News, views etc..

I've started an eBay thingy (presence?), have a look from time to time you might find something worth a punt! Link with 'My Other Stuff' top right.

The French premium site is still playing-up, or at least it has a lot of dead links to generic pages, so consult it before it disappears.

The next Toy soldier show in London is on the 5th Dec.

Show Details

P is for Pending

Also on the worktop are a number of artillery projects, I seem to have more guns than a greedy person, but they do tend to accompany large lots, usually in a beat-up state, hence the first pic...

Bags of guns, trailers and limbers waiting for the day they see a fresh coat of paint or replacement draw-bar, or get re-acquainted with their own wheels! Somewhere (bottom centre) is the US 105 M'whatever that came with the Aurora Skycrane, it ONLY needs painting!

Er...does this need a comment, representing as it does both greed (4 x 88's?) and tardiness (all still in pieces 15 years after they came into the fold...). Not to mention the fact that a set of wheels have been stolen for an overworked Opel's trailer!

This was (is still to be?) a BMSS entry, I built the sled in a one-evening burst about 4 years ago, while under the effects of a flash of inspiration brought on by a third reading of The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sejure, and his description of a 'left-behind' ad-hoc battle group, during the retreat from Russia. Slowed a bit after hand carving the horse trace spacers (what are they called???!) and having to actually ORDER two suitable horses (Hinchliffe I think...I sanded the bases!) and then put it on the medium back-burner.

Super-detailing the Esci Flak.36 came in another flurry, the same night I made all the magazines for this and a half-track project (lost somewhere, but visible - damaged - in some of the Tudor Rose/Spencer Smith posts), after which; Nothing. Well I've thrown the odd figure in the bag from time to time and a horse who's not got a job to do yet, nor a rider!

The plan is to have this one side of a frozen muddy road with the guys all looking up at the guy thumbing his helmet ring (ooh, matron!) in the Sd.Kfz 250 I shot in the snow last winter (see posts passim) as he whizzes past to safety, leaving this lot jammed in the wreckage of defeat, the other horse pulling a small sled with casualties, lots of dead horses, frozen bodies, empty ammo boxes, shell cases etc. Problem being...if I'm going to do lots of snow-stuff why don't I finish my Battle Of Hoth project...8 years and counting...haven't finished cutting it out yet... AAAAHHHHHHHHH!

L is for Languishing

The armour have not been forgotten in the 'forgotten' pile, in fact there are more tanks than anything else but most are still in their boxes.

I built the Esci command Pz.I years ago and wanted to build the other main body types, here - in pieces - are another Esci chassis, the Fujimi SPG and a Nitto (?) turreted version. The Esci is going to be an engineering version when I find out how they treated the hole where the turret went, it will also get a spare wheel rack. The Nitto (?) tracks are as bad as early Airfix when it comes to melting styrene.

Hasegawa tracked tractor strait from the box, I just want to do it justice paint-wise. And the Fujimi Jagd.Tiger II, a while ago while still suffering 'forum disease' I bought the new Dragon Tiger II with German Para's and promised to build it as a project here, what was I thinking...it'll take me another 10 years to finish this one! But it will be nice to compare them one day!

These two aren't even started yet, but I'd like to identify them if any one's got any idea...bought from Dorking Models about 10 years ago, they were all ready old stock, made from old-school resin with hot-water malleable track sections....BT 5 and BT 7 ?

U is for Unfinished

I have loads of unfinished truck and soft-skin vehicle projects, and here are a few, in no particular order...

From the sublime to the ridiculous, or; David and Goliath! The white metal French carrier is by, er...um...who? (probably Skytrex?), while the 'Airfix' Thornycroft is actually an early MPC licenced product, made in a very peculier waxy-soft styrene which was also hopelessly miss registered re. the two halves of the mould, as a result I've had to pare-down or scrape all the pieces until some don't fit or others; look right!

