P is for Plunder Post - 1. Deutschland Über Alles

So, as I said the other day, re. PW's show, the Germans mostly turned-up, and despite rumours of his trading demise Peter Bergner was there with his usual island of goodness in the middle of the room, and was one of the first to set-up, so I was straight in there for 30-quids worth of 50p stuff before the tubs got a crowd! And I went back and had another fiver's worth later and then four more items for two quid before packing up time!

The figures

The first three (top left - two policemen and skeleton) turned out to be duplicates, but at 50p will move on for the same one day, while synergy being what it is; I picked up another of the yellow/white swivel-waist figures at the same show but with the colours reversed! The rest of it was really just make-weight stuff, it's very hard to exercise self-control with Peter's tubs, you just grab things which look useful, unusual or new.

We'll look at the pirates again on TLAPD, I suspect the 'Princess' grinning like a loon is a recent Kinder or similar, there were 4 Saban in the lot - yellow winged Egyptian god thing, Soma-like knight and the power rangers - they are from a rival chocolate gift-egg brand. The painted Indian is a vinyl copy of a US figure, here marked Hong Kong.

But the best thing here is the running tooth! Marked 'medentex recycling service' in English, he/she/it looked Heimo or Bully-like to me (heavy, dense, PVC) and a quick Google the other day confirmed that that's likely to be the case; a German firm founded in 1984 and centred in Bielefeld, now owned by the UK's Rentokil. There must be thousands of these corporate salesman's-gift / trade-conference mementos / advertising-giveaways out there, I wonder if anyone specialises in collecting them?

Logo

The Animals

We've already seen the fish, the unmarked but probably Heimo version of the Disney Bambi is a nice find as I now have that sculpt in about five versions? The wild pig (Hong Kong) is really quite good, but must be a copy of something from Europe? The big vinyl tiger/lion with the collar is I think a He-Man MotU item, but from which toy line?

The rather indecent blue horse was unusual, I think he is meant to be attached to something else with that prong and while he looks like a cheap French or German rack-toy figure from the wrong-end of the 1970's, he could be HK. The hen too is 'different', with the legs bent in the middle and stuffed into a slot under the bird.

A ZIP turkey to join a growing sample of those otherwise anonymous Hong Kong copies, and an elephant because I like elephants, a prehistoric something'o'therium (anyone know who by?) and a Topps hippo are other highlights.

Transport, scenics & other items

Nothing to write home (or a Blog post!) about here really except the little house, it's made by Hoffmann of Austria, who were err... in homàgé to Wiking (shall we say!) and it's from their Der Kleine Städtbauer play-set, among other things.

A few trees and a native hut converted from the straw-roof of a larger structure I suspect, but at 50p you can't complain! The two racing cars are clip-together (Manurba?), while the 'planes are catapult types.

Andreas Dittmann had taken a table to shift a few spares (I took a few bags along the other year - or else you'll be found drowned in the stuff one day!) and I had some of his 50p bits, which he kindly added-to gratis! Motorbike, because . . . like elephants! And an elephant!

The Two smaller cowboys are Dulcop (about 45/50mm), which is interesting as I think Dario sent a 25/30mm one to the Blog, with a 54/60mm to compare, if I can find them, I'll do a comparison of all three (?) sizes.

Wilma Flintstone (or Betty Rubble?) on the shell-phone - geddit! And some nicely painted Russian/Polish flats, which may be home painted, or may be commercial; it's hard to tell, they have a commercial feel to them with air-brushed highlights, but the cross has been carefully painted-in by hand? An Indian and a couple of Kinder finished the purchase.

A close-up of the 'flat' musketeer from Kinder, There were two ranges of these, the one's with card over-lays and fully-formed headdress and the all-flat ones with coloured-plastic plug-ins and it's nice to find these card ones complete now, although his ostrich-feather's a bit bent!

It's funny, when I was eating Kinder like a daemon to find the astronauts with satellites and other small scale figures (late 1980's-early 1990's), I used to give these away to other people's kids, now I'm buying them back - without the chocolate . . .Doh!

T is for Two - Taffy Toy and Twin

When I said on Thursday (Friday's post) that I'd post the gun I thought I'd posted, I wasn't considering there might be a reason for my having not posted it in the first place! Anyway, we'll look at them as I said I'd post them and it adds to the on-blog Taffy archive!

Taken on the 24th February 2007 (just over a decade ago!) in poor light with my nearly-new, first-ever, digital camera (the first shot is DSFC0220), I still hadn't worked out how to set Macro, didn't remember the flash and seem to have lost any pictures I took of the whole of the other gun!

This is cropped out of the original on the old Taffy post and turned to give a vague idea of what the Taffy 5.5 Inch Howitzer looks like, a staple of the late war and used through to the 1970's by the British Army before being replaced by the 105 of Falkland's fame.

But there is another one out there and I can't call it a copy or clone, pirate or usurper; as it may have come first, indeed the fact that the Taffy one is non-firing would suggest it's the interloper? The 'twin' is the field-grey'ish one in each shot.

The muzzle is obviously different, the wheels are a little smaller (only a mm or so, all-round) with a deeper tread pattern, there are changes to the breech between them and the loading-tray. Otherwise there is little to tell the two apart. Given the similarities between the two AFV's - Taffy's Patton/Pershing and Kleeware's M55 SPG - which I mentioned the other day (and which ended-up with Tudor Rose in primary colours), one wonders if there is a connection between the two manufacturers and whether the firing-gun is a Kleeware piece?

To be honest, the wheels (of both) bear more relationship to Poplar's oeuvre, but while that makes sense - location/name wise - it takes u away from the similar firing mechanisms the other day! There was a lot of cross-pollination back then, and some interbreeding?

