Knives, Bayonets, Daggers and a Khukuri (Kukri)
Maces, Chain-maces and 'Klonkers'
a couple of bats or clubs and err...a Light-sabre!
In Search of the Mystical
5 hours ago
About Me
- Hugh Walter
- No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
- I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.
Monday, June 15, 2015
H is for Hatchet...Battle Axe, Ceremonial Axe, Double Axe, Fire Axe, Wood Axe...and Tomahawk!
Some evil pointy-axes on the right!
L is for Lance.... Assegai, Harpoon, Javlin, Pike, Pole-arm or Spear,
I was surprised buy the number of Harpoons (4) in this 'odds & sods' bag!
R is for Ray-Gun...Atomic Lance, Blaster, Fazer, Lazer, Needle-gun, Particle Weapon......
Mostly Kenner Star Wars action figure weapons, or their knock-offs!
Some (mostly Britains) escaped to another bag!
Saturday, June 13, 2015
B is for Brown Shirts
I don't really have a 'wants' list, as the dozen or so 'big ticket' items I'm still looking for are obvious, while the list of things I still haven't tracked-down probably runs into the tens, or hundreds, of thousands, so a list would be pointless, although I do see people going round the shows holding thick wodges of A4, with double column lists in what appears to be 8pt. text, so clearly some do try to list them all!
However, this was definitely one of the absentees...only I had hoped to get it in the smaller pack as I have the 'other' four sets in the little packs, but beggars can't be choosers!
The artwork...like a lot of Atlantic stuff; this set is surrounded in myth, and while I'm sure it wasn't on display in every country it was available in, I'm equally sure it wasn't a universally 'under the counter' item, being one of the first of the Atlantic sets and running for some time...however, the nature of the subject and it's treatment by sellers and collectors over the years have made it undeniably hard to get.
This was my final purchase at the Plastic Warrior show, and I nearly lost it to one of the chaps up from ACOTS in the antipodes, but luckily for me he was tempted by an Airfix play-set instead, and I was able to take it home and then settle-up the following week at Sandown Park!
The two different frames (the only difference is an additional character figure of Hitler with the resultant snuffling down the runner of the other figures), from both sides.
It is another of the oft-quoted myths that Atlantic put anything in a box - I've handled many sets in all scales over the years, my own collection, a collection bought-in from the States and a dealers stock, and can say that actually with the odd exception, the contents are usually pretty consistent.
If there are anomalies, they tend to be the total sprue/runner count in the larger HO play-sets, or the figure count in the later 1:32nd scale blister packs. There is also a problem with the two artillery sets in the red 'export' series, in that the box-packers couldn't get their heads round the two variations, so both sizes can appear in both boxes! (that will be a future post!)
However, while the sets content are usually consistent, there is the problem of the contents not matching the given contents as stated, here the six frames are way off the advertised contents of "94 pieces"...
...so back-of-a-fag-packet maths was called for! The closest are the five runner combinations, specifically the 1 Hitler-runner and 4 others combination, but it's not quite there.
The six runners (3 of each) included in my set make the box bulge, so can't be right, and with one a little less opaque than the others I decided to 'de-sprue' it for a photo-session, my lose examples being in storage. I suspect this is one of those cases where the artwork was signed-off with a typo, as there is no way you are going to get the maths to tie-up, no matter how you cut it? Later boxes did away with a contents total!
So here they are, I will post better images of the large-scale versions one day as they came in the big purchase in 2010 but are also in storage.
The 'jeep' looks more like one of the post war Iltis/VW Safari vehicles than anything that rolled into the land of the Rus in 1941, and unlike the 1:32nd scale set where the windscreen clips in, with this set the pantograph has reduced that clipping-in detail to the point where it just 'sits in', and is therefore easily lost.
However, this was definitely one of the absentees...only I had hoped to get it in the smaller pack as I have the 'other' four sets in the little packs, but beggars can't be choosers!
This was my final purchase at the Plastic Warrior show, and I nearly lost it to one of the chaps up from ACOTS in the antipodes, but luckily for me he was tempted by an Airfix play-set instead, and I was able to take it home and then settle-up the following week at Sandown Park!
It is another of the oft-quoted myths that Atlantic put anything in a box - I've handled many sets in all scales over the years, my own collection, a collection bought-in from the States and a dealers stock, and can say that actually with the odd exception, the contents are usually pretty consistent.
If there are anomalies, they tend to be the total sprue/runner count in the larger HO play-sets, or the figure count in the later 1:32nd scale blister packs. There is also a problem with the two artillery sets in the red 'export' series, in that the box-packers couldn't get their heads round the two variations, so both sizes can appear in both boxes! (that will be a future post!)