My first Opel Blitz, made in about '79/1980? needs to be overhauled and will be given a nice load of oil-drums. The Matchbox early war command caravan was nearly finished when I discovered Cooper Craft (grey lump to rear of photo) and reckoned that if I swapped bodies I'd have two convincing vehicles for the fall of France, so the well-glued backs have GOT to come off...ouch!

Leaving to the left; An Esci Gun Motor Carriage with the gun left off to make a GS 'Beep' (I've never liked this kit, it seems far too big and the suspension is far two high, no?), and to the front another Cooper Craft, this time a Bedford which will join the 8th Army before I'm finished with it...compare with photo below.

These are all on the final strait, the Blitz (Esci) is getting a Cooper Craft trailer with Eidai wheels (Kfz.11 at the front and 88mm Flak.18 Anhanger 'duals' at the back), the trailer will be painted to match the truck and get a loan of crates.

The Steel bodied Bedford OYD is based on old Military Modelling or Airfix Magazine drawings, and was inspired by the pictures on page's 21 & 36 of Almark's Focus On Armour No. 2 (ISBN; 0 85524 279 2), and is a scratch build body on the Airfix fire tender with a widened bonnet (hood). To the right is a similar kit bash on the Airfix ambulance, a downed Luftwaffe pilot chats to an equally wingless commonwealth sky-Jockey while a grim looking Scot holds a bayonet on him! Both need weathering, with a figure painting session.

Ignore the skype thing, it is the ISBN No.

News, views etc...

The link to Eric Williamson's site was playing up, but I think I've fixed it, though for how long is anybodies guess? It seems to be slowly dieing, and with the demise of Geocitys, the adage "Nothing lives forever" rings horribly true!

Speaking of both Geocitys and troublesome web links; There are other dead links which I will sort out in the next few days and I will be adding a few new ones and shaking the tree on some old ones!

The french premium site was also playing up, but a download of Java add-on's sorted that out.

I must also apologise for any drop in image quality, the screen on our new PC is not up to the standard of the (10 year old) Compaq laptop I used to use and I find myself struggling to get a good looking image, then, after publishing find it's better than it looked?...same screen viewing both??? Anyway I'm messing about with them before upload when I may not need to? I'll work on it!!

P is for Projects

I have so much stuff in the unfinished/to do pile I thought I'd share some of them with you, if only to justify their existence!! One theme that that made itself apparent as I was taking photos was that despite all the new production out there I seem determined to force old Eidai kits 'up to the mark'!

This is the Eidai Sd.Kfz.11 half-track which I intend to finish one day, the front mudguards needed re-sculpting and I intend to hide the rest of the non-existent bumper/front end with a roll of barbed wire and a bundle of logs. Sides have a lot of work still to do but the crew are mostly selected and posed (actually, looking at the photo again they're selected and posed for another unfinished model - the Hasegawa/AHM Quadruple Flack.36 I posted some time ago!!). The trailer is from the elusive French company Alby, while the gun has been rebuilt from the ground up as a totally different mark/model.

Two Eidai Stug.IV's, from the box with new side skirts and minor detail differences (roof and spare wheel bin). The scratch built trailer is the one I again mentioned some time ago, from a photo, it was pulled by a Pz.I and seems to be a field modification carrying two standard German oil-drums.

One of my favorites; Krupp Protze, cross country artillery tractor/GS truck, the bonnet (hood) will never be right but I've built-up the exhaust bulges from the engine bay to the wheel arches and put something equating to the distinctive bulge seen on the radiators, width markers from an Esci Kfz.11 and a new steering wheel, just visible are the canvas 'doors' which came from the Matchbox Morris.

This will be my third, it's the 2nd Kfz.69 I've done, the previous being the Eidai bodywork on a Matchbox chassis, and a Matchbox strait from the box. I hope to put the alternative Eidai body (Kfz.70 troop carrier) on a Matchbox chassis one day and have it tow my other Nebelwerfer, this one will join my Pak.36 unit.

