kong copies, I've only ever seen the HK ones with black wheels, but Manurba originals come with black or white. War-gamers and modellers only need to cut the horse off and add a new team. The Giraffe wagon is particularly sought after and harder to find. Other colours are white and dark blue, for some reason I absentmindedly duplicated the middle one? This is a copy of the other type of 'W.Germany'/Manurba wagon, I do have lots of these, mostly originals, but have lost the box (I saw it only the other day so it can't have gone far), the figures are actual 'Giant' figures, but neither the wagon or the packaging is, such is HK production! Most copies are of the one wagon, with the three pieces of luggage on the roof, although - again in the missing lot - they did produce copies of one or two others. The German ones run to about 12 variants including a Santa sleigh which is more sought after, my missing lot was the 'wagon display' at my old house, and it makes you wonder if you should only display duplicates, to ensure the collection is in one place and easy to find! These are probably late production/post 'Giant' Giant wagons, although I know if I unpacked them there would be faint traces of the 'G' and 'T' from Giant on the white Frontier Coach sets horses, inside the flank, and a faint Giant near the tail of the Blue card sets horses. Note also, that like the Guards I posted a while ago, one of the cards is overprinted with the W.H.Cornilius 'Success' trade mark. These could be Giant or immediate post Giant, the graphics shout Giant, and the contents are right, and given that these were bought in the UK, and that New York is not in the UK, there's no reason to expect 'Giant' to appear on our issues, although sometimes they do!! Also without removing them from the pack you don't know what the marking is in the underside of the wagons...Doh!

W is for Wagons by Kleeware!

The pictures can pretty much tell the story;

As well as these two kit sets, they also came singly (see below) and in fours, they were also used in plain packets as breakfast cereal and other premiums, both in the packs (cereal) and as mail-aways (boys comics).

Ox-drawn wagon, this holds its own against both the Airfix and Atlantic wagons, but predates them by some time.

The similarity between these very small scale and the 1:48/30mm kits by Life-Like/Revell are obvious in this photograph. Note also the difference in scale between the covered wagon and the coronation coach. The common colours are black and brown, which wouldn't register well against the chosen background, I have a whole covered wagon , so will make-up this blue one and scratch-build the missing mud-guard,

W is for yet more Wagons

Some of the odds and sods...

This is the stage-coach from JCT (Japan Toy Corporation?) and a covered wagon almost certainly from the same  (or a similar!) source. These are about 1:50, with 35mm figures, which means they don't get much bigger in small scale collecting, or much smaller in large scale collecting!

The Tudor Rose wagon against which the previous sets would seem to have been aimed. this was a particularly daft 'covered wagon' as it had one central axle! The horse appears without the locating holes for the wagon, I'm not sure what rode them, as the mounted Tudor Rose figures went on soft plastic versions of the horse used by early Airfix, Ajax, Archer, Bergan, Beton, Giant, Lido, early Riesler, T.Cohn/Superior et.al.

That's because it's a Hong Kong copy of the Thomas for Woolworth's/Quaker Sugar-Puffs mail-away wagon, the Tudor Rose wagon's have the same horses as their mounted figures! Likewise the un-pierced horses are from the same Thomas source.

Britains metal coronation coach for QEII, this was the cheapest, smallest version of several by this company.

Clockwise from top left, Life-Like circus wagon, these were also - I believe - supplied to Walthers (Terminal Hobby Shop) in the early 1960's? Prieser Circus living-quarter trailer as supplied to Aristo-craft. [The Life-Like wagon is also - I believe - Preiser] Two small wagons from Christmas crackers, Einco Indian Village wagon and horse, Del Prado wooden kit that came with the 'Build Your Own Castle' part work a couple of few years ago, and another mini-wagon from a Christmas cracker, of slightly different design/style to the other two.