However, while the sets content are usually consistent, there is the problem of the contents not matching the given contents as stated, here the six frames are way off the advertised contents of "94 pieces"...
The six runners (3 of each) included in my set make the box bulge, so can't be right, and with one a little less opaque than the others I decided to 'de-sprue' it for a photo-session, my lose examples being in storage. I suspect this is one of those cases where the artwork was signed-off with a typo, as there is no way you are going to get the maths to tie-up, no matter how you cut it? Later boxes did away with a contents total!
The 'jeep' looks more like one of the post war Iltis/VW Safari vehicles than anything that rolled into the land of the Rus in 1941, and unlike the 1:32nd scale set where the windscreen clips in, with this set the pantograph has reduced that clipping-in detail to the point where it just 'sits in', and is therefore easily lost.
M is for Mega Heroes
Also in 99p Stores (we just looked at Deadstone Valley below), are these chaps, Mighty Morphin Power Ranger clones if I ever saw Mighty Morphin Power Ranger Clones!
These have been around for a while, probably in different packaging? I first started picking them up in mixed lots about ten (?) years ago, and have a few of the smaller ones, in various states, in storage. The larger versions have either 3 pints of articulation, or none, I couldn't tell, and didn't bother looking, just shot them on the rack!
Peter Evans had given me a set of four littlies a couple of years ago, so these are they, note that the current issue have darker green and yellow versions, and I may have a pink one in storage...but I might be getting confused with the Galoob ones so don't quote me on that! The 99p Store ones are shipped by ITP Imports of West York's who are conveniently close to a Poundworld megastore!
Friday, June 12, 2015
D is for Deadstone!
Currently in both 99p Stores (single carded figures) and my perennial favourite The Works (boxed sets with several 'dead' figures and the graveyard staff)...
For 99p you get a lot, issued by UK importers H Grossman under their Ozbozz distribution branding, the company website no longer has details of the Deadstone Valley toys, hence their now appearing in clearance outlets, but the Deadstone Valley website still seems to be supported?
There is also a code in each set that can be used on the above website, and - doing a quick bit of research on the range just now - it seemed some of the figures have a head-swap feature, a second quick check - of this chick - confirmed that she has indeed got a plug-in head!
I'd add that the Works' set seems to include figures not included in the website's listed 12, a vampire for starters...and they have a slot-base system not apparent on this figure, so the 'real' source may well be continuing with these, or has issued some sets ex-HGL?
A bit gruesome and not something I'll be in a hurry to track-down the rest of, but they will be of interest to someone and if you're that 'someone'; now's the time to seek them out, while they're cheap!
I'd add that the Works' set seems to include figures not included in the website's listed 12, a vampire for starters...and they have a slot-base system not apparent on this figure, so the 'real' source may well be continuing with these, or has issued some sets ex-HGL?
A bit gruesome and not something I'll be in a hurry to track-down the rest of, but they will be of interest to someone and if you're that 'someone'; now's the time to seek them out, while they're cheap!
Thursday, June 4, 2015
H is for Heudebert
So...I said we'd look at some of the Heudebert flats which came from Brian at the Plastic Warrior show and here is the first lot...a set (or sets?) of farm animals and rural 'types'. Unusual in being soft plastic, which probably dates them later than most 'margarine flats' in the mid 1970's?
I say 'sets' with a question mark, as it seems most of the 'small' animals and poultry are in white or cream, while the larger pieces are in chocolate browns. However The exceptions (cat on pot, or foal) are not found in the opposite colour, so I suspect they are the one set, on two moulding-tools, produced in contrasting colours, but there's a possibility they may have been complimentary sets a few months or a year or so apart?
Equally it may be that you got a white/cream one in a smaller retail unit, and a brown one in a larger pack? Heudebert seem to be producers of bready-biscuity things, "processed bakery products" these days! It should also be noted that 19 is an odd number, not just on the number scale but also for an issue of premiums, so there may be a missing 20th item from the set/sets, ducks are notable in their absence, as are piglets?
I would tentatively suggest these might have been manufactured by Jean Hoefler, despite being flat, they bare several 'hallmarks' of Jean in design and material. but that's pure conjecture on my part! I haven't put Jean in the tag list for now, maybe a German viewer can help here?
There are three types of base mark (or lack of mark!), being from the top, HEUDEBERT, Made in west Germany and blank. The second being very much on the Jean style.