The weird angled 'axle' at right will be the spare wheel once I've worked out how to fix it on and trimmed it to fit!

W is for more Wagons

A lazy post of what amounts to horse-drawn porn! These are the display cabinets I had in storage, and couldn't find when I covered wagons a year ago and there are some nice ones among them. I'd love to put a manufacturers name to the spot-welded steel AA gun in the first cabinet, anybody got an idea?




Click on the images, and then click again to get them really enlarged and scroll with the arrow keys. This over-lettering is an additional feature of the new Picasa, which I didn't have on my old laptop, I'd recommend it as a download to anyone trying to impart information/knowledge via the Internet. They are a bit fuzzy round the edges, but the 'macro' feature need to be used close up to really enhance images, while I had to take these from about 3 feet back to get each cabinet in!

The cabinets are a standard unit from IKEA and cost a few pounds, I've picked mine up at car-boot sales for 50p, 50p and 20p over the last few years! They are just too small to display wargameing horse-drawn stuff, or 4 horsed Hong Kong bits. I will get round to painting the other two mauve and pale herb-green to match the yellow one.

News, views etc..

Hi all, thanks for your patience, I'm back now and hopefully equipped with a more reliable PC, so regular updates.

Kicking off with something I've been after for years, and more goodies to follow, I had a similar find at Dave Mckena's Birmingham show the other day.

Paul at Plastic Warrior was hoping to get a One Inch Warrior out before Christmas, I'll keep you posted on that, in the meantime PW itself has covered a lot of flats recently including some in the smaller sizes, so if you aren't a subscriber, can I suggest a visit to the PW website.

I'm not going to make Herne this year, but it's only a week or so away now - Check PB's website, link to right somewhere.

I'll be eMailing those I need to in the next few days, so bare with me on that one.

And keep an eye down the page as I might even get the T34 stuff published!

F is for Feudal

I've been after this for years and was really pleased to pick one up at the Plastic Warrior show in Richmond last May (I've been off-line for a while!), only problem is...this is a German edition so I'm in need of an English instruction sheet or copy thereof, should anyone be able to help.

Six players seem (?) to fight for two empires or forts?, each player having a different coloured army. Made originally by 3M in the states in the mid 1960's it was later reissued by Avalon Hill, and was certainly still available in the late 70's as I eyed it in wonder on more than one occasion!

A complete set of figure poses with two standing on the fort, the tall post things visible in the previous image (click over it to enlarge) are the 'slots' for the board divider helping the two 'Teams' (?) to set up with an element of surprise a'la Battleships.

Colour variants are inevitable with a large, international or long production run and a few are shown here. Once you've found a good set, you can start removing the studs from the figures you've built up over the years. In front of the fold-out game board you can see I've started this process!

Comparison shot between the Revell Norman and one of the Feudal pieces, there's not much in it and a paint job would lessen the difference even more.

E is for Effing Microsoft Again!

Sorry for the lack of a new post this past few months, but I'm without a computer so have to snatch the odd moment on other peoples! Normal service will be resumed in a few weeks . . .hopefully!!! I have answered a couple of outstanding comments...and have lots of lovely new acquisitions to share when I can start uploading images again.

Fritillaries

The fritillaries need to be protected from pheasants, who like to snack on them, but it's 'snacking' as only usually practised by the likes of Billy Bunter! So I cast a network of garden string over the whole patch, set at two levels to stop 'flyers' landing in the middle and 'walkers'' snucking underneath.

[If you click on the first image, you'll see one 'flyer' got through!!!]

Daffodils...

Some of the nicer daffodils currently gracing the garden...




I'll post some of the other shots from this sequence on my Imageshack account later this evening.

S is for Starlux (and Solido)

A quick look at one of Starlux's civil ranges, the Fire Brigade/Fire Service (les Pompiers) have been released in at least four different sizes and two versions. These are late production of the first version (old type 'Adrian' helmet), there being a second set in the newer space age 'chrome-dome'.

