B is for Bit and Pieces

Another lazy post, a few more images from the archive, time waits for no man and I've been doing other things today!

First up a couple of 40mm Elastolin Roman Cavalry, my favorite sculpts from this manufacturer, no matter how 'inaccurate' the rivet counters may hold them, they were toys - in their day - and bloody good ones!

Montaplex Sioux Indians from Spain, the packet looking as old as it is, the figure sprues looking like they left a plastics factory in Kent at six o'clock this morning! Airfix piracy's of course!

Hong Kong Bendy Toys of Cowboys and Indians, these are about 60mm, and were sold flattish, to get them all in the box.

Hat variations on the Britains 'Detail' Royal Canadian Mounted police (RCMP).

Happy New Year

A bunch of white doves clearing up after a load of straw has left the stack yard this afternoon.

B is for Beachead - Hong Kong Style, Part 1 - Beach Head Assault

As promised yesterday evening - a closer look at the Beach Head Assault sets from Hong Kong makers and some linked bits and pieces (second post - below)

This is the set I looked at the other night, figures are close to H0/00 and quite well detailed, bunker is basically the Giant copy of the Marx pillbox.

The same set, this time however it has had Byra Products overprinted and one lot of troops (the 'Enemy') have been replaced by the Airfix copies usually found in lucky-bags and cheap Christmas Crackers.

We then have 'Set Number 273' again in two slightly different versions, and this shows well how the HK manufacturers would plagiarise each other as happily as they would copy western producers. Although these look the same, they are in fact smaller, have new artwork (with one differing greatly from the other; planes...) and have slightly different contents, both from each other and the preceding sets.

These are later sets with poorer quality figures, to the Britains copies have now been added copies of the Crescent Desert Infantry. The left hand set is probably the earlier (closer to the original artwork, better detail to the armoured cars and planes), while the one on the right is the copy of a copy of copies!

The Haglon/Hagemeyer set is closer to the first two in style, contents and card size, but has the poor quality figures of the two above sets so I've placed it here in the 'hierarchy' of card types. Note also it's numbered 272 a digit below the above two sets, so there will be a connection lost in the mists of time, and it may be this set slightly predates them?

As so much HK stuff has 3 or 4-digit numbers, I suspect the numbers pertain to contracts rather than stock numbers, or; some do at least!!?!

Thanks must go to James Opie for this and all Hong Kong articles as his generousity in the past pretty-much doubled my HK collection at a stroke.

B is for Beachead - Hong Kong Style, Part 2 - Beach Head Invasion etc...

Continuing where I left off above and starting with a comparison shot between the set they were all pretending to be (Airfix Beach-Head Invasion Set) and the various pretenders.

The reason the big Airfix sets are so uncommon is twofold, first; big ticket items don't last, they get caught up in house fires and clear-outs in a way little carded stocking-fillers left at the back of the 'secret' drawer don't (the water marks on this one are from the summer floods of 2007, not some calamity of the 1960's), the other reason is simply that not many sell to begin with, if you're a parent sent - by Santa - to purchase "...a big landing set like Timmy down the road." are you going to spend 2 pounds, thirteen shillings and sixpence on the Airfix set...or...2/11d on one of the carded Hong Kong sets?
Contents are similar to the earlier 'Assault' sets, but title differs and graphics are all new. However we are back to the H0/00 reasonable quality copies of Britains Lilliput only. The bunker is the most accurate copy of the Marx original having only two slits and the protected doorway (usually filled in, or no more than a bump on these HK copies).

The Jungle set is clearly from the same series as the above, set in Vietnam and selling for 3/11d in 1967. A fine example of why you should leave cities for idiots to live in...it's a whole shilling more than the Byra set was selling for in Andover the same year!!

This set was bought in Chelsea, the same year, also for 3/11d, at least you get more with this set! The barbed-wire is marked "GIANT (P) HONG KONG" yet this is clearly not from the Giant stable, only helping to muddy the water if you study Giant! Compare the bunker here with the previous sets, three slits (one designed for archers!) and no doorway.

An attempt at the earlier artworks, this is a late 1960's set with poor copies of the Blue Box and/or Triang Space Commando figures.

A is for Airfix (and Craft, Dairylea, Tehnolog, Humbrol, Robogear...)

Ringing in the changes with the old and the new I thought I'd look at a couple of Aifix rarities.

Among the first sets issued by Airfix was the Farm Stock set, and in common with other early sets it was snapped up by the food industry as a premium, in this case by Craft Foods for their Dairylea Cheese Spread. The Cowboys and Combat Group had both been used by comics and the Civilians were issued on the cover of a Railway modelling magazine. The Astronauts too were used for a mail-away promotion.

The box (big enough for a whole set!) clearly states 'Three Animals' yet this is the second set I've seen with 4 animals, both times it's the very small animals, and the conclusion is that they felt three weren't enough if using the smaller one's so included an extra without reprinting or printing a new box graphic.

Just before they went bust for the umpteenth time, Airfix bought-into this system from Russia. At the London Toy Fair in about 2005 or '06? I ran into the Airfix stand (first time they'd had a stand for a long time) and they were showing these with their own label.