Colours are from very dark plain-chocolate brown (blank bases) through darker milk-chocolates ('Jean' Germany mark) and pale milk-chocolates which are the Heudebert marked ones.
The 'white' set comes in pure grey or blueish whites and creamier colours with no base mark 'rule'!
The largest moulding - by length - suffers from distortion of the type you get from early removal of the moulding from the tool, before the plastic resin has set properly otherwise known as 'shrinkage'.
One other thing to note is that Heudebert did do a set of hard plastic farm premiums in that typical 'margarine' flat ivorene-look styrene, so these might have been issued from a German production facility at the same time as the styrene ones were being issued elsewhere? Clearly more to discover or tie-down with this set!
Equally it may be that you got a white/cream one in a smaller retail unit, and a brown one in a larger pack? Heudebert seem to be producers of bready-biscuity things, "processed bakery products" these days! It should also be noted that 19 is an odd number, not just on the number scale but also for an issue of premiums, so there may be a missing 20th item from the set/sets, ducks are notable in their absence, as are piglets?
There are three types of base mark (or lack of mark!), being from the top, HEUDEBERT, Made in west Germany and blank. The second being very much on the Jean style.
The 'white' set comes in pure grey or blueish whites and creamier colours with no base mark 'rule'!
One other thing to note is that Heudebert did do a set of hard plastic farm premiums in that typical 'margarine' flat ivorene-look styrene, so these might have been issued from a German production facility at the same time as the styrene ones were being issued elsewhere? Clearly more to discover or tie-down with this set!
Sunday, May 31, 2015
FIM is for Farming In Miniature (Book Review)
If you collect toys, toy vehicles, farm or zoo animals, horse-drawn wagons or equipment, farm vehicles or just about anything in the world of toy collecting...you should have these books on your shelves!
I'm a bit biased as I watched them taking shape and know how much effort went into them, but nevertheless, these two volumes are stunning works and while the authors were very strict to lay down and keep to a tight criteria with regard to inclusion or qualification, the depth and breadth of knowledge and the companies covered are broad and both books should be considered indispensable if you study British old toys or toy companies.
The first volume was issued about two years ago now, with the second volume being published in the Autumn of last year, and Adrian Little (who's main field of contribution was the plastic producers, and wooden toys along with the more esoteric hollow-cast stuff) assures me the 1st weights over a kilo and the 2nd nearly a kilo-and-a-half!
Peter Wade-Martins was the expert on Tractors and contributed a lot of the hollow-cast photographs from his own collection, while Robert Newson was chef-de-Die cast and the chap in charge of researching the histories of companies...which means he now knows more about the history of telephone directories in the 20th century than anyone would want to!
But all three of them contributed to all sections, with regular editorial meetings, endless phone-calls and the cross-issuing of lists of things to find, photograph, check, correct and "get right". One of the problem they had was a change of publisher half-way through (and after Vol. 1 had been published), which they weathered to the point where the second volume follows the format of the first perfectly.
Brian Bastiman and Mervyn Spokes both contribute sections to the whole and many others are name-checked. I have witnessed many contributions, by way of brief discussions at Toy Fairs, or the unveiling of a new colour of tractor carried reverently in its own well-packed shoe-box in time for the printers to add it in!
Contents leaf of the second volume; both volumes carry companies you've never heard of, and follow an alphabetical format, the first volume having a lower company total, but covering the larger archives of companies like Britains and Corgi...Cherilea, Cresent and DCMT (Lone Star).
Indeed the formatting followed is one of the aspects of these books which make them so easy to use and indispensable to the collector.
Each company is given an introduction and history followed by a description of any farm-specific toys, models or other products which might be in any way considered Agricultural machinery, horse-drawn equipment or the animals or figures to populate the same...and finally pictures of the described toys, in the above example - Escor; a smaller Co. - This is a page of text with references and further reading along with a page of pictures.
For the larger companies the product listing goes into great detail, with all known colour variation, mould changes, model changes (if the catalogue number was retained) and other points to note or 'of interest'. All these entries are cross-referenced, in bold text, to the photographic sections, so it's easy to find and compare pictures with text while keeping them in their sections.
In this example, from Britains, the introduction and company history runs to 7 large format pages, the product descriptions to more than 20 (covering the main hollow-cast and die-cast production and the Lilliput, Mini-sets and Model Farmyard ranges) and the illustrated section has 84-odd pages of high-resolution images and close ups of catalogues and other publicity material, all horse drawn carts, wagons and implements, tractors, trailers and machinery, boxed sets, box types &etc.
