1 is for "On the First Day of Chrissssstmaaas, His True Love Sent to Hiiiiiiimmm . . .

. . . A Snoww-man with'out a Pear tree!"

He didn't actually know why she mentioned a lack of Pear tree on the delivery docket, as he wasn't expecting a Pear tree, not that he was expecting a Snowman either, but that's his True Love for you, a bit quirky...it took the driver and him 20 minutes to unload (refrigerated-stand, an'all), but once it was up, on the front lawn, it looked fine . . .

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Today's snowman comes courtesy of Doric, and while I could have used (should have - although I've found the piece of hat rim - the bane of poured-resin; brittleness!) the Fiddes Payne one, we've already looked at them I think?

Indeed, this '12 Days' meme is a variation of one I ran on the Facebook several years ago, possibly before the Fiddes Payne set was in the collection!

As with the header/bagged sets we looked at the other day (yesterday? I've scheduled so many posts in the last few weeks I don't know where I'm at!) these blister sets are filled with a mix of ethylene, styrene and resin bits and items in other materials, some of which are shared by other packers like Culpitt, Fiddes' &etc.

W is for Weihnachts Tannenbaum

Every year I take loads of photographs of the tree as I dress it, and yet apart from the odd one here or on the Facebook, never seem to do anything with them, building a decent enough photographic record of the tree's development over the years, is all! So I thought I'd subject you to a few for the hell of it, and because having decided to do multiple posts today there's a need to produce the posts with whatever's kicking around on the desktop!

And because there's Toy Soldiers involved - if wafer-thin glass can be trusted to wear 'toy' as a moniker! "Elf 'und'safty mate, these 'aint no toys, roight, whachyerself, cutting hazard right there!"

This is the years additions to the family tree, we added a craft-built hedgehog last year, so I got him a mate, while drums and bears have always been favorites, indeed, the growing 'growl' of bears have put in the odd appearance here on the blog!

The soldiers are brilliant; they came from TK Max, and quite by accident, they had a set with a bear, and angel and a couple of other singles, but the only one I could find had a damaged bear (some hammer-fingered lumpty had stove his head in), so I went to a couple of other stores over the last 6 weeks or so, more than once, hoping for a restock, and while the bear never appeared again I did find a set of four little soldiers, 2 to me, 2 to the 'family' tree!

All four - being smaller they will fill the difficult gaps at the top of the tree where the big ones tend to look silly!

I also found these, but they were almost too big at around 5 1/2 or 6-inches, and the finish was poor (mostly hidden by the photo) with the legs streaked matt and gloss where the paint wasn't mixed well, and the hat's paint wearing-off, so I just shelfied them.

I found them in a place called Home Store or something (I'll look it up when I publish - Homesense) which seemed to be a TK Max subsidiary, with furniture instead of clothes, but the same household and gift stuff?

That's it for today, hope you had a good one. Starting tomorrow; a 12-part story of snowman-love!

A is for Advent!

Nearly through the calendar (20th at time of posting) and not many figural chockies this year (I'll add any additions before this publishes!), one duplicate already - the robin! I missed out on the excellent calendars you get from Lidl or Aldi so it was off to the Poundland for a local product; Kinnerton (part of a larger group with what looks like an Aussie arm?).

They have the same taste, but are much smaller than their Euro-counterparts (a bit like Britain now! Ooh - a Brexit dig on Crimbo-day Hugh; you do like controversy). Also there's an extra door for the 25th (with a mini-bar of chocolate) which just isn't tradition at all! Bah! Humbug!

Additions

Oh! Both duplicates, hey ho; they're here now!

Typically: the best one came on the 24th - A soldier! (or a soldier bear?), anyway; the drinks we were supposed to be going too got put back to this evening and I've made the library with minutes to spare! happy tomorrow, today everyone!

F is for Fleet and Crookham Historical Society - Again!