As they had only just appeared in the Pocketbond catalogue in the Russian graphics, I was impressed by the speed Airfix had got on what could have been a profitable bandwagon and told them as much - anything anybody does to break Games Workshop's monopoly is OK by me!

The box art, they weren't designed to be 'multi-pose', but the judicious use of glue, stretched sprue and spare bits of plastic soon made them as versatile as anything GW have produced. Sadly once Heller had taken them under, this range failed to survive the Hornby takeover! The Robogear website was last updated in January 2007 so I'm afraid the promising range is dead?

C is for Camel Cigarette Ephemera

H is for Hong Kong Copies of the Britains Lilliput Trooscale Figures

I have dozens of these old HK carded sets, but thought I'd put up a couple of 'typical' examples, just to finish this sequence on Britains Lilliput Khaki Infantry.

Early sets tend to have smaller figures with more 'extras' - in this case Marx/Blue Box bunkers, a micro-scale clip together wharf, bridge ("One at a time please!") and tank traps. The micro-scale armoured cars go so well with the 54mm barbed wire?

Later, larger figures probably taken from the Britains 54mm originals, these figures often come with similar copies of the Crescent 8th Army/Desert Infantry.

Close-up showing the glossy appearance of these figures, and poor detail, some miss whole limbs or body parts, these date from the mid-late 1970's, the beach-assault from the '60's.

A is for A Call to Arms Reissue of Britains Lilliput Trooscale

As pointed out below, A Call To Arms (ACTA) obtained the moulds for the Britains Lilliput Trooscale figures and reissued them in the early 'Noughties'.

The eight poses as reissued in a dark green plastic, to the left is an early 'Empire Made' piracy from Hong Kong of the 54mm originals. He has no face!

E is for EKO copies of Britains Trooscale Lilliput

Further to the article below and the comments resulting; long before A Call To Arms (ACTA) got their hands on the mould, EKO in Spain had indulged in a bit of 'homage'!

Seen here is a complete set of the EKO figures with both the common types of packaging/'Header Card' associated with them. Very true to the originals, detail on this later set is markedly less clear than the figures accompanying the earlier red and white card.

News, views etc...Airfix, Eric Williamson

Eric Williamson's Airfix website does seem to have finally died, so I've removed it from the link list but I'll keep an eye out and an ear to the ground and if it reappears I'll re-link to it. Shame; it was a good grounding in the subject, but maybe someone is working on an updated listing? I would, but I have too much else to cover, and - shamefully - am sitting on a couple of Airfix unique'ees for the long planned book!

Recent Snow

With reports of more snow tomorrow, I guess I'd better get these images up before they become dated, taken last week during the first cold snap...Global Warming...what global warming?

Lone tree lit by the setting sun.

The double Hornbeam likewise.

Ratty is still at it despite my best efforts to send him to a better place! I think the fresher the poison, the more he likes it!

Contrast!

M is for Mugs

B is for Britains Trooscale Lilliput (Truescale)

Well, as it's Christmas I thought I'd cover an oldie but a goodie! Issued in 1958, these were supposed to be the first of a range of plastic figures to be added to the metal range of Trooscale 'Lilliput' model railway figures by William Horton (for William Britains).

They were first issued in this slightly 'Toblerone' shaped triangular prism packaging, and a counter pack of 48 figures (6x8 poses), fully painted in the same scheme as their 54mm brethren (upon which they were based, if not just pantographed down from!).

They were also sold as an unpainted set in this small 'envelope' sized pack with eight separate windows, the range/series/set (?) was pretty much dead at birth as Airfix had already started producing 40/50 figures/items per set for about the same money as these!

The eight poses. As can be seen they are not only the same size as their larger donors, but bare a remarkable resemblance to the Airfix Combat Group issued a few years later. They are - like most 1950's toy 'khaki' infantry - modelled on the School of Infantry 'Demonstration Battalion' down at Warminster, being equipped with the experimental/trials EM 2 Bullpup design Assault Rifle, the - then - brand new '58 pattern webbing with large pack, 'bum-roll' & kidney pouches and the late WWII helmet, which would soldier-on (excuse the pun!) until at least 1987 (when I surrendered mine for the itchy-piss-pot that was/is the Kevlar replacement!).

Rear view of three different colour treatments, some collectors think the gloss ones were not issued by Britains as the 54mm never got such a painting, but as they keep turning up in different shades - as above - I think they did, probably toward the end of their period of availability, to try to make them stand out on the shop rack and sell?

Happy Christmas All

Mimi drew the line at another year with the pink gay tree, so we had a blue one this year, with the promise of a green one to look forward to in 12 months...hey, it's nearly spring already! Take care and have a fine New Year.

Just looked at the post, there's been an earthquake in Bethlehem! Was there one last year? I think there was...maybe next year I'll get it right!

S is for Snowmen

I couldn't leave killer skeletons on top for Christmas, so have a good one and normal service will resume in a week or so! Thanks for visiting.