S is for Search Terms!

C is for Christmas Present....to Myself!

Not strictly a revue - this one, as nobody sent me a free copy, so more of a new acquisitions post! But as it's still available in Waterstone's (and probably on-line?) it's worth looking at as if it's a review...

...so go and buy it today! It's Brilliant! To quote the Fast Show character called... err... Brilliant

"Ain't it Brilliant that there's a game with Penguins that hunt fish, brilliant! And they steal fish off of each other, brilliant! On little ice-flows and everything... ...Briiiiilllllllliiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnntttttt!"

So, Fantasy Flight Games are responsible for this simple, quick, fun game, and it bucks the rule that the more figurines ('Minis') in a game or the more likely it is to prove popular the more expensive it will be, being only £9.99p pre-sale...that's about 7 dollars! Compare with a Hobbit game containing two figurines which is retailing for 29.99!

You get a bunch of pre-cut punch-out cards with the little ice-flow fish-hexes, 16 Penguins in four poses and four colours, and you can play with 2, 3 or 4 players, varying the number of belligerents on the board. We've been playing 2-player with all four pieces each, and you can do best-of-three within the hour.

The pieces; these are beautiful little sculpts, and working on the principle that cartoon characters and anthropomorphic animals are scaled to the universe of Roger Rabbit, i.e. the same size as equally hight'ed humans - these are 25mm ('Old School', when 25mm was 25mm not 28 or 32mm!).

I don't know who the sculptor is and there doesn't seem to be any credit on the packaging. They are a dense PVC and the red and yellow proved bloody hard to photograph!

The early stages of a quick game, the pieces are shuffled and set up in a block of rows of seven and eight tiles, this is to be done upside-down and then they are turned-over, this is the most time-consuming state of the proceedings, however if you do them on a piece of card, put another piece on top and turn them (carefully) it takes half as long!

Players take turns putting a Penguin on a one-fish hex, when all the antagonists are placed, the game proper starts. A piece can move in any direction, off a side, in a straight line for as many hexes as the player likes. The hex the Penguin has been stood on then gets removed.

In the example above, yellow is leading the move-cycle and in fig.1 has placed its pieces slightly better than red, but red has answered well, both positioned for a feeding frenzy of orange 'threes' or purple 'twos'. Fig.2 and move-cycle 4 is about to commence (or move 7?!), red seems to be stronger with more 'threes' in the bag, but as the game progresses and players begin to isolate each other you can see the yellow seems to be getting the upper hand (fig.3). By fig.4 you can see that yellow is going to clear the 'ones' nearest the viewer, a battle is going to occur far left, far right a yellow will pick up only one more, leaving one untouched on the board, a smaller battle top in the furthest corner will leave yellow up...but in the centre those two reds are going to clear all the 'twos'.

We've played dozens of games now and they are all really close, with the obvious winner sometimes loosing after the final count, with only 100 points up for grabs (10x3, 20x2 and 30x1 fish, on 60 hexes), you only need to count one pile, celebrate or commiserate and start again!

It really is Briiiiilllllllliiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnntttttt!

News, Views Etc...Links, Art Etc...

So a round-up of recent bookmarks and other stuff which may be of interest to others....

Setting off with My Modern Met who I've rediscovered through Facebook;

Pierre Javelle and Akiko Ida play with food!

and

Zeng Chunhui carves wood

while

Brian McCarty makes us think about war

Further afield this made me laugh;

Knitler and the Knotsies

In Morgantown - West Virginia, Toy Soldiers are being used to teach....art and history by the looks of things!;

The Dominion Post/Charleston Gazette

Meanwhile, my namesake has some rather nice watercolours here;

Carlota Attlee Fine Art

And looking at the life-size fad we visited before;

Not a Game!

Wrapping-up this post...

A Company History Prinze August - from the horses mouth!

K is for Kosmic Kit!

I've been hideously busy for the last week so you've only got two days to track these down if you haven't found them yet - although they will probably be reissued a couple of times over the next year or so going on previous performance of these freebies...although that should be measured against the fact that the magazine has gone from weekly to bi-weekly in the last year?

Four, free, approximately 54mm, polystyrene plastic, clip-together, figure kit sprues...in one issue! What's not to like? They come with a pack of the usual collector cards and various other 'old stock' (mostly previously issued stationary sets), if you're lucky you get the T.A.R.D.I.S. pencil top (with notebook), compatible with OO gauge.

There is a least one left in the Sainsbury's by Basingrad's station - as I saw it there tonight and left it (I was tired and not thinking straight!). I will be looking at more Who stuff as soon as I've sorted out the photographs. HMA for Dr. Who Adventures magazine....get 'em if you can.

They aren't the best kits, fit will require filling before painting, but I've seen worse...and they are Free!

B is for Best Wishes

Happy Christmas and the best of wishes for 2014 to all who follow, comment or contribute

to the blog, or who wander through!

The contents of this years Lidl's Advent Calender...and I ate them all!

C is for Corgi Check-list

Not really a check-list but I wanted to keep the 'C is for C...' thing going for another post. This is very much a work in progress, and no more than an annotated list in numerical order of what a lawyer would call disparagingly; 'manuscript notes'! Basically the list I constructed for myself, to make some sense of the preceding 15 posts as I was sorting them out a year ago and posting the Husky and Hornby stuff.

Feel free to correct or add to it, just bear in mind it will probably be copied, pasted and published for profit by a Canadian plagiarist at some point!

Known List (by me that is!)