We had a quick look at their exhibition last year, well; they've done it again! Some duplicates (the Fuzzy Felt looks familiar) some new stuff, the (earlier) Bell version of the Merit stacking set is particularly interesting (a Merit gyroscope and SEL steam-engine also Randall's are both in the display as well), as are the Knex figures, which look to have some age, but had escaped me!

On show at Fleet Library (North Hampshire) for the time being, if you're local - or visiting - get down there for a proper look, if you're not, see what you can spot! Apologies for the photography - as last time, camera-flash, glass-cabinets and strip-lighting combine awkwardly!

I'll look-out for another exhibition next year!

D is for Doric

A made-up brand if ever there was one! Although they have a postcode and everything, I bet they share it with several other domestic household product and catering equipment brands!

We are going to be looking at the products of this 'company' a couple more times in the next few days, but these came-in about a month ago and are not covered by the forthcoming posts.

Showing signs of having been taken out several years on the trot, it's often hard to date this seasonal cake-decorating stuff, the graphics shrill 1980's, but the condition suggests later?

Contents of both sets; A mix of styrene, ethylene and poured, polyester resin polymers obviously bought-in from other makers, some is shared with more recent Culpitt stuff, while (as we shall see) Doric also carry the same tuff as Fiddes Payne.

S is for Seasonal 'Shelfies'

A few things I captured on my way round Woking while Christmas-shopping and visiting PW's estimable editor the other day . . .

Four for £10 from the Evil Empire, exclusive at the Toysaurus or you can get similar for a quid at Poundland, or less at Wilkinson's/Wilco; as we saw the other day [link] . . . and it's your money!

In Debenhams for xmas, shipped by Keycraft, another of the new names this year I've seen several other - non-toy - novelty items from, in my travels. Decent re-sculpts of the much-pirated Matchbox figures - why didn't they just do new figures?!!

How cool is this? Too cool for night-school, that's how! A Subbuteo colour-change, night-light I caught in Robert Dyas, didn't get the brand and have already deleted the un-cropped originals, but I think it was about 14.99?

B is for Bouncysaurus and Buffalo, or is it Bison

Nah! Yer wash yer'hands in a by'son! An oldie but goodie! And it could be a wisent!

These are funny little novelty items, I bought a fair few about 10-15 years ago, mostly from a party shop down near Eastbourne somewhere, but a few nearer home (somewhere in Aldershot - I think?), there are Soldiers, footballers and tiny little sky-divers around 1:300-compatible in formations, a nice set of Arctic/Antarctic mammals (Killer-whale, dolphins, seals, sea-lions, walruses &etc.), fish and something else I can't remember because they are all in storage! No matter we can look at them again one day, and in the meantime these were on Clearance at the Toysaurus for a quid the other day.

What looks like a Gaur (or poorly sculpted Wildebeest?), the Bison/Buffalo/Wisent type, and a crested dinosaur, now imported by AI&E of the Netherlands. The dino is in an all-clear, hard-silicon or Whan-o secret-formula type polymer, while the two ruminants get a background of coloured flecks which are magnified into a washed out swirly-greenery effect.

One of the lots I bought way-back was an end-of-line, so I talked the shop-assistant into letting me keep the tub, as a result most of them are kept in the tub, but I always cut a few free - as samples - for future posts like this one!

You can see how much the magnification-effect is, when you release one, they are actually very small, but equally at home with Airfix soldiers and their ilk; here shown with Atlantic buffalo. Atlantic did two sets of these, one set slightly smoother (illustrated) than the other, add the bouncy-ball one and a couple of Priser's and you've got a fine heard with few duplicates!

You can also see the layering involved in getting the various elements in place. The skydivers I mentioned above are palced in their pairs, or diamonds or circles around what would be the 'Tropic of Capricorn', while below them (at the 'Tropic of Cancer') is a small disc with an aerial photograph of a landscape 'far below'. Others have both a whole-coloured and clear halves. While the soldiers and footballers are a disappointment freed of the ball, as they have no base!