S is for Sportsmen set

This is a 'bitty' post, in order to compare the various types/issues I had to spread them all out on the floor, which produced a fuzzy image, so I then took two closer pictures and 'stitched' them, gaining a bit of detail but losing the card! So if you are a fastidious packaging collector, click on the upper photo, if you're more interested in the figures - click on the lower one.

The Originals (shooter, bottom left) were produced as premiums all over the world, and various other sets either influenced the premium set, or were based on it. There are at least ten poses running through the various issues, from left to right (footballer ended up in two files? I'm tired!);
Shooting Competitor
Gymnast/Diver
Fencer
Swimmer/Diver
Discus Thrower
Runner
Javelin
Footballer
Weightlifter
Boxer

Underneath the HK figures are some influencing/based on them, the aforementioned shooter is marked 'Drink Pepsi Cola' in the under-base cavity, but I've seen others. Then, below the Diver/Swimmer we see from left to right; what I think is a Marx UK Swimmer, then the Linde/Jean/Manurba premium then the US Marx 60mm Swimmer and as a bit of a laugh, the old man from the Ideal/Mattel/Hasbro Mouse Trap board game!

Markings and size are the reason for the 7 ranks, and are as follows;
Top row - 54mm, marked 'MADE IN HONG KONG' in similar cavity to Pepsicorp figure.
2nd row - 40mm, Olympic rings base unmarked, with chads.
3rd row - 35mm, solid base with raised lines and 'MADE IN HONG KONG'
4th row - 35mm, chad base with 'H.K'
5th row - 30mm, solid base with uneven 'HONG KONG'
6th row - 30mm, chads with 'HONG' and 'KONG' on separate un-chadded discs
7th row - 28mm, chadded, unmarked.

[For those who don't follow tight elections (or should that be stitch-ups!), chads are the little holes left by punches!]

News, views etc...

Because eBay feedback as become so devalued and meaningless, I'd like to flag up the following seller as being a cut above the rest, bohemiantoys, who sent the items in a bag within a new bubble-pack/Jiffy-bag, with his full name and address (rare these days where a lot of sellers just use a postcode) and a business card. His shop is to be found at; Classic Collectables, there is a website as well but you'll find the link to that on his eBay shop page. I do not know or represent Richard (but may have run into him at the NEC or somewhere?) but wanted to reward good service with a bit of promotional 'Blurb'!!

M is for MDM

I have to confess I have a very small sample of these, and most of those I do have are damaged, but these are very sought after, and tend toward Christie's rather than SAS, or BMSS auctions rather than dealers tables, so don't come up often, and fetch serious money when they do!

The two main packaging types, foot figures were sold singly or in fours, while the mounted examples were sold on the same base as the quadruple-packed foot figures. Produced by Rene Daniel, they were popular with Hotels and Airports, where they would be found in display cases in the lobbies etc...Garratt reports a fine display at Orly, I wonder if it's still there?

The base mark from a mounted figure, the foot figures were unmarked. There is a website devoted to MDM here; 1er.Empire but I can't tell if it's an old one, someones lost interest in, or a brand new one that's still being built as it's one of those annoying one's that tells you it was last updated when you clicked on it, rather than when the owner last did something to it!

A few more figures, the one on the left has - I think - been re-based to match someones wider collection. Like a lot of French companies, MDM only produced figures of the 1st Empire; 'Napoleonic' French Units and their allies, I've never understood this, everyone else manages to produce allies, enemies and even neutrals (except Crescent - who had a problem with the Germans), but the French tend to stick with their own, how can a kid have a battle when every one's on the same side...Oh...La Revolution; take 2!

S is for Space

More 54mm. There's a story behind these, I talked my mate John into 'lending' me these, so that I could paint them, with the intention of giving them back to him to put on eBay, this was about 4 years ago!

When he was helping me with my flooded storage unit a year and a half ago, we found them and I asked him if he wanted them back (they'd been packed in a hurry and forgotten about, only to turn up in one of the damaged boxes), and he insisted I keep them after 'all the work' I'd done, so they are here in Berkshire, looking for a shelf, as even I can't bare to put them on eBay now!

One of each pose of the Airfix Space Warriors, painted with PVA/Acrylics, something I'm still getting my head round, but it does cover the larger figures well without flaking as easily as spirit-based 'enamels' used to.

I consider these to be the 'good' guys, hero and heroine on the ends, government trooper in the sand suit and a special agent in the red helmet (although he could be a 'neutral'...assassin or something).

I base with a fine soily sand I collect from beaten doormats, and run through a fine sieve, then a gauze tea-strainer, it sticks well to a thick layer of paint, but PVA white/wood glue would do the same job. The different colour of the bases comes from the underlying paint, not the soil.

The 'bad' guys, left to right we find Lizard man (they're always bad!), evil Manga robot and Darth Vader (TM)'s cousin Frank.

I used to hate this set, but actually they paint up quite well and half the hate was down to their lack of availability in the Airfix HO/OO range. Why is this about the only set the Chinese never copied in small scale either?! There were a couple of HO copies in a later kit from Airfix?

Almost Churchillian?...errr...

News, views etc...

Richard O'Brien has published a collection of all his old articles on toy soldiers, it is available as a self-published book from Lulu, Get it here Toy Soldiers

N is for Newsflash! - Political Expenses....Latest!

T is for Taffy Toys

I must apologise for the quality of the images in tonight's second post, however these were taken with my old camera in very poor light, but I thought a bit of large scale would go down well for a change!