2 - Citroen Safari, boat, [approximately 1:76, white or brown polystyrene] - Husky

2 - Citroen Safari, boat, [approximately 1:76, blue polystyrene] - Corgi Junior

GS 2 - Land Rover with Rice's pony trailer and pony, pony/racehorse (blanket version).

GS 3 - Batmobile and Batboat, Batman and Robin figures [scale varies, dense or softish PVC vinyl or polystyrene] - Set shares figures with Batmobile (267), both issued/re-issued in several batches over the years with two variants of figures in different materials, see also; 107 and 267.

GS 4 B1 - Massey Ferguson tractor and hay wagon, dog and two children on hay rick (and - policeman, lead and Alsatian dog?) [45/50mm, dense PVC vinyl, policeman - if included; 40mm, dense or softish PVC vinyl] - scale-up from Husky set 1574, see also; 448.

5B - Jeep, driver figure [1:72/25mm, polyethylene/polypropylene] - Corgi Juniors, same figure as; 76, see also; 2508 and E3029.

GS 5 B1 - Agricultural gift-set, farmhand, various animals and policeman with dog from another set/other sets [40mm, dense or softish PVC vinyl].

GS 7 - Daktari gift set, various figures and animals [35/40mm, dense PVC vinyl] - see also; GS 14.

GS 8 - Lions of Longleat, 2 different lions, park ranger [40mm, dense PVC vinyl].

GS 10 - Marlin Rambler set, canoeist and canoe [approximately 30mm, figure is dense PVC vinyl, canoe is unknown].

010 - Road Maintenance Figures, several road workers, governor and accessories [40mm, polystyrene] often mistaken for Dinky, number shared with Dinky set of the same figures, as I stated in the relevant post - not happy with this listing, but it stays for now, please don't snipe on other sites - just makes you look small - clearly sculpted by Stadden and copied in 25 and 30mm polystyrene and 40mm polyethylene in Hong Kong by Blue Box and Lucky Toys among others.

GS 11 - Title unknown, traffic policeman on podium [40mm, soft PVC vinyl, podium is polystyrene] - figure is scale-up from Husky set 1574.

GS 11 C2 - Game Park, park ranger [40mm, dense PVC vinyl].

GS13 - Fordson Power Major tractor and four-furrow plough [40mm, dense PVC vinyl] - larger green/brown paint driver, see also 67 for smaller version.

GS 13 C1 - Tour de France set, trainer with megaphone [54mm, softish PVC vinyl].

GS 14 - Daktari gift set, various figures and animals [35/40mm, dense PVC vinyl] - see also; GS 7.

15 - Studebaker camera-car, cameraman torso, [approximately 25mm, polystyrene].

19 - Chipperfield's Land Rover with elephant and cage on trailer, elephant [approximately 40mm, dense PVC vinyl] - see also; GS 48 C1 and 6079 kit version).

GS 21 - (Title/contents unknown but included the tiger from the menagerie trailer in 1139) [approximately 30/35mm, dense PVC vinyl] - see also; GS 1139.

GS 23 - Circus Models, 2 giraffe, 2 lions, 2 panda bears, 1 elephant [scale varies, elephant; approximately 40mm, dense PVC vinyl, rest; 25mm'ish, polyethylene] see also; 19, GS30 and 607 (kit version).

24 A1 - Constructor set, milkman/deliveryman [45mm, dense PVC vinyl].

28 - "Sea Spray" Mazda pick-up and dingy on trailer [approximately 25mm boat, polyethylene/polypropylene?].

29 - Corgi Jeep and horse box "Pony Club" set, mounted woman and horse [54mm, polystyrene] - see also; GS 47 B.

GS 30 B1 - Circus Land Rover and cage trailer, 2 polar bears (some sets) or 1 panda and 1 gorilla (other sets), clown with microphone [bears; small, less than 20mm, Gorilla nearer 54mm, both polyethylene, clown; 54mm, dense PVC vinyl] - see also; GS 48 C1.

31 - The 'Riviera' gift set, chap in marine garb [30mm, dense PVC vinyl] - contents same as 104.

33 A1 - Livestock trailer, four calves on base [1:87/HO guage-20mm, dense PVC vinyl] - see also; 2501 A1.

33 A2 - Livestock trailer, four calves on base [1:87/HO guage-20mm, dense PVC vinyl] - see also; 2501 A1.

GS 36 - Tarzan, 2 Tarzan's, boy, Jane and hunter [54mm, dense PVC vinyl].

38 B1 - Gift Set - Mini (car) Camping Set, Figure cooking BBQ and chicken on a spit [40mm, polystyrene with die-cast parts].

GS 40 - 'The Avengers' Steed's Bentley & Emma Peel's Lotus, two figures [30mm, dense PVC vinyl] - see also 00101.

GS 41 B1 - State Landau, HM The Queen, Prince Philip, various postillions, grooms and horses [50mm figures, 54mm horses, polystyrene].

GS 44 A1 - Police Land Rover and Horse Box, mounted policeman and horse [54mm, polystyrene].

GS 45 B1 - Royal Canadian Mounted Police set, mounted RCMP 'Mountie' and horse [54mm, polystyrene].

47 - Fordson tractor and conveyor, small brown driver and sacks [35mm. dense or softer PVC vinyl, sacks are a polystyrene plastic].

GS 47 B - Pony Club set, mounted woman and horse [54mm, polystyrene] - see also; 29.