These are the 30mm range, not sure they ever got the head swap, the last guy in the bottom row on the far right, is an earlier moulding with the round base. Missing poses (not necessarily ever part of the 30mm range) are; a stretcher team, the hose 'head' operator, a doctor in jacket and slacks running with a first aid kit, a nurse in whites, (all available in the 20mm set) and two seated figures (probably also available with Solido fire appliances), a baseless hose operator and a guy kneeling (from the 40mm range).

This is the 'pond rescue' vignette, which was also issued as a military set with a change of rower. Again this was also issued with a Solido die-cast vehicle, The diver seems to have been licences to/pirated by Dinky Toys here in the UK, possibly through the French Dinky arm?

On; Heaping Praise Upon the Ruling Elite

My definition of capitalists;

A small minority, selling the lowest grade of Snake-oil they can find to as many idiots as they can fail to educate as often as possible, for as much as they can get away with, while keeping the majority poor enough to keep dreaming of being rich...without caring what Snake-oil production might be doing to the planet.

My definition of Politicians;

An even smaller minority allowing a small minority to sell the lowest grade of Snake-oil they can find to as many idiots as they have failed to educate as often as possible, for as much as they can get away with, while keeping the majority poor enough to keep dreaming of being rich...without caring how legal or just Snake-oil production might be.

My definition of Priests;

Selling balm for Snake-oil burns

S is for Siblings

A few things that were raised by the Tudor Rose article, sort of more loose ends or, things I hinted at but didn't cover properly...

Staff Cars - The middle row are all Pyro (issued in the UK by Kleeware in threes in a service station set), showing the difference between the two designs with the coupe on the left, the booted (trunked) saloon in the middle and a civil colour-variant on the right.

Behind is the Lido example, not a straight piracy, but clearly drawing on both with the boot of one and the long swept-back wings and windows of the other.

Finally in the foreground, a bit of a problem vehicle, unless someone knows for sure? The colour is near Tudor Rose, the tow-hitch is more Lido and the wheels are similar to those used on Poplar Plastics helicopters and Pyro/Kleeware & Tudor Rose spaceships. Size wise it could be Tudor Rose or Banner, but Banner had their own 'Woodie' estate body/shooting break staff car?

With three votes, it stays in the Tudor Rose box until I know otherwise!

Jeeps - With so many made, I will cover Jeeps and Land-Rovers on another occasion, but here are a few to be getting on with. Rear row, left to right; Tudor Rose, Manurba and Airfix. Middle; Lido large size with towed equipment. Front row - the real subject of the post - Pyro, Kleeware, Merit, Lido small size and Marx.

The four 'similar' jeeps, I say similar as close inspection reveals three different mouldings. On the left the Pyro original with the Kleeware produced casting (from the same mould) next to it. Due to the vagaries of import tax in the late 1940's-1950's, it was cheaper to ship the moulds over for a month or so than it was to import finished product, and a lot of mould sharing went on. Also, some of the UK companies at the time were set up by the same guys who owned the US companies, so natural affinity/group ownership played a part in the - sometimes hard to follow - duplication.

However, the fact that duplication was widespread, only made it easier for the less scrupulous to take advantage, with the result that on the right we see the Lido piracy, a smaller (pantographed) copy, with less detail transferred. To it's left is the Merit version by J & L Randall, this has a number of detail differences, not least the turn-in at either end of the windscreen and the rounded corners of the seat cushions. This was probably a licensed copy rather than a complete pirate, Merit did carry some of the Kleeware (Pyro) spaceships in a boxed set at one point.

Undersides of all four, the first two have just had the trade-mark stamp changed in the mould, while the Merit one is quite different. The Lido one is clearly scaled down all round and of lesser surface quality.

Begs the question - why didn't Merit and Lido just design their own, this is a very crude, too-wide-for-it's-length (scale wise) simplified model, in one piece, they could have done much better!!