K is for Krad (Kraftrad)

I think a couple of these shots used to be on my Imageshack account but I closed it years ago (it never worked properly?), so they can go here and then the originals are off to the dongle-jail!

When Hät Industries first hit the hobby with their Mamalukes (could they have chosen a more esoteric, yet popular stater set?), it was  a real breath of fresh air. They then added some nice ACW (some since 'enhanced') and a lot of 'Nappies' (Napoleonics to normal people), each set being eagerly anticipated...after which they sort of went a bit off for a while producing some stumpy Napoleonics and some ancients that appeared to be sculpted from sun-dried snot.

By the time they were issuing/experimenting with crumbly 'glueable' hybrid plastics (that wouldn't glue) I gave-up keeping-up and couldn't tell you what they've issued in the last few years - some nice camel troops I picked-up a couple of years ago and lots of good-looking WWI artillery types, I do know of! - but Dave's PSR will have them all listed, and looked at beautifully.

The above comments are not meant as an attack, just a gentle gibe at some of the less memorable sections of their prolific history. While everything else was going on (experiments with painted 54mm's, introduction of 28mm's etc..) there was the advent of a range of 'Quick Build' vehicles under a slightly separate branding (Armourfast), since hived-off, but not really?

Explained (as is the Cotes and Shine tale) several ways, around the Internet by people who talk as if they know what they're talking about, but clearly don't because the tales are all slightly different? Probably only 'H' knows what the truth of the two brands is? And after the years-long "Don't admit they're Airfix" approach to the 7000 series I've learnt not to ask!

Under that branding, these arrived, and they were brilliant; a bit chunky, but they are aimed at the war gamers not modellers, and several years before all the other makers sets came out (as a direct result of these - no doubt), they are made of a pretty rigid PVC (not as rigid as Galloob or Wizards of the Coast though), and can be glued (for ever, it's a kind of chemical welding and is almost instant) with plumbers pipe-sealant.

The set 'German Motorcycle with Sidecar' is available in either Hät or Armourfast boxes (same artwork same material...same batch?) and I felt they needed a little...more.

One of the things about German Motorcycle combinations of the Second World War is that model companies like to give them an MG34 or 42, usually on a pintle-mount, when in reality most had no machine-gun, and when they did have one it was often clamped to the crab-rail, given a dedicated, raised rail, or fitted anyhoo as a field-modification.

So, a [hand?]-rail was the first thing. I could only get a heavy-gauge brass-wire, but not having the patience to wait, went with it! I never resolved the bracket, so the MG is rather 'plonked' at the moment (I say - as if I didn't do these in 2007!), and a little bandage of Evergreen strip is still required. I added a US Halftrack's Jerry-can rack to the side car.

A body-swap improved the out-rider and I removed the parcel from the spare wheel to give this a more businesslike look, they're out looking for something and they think they've just found it.

This one lost it's machine-gun completely and's been loaded to the gunnels for a long distance convoy escort...or something. they're eating-up the miles anyway!

The overall chunkiness of these is not an issue, but the tyres are, they're quite poor, but they are what you get, so this one got an extra spare...spare! I also added the dispatch-case's released by the other two models; one to the motorcycle the other squeezed in on the left-hand side of the side-car.

There seem tro be three main 'factory' configureations; one satchel/box on the left/inside of the side-car; two cases, both sides; or an inside dispatch case and an outside Jerry-can rack. But all other possible combinations can be found.

The third machine lost its side-car all together, there is a second set with single Zundapps, but I've yet to track one down...when (if) I do, I'll give one of them the spare side-car!

For dispatches, this machine got a Tamiya (or Italeri?) 'bread bag' from a 54mm 'multi-pose' kit and some blanket rolls or such-like, also from 54mm kits and a heavy stand from the same brass-rod, this looks OK, due to the heaviness of the models, they are much bigger than their styrene forbears or even a lot of the resin/white-metal contemporaries.