GS 48 C1 - Circus set, elephant, acrobat, clown with mic, circus horses, clown and monkey, ringmaster, human cannonball, polar bear [horses; approximately 40mm, polyethylene, 2 poses, ringmaster; 54mm, dense PVC vinyl, human cannonball; 45mm, polystyrene, polar bears; small, polyethylene, clown; 54mm, dense PVC vinyl, elephant; approximately 40mm, dense PVC vinyl, acrobat; 54mm, polyethylene (or; soft PVC vinyl?)] - see also; GS 30 B1, 233, 487 A1, 1130 A1, 1163 A1, and 607 (kit version of elephant).

64 - Working Conveyor on Forward-Control Jeep, farm figure, red shirt and sacks [Figure 30mm dense and soft PVC vinyl, sacks are a polystyrene plastic].

67 - Ford 5000 Super Major Tractor, tractor driver [40mm, dense PVC vinyl] - also used on Hover toy tractor from Hong Kong, see also GS 13 for larger version.

67 - Ford 5000 Super Major tractor with scoop/bucket, tractor driver [40mm, dense PVC vinyl] - also used on Hover toy tractor from Hong Kong, smaller yellow/brown paint driver, see also GS 13 for larger version.

76 - Jeep, driver figure [1:72/25mm, polyethylene/polypropylene] - Corgi Juniors, same figure as; 5B, see also; 2508 and E3029.

84 - Scout car, figure with Bren-gun/LMG [1:72/25mm, polyethylene/polypropylene] - Corgi Juniors, see also; E3029.

96 - Field gun, pair of crew  [1:72/25mm, polyethylene/polypropylene] - Corgi Juniors, see also; E3029

00101 - The Avengers Bentley, John Steed figure [50mm, poured white-metal] - see also GS40.

FAO 102 - Chevrolet Impala "Kennel Club", poodle and mutt [approximately 30mm, dense PVC vinyl] - contents the same as 486.

102 - Rice's Pony Trailer (horse box), horse in racing blanket, blanket smooth or textured [25/30mm, polyethylene] - larger version exists unpainted or with stick-on blanket, probably from Hong Kong toy, blankets painted various colours.

104 - 4-bearth cruiser - chap in marine garb [30mm, dense PVC vinyl] - accessories same as GS 31, less water-skier.

107 - The Batman Batboat, Batman and Robin figures [scale varies, dense or softish PVC vinyl or polystyrene] - Set shares figures with Batmobile (267), both issued/re-issued in several batches over the years with two variants of figures in different materials, see also; GS 3.

114 - Wild West Stage Coach, several integral figures, [20mm, polyethylene/polypropylene] - Corgi Juniors, see also E 3122.

122 - Wild West Covered Wagon, two integral figures, [20mm, polyethylene/polypropylene] - Corgi Juniors, see also E 3122.

233 - Circus play set, ringmaster [54mm, dense PVC vinyl] - see also; GS 48 C1.

246 - Chrysler Imperial, seated driver and golf bag [driver; 30/35mm, dense PVC vinyl, bag; scaled larger and die-cast/polyethylene] - bag also issued with and see; 440.

250 - "Kojak" Buick Regal, Kojak figure and torso shooting from window [50mm, dense PVC vinyl] - see also; 290.

254 - Volkswagen Safari Gift Set, rhinoceros [approximately 30/35mm, dense PVC vinyl] - may be typo and never have existed? See; 256.

256 - Volkswagen 1200 in East African Safari trim, rhinoceros [approximately 30/35mm, dense PVC vinyl] - may have been erroneously labelled 254 at some point, see also; 254.

256 - Chitty-chitty Bang-bang, two adults and two children [40mm, dense PVC vinyl] - see also; Husky/Corgi Juniors 1006.

261 - James Bond's Aston Martin D.B.5, Bond and Asian guard from 'The Man with the Golden Gun' scene [1:87/HO gauge/20mm, dense PVC vinyl] - small 'Bond' version in gold, see also; 270 for silver version and 336 (for larger Bond figure).

261 B1 - Spiderbuggy (Jeep), seated Spiderman character [40/45mm, polystyrene].

264 - Incredible Hulk, Hulk figure [largish 54mm, hard polyethylene/polypropylene or polystyrene] - difficult to give a scale to a man who 'grows' when he's angry!

267 - Batmobile, Batman and Robin figures [scale varies, dense or softish PVC vinyl or polystyrene] - Set shares figures with Batboat (107), both issued/re-issued in several batches over the years with two variants of figures in different materials, see also; GS 3.

268 - The Green Hornet "Black Beauty" car, Green Hornet torso [25mm, dense PVC vinyl].

268 - Batman's Batbike, Batman figure and plug-in cape [approximately 54mm, polyethylene or polypropylene).

270 - James Bond's Aston Martin D.B.5, Bond and Asian guard from 'The Man with the Golden Gun' scene [1:87/HO gauge/20mm, dense PVC vinyl] - small 'Bond' version in silver, see also; 261 for gold version and 336 (for larger Bond figure).

277 - Monkeymobile, four Monkey figures, 3 assemblies [35/40mm,  dense PVC vinyl].

290 - "Kojak" Buick Regal, Kojak figure and torso shooting from window [50mm, dense PVC vinyl] - see also; 250.

292 - Starsky and Hutch Ford Torino, Starsky, Hutch and 'perp' [50mm, polystyrene].

302 - Hillman Hunter rallye "London to Sydney", kangaroo [approximately 30/35mm, dense PVC vinyl].