Tables and side-info. boxes are also employed to get the data across to the reader in clear and concise chunks that are easy to find and follow, usually coming at the end of the relevant section, here we see an old price-list reproduced to explain a point - the last issues in 1941 before the replacement of toys with munitions on the production lines - and the pricing.
A sample of the illustrated section from one of the bigger entries shows how all known variations are listed, be that box or model, and where the authors where unable to picture one it will none-the-less be described in the text section, often with a cross reference to a similar change/variation in another model or its box.
I can't rate these two works highly enough, and to not have them on your shelves is to have a big gap in your knowledge of vintage toys and British toy companies, which you won't be filling in a hurry as the three authors have spent thousands of hours, travelled thousands of miles and spoken to hundreds of people in order to gather and present the data for you!
And the information contained within the two books, while Farm specific, will help all toy and play-thing collectors, researchers and, yes, even Bloggers!
Also, I know there are plans for a third volume at some point, which will bring together all the new information which has come to light, a lot of it as a direct result of the previous two tomes!
FIM 1 - Farming In Miniature Volume 1: Airfix to Denzil Skinner -
2013
Robert Newson, Peter Wade-Martins, Adrian Little
ISBN - 978-1-908397-55-3
Old Pond Publishing, Ipswich
On Amazon
FIM 2 - Farming In Miniature Volume 2: Dinky to Wend-Al -
2014
Robert Newson, Peter Wade-Martins, Adrian Little
ISBN - 978-1-908397-56-0
Old Pond Publishing / 5M Publishing, Sheffield
On Amazon
Adrian's sales page - Mercator Trading
Robert's Website - Toy Car Collector
More Reviews
They both have copies available from time to time if you don't 'do' Amazon!
I'm a bit biased as I watched them taking shape and know how much effort went into them, but nevertheless, these two volumes are stunning works and while the authors were very strict to lay down and keep to a tight criteria with regard to inclusion or qualification, the depth and breadth of knowledge and the companies covered are broad and both books should be considered indispensable if you study British old toys or toy companies.
Peter Wade-Martins was the expert on Tractors and contributed a lot of the hollow-cast photographs from his own collection, while Robert Newson was chef-de-Die cast and the chap in charge of researching the histories of companies...which means he now knows more about the history of telephone directories in the 20th century than anyone would want to!
But all three of them contributed to all sections, with regular editorial meetings, endless phone-calls and the cross-issuing of lists of things to find, photograph, check, correct and "get right". One of the problem they had was a change of publisher half-way through (and after Vol. 1 had been published), which they weathered to the point where the second volume follows the format of the first perfectly.
Brian Bastiman and Mervyn Spokes both contribute sections to the whole and many others are name-checked. I have witnessed many contributions, by way of brief discussions at Toy Fairs, or the unveiling of a new colour of tractor carried reverently in its own well-packed shoe-box in time for the printers to add it in!
Indeed the formatting followed is one of the aspects of these books which make them so easy to use and indispensable to the collector.
In this example, from Britains, the introduction and company history runs to 7 large format pages, the product descriptions to more than 20 (covering the main hollow-cast and die-cast production and the Lilliput, Mini-sets and Model Farmyard ranges) and the illustrated section has 84-odd pages of high-resolution images and close ups of catalogues and other publicity material, all horse drawn carts, wagons and implements, tractors, trailers and machinery, boxed sets, box types &etc.
I can't rate these two works highly enough, and to not have them on your shelves is to have a big gap in your knowledge of vintage toys and British toy companies, which you won't be filling in a hurry as the three authors have spent thousands of hours, travelled thousands of miles and spoken to hundreds of people in order to gather and present the data for you!
And the information contained within the two books, while Farm specific, will help all toy and play-thing collectors, researchers and, yes, even Bloggers!
Also, I know there are plans for a third volume at some point, which will bring together all the new information which has come to light, a lot of it as a direct result of the previous two tomes!
FIM 1 - Farming In Miniature Volume 1: Airfix to Denzil Skinner -
2013
Robert Newson, Peter Wade-Martins, Adrian Little
ISBN - 978-1-908397-55-3
Old Pond Publishing, Ipswich
On Amazon
FIM 2 - Farming In Miniature Volume 2: Dinky to Wend-Al -
2014
Robert Newson, Peter Wade-Martins, Adrian Little
ISBN - 978-1-908397-56-0
Old Pond Publishing / 5M Publishing, Sheffield
On Amazon
Adrian's sales page - Mercator Trading
Robert's Website - Toy Car Collector
More Reviews
They both have copies available from time to time if you don't 'do' Amazon!
R is for Rag....and Tag & Bobtail!