As I say; I did these in 2007 and they remain unfinished and unpainted! I used to have a link to a site with thousands of photographs of German machines from WWII, but I've lost it somewhere along the way, however this forum thread is good for a quick game of 'spot the machine gun'!

http://histomil.com/viewtopic.php?f=345&t=1408

The 'combat units' (reconnaissance and motor-infantry) seem to have a 50% issue, but most of the lone combinations (scouts, dispatch riders/staffers, signallers, engineers, medics etc...) have none at all.

And the burning question de jour; side car, side-car or sidecar?

T is for Toys in the Tabloids

The 'Easy-reads' like a toy story, so do the toy companies, they sell papers and they sell toys! here are a couple of recent puff pieces from the 'i' (little brother of the Independent)...

What intrigues me about this 'news story' is the little blobs at the front of the image...I suspect they are 15mm (or thereabouts) figures. Just like the figures Megabloks designed for use with their submarines and warship models about 15 years ago! The Chutzpah of Lego is really quite staggering...let's recap with a dateless time-line;

Lego 'acknowledge' (without credit!) Airfix with a very similar-looking Ferguson tractor

Lego steal the design from Hestair Kiddicraft

Lego lose a court case on that matter, to Hestair Kiddicraft

Lego pay a large amount of money for the intellectual property of Hestair Kiddicraft

- hiatus -

Lego copy Playmobil for their Minifigs

Lego spend years suing Mega Bloks and others all over the world

Lego lose the majority of those suits, and where they win; often see the win overturned on appeal

Lego drop their 'no war toys' policy (they'd actually dropped it years earlier, with knights, Cowboys and US Cavalry v. Indians, Pirates v. Revenue soldiers, space ray-guns &etc)

Lego FOLLOW Mega Bloks with a wider range of more interesting and realistic colours, after purchasing the rights to make Star Wars toys (I think Lego followed Mega Bloks with licensing as well?)

Lego FOLLOW Mega Bloks with Dinosaurs

Lego FOLLOW Mega Bloks with Arctic Explorers AND a Yeti

Lego copy the micro figures of Mega Bloks

From Wikipedia: "The Lego Group has filed lawsuits against Mega Bloks Inc. in courts around the world on the grounds that Mega Bloks' use of the 'studs and tubes' interlocking brick system is a violation of trademarks held by Lego. Generally such lawsuits have been unsuccessful, chiefly because the functional design of the basic brick is considered a matter of patent rather than trademark law, and all relevant Lego patents have expired. In one of the most recent decisions, on November 17, 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld Mega Bloks' right to continue selling the product in Canada. A similar decision was reached by the European Union's Court of First Instance on November 12, 2008 when it upheld an EU trademark agency decision following an objection by Mega Bloks against a trademark awarded to Lego in 1999"

Conclusion: Buy your kids Mega Bloks, they are cheaper per ton, and lead the field in the innovation of a universal product...even Hornby-Airfix are using the Kiddicraft design now! (this is a drum I'm going to keep banging!)

I Thought this was good news - a non-warlike figure wiping the floor with his armed companions! Although I supose the millions of deaths in the wars of the reformation could be laid partly at his feet?

One day I will do a proper post on these toys as their history and the number of brands involved is even more interesting than the 8-stud building-block story!

P is for Premier Plastics' Polymer Pretenders

Students of these Premier Plastics Flash Gordon space-ships might want to get this page (Ed Berg's Premier-Plastics knock-offs' article) up on a separate tab, to toggle between the two and ID them, but I didn't measure them, so....Doh!

Photographed on Mercator Trading's table back in the autumn, these are probably all copies although the yellow one is 'clean' and hard styrene and may be an original dime-store item from Premier? Well...photographed on the floor, an old Britains box lid and my jumper to be precise!

Although I didn't measure them I'd say the two blue ones are both over 3 inches (so the fat one isn't the one you're still looking for Ed!), and they are both soft ethylene. The yellow one is shorter and as I've said; hard plastic.

Close-ups...that's it really; there's not a lot else to say about them, they're single-lump mouldings, dime-store/pocket money, probably knock-offs and Ed Berg's covered them in 21 sequenced articles if you follow the above link and click on 'Space Ships'.

G is for Great Scott...What HAVE they got on their heads?