313 - Ford Cortina GXL "Graham Hill", Hill figure with helmet [40mm, dense PVC vinyl].

336 - James Bond Toyota 200GT, Bond firing backwards and slightly larger driver, [30/35mm, dense PVC vinyl] - large 'Bond' version, see both; 261 and 270 (for smaller Bond figure).

342 - Lamborghini 400 GT Mura "Fighting Bull", bull charging [approximately 30/35mm, dense PVC vinyl].

342 - Ford Capri CI5 'The Professionals' Ford Capri, Bodie, Doyle and the other - boss- one [approximately 54mm, dense PVC vinyl].

348 - 'Vagas' Ford Thunderbird, Vagas figure [approximately 54mm, dense PVC vinyl].

381 - Beach Buggy, no figures but included 2 of the surf-boards also used with 485.

403 - Thwaites-Tusker skip/dumper-truck, driver [45mm, soft-to-dense PVC vinyl].

405 - Chevrolet Superior 61 ambulance, stretcher and attendant [approximately 40mm, figure; dense PVC vinyl, stretcher; polystyrene?].

406 C1 - Mercedes-Benz ambulance, stretcher and two attendants [50mm polystyrene].

406 C2 - Falck [as; 406 C1].

413 B1 - Mazda motorway maintenance truck, mechanic [40mm, dense PVC vinyl] - oval-based version of mechanic from; 1501, 1505 and others.

430 (early) - Bermuda Taxi, driver in shorts [20mm, dense PVC vinyl].

430 (late) - Bermuda Taxi, driver in shorts [25mm, soft PVC vinyl].

440 - Ford Consul Cortina estate-car, golfer, golf-bag and caddy/boy [40mm, dense PVC vinyl with die-cast parts) see also; 246.

447 - Ford Thames Ice-Cream van "Walls", seller and boy customer [40mm softish PVC vinyl] - see also 474 A1.

448 - Police Mini Van, policeman, lead and Alsatian dog [40mm, dense or softish PVC vinyl] - scale-up from Husky set 1574, see also; GS 5 B1.

449 - Citroën Safari 1968 Winter Olympics, tobogganist and toboggan [40mm dense PVC vinyl with die-cast toboggan] - see also 475.

461 - Police 'Vigilant' Range Rover, Policeman in reflective orange jacket with signs and cones in crate [40mm, figure; softish PVC vinyl or polyethylene, accessories; all ethylene].

468 - London Transport Routemaster bus, conductress and driver [1:87/HO gauge, dense PVC vinyl] - may be more than 1 version of conductress and driver (2nd versions being softer PVC vinyl, 3rd version polyethylene?).

471 - Mobile Canteen, female attendant [40mm, dense PVC vinyl].

472 - Land Rover Public Address Vehicle, politician with microphone [45mm, dense PVC vinyl], see also GS 48/487 A1 for small version of clown with microphone and GS30 for large version.

474 A1 - Ford Thames Ice-Cream van "Walls" with chimes, seller and boy customer [40mm softish PVC vinyl] - musical version of and see also 447.

475A - Citroën Ski Safari "1964 Olympic Winter Sports", skier [30/35mm, softish PVC vinyl, skis, polyethylene/polypropylene - yellow or red] see also 475B, 499A and 499B

475B - Citroën Ski Safari "Corgi Ski Club", skier [30/35mm, softish PVC vinyl, skis, polyethylene/polypropylene - yellow or red] see also 475A, 499A and 499B

478 - Hydraulic tower-platform, street-lighting engineer [40mm, polyethylene].

479 - Commer van "Samuelson Film Service", Cine-camera, operator, (bicycle and rider?), luggage [30mm, dense PVC vinyl with die-cast parts] - some part-painted examples of the cameraman exist.

482 - Range Rover ambulance, stretcher team and stretcher case [40mm, dense PVC vinyl] - copies in 54mm exist.

484 - Dodge Kew Fargo Life Stock Transporter with Animals, 5 pigs [50/54mm, polyethylene or polypropylene] - usually one large black and three creamy-tan; 1 medium and two small.

485 - Mini Countryman, surfer and surf-board (surfer; 35mm, soft PVC vinyl, board; polyethylene/propylene?].

486 - Chevrolet Impala "Kennel Club", poodle and mutt [approximately 30mm, dense PVC vinyl] - contents the same as FAO 102.

487 A1 - Circus Parade Vehicle (Land Rover), clown and monkey in skirt [45mm, dense PVC vinyl] - also in; GS 48 (small version of clown with microphone, see also GS30 for large version and 472 for politician).

497 - "The Man from UNCLE" Thrushbuster, two hinged shooting figures [approximately 1:87/HO gauge, polystyrene].

499A - Citroen 1968 Winter Olympic Sports, skier and tobogganist [30/35mm, softish PVC vinyl, skis, polyethylene/polypropylene - yellow or red, toboggan, die-cast metal] - see also 475A, 475B and 499B

499B - Citroen 1968 Grenoble, skier and tobogganist [30/35mm, softish PVC vinyl, skis, polyethylene/polypropylene - yellow or red, toboggan, die-cast metal] - see also 475A, 475B and 499A

506 - Hillman Imp Panda Police car, seated policeman [25/35mm, polymer-material unknown].

510 - Citroën DS Paramount "Tour de France", trainer with megaphone [30mm, dense PVC vinyl].

511 - Chipperfield's Performing Poodles, several poodle poses and female performer [30mm, dense PVC vinyl].