To Sandown Park Toy Fair yesterday, where I shot more stuff for future posts, including these three little chaps...
Manufactured in hollow-cast lead by Sacul, these are the three main characters from a glove/hand-puppet show which was part of the old BBC daytime thread 'Watch With Mother' in the late 1950's and early 60's. As such the bottom halves must be invention, but they've (Sacul) managed to get the glove-like posture of Rag, so he's not just a generic rat, and remains recognisable as the child's favourite!
Friday, May 29, 2015
T is for Through the Ages
Box ticker today...
The game-playing pieces for 'History of the World' by Avalon Hill, very useful figures for war-gaming, if only one pose per era! Acient Egyptian, Babylonian (?), Roman, Viking/dark-age type, Mongol, Conquistador and European colonial soldier of the late 19th/early 20th centuries. 25mm give or take!
Thursday, May 28, 2015
T is for Thar'be Dragons!
Train failures today forced me into a toy-shop in Reading (The Entertainer) and a quick perusal left me with a tub of shite; I mean - of course - quality vinyl shite!
Previously Blogged by Shaun at Fantasy Toy Soldiers as a movie tie-in; How to Train Your Dragon, these have been reissued to tie-in with the TV animated series.
Note that it says "1 SET". Otherwise very little on the packaging; Spin Master licensed from DreamWorks, as per the 2010 sets on Shaun's Blog. A change of title and a silver lid instead of a gold one.
Because of the three large stickers on the tub and the two card baffles within, it was not terribly easy to see the contents except insofar as there were vinyl monsters of some sort! Not being even vaguely familiar with the films (there's two now - Oscar nominated - with a third on the way!) I was none the wiser and nearly put them back on the shelf with a mental note or a quick mobile-phone photo' for the archive...
...and it was only the obvious green figure that clinched the purchase.
Once I'd got it home and open this evening, I found a descent enough pile of figures (the advertised 25), and a lid which I can see being useful in some sort of Games Workshop thing, floor, altar, shrine?
The entire contents of the tub; Shaun has a figure in his 'Movie' set I don't, but I have two copies (in two colours) of a figure not in his set? As everything else seems to tie-up, with five dragon poses in three's or four's of two colours, I'm wondering if this is due to the difference between movie and TV versions/characters?
Now that I'm familiar with the contents of one set, I'll have another look at others in different branches and see if there's an obvious variation in colours/pose numbers, or the human figure contents...but I suspect there won't be and I would have to track-down a 2010 set to get the other figure and some dark green or bright mid-blue dragons &etc...?
Top, on the left, both sides of all figures with more than one example. On the right, some of the figures are clearly marked on the bases, others aren't, even the same pose, and while the numbers are similar with the same suffix; there's no apparent sequence.
Below; Minor rant...all these companies are 'partners' with Dreamworks on this franchise...not one of them is offering figures or figural premiums with their 'tie-ins', indeed, apart from the Michaels' craft stuff, none of them is even offering playable merchandise of any kind, it's all quizzes, free cinema tickets (mail away or presentable codes) and the like...now 20/30 years ago, only one or two companies would have 'bandwagoned' something like this and they would have had physical 'toys' involved...flats, figures, badges... something! I think that's sad, it's a triumph of marketing (admittedly very successful) over service to the consumer you want to buy into this stuff.
Previously Blogged by Shaun at Fantasy Toy Soldiers as a movie tie-in; How to Train Your Dragon, these have been reissued to tie-in with the TV animated series.
Because of the three large stickers on the tub and the two card baffles within, it was not terribly easy to see the contents except insofar as there were vinyl monsters of some sort! Not being even vaguely familiar with the films (there's two now - Oscar nominated - with a third on the way!) I was none the wiser and nearly put them back on the shelf with a mental note or a quick mobile-phone photo' for the archive...
Once I'd got it home and open this evening, I found a descent enough pile of figures (the advertised 25), and a lid which I can see being useful in some sort of Games Workshop thing, floor, altar, shrine?
Now that I'm familiar with the contents of one set, I'll have another look at others in different branches and see if there's an obvious variation in colours/pose numbers, or the human figure contents...but I suspect there won't be and I would have to track-down a 2010 set to get the other figure and some dark green or bright mid-blue dragons &etc...?
Below; Minor rant...all these companies are 'partners' with Dreamworks on this franchise...not one of them is offering figures or figural premiums with their 'tie-ins', indeed, apart from the Michaels' craft stuff, none of them is even offering playable merchandise of any kind, it's all quizzes, free cinema tickets (mail away or presentable codes) and the like...now 20/30 years ago, only one or two companies would have 'bandwagoned' something like this and they would have had physical 'toys' involved...flats, figures, badges... something! I think that's sad, it's a triumph of marketing (admittedly very successful) over service to the consumer you want to buy into this stuff.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
P is for Perfect Pile of Purloined Plastic Plunder!