W is for still more Wagons

Some more horse-drawn stuff from the archive;

These two are the same, but one (yellow) came from a Hobbyplast 'sobres' envelope, the other came from a Montaplex envelope, an identical green one has fallen from a BuM carton, proving that before they got into their current low-grade, poor quality production and knock-offs, they were clearing the old Montaplex factory stock. Various presentations of Preiser wagons, the 900 series were sold as kits, the 400 series were sold assembled and painted. The cattle-drawn wagon may well be Noch or Pola, or even Vollmer, as they have all used Preiser products to enhance their buildings or scenics, or just to improve their catalogues/ranges. This shows Hong Kong copies of Preiser wagons and another view of the Preiser/Noch (?) cattle-draw hay wagon. The hay wagon - less load, and the small wagon in the middle along with the one in the foreground are all issued by Prieser, most recently in the big sprued set 'rural workers', the HK piracy's are of equal quality, but marked 'Made in Hong Kong'. Finally - revenge of the headless coachman! One of the early separate/press-on horse wagons, from 'W.Germany' (probably Manurba). I will cover the rest of the Manurba/Manurba-type wagons later.

W is for more Wagons

Following on from the W&T post, and the realisation they copied the Britains Lilliput horse (itself a scale down of a hollow-cast 54mm horse, latter produced in plastic!), I thought it was time for some more wagons.

Here the Britains Lilliput are the green hay (Tumbrel) cart and blue dairy cart/milk float in the centre, the two - also metal - copies are probably someone like Morestone or Budgie, while the log-wagon is - I think - Benbros. The chariot is probably the French penny-toy make of 'SR' and the little Handsome-Cab at the front was probably from an early Christmas cracker.

The larger of these coronation coaches is by Hill / Johillco, the broken thread was originally threaded through the rings in the horses flanks as a rein arrangement. The whole thing is sort of 28/31mm or around the 1:48/1:56 mark. The smaller coach is totally unmarked and could be by any one of several dozen companies, as this coach has been mass produced in various scale/sizes for three coronations and a trillion tourists, not to mention one cancelled coronation, all in the period when lead/die-casting was the predominant technology! A lot of that production actually taking place in Hong Kong or Japan.

What can I add? Coach, check; Hong Kong, check; No. 505 in a probable range of one!...er that's it!

Ultra modern production, head for the pinky/mauve area of your local toy shop or Toys'r'us and you will find dozens of these fairy tale, Cinderella, pumpkin type things, trouble is they're always attached to a massive grate pile of heliotrope castle with blue towers! Still they turn up at car-boot sales a few years later, very cheap!

Spring is sprung!

Well, once the snows had passed (Bets we have another lot?...mid March?), and underneath were all sorts of pretty things...

A far better spread of Snowdrops than the other day, there seem to be three distinct types in the garden and I'll try to find out what they all are! There are big 'drops' that hang down, medium ones that may open in a day or two, and smaller traditional one's that have opened and are touched with little green flashes and edges. These are all the big 'Drops', I don't know if they open or hang, time will tell!

Off to one side of the same patch (under the twin Hornbeam's) is this little patch of bright yellow aconites, which are better in the flesh than the photo, and shine from the other side of the meadow. We had snow for nearly a week after the rest of the south, and even the bottom of the hill, but when it did melt, these were out in 24 hours.

Finally some Crocuses, these are a small 'Old English' breed, and have come out first, but that's first for the Ridgeway, down the valley in Chieveley or over the hills in Wantage, the commercial yellow and purple ones have been open for a few weeks already!!

W is for W&T (Wyatt and Tizard)

Classic small run production or 'after market' railway modellers accessories, W&T seem to have made a limited selection of horse-drawn farm implements and accessories, packaging hints at 1960's/early '70's and when I get my files down here I'll see if I have more on this company and a complete listing.

Boxes, substantial heavy card, but off -the-shelf with adhesive labels, rather than custom-made with full print graphics.

Contents and instruction sheet for the roller (model No.4), the instruction sheet covers five different kits, and points to there being eight in total?

Parts for the Haycart (model No.6), click on the image to look at it in close-up, the detail is quite fine and these were nice castings, the horse is very good, having the look of a specific breed which I think Britains made in 54mm. [Correction; The horse IS a copy of the horse provided with the Britains Lilliput cart, in factory painted metal.]