513 - Citroën Safari Alpine Rescue Car, rescue team member and St. Bernard dog [40mm, dense PVC vinyl].

607 - Circus Elephant and Transport Cage, elephant [kit vertion of the common PVC version, tan polystyrene] - see also 19, GS23 and GS48 for vinyl/PVC versions.

647 A1 - Buck Rogers Starfighter, Buck Rogers and Twiggi Robot [50mm, polystyrene].

803 - Yellow submarine, paired torsos of The Beatles [ 25/30mm, dense PVC vinyl].

805 - Hardy Boys Rolls Royce, several figures [size/scale varies - drummer 40mm+, singer 35mm, dense PVC vinyl].

811 - James Bond Moon Buggy, seated driver [approximately 25/30mm, polymer-material unknown].

868 - Dylan the Rabbit, Dylan figurine [45/50mm, dense PVC vinyl].

907 A1 - Rocket Launcher (Sd.kfz.251), Soldier/MG gunner, operating MG [30mm, polyethylene/propylene?].

908 A1 - AXM recovery tank, welder, standing soldier and two squatting soldiers [35mm, dense PVC vinyl].

926 A - Jaguar pace-car, winner and co-driver/constructors representative [25mm, dense PVC vinyl] Corgi Rockets.

1001 - James Bond Aston Martin, integral driver and flick-out figure, [20mm, polyethylene/polypropylene] - Husky/Corgi Juniors.

1002 - Batmobile, two figures, [15/20mm, dense PVC vinyl] - Husky/Corgi Juniors, scale-downs of Corgi figures.

1003 - Batboat on Trailer two figures, [15/20mm, dense PVC vinyl] - Husky/Corgi Juniors, scale-downs of Corgi figures.

1004 - Monkeemobile, four figures, [15/20mm, dense PVC vinyl] - Husky/Corgi Juniors.

1005 - Man from U.N.C.L.E. Car, two figures (?) fully enclosed in car, [15/20mm, dense PVC vinyl] - Husky

1006 A1 - Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang, pair of adults, pair of children [1:87/HO gauge, dense PVC vinyl] - Husky Extra, see also; 256 and 1406.

1006 A2 - Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang, pair of adults, pair of children [1:87/HO gauge, dense PVC vinyl] - Corgi Junior, see also; 256 and 1406.

1006 A3 - Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang, pair of adults, pair of children [1:87/HO gauge, dense PVC vinyl] - Wizzwheels, see also; 256 and 1406.

1107 - - Euclid TC12Tractor and Dozer Blade, driver figure [details unknown] - introduced in 1958 (as 1103) and re-released in 1963 with a driver.

1117 - Street sweeper, operator [40mm polystyrene].

1130 A1 - Circus horse van [horses; approximately 40mm, polyethylene] - see also; GS 48 C1.

1139 - Menagerie trailer, tiger [approximately 30/35mm, dense PVC vinyl] - also in; GS 21.

1163 A1 - Human cannonball [45mm, polystyrene] - see also; GS 48 C1.

1164 - Dolphinarium, dolphin trainer (and dolphins?) [30/35mm, polyethylene].

1406 - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, four figures [15/20mm, dense PVC vinyl] - Husky, scale-downs of Corgi figures, see also 256 and 1006.

1501 (early - boxed) - Scale Figures (racing team - pit team) [40mm, polystyrene].

1501 (late - blister card) - Scale Model Figures (racing team - pit team) [40mm, polystyrene].

1502 (early - boxed) - Scale Figures (spectators) [40mm, dense PVC vinyl or polystyrene].

1502 (late - blister card) - Scale Model Figures (spectators) [40mm, dense PVC vinyl or polystyrene].

1503 (early - boxed) - Scale Figures (race officials) [40mm, dense PVC vinyl or polystyrene].

1503 (late - blister card) - Scale Model Figures (race officials) [40mm, dense PVC vinyl or polystyrene].

1504 (early - boxed) - Scale Figures (commentators/media folk) [40mm, dense PVC vinyl or polystyrene].

1504 (late - blister card) - Scale Model Figures (commentators/media folk) [40mm, dense PVC vinyl or polystyrene].

1505 (early - boxed) - Scale Figures (mechanics) [40mm, dense or soft PVC vinyl or silicon rubber or polystyrene].

1505 (late - blister card) - Scale Model Figures (mechanics) [40mm, dense or soft PVC vinyl or silicon rubber or polystyrene].

1571 - Pedestrians [25mm, dense-to-softish PVC vinyl] - Husky.

1572 - Public Works Employees [25mm, dense-to-softish PVC vinyl] - Husky.

1573 - Garage Personnel [25mm, dense-to-softish PVC vinyl] - Husky.

1574 - Public Officers [25mm, dense-to-softish PVC vinyl] - Husky.

2501 A1 - Livestock trailer, four calves on base [1:87/HO guage-20mm, dense PVC vinyl] - See also; 33 A1 and 33 A2.

2503 A1 - Land Rover and horse box, horse [20/25mm, dense PVC vinyl] - Corgi Juniors.

2508 - Field Gun set [1:72/25mm, polyethylene/polypropylene] - Corgi Juniors, see also; 56B, 76, 96 and E3029.

2511 - Army Patrol set [1:72/25mm, polyethylene/polypropylene] - Corgi Juniors, includes; 84.