So, you may have been aware that a bit of a do was held in Richmond at the weekend! It takes a whole year to come round and is over all to quickly!
I am really hopeless at doing show-reports, although I often photograph the sorting stages with a Blog-article in mind! Thus I have several still on the desktop going back about three years, and some older stuff in Picasa, I'll try and make June 'acquisition month' and clear some of this old stuff, not to show-off, but because it may be interesting to some, and will clear some space on the laptop!
With that aim in mind, lets get this show out of the way in a timely manner....
Plunder! the swag-bags in situ, late Saturday night...full of promise...I eventually escaped with three bags...well, there was a forth, which I
had taken with me, but a coffee-related flask-failure incident rendered it out
of action for the duration!
The first was my purchases as I went round the hall throughout the day. Pile - top left, mid-sorting - top right, after sorting into my standard 4x51/2 bags - bottom left. It's hard to choose a 'winner' when I've picked everything in the photograph, but this group of female subjects is a fair example of the eclecticism of my buying.
I think most if not all of them came from Brian Carrick's rummage tubs, and they are; from the left -
A heavy vinyl Flamenco dancer, probably removed from a Spanish tourist thingy? A Jim figure of a girl, she's been repainted in metallic blue, so I may strip her back to bare plastic one day? A hard plastic copy of an Elastolin farm lady, scaled down and possibly in cellulose acetate by Reisler of Denmark and a soft synthetic/silicon-rubber girl marked Hong Kong.
One of Henry's wives from Cavendish...I have all bar one of these in storage, but can't remember which one, so keep buying them when I see them in the hope that when I marry the two piles I'll have good examples of all six of them, as I also can't remember which ones I've got here (when I'm at a show), this may well be same-pose number three? I still don't actually have Henry either!
The last two are scale-downs of Fontanini statuettes, one in hard, painted styrene and the other a soft-ethylene copy of an old European food premiums, with the original separate plinth now moulded on.
The badges were abandoned at the end, but having always attended these shows as 'trade' I've never got a badge, so I rescued them!
The second swag-bag contains the 'lucky-dip'. I'm very lucky to have been in the hobby long enough to have got to know a few people well, and for them to have got to know me and my quirky, [originally] small-scale oriented, ephemeral, eclectic, completist, Blog-post driven ways, equally well!
As a result some of them put stuff aside for me and from time to time - the Plastic Warrior show being an ideal time - divest themselves of it by offering it to me...I've never said "no thanks"! Five people brought stuff to Richmond and it was in Bag No.2...
Trevor Rudkin has been saving me stuff for over twenty years now and there's always something of interest in his bag, this year it's a toss-up between the Thorntons set and the pile of Ninjas which I think are Soma; although only marked 'China', they also carry a number on the foot which is very Soma, and the sculpting ties-in.
But the winner was in a separate tub which Trevor had carried reverently all the way from the Midlands, with the lorries nestled in bubble-wrap...these little 1:100'ish civilian Bedford MK types. Obviously based on old Matchbox or Corgi models and as you can see the bodies can be swapped, I have somewhere a whole boxed-tray of near-identical vehicles (with the same silver wheels) from some generic HK outfit but with Ford Thames cab-units, so we'll look at them all in more detail another day!
Fellow blogger Garreth Morgan also brought a bag of bits for me...bit of Marx, some damaged Starlux (which being hard plastic go in a tub with similar sized damaged Triang, Blue Box, Reisler and Marx for ultimate conversion), a nice Blue Box civilian Bedford RL needing a load and two Wells/Brimtoy RL's lacking front axles which are otherwise OK so will provide doner-service at some point, 3 ABC or ABC-like Indians (only one marked) and a nice 'from hollow-cast mould' Guardsman are all highlights.
The winner from this lot though is a quantity of old card French cavalry, dismounted...they have some age and the scraps that have been used to base them show it, lovely copper-plate ledger pages of some sort, and these aren't your run-of-the-mill 'paper sheets', they are heavy card stock with colour-litho overprinting in about 28/30mil.
Brian Carrick also had a bag of chuck-outs "full of lovely stuff" for me and there was lots to chose as a favourite of the day...I've gone with the bears because it was International Bear Week last week...apparently...well it was on Facebook which is enough for me!