No...it's for Grey-Klip Armies by Grey Iron of course! I've been after a decent sample of these since...oohhh? 1981? First read of JG Garratt's encyclopaedia! Small-scale cast iron...gotta have some of those in the collection!

I actually do have one loose example (he came-in with a bunch of plastics from the James Chase collection's small scale), but I thought he was a Confederate soldier! And that's despite having R O'Brien's book too (which lists them all - I think?), but the trouble with having files on 30,000-odd toy companies and 400+ 'tomes' in the library is...you can't retain everything all the time, and a lot of it just melts into a mush of like names, places, sizes, materials, dates...and lets face it - he looks like Jonny Reb!

Card scans; I couldn't get the stupid machine (Epson, now you ask!) to find the thin edge properly, so it's a bit truncated, but still readable! They (Grey Iron) produced more in the larger sizes, but I think this was it for the smallies!

The figures; divided into a command group and a troop 'squad', set into a steel track (which will open your fingers up if you're not careful!), they are crude, sand-cast lumps and I love 'em! The dodgy headgear is supposed to be the smokie-bear/drill-sergeant/boy-scout 'Campaign hat', but really? Confederates...to a man!

I is for Instruction

I bought this Britains Swoppet out-worker's instruction-sheet at the last Birmingham show I attended (sadly three years ago, having not missed one for about 15 years, I've managed to miss two in a row!). I think they are all in the Plastic Warrior specials on the subject, but this is the only one I've got, and the two (I've cropped and split them so they'll enlarge to the maximum) aren't in sequence, so; a reprint?

Interestingly the out-painters got them by the gross (144) and had to hand the instruction sheet back with the finished products, also...if you follow the instructions 'to the letter', you'd be sending the cross-bow man back ready for retail sale (paint and parts complete), but the man-at-arms would return to the factory without a weapon (pole-arm) or visor?

T is for Twenty-five...Pounder

For anyone contemplating the Tamiya kit or it's scaled-down Esci counterpart; I think this is the old gate guardian from the Airborne Forces museum at Browning Barracks in Aldershot. When that museum was broken-up and the bulk moved to the IWM at Duxford, I imagine they found they already had various versions of 25lbr, so the good Burgers of Rushmoor got to stick it on a traffic island next to the stations and forget about it!

The business-end, for early WWII, you need to drop the flash eliminator, like the simpler Airfix kit.

 Shield and axle with inner wheel-hubs.

 Traversing plate and connecting rods.

 Hitch and spade.

 More undercarriage 'stuff'.

Mounting and elevation mechanism.

 The maths...range calculator and inner shield.

Walk round, rear and starboard!

Walk round, port and front view.

B is for Better, or Best!

I'm not going to cover the Germans this time round, they are too bad, little dwarven lumps of war gaming metal, albeit in plastic! They will appear here one day (if I live long enough everything will appear here 'one day'!), but to finish the current look at these sets; the best of the bunch....

I don't remember the Jeep's runner ever being included in the box, but I guess they were thinking of it when they commissioned the artwork? This set is also marred by a large chunk of plastic crap, but a more useful piece than the British bridge to nowhere, or the mini-bunkers the Germans get.

Basically a mix of pose-lifts from the Britains Deetail and Airfix 1:32nd scale US Infantry sets with a couple of leg changes and a radio-man. I clearly gave the Bazooka to the wrong pose...but then a man running with a Bazooka would look a bit awkward, so...

On the runner, 10 poses is not a lot (for all these sets), when you consider that at the same time you could get a pack of 48 Airfix for 18p, or 100-odd Hong Kong copies for 10p! Kits like this being around 40/50p (I'm talking about 1973-4 here), and that differential continued for years, even know a pack of Airfix 2nd version US is around £4/5, while this kit - if you can find it (and it does get occasional re-issues) - will be around £6/6.50.

Scan of the box-art, another last-stand, with useful helmet painting guide to half the US army!

"Everyone to me! Fall-back on the Jeep, make very shot count! Get that .30 barking!" yelled Master-sergeant John Audie Wayne-Murphy!

I forgot to scan the instruction sheet, I'll try to remember to do it next time I get them out.

News, Views etc...Exhibition

Already running in Southampton if you're in the area or passing between now and the 10th of May...