E3026 - Emergency gift set, pair of Policemen, pair of ambulance men with stretcher case and pair of coastguards (meant to be fire brigade personnel?) [30mm, polyethylene/polypropylene] - Corgi Juniors

E3029 - Military Gift set, 3 pairs of soldiers [1:72/25mm, polyethylene/polypropylene] - Corgi Juniors, see also; 76, 84, 96, this set's remaining stock was re-issued in Chad Valley branded packaging in the mid/late-1990's by Woolworth's PLC.

E 3112 - Wild West Frontier set, 2 prairie-wagons and stage coach with integral horses and figures [no real scale/size, figures approximately 1:87/HO gauge, polyethylene/polypropylene] - Corgi Juniors, see also 122

9004 - 1927 3 Litre Bentley with Bertie Wooster & Jeeves [40mm, dense PVC vinyl] - Corgi 'Classics'.

9011 A1 - Model T Ford, seated male and female [40mm, dense and soft PVC vinyl] - may also have been supplied to Dinky for their 1903 Model T Ford, marked HONG KONG, see also; 9021 - Corgi 'Classics', male driver in boater hat and pink and white lady in bonnet.

9012 A1 - Model T Ford, man using starting handle [40mm, dense PVC vinyl] - Corgi 'Classics'.

9021 A1 - 1910 Daimler, man and woman seated, plus one (? or two?) figure/s from; and see also; 9011/9012 [40mm, dense PVC vinyl] - Corgi 'Classics', green chauffeur, pink and white lady in bonnet, blue girl with boater hat.

TY 88702 - Ted Glen and builders truck, Ted figure [40mm, dense PVC vinyl].

US 95102 US Army Infantry set, six figures [1:64/25mm, softish PVC vinyl].

US 95103 USMC Infantry set, six figures [1:64/25mm, softish PVC vinyl].

Unknown/various sets/codes?

- Traffic policeman [40mm, either a dense PVC vinyl or a softish polyethylene].

- Pink Panther [no real scale, approximately 40mm less tail, dense PVC vinyl].

- Dougal's Magic Roundabout car, Dougal and Brian the Snail [no scale/size].

- Ambulance man [54mm, dense PVC vinyl - orange] - larger version of figure from 482.

- Ambulance man [54mm, dense PVC vinyl - green].

- Policeman with megaphone [50mm, dense PVC vinyl].

- Boat, man and woman [approximately 25/28mm, figures; softish PVC vinyl, boat; polystyrene].

- Fire Engine (Le France?) Several firemen [25mm, dense PVC vinyl].

- Horse in racing blanket [25/30mm, polyethylene] - larger version exists unpainted, probably from Hong Kong toy.

- Mechanic with large spanner [40mm, dense PVC vinyl] - as set 1501 but in reaching man's pose, blue .

- Mechanic with small spanner [40mm, dense PVC vinyl] - as set 1501 but in reaching man's pose, orange.

- Mechanic with large spanner [40mm, dense PVC vinyl] - as set 1501 but in reaching man's pose, turquoise smaller figure.

- Frogman and boat [figure - 40mm, dense PVC vinyl, boat - polyethylene/polypropylene] - Corgi Juniors?

- Racing-car driver [30mm, dense, softish or fully-soft PVC vinyl].

G is for Guards - Trumpets, Bugles, Cornets or Horns

Like the tubas, I haven't the faintest idea how to tell the difference between a Trumpet, Bugle Horn (except a straight horn, but then - some trumpets are straight? Doh!) or cornet, but as Paul Morehead (of Plastic Warrior fame) did once explain it all to me, while studying this very subject (guards musician figures), I'm going to quickly Google it so he thinks the lesson hit home...ssshhhh, don't tell him!

Bugles and Cornets have a tapered cross-section, Trumpets - commonest of the three - have a tubular cross-section only widening at the bell end. Trumpets and cornets have three valves, the bugle usually doesn't. Cornet valves are nearer to the face (so better for beginners?), however in American 'drum and bugle corps' bugles can have rotors (whatever they are) or 1 or two valves  - which are really just modified Trumpets, Mellophones, Baritones or Tubas!

What?!! Mellophones?

Trumpets and cornets are very similar, sound wise, commonly found in the B-minor key...but can be found in any other! C, E-minor and F being among them. A single cornet in E-minor is found in a brass-band as the 'soprano', while C keyed trumpets are found in orchestras. The cornet is a mellower sound and the trumpet louder and brighter. Cornets are considered 'band' instruments, while trumpets are orchestral, but both can be used in either!

Flugelhorn - flatter cross-section to the tubing with a larger bell, gives an even more mellow sound.

Baritone trumpet - Larger mouthpiece makes it still easier to play.

Bugle horn - A straight-through or slightly curved 'bugle', no valves, hunting horn, Light Infantry / Jager cap badge type instrument (but not the US Rifles badge), the half-moon or Hanoverian bugle horn is a full half-circle.

French horn - A circular bugle...'post horns on coach-doors! And US Rifles cap badge

Mellophone - Commercial 'French horn' with lots of turns and three valves?

I think!! And medieval fairy-tale trumpeters are actually buglers?

Left to right; Cherilea 60mm, Timpo solid, Lone*Star reissue, Lone*Star original and two Sacul, one in a chalky white the other a garish apple-green marbled with cream.

Crescent for Kellogg's unpainted, Crescent painted and four different Charbens including one in hard plastic on the far right.

Close-up of the Timpo solid showing the typical shoulder marking of a lot of the Timpo solids, although others were marked on the base or even legs.

C is for Corgi 'Classics'

So - the final part of this Corgi round up...for now...