I'm guessing the irony of bears in bearskins was lost on the Chinese sculptor! Three marching and three at attention, these had a little 'China' sticker in gold on them and are probably still findable in the kiosks on the London tourist trails..but..soldier bears...brilliant!
Other highlights include the three space-ships from Tombola, the two late HK bath-toy ships (Missouri (green) and United States (silver)), various premiums, a nice rubber Ultraman, a wooden flat of a chicken (you all know how I like my wooden toys!), a terracotta French revolutionary type, early Airfix camel, German 'dimestore' cowboy firing a cannon, Kinder monster and a vinyl figure from the Captain Harlock set; one of his side-kicks - Ramis Valente, he'll join Sylvidra who's been in storage for three years! Both made by Fabianplastica.
The third swag-bag was the 'my chair' stuff...during the day, I keep being tempted by stuff on the stall I'm supposed to be helping with...and it gets put on 'the chair'...'nuff said! Highlights are everything in the picture pretty-much, but I'm choosing the two elephants and the two Aloes?
The elephants are; on the left - a Hong Kong nodding-head elephant with a thread tail and on the right; the Carthaginian command piece (made by GMB according to Peter Evan's new book - see yesterday's post or Plastic Warrior's Facebook page!) from the Rosas Y Maleret board game 'Battle of Maturo' which has been on my 'wants list' for years! The Aloe plants might be Spanish also?
Now I said five people brought me bits and bobs and we've only seen three? At one point in the proceedings Peter Evans was throwing toys at me! He narrowly missed the person I was talking to and his fellow PW founder Brian, but hey, what the hell, when you go to a toy show intending to obtain toys and someone throws toys at you, I think you'll agree: it's been a good day!
He didn't even want money for them! Five nice China Troops vaguely based on Tee Mee poses with a bit of Revell in the influence department, an LP robot, a Ziani Spider-man freebie and a Gum-Ball ManzingerZ/robot type thing (I know the maker of but can't find the reference).
The fifth person was Barney Brown, but his 'brung bits' (Marx minis and Reisler 30mm's) got included in the first 'purchase' bag and images above, thanks Barney, Brain, Gareth, Peter and Trevor!
Top right are my floor-sweepings, only an unknown pilot and a Roco windscreen in the toy arena, but lots of fake jewels, the car-park was full of them but they were all dull and weathered, walked on or driven over, but in the hall there were lots of pristine ones...I think they'd been used as 'posh' (read: wasteful) confetti at a wedding reception, anyway, they are useful for scratch-building and modelling, and the small clear ones make excellent replacement headlights on late Dinkys and Spot-Ons!...not that I'm known for restoring either...but you never know, and they were free!
The final act of the day was Brian's extraordinary generosity...I had been tempted by his flats earlier in the day and not given in to temptation (the list of things I walked-away from would take a week to type!), at the end of the show, when most people had gone he said "Do you want them for £x", "If I've go it" I replied pulling £y out of my pocket with some shrapnel, "you can have them for £y" he said, "I'll just get them from the car" and shot off, coming back moments later with the tubs in the last image above.
It was a complete bargain, and with most of them whole or part sets marked mostly to one brand; Heudebert (bread-biscuit things), I've left the lids on until I can marry-them-up to the ones in storage and have a 'Flats' month to catch-up, but some may feature here in the nearer future so keep coming back!
That's a shows worth, it's all-sorts of all sorts in every scale and material, but it helps build the bigger picture and helps build Blog posts! There's one thing missing, but I'm paying for it next weekend so it doesn't count!
And if you're wondering....I shot the favourites against a backdrop of pages from Garratt's encyclopaedia I had at hand! Was that it? Blimey, that was quick...got to wait a year now!
I am really hopeless at doing show-reports, although I often photograph the sorting stages with a Blog-article in mind! Thus I have several still on the desktop going back about three years, and some older stuff in Picasa, I'll try and make June 'acquisition month' and clear some of this old stuff, not to show-off, but because it may be interesting to some, and will clear some space on the laptop!
With that aim in mind, lets get this show out of the way in a timely manner....
I think most if not all of them came from Brian Carrick's rummage tubs, and they are; from the left -
A heavy vinyl Flamenco dancer, probably removed from a Spanish tourist thingy? A Jim figure of a girl, she's been repainted in metallic blue, so I may strip her back to bare plastic one day? A hard plastic copy of an Elastolin farm lady, scaled down and possibly in cellulose acetate by Reisler of Denmark and a soft synthetic/silicon-rubber girl marked Hong Kong.