I am hoping to go at the end of the month ('proper' birthday present!), but has anyone been? If you have drop an idea of your visit in the comments; is it worth going? Are there any howlers in the captions? What rarities are on display? Is there a booklet or exhibition catalogue worth having?

I'll try and get photo's when I attend, for a follow-up. There's bit more here: http://www.seacitymuseum.co.uk/?p=3003

and for the 4-11 age group there's a money-box making workshop thing: "Inspired by the War Games exhibition we will create personalised money boxes, complete with action figure to guard your pennies!", so get the corduroy shorts on and have a close shave...."Please, I'm only eleventy-eleven!"

S is for Searchlight?

I was going to finally get the French figures published but Google have not only managed to loose one of the posts, but automatically replace it with an earlier-edit duplicate of one of the other three posts! Despite the fact they've been saved dozens of times, or that I uploaded the images 14 months ago! Now they are not answering my eMails!

Probably my last post for a week or two...a cry for help today...

..Rob eMailed me yesterday with a description of a searchlight he'd acquired and - without photographs I suggested Astra or Lone Star, photo's were forthcoming and it's neither, it doesn't seem to be Britains so can anyone Identify this searchlight for Rob? I'll tag it if we can get a definite maker.

The - originally silver-painted - dish is Lone Star 'like', but I don;t remember this in the range and it's not the same mounting as the vehicles...could it be a minor make like Kemlows or Benbros maybe?

Any help or contribution gratefully received by Rob, me and anyone else who might be interested!

G is for Galoob...I think!??

Modern vinyl kac-ka, so text light, and image heavy! The only problem with these is their heritage...they are regularly listed on feeBay as Galoob, they half-mirror the Galoob small scale figures in both pose and the mid-1990's numbering under the base...but I can't find them in Galoob packaging? Hopefully someone seeing this will be able to confirm or deny...

Comparison shot between the subjects of today's post and some of the Galoob MicroMachine figures, the sailors share a paint scheme as well as pose similarity, and both the earlier unmarked figures from 1993/4 and later figures are 'twinned'.

They came (come?) in five types of decoration, the sailors unique in their blues, the combat figures in an 'urban' DPM of the type that came out of the Soviet Union in the 1980's, in blues and greys, along with less common sand or light-olive versions...

...and (top right) an even less common temperate/desert camouflage. There seem to be 20 numbered poses, of which I have still to track-down five by the looks of it. The airbase/sailor/MP type is a home re-paint, his arm has also been cut and glued, but the Internet suggests it was glued back roughly where it started life...still; it means I'm looking for 6 poses in all...not a priority I must say!

The reason for the question mark over them being definitely Galoob, is that they are still available on the internet under Realtoy and Daron labels (Googling 'Daron Action City' or Realtoy likewise will take you to these screen-capped images - I haven't tested them for live-sales status though). Both seem only to be generic rack-toy brands and to carry only the same three poses (in a standard insert) in the least common colour variant, so it may be that they only got these, and that the rest ARE Galoob...can anyone confirm this?

The two Hummers are very useful for 25/28mm war games, while the VAB and chopper are good to go with 20/23mm figures, the truck's nice, but small, the tank is charity-shop fare, along with the accessories!

H is for Hungary

This is a collage of copyright free images (which doesn't mean you can use them 'as is' - the manipulated collage-image is (C) this blog) taken from a pre-war book issued by the Hungarian equivalent of the V&A or British Museum, and shows some of the items in their collection and archives.

It's hard to tell what size they are, I suspect about 50/60mm, and I'm not 100% sure if they are hand carved from wood, slate-cast 'traditional' lead flats, or zink-lead spelter castings? I suspect normal lead castings from slate moulds, but they seem to have a decorative purpose, rather than for use as toy soldiers so they may be spelter, and the detailing on the cavalryman's casting could be hinting at sand-casting. Meaning that they could be sand-cast, lead-based spelter from carved-wood pattern blocks? They're all in the tag list anyway!

The lady looks to be a little more fully-round, so a semi-flat (or demi-rond?), possibly with a flat back (I think they may all have blank rear faces), the other two are wood-cut patterns to work from. Uniforms of the three cavalrymen point to the 19th century.