Now believed to be part of the Thomas Toys group, 'Taffy' is considered quite derogatory in these PC days! Thomas were covered in one of Plastic Warrior's 'Specials', see the website (top right) and eMail Paul for details of availability.

These figures turn up all the time, the vehicles are a lot rarer, and I only know of two boxes in existence, this being one of them. The trailer - in particular - is a much copied/licenced/borrowed design.

The box has that classic 'Technicolour' stirring stuff of 1950's Boys Own annuals and the like.

The tank is a generic M46/47, and the ammo is strapped to the engine deck! Having nearly melted my boots hitching a ride on a CVRW fox once, I worry for the crew of this warhorse...?

A is for Airfix

P.S. I love my new Picasa!

M is for More Unfinished Projects

As well as these, there are various scenic projects in stages of unfinishedness, the Hoth thing and a large industrial complex which may be sci-fi, may be Stalingrad, haven't decided, and unless someone grants me another lifetime or two, I'll probably never decide!

M is for Minor Makes

A quick look at some odds and ends, as I'm getting as sick of my unfinished stuff as some of you may be!

Copies of Airfix Washington's Army in 35mm, made in Hong Kong and sold primarily as cake decorations, notably here in the UK by Cullpits from stands in bakers and catering supply retailers. Showing front and back of each figure with two from each end of the Union Jack spectrum.

Hit men and drive-by shooter from Parker's board game Vendetta, also called 'Vengeance à Chicago' or Cosa Nosta. There was a third pose, the boss men, but they're cruder and bigger.

Close up of the hired gun, the game seems to be a glorified game of Ludo, with the added excitement of semi-random murder and 4 Mafia speakeasy's! There are two cars, this one being removed from one end of the 'spinner'.

I've been collecting these for years, starting with the smaller ones and now just buying them whenever I see them. I can see Britains Herald (UK & HK), Cofalux and Starlux among them. They have been identified as both ice cream premiums and chocolate lolly premiums, however, both were tentative, so more information is needed on these. [02/03/2012 - In Belgium they were issued as boiled-sweet type lollipops in orange or lemon flavour as 'Soldabar' by the Plasticom company.]

H is for Hog

Clearing out one of the sheds today and woke this up! I then did a frantic search on Google to see if I had to do anything, and apparently - I don't. They wake during hibernation anyway and just go back to sleep, although if you force them awake too early in the spring, they can starve as there's no food about. Sadly I had left the camera on the eBay setting, so it's not too clear.

The Bridges of Wet County

"Just here please mate!"

I've been meaning to get these photographs up and have a rant about the flooding 'oop North, but have procrastinated to the point that five minutes after I finally loaded them tonight, there was an ominous announcement from the news on 4 that the army WERE building a bridge ( over the river Derwent in Workington) after all...I'd heard some reporter last week saying a bridge had been ruled out as they [the army] "only build bridges suitable for tanks, not cars or lorries"...yeh, exactly! So I was ready to pull this article when the report carried on to repeat the rumour and state they will only be building a footbridge!?!

A spokesman for the army repeated the fact that the WWII style 'Bailey' bridge capable of handling 70-ton tanks is not, that's; NOT suitable for civilian traffic.

Well, as I was researching hoglets on google (see Greenfingers blog - Now here somewhere [13/10/2012]), I thought I'd better look into this more closely before shooting my mouth off...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I can report that the 5th richest country in the world; Phew, beat the..., can't build a civilian road bridge with military hardware because...we're not that sure whether we can or not, and will err on the side of caution, even if they [the Whitehall mandarins and local apparatchiks] allow traffic on some of the dozen or so bridges being contemplated (Bailey, Medium Girder and M5 ferry), it is likely to be limited to light vehicles in low numbers?

Now, pardon me for getting my rant after all, but what the F**K is this country coming to? We used to be able to span ship navigable Western European rivers in hours and get 100,000 tons of military muscle across them before the end of the week, yet here we are still contemplating where to put them over a week after the damage.

Is it that the surface of the bridge is too rough? Well - prepare the roadway, match it to the bridge and put three six-inch layers of macadam over the whole lot - as if it is a highway - and landfill it afterwards. After giving the bWanks billions, some of it in secret, there is no way you can use the 'two much money' excuse Mr. Brown Trousers, and I can't find another concrete reason for not getting on with it....too narrow? Build two next to each other or use single flow traffic lights....it's just not rocket science is it?

Any suggestions?

"Job Done, Where's the next one?"

S is for Still Sitting There

Reconnaissance is supposed to lead from the front, these have all been left behind!

I've posted these before, on my imageshack, but to prove how bad I am here they are again a year later - no change! Some may end up in the sleigh diorama, piling up in a ditch and leaping over the bank to look for partisans? Mostly HaT with Airfix horse and bicycle

One of my favorites, the Matchbox Sd.Kfz.232 Armoured Radio Car. I built the kit (radio) version of this years ago and fancied a GS version, so filled the holes in the roof, added the MG/grab-rail and some more stowage boxes, covered the spare wheel and...er...I've sorted out some transfers! Although one of them is an Afrika Korps palm tree and they never had these, Doh!

Italeri have brought out a kit of this vehicle and while I haven't managed to compare them yet, there were several body-types in real life so one day I might try the same thing with the new kit, then I'll have three unfinished 6-rads on the table at once!

Like artillery and trailers, small 'jeep' types seem to breed on the work bench while your backs turned, there are two Eidai ones somewhere and an unmade Renown metal kit from Phoenix.

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.

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