One of Henry's wives from Cavendish...I have all bar one of these in storage, but can't remember which one, so keep buying them when I see them in the hope that when I marry the two piles I'll have good examples of all six of them, as I also can't remember which ones I've got here (when I'm at a show), this may well be same-pose number three? I still don't actually have Henry either!
The last two are scale-downs of Fontanini statuettes, one in hard, painted styrene and the other a soft-ethylene copy of an old European food premiums, with the original separate plinth now moulded on.
The badges were abandoned at the end, but having always attended these shows as 'trade' I've never got a badge, so I rescued them!
As a result some of them put stuff aside for me and from time to time - the Plastic Warrior show being an ideal time - divest themselves of it by offering it to me...I've never said "no thanks"! Five people brought stuff to Richmond and it was in Bag No.2...
But the winner was in a separate tub which Trevor had carried reverently all the way from the Midlands, with the lorries nestled in bubble-wrap...these little 1:100'ish civilian Bedford MK types. Obviously based on old Matchbox or Corgi models and as you can see the bodies can be swapped, I have somewhere a whole boxed-tray of near-identical vehicles (with the same silver wheels) from some generic HK outfit but with Ford Thames cab-units, so we'll look at them all in more detail another day!
The winner from this lot though is a quantity of old card French cavalry, dismounted...they have some age and the scraps that have been used to base them show it, lovely copper-plate ledger pages of some sort, and these aren't your run-of-the-mill 'paper sheets', they are heavy card stock with colour-litho overprinting in about 28/30mil.
I'm guessing the irony of bears in bearskins was lost on the Chinese sculptor! Three marching and three at attention, these had a little 'China' sticker in gold on them and are probably still findable in the kiosks on the London tourist trails..but..soldier bears...brilliant!
Other highlights include the three space-ships from Tombola, the two late HK bath-toy ships (Missouri (green) and United States (silver)), various premiums, a nice rubber Ultraman, a wooden flat of a chicken (you all know how I like my wooden toys!), a terracotta French revolutionary type, early Airfix camel, German 'dimestore' cowboy firing a cannon, Kinder monster and a vinyl figure from the Captain Harlock set; one of his side-kicks - Ramis Valente, he'll join Sylvidra who's been in storage for three years! Both made by Fabianplastica.
The elephants are; on the left - a Hong Kong nodding-head elephant with a thread tail and on the right; the Carthaginian command piece (made by GMB according to Peter Evan's new book - see yesterday's post or Plastic Warrior's Facebook page!) from the Rosas Y Maleret board game 'Battle of Maturo' which has been on my 'wants list' for years! The Aloe plants might be Spanish also?
He didn't even want money for them! Five nice China Troops vaguely based on Tee Mee poses with a bit of Revell in the influence department, an LP robot, a Ziani Spider-man freebie and a Gum-Ball ManzingerZ/robot type thing (I know the maker of but can't find the reference).
The fifth person was Barney Brown, but his 'brung bits' (Marx minis and Reisler 30mm's) got included in the first 'purchase' bag and images above, thanks Barney, Brain, Gareth, Peter and Trevor!
Top right are my floor-sweepings, only an unknown pilot and a Roco windscreen in the toy arena, but lots of fake jewels, the car-park was full of them but they were all dull and weathered, walked on or driven over, but in the hall there were lots of pristine ones...I think they'd been used as 'posh' (read: wasteful) confetti at a wedding reception, anyway, they are useful for scratch-building and modelling, and the small clear ones make excellent replacement headlights on late Dinkys and Spot-Ons!...not that I'm known for restoring either...but you never know, and they were free!
The final act of the day was Brian's extraordinary generosity...I had been tempted by his flats earlier in the day and not given in to temptation (the list of things I walked-away from would take a week to type!), at the end of the show, when most people had gone he said "Do you want them for £x", "If I've go it" I replied pulling £y out of my pocket with some shrapnel, "you can have them for £y" he said, "I'll just get them from the car" and shot off, coming back moments later with the tubs in the last image above.
It was a complete bargain, and with most of them whole or part sets marked mostly to one brand; Heudebert (bread-biscuit things), I've left the lids on until I can marry-them-up to the ones in storage and have a 'Flats' month to catch-up, but some may feature here in the nearer future so keep coming back!
That's a shows worth, it's all-sorts of all sorts in every scale and material, but it helps build the bigger picture and helps build Blog posts! There's one thing missing, but I'm paying for it next weekend so it doesn't count!
And if you're wondering....I shot the favourites against a backdrop of pages from Garratt's encyclopaedia I had at hand! Was that it? Blimey, that was quick...got to wait a year now!
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