Can anybody add anything else?

G is for Greyshaw

Greyshaw Incorporated of Atlanta, Georgia to be precise...and that's just about all I can tell you about them.

Carded, two 1950's pulp sci-fi dime-store space-car-ship things...with their wheels outside the aerodynamic fairings! Hard to tell if they are polystyrene or an earlier cellulose/phenolic resin? Like the Lido ones we looked at the other day, they can tow each other round the carpet or that lovely cold 1950's linoleum!

They're nice aren't they?

D is for Digging in the Dirt

More treasures came out of the veg-patch this summer....well; more little scraps of shite reappeared! More pre-loved items were rescued from their abandonment?

A very useful set of Cherilea Union Infantry legs, half a Lego (Kiddy-Bricks TM) towing hitch and a bucket seat from a large 'garden' tractor - best place to find that then!

More Lego, a plastic Mecanno nut, a small blow-moulded mouse...sans eyes, sans tail, sans everything! Another chunk of large tractor...or large chunk of tractor? if I keep digging long enough I may end-up with the whole machine!

The paratrooper nearly got thrown on the bonfire, I thought he was a muddy piece of chopped holly tree, but as I picked him up to chuck him flame'wards, my middle finger slipped behind his knees and my brain though "just like when you're inspecting one of those Hong Kong paratroops", looked down; and he was saved!

M is for Multi-coloured Motorway-making Motor-vehicles

Another one I shot years ago. This was clearly a common beach-toy type thing and lots have survived (by comparison with other toys of the same era), and they do appear on evilBay occasionally, sometimes with the enclosing cellulose-foil wrap still extant.

It was the slot-in figures that drew me to it as they are just the type of thing that turns-up in mixed lots and 50p bags, so I'm always looking to identify them, I also have a soft touch for Tudor*Rose.

Standard polyethylene (here described as polythene) toys of the time, around 1:48th scale. These toys are sometimes described as polypropylene, but this is erroneous as PP is a denser, more expensive plastic used where fine detail is required in the moulding.

B is for British Infantry

Continuing with the look at Fujimi's little figure kits, we arrive at this offering. The figures can be a bit gawky-looking after assembly, but the set appreciates a bit of effort and I quite like it, not least because for nearly 20 years it was the go-to set for a boys anti-tank rifle in small-scale!

The box-art is a spectacular scene of last-stand grit and determination in the best traditions of British defeats since 1066, in a painterly style, while the side of the box hints at the larger oddity contained within...a hollow bridge taking-up half a runner ('sprue') and going from nowhere to er...nowhere!

We are all nowhere...Now, Here!

Instruction sheet is similar to the Japs, with a B&W colour guide, NCO's ranks, assembly instructions and line-drawings of the runners.

The figures - I did this set pretty-much as per instructions, and you can see the uncomfortable poses are the guy standing with his arm up, the chap with the range-finder and the advancing fellow at the back. But a bit of 'multipose' work with knife, glue and limb-swaps can improve greatly.

The MG team and Boys, both make-up nicely and weapons can be swapped between the prone figures. I have used the suggested range-finder matey as the kneeling No.1 and he works well, the awkward pose can be improved by being lent-back a bit so there isn't a 90% angle at the back of his knees.

The Vickers is a week sculpt though, far too small, thin and girly and best replaced with the 2nd type 8th Army one from Airfix.

The runners - one of figures and one of a bridge! If we hadn't had the bridge we could have had a double set of figures with the lovely little 'bits', what were they thinking...the instructions even wanting us to make the ends from cardboard...best used as opposite tunnel entrants on a model railway! Leaving a nice piece of plastic 'card'.

As well as a sheet of plastic card; he bridge at least contributes long lengths of round cross-section rod for the spares box.

Not so important now but back in the 1970's when Plastruct were still making their range primarily for professional/architectural modellers in some weird ABS that wouldn't glue with the stuff on our workbenches (and it cost a fortune), useful lengths of virgin runner were er...useful! Now Plastruct are in a styrene polymer and Evergreen are relatively cheap it's not an issue, but every modeller knows...never throw anything away!