During the 'Corgi Flood' years, the nome-de-jour has been 'Corgi Classics' and covered all manner of mass-produced tat from China, well, it wasn't/isn't actually tat, most of it was/is of high-production value using the latest in modern technology, but there were/are just mountains of it.

It was given away as premiums, marketed in a dozen magazines, advertised in all the Sunday Supplements, leafleted in the TV listings mags and piled high in the windows of toy shops and model/hobby stores...all of it aimed not at kids, but at new adult collectors.

How many highly-detailed die-cast models of a Sunderland flying boat in 1:72 with a box the size of a small family car did they think we needed? How many tons of Eddie Stobart lorries did they think the average family home's foundations could take?

Anyway...along with the separately-boxed 54mm ranges of TV/Movie (James Bond, Dr. Who etc...) and Guards musicians in poured metal (cheap technology I don't rate highly), there were/are smaller sized figures to accompany individual vehicles, it some of these we're looking at now...

These seem to have been included with some of the vehicles, about 23mm or OO gauge, they presumably came ('come' - there's still tons of it out there!) with the precursors of the current Hornby-Corgi railway stuff? The bags seem to have random contents consisting of one of two pieces of street furniture (it may be one of four....post box and telephone box?) with two figures from a wider choice of around 20 figures. There is a flier that came/comes with them in Black and white, but mine's in storage so I'll scan it at some point in the future.

They also appear/ed factory painted (the green-based couple are home painted Corgi), these might not even be Corgi, but rather the originating Chinese factory supplying someone else with 'generics'; figures similar to these (which we will look at one day) accompanied Tesco, Woolworth's and Sainsbury's own brand toys right through the 1990's and 2000's. Anyway, as I'd given up on all this modern stuff by the late 90's, some help is now needed sorting them all out!!

While the previous figures are PVC, there were/are also small factory painted white metal sets, of which this is one...99% packaging, 1% models! Can I add anything else? No.

Has the flood eased....

 

No! But the small scale railway range is quite nice, and the 'planes are lovely, but over-priced for what they are!

G is for Guards - Tubas

I don't know which of these is a Tuba and/or a euphonium or even a 'Keiserbass', whether they are sevens or what! To me they are all tubas...

My only Britains Eyes Right, along with both the Cavendish musicians (Stadden designs - the pair!).

I handle these as little as I possibly can as a mate of mine had three in a little box we found while sorting his things out once, and as I picked one up, it literally exploded, except that most of the pieces fell into my lap, only the head disappearing across the room, so it was more of a violent implosion. Anyway, the plastic had become highly unstable and seemed to be in compressive tension! Inspection of the other two had the same result, there was no squeezing, they just couldn't be handled, and the fear is these two will go the same way...

From the left Cherilea 60mm, Reisler Danish Guard, Cavendish again and five treatments of the Crescent/Crescent for Kellogg's figure.

Charbens 'don't know (?)', Charbens early type, Charbens late type and Charbens early type mould shrink. The last one my be a mould-shrink of the first figure, that being a different cavity of first type?

Another Reisler Danish Guardsman with a different kind of large brass instrument and the Britains Eyes Right chap with another! Both the Reisler's in this post are recent styrene polymer reissues, the earlier - painted - ones can be in a cellulose acetate.

Now known to be Sousaphones, invented in America and part of the Britains 'Eyes Right' US Marine Band sets.

C is for Corgi Crowds and Crews

Corgi produced a small range of accessory sets for their range of die-cast vehicles, to enhance the play value, and it's these we are going to look at now. Some of the poses were also copied by Hong Kong pirates in larger scales.

None of these are a complete set, and while I might have the missing figures elsewhere, I don't think I've got all of them. Basically they are a set of racetrack pit-crew and a race-winner figure, a set of spectators, the track-side officials and the press.

All around 35/40mm there were two main runs of these, one lot in polystyrene, the other in a quite stiff or dense PVC.

Another set of Mechanics gives rise to the main variants, as the chap leaning forwards with an oil bottle, becomes a grabber in the pit-crew, and a stand-alone spanner holder with some individual vehicle models - the turquoise one with the ovoid base coming with the Land Rover-based cherry-picker - if memory holds? With the orange boiler-suited chap being included in the big US style twin-boom wrecker?

By far the most common set, the garage (service station) mechanics turn-up lose on the sprue all the time and clearly there was a large reserve or out-painters stock kicking around at some point. I love the sheep-skin wearing salesman, come to give the mechanics a bit of his wisdom..."You see the thing is Martin...mending a car is rather like making love to a beautiful woman..." Swiss Toni


These have that peculiar mildew type growth on them that PVC often suffers from, usually it can be cleaned-off without the product suffering any detriment, but presumably on a molecular level the material must have 'dried-out' a bit, or suffered in some other way, that might increase the likelihood of eventual failure?

G is for Guards - Shouldered Arms

As David Scrivener pointed out the other day the old Lee Enfield and it's predecessors were 'shouldered' on the left shoulder - Slope Arms. The SLR on the other hand was locked into the gap between arm and body on the right hand side - Shouldered Arms.

There was - with both weapons - a 'Change Arms' drill, for particularly long formal marches, which was quite complicated until you'd got the hang of it. The purpose being to give the weight-taking arm a rest and get it's circulation going again by waving it around for a while! You would always have a reverse 'Change Arms' before you got to the destination position, so that the gat was in the right place to carry out subsequent drill movements, while on really long marches you could get several, the problem being knowing when they were coming or hearing the order, over the noise of crowds, traffic, 'planes and a rival band with the unit marching behind you - in my case the poxy Rock-apes of Crab-air, marching to their own speed!

I had to learn it several times; Street Lining for the President of Mexico's visit to London in 1985, and - in Berlin - Allied Force's Day parade and Queen's Birthday parade.

At attention, shouldered-arms; unknown (I keep calling Charbens?), three from Britains Herald and Herald Hong Kong, newest to the left, and the second type Timpo swoppet with SLR.

Marching with arms shouldered; Lone*Star, Charbens early version, three more Britains Herald, oldest on the left.

Left to right again; Timpo, Cherilea, Unknown (Charbens?), Crescent, Timpo swoppet - first type, Unknown (Speedwell?) and the ex-Sacul hollow-cast figure David also identified.

Finally; the maybe-Charbens at attention, the 2nd Type Timpo marching and a Britains Detail, both with the SLR.

C is for Corgi Cops (and Robbers)

So we looked at the generic police the other day, but Corgi loved their TV and Movie tie-ins, and it's some of those we're going to look at now

Top left we have the wheelchair-bound Ironsides, below him are two characters I thought were from one of the James Bond related sets but actually they are from the Man from U.N.C.L.E. set, they flick in and out of the windows on the pivots, driven by an internal mechanism presumably attached to the axles. They are another unit that keeps turning up in large numbers as ex-shop stock or unused out painters stock?

Going across the bottom we have two shots of the three near-54mm figures from the Starsky and Hutch set, sadly no Huggy-bear, who was clearly my favourite character and - if I recall correctly - does star on the model cars packaging! Above them is Theo "Who loves yah baby" Kojak, another figure who gets some variation of face from model to model.

While the chap who also looks like a Bond character (top middle) was from a lesser known US cop show Vegas which was shunted to an odd hour here in the UK, possibly on only some of the then independent ITV stations? Was he Johnny Vegas?

John Steed and Purdy from the New Avengers, she gets a variety of turn-ups on her slacks. the blue chap who I also thought was a Bond, also turned out to be someone else, but I can't remember who, he may be listed in the overview I'm going to publish as the last post in this series, but I'm not sure, he may be Kojak's sidekick (and he may be a bond character!)?

These are all James Bond characters with the two figures from the ejector-seat Aston Martin, another bond firing over the back seat and the Corgi Junior version of the Aston, missing it's unpainted ejectee, who is in the unknown seated box in storage...I think! Left-handed gunman.

Poignant post as one of the stars only passed away the other day, and without being too irreverent to the memory of Lewis Collins who played Bodie (William Andrew Philip!), this has to be one of the campiest sculpts of a 'hard man' character ever. Ray [Raymond] Doyle (Martin Shaw) looks like he means business with an SMG and their boss George Cowley (Gordon Jackson) is shouting orders in his usual deep Scottish brogue. Bodie is also a left-handed model?

How we loved this (The Professionals) as older kids, it was quite something after Dixon, Softly Softly and Z-Cars to have a hard-hitting series of law-enforcers, with guns, operation just inside the law, that wasn't made in America!

Like the Starsky and Hutch set these figures are near enough 54mm and come from the later, larger 1:32 scale car range.

More the this iconic British TV series;

The Professionals - Chapter and Verse!

G is for Guards - Timpo Solids

We now know that one of these (far right) isn't Timpo at all! He actually a Norman Tooth design for Kentoys. I think the other two are Timpo though...Dave?

C is for Corgi Competitors

Sports and pastimes manage to both produce unique or interesting vehicles and help sell less interesting vehicles, as a result of which Corgi made quite a few sporting or hobby related sets.

Cycling was a favorite and there were several versions of both Tour de France and more generic cycle-races, with the camera-man hanging off the back of a vehicle on a die-cast platform, while the later 1:32'ish set also having a shouty-trainer (orange figure) but I don't think there was an accompanying cyclist?

The unpainted cameraman with a correctly painted base is probably ex-out painters stock, while the driver with a very Gallic pair of shades was also from one of these sets.

The HK (for Cullpitts) copy of a Corgi boat is as close as I got when these were taken, also I still don't have the Corgi canoe, or if I do it's in the 'unknown canoes' bag! The surfer came with a Mini Countryman.

The rubber boat - one of the later issues I still haven't identified - paints up into a nice rigid raider (that's not my painting I hasten to add!), and due to the large scale of the diver, can be war gamed with several smaller figures quite realistically, four kneeling 28mil marines with an LMG or GPMG facing forward - ideal!

While I am short of the Corgi originals I have plenty of the HK rack toys, as it was one of the smaller cards and ended-up in many a Christmas stocking, and therefore, mint and unused in the back of many an emergency present drawer! This and similar cards (we looked at here) came with varied contents of which copies of the canoeist and canoe, the water-skiing lady (I also don't have a Corgi original of) and surf board featured.

These guys came with several versions of a Citroen estate car, some issued for specific Winter Olympics, others more generic, the two skiers are different sculpts and the sledge is a nice little die-cast moulding.

G is for Guards - Woodwind Section

The wonderful and wacky world of wind instruments...required some Googling I can tell you! But mostly the Brass section, I knew two of these but was surprised to learn the the Lone*Star guy was playing a bassoon, as I'd always had in my mind a large chunk of brass with that title"

Three Charbens with Saprano Clarinets? and a Lone*Star re-issue bassoonist.

Pipers from Lone*Star on the left and Sacul on the right (x2), no bags!