T is for Two Oddities

The last 'T is for Two' post of things I shot at Twickenham a week ago, with a couple of oddments to close . . .

These are just sublime in their madness! Argentine (or 'believed to be Argentinian') copies in polyethylene of Elastolin/Lineol type composition World War One, 70mm, German Infantry! Factory painted, the printed-fabric wallpaper only adds to the madness - enjoy!

This was unmarked and while the driver seems to be home-painted to confuse slightly, the dabs of silver seem original and point to Hong Kong rather than 'Western' origins, however I'm sure it's a copy of a Tudor Rose, Rafael Lipkin or similar toy, maybe even a scale-up of an early Matchbox or Corgi model? I liked it. About 1:40th and soft polyethylene plastic.

Thanks to Adrian at Mercator Trading for letting me photograph these.

T is for Two Large Mounted Figures

Continuing to look at the stuff I photographed at Plastic Warrior a week ago, and like yesterday - bigger stuff; as we had Hong Kong second yesterday, they can go first today!

How lovely is this? Possibly (probably) a copy of an American or Canadian touristy thing he's only about five inches, so he'd be a bit small next to Reliable or Marx 6" Indians, but still a fine figure, he has a separate plug-in tomahawk and is probably missing reins as well as his left hand!

Years ago when I worked for a dealer we had a whole boxful of these - foot and mounted - and they looked pretty bad in my memory; seeing one in the flesh did nothing to lessen the shock of the things!

Landi-Xiloplasto-Nardi late-type mounted Roman, seems to have been sculpted by the same person who did Atlantic's Romans and painted by a Philistine on his day-off! What? What else do you want me to say? Expressive sculpting? . . . It's been modelled in pre-chewed bubble-gum with the blunt-end of a tooth-brush! Expressionist painting? . . . It's painted like the furniture in a bordello, fer-f's-sake! Still - If I'd had the budget I would have bought it!

And yes - the carpet at the Winning Post is a tad 1970's leery; almost as leery as the Nardi figure!

T is for Two Coaches

A couple more bits photographed at the recent PW show, both wheeled, both on the large size for what they are, one a British rendition of an American vehicle, the other, hummmm.....

As far as I know this is the largest size of Stagecoach Tudor Rose made, like yesterday's SPG, it's 'beach-toy' scale and exactly the sort of thing you'd find in the seaside kiosks when I was a kid; in a poly-bag or net, with a cardboard header and a couple of the larger mounted figures from the same maker.

It is marked Tudor Rose but it doesn't show in the photograph and I assume the bar has been taped-in to strengthen the draw-bar/centre-pole manufactured in TR's usual soft ethylene polymer.

This is from Wilton in the 'States, clearly a cake decoration (as that's what Wilton does do in'nit!), it was lacking a team, but I suspect it never had one (there's no obvious way of attaching one anyway), or if it did they were probably unicorns or something daft like that; Pegasus's (Pegasii?)!

I guess (that's like an assumption but less firm!) it's aimed at wedding cakes, but 'trailer-park' rather than 'society'! Anyway it's about the largest thing I've seen in the cake decoration stakes at around 1:30th. You might be able to read the marks - Wilton - Chicago - Made in Hong Kong - on the hard styrene body.

A is for Another Update!

Renovated in the last few days

I've pretty-much doubled the size of the Airfix 'Bergan-Beton' horse/figure page, and added another dog! Also there's a useful horse comparison on the Toy Animal Wiki.

H is for 'Howitzer Tank'

Yeah! Kids just don't feel the same about 'self-propelled' artillery; might as well just call it artillery and watch sales tank . . . heh-heh-heh! "Better add 'Tank' to the box Dave"

I shot this at the PW show on Adrian's stall, what a peach; and an interesting choice for a model as this M55 was part of a relatively short-lived family of post-WWII SPG's with common parts, quite quickly replaced by the M108/9 family.

The model's big too, around 1:24th, maybe 1:18th? - It's about a foot-long anyway, and all in a dense silver polyethylene, what I call beach-toy scale!

The more interesting aspect than it's age (as a toy) or good condition is the shell-rack over the engine compartment, just like the Taffy Toys 'Pershing/Patton' tank we looked at back at the beginnings of the blog which was of a similar size. There are differences, the Taffy has no moulded track-link detail on the inward-facing 'walls' of the moulding and its shells are blunter-ended, but the firing mechanism is near identical, even to the flat blade trigger.

It raises the question as to whether Taffy were part of the Thomas group (as previously suggested - by me, on advise) or part of the Tudor Rose group of equally interconnected companies/entities as evidenced by the similarities with this SPG?

We looked at the two very similar yet different 5.5-inch guns last time too [Just checked, looking for the above link - no we didn't but I have the photographs, so I'll do a follow-up in a day or two! Tuesday!], it's as if there were two parallel lines, possibly designed to be sold side-by-side or at least - to complement each other?

U is for Updates

Having  a lazy day today! I've added one picture each and a bit of blurb to two of the Airfix posts with stuff I picked-up at the weekend;

Animal Flats
50mm Figures

T is for Trends

I'm showing these before the 'Plunder Posts' as if I did them afterwards, you would have seen them all once, but if I do them first they will be somewhat hidden in the plunder shots next time and it won't be so repetitive!

As I wander round the show grabbing stuff and 'making-up' round numbers from rummage bins, I'm not always paying that much attention to everything that's ending up in the plunder bags, also with people bringing me mixed bags of all-sorts, it's only when I sort it all over the Sunday after the show that a few trends or verisimilitudes show themselves as things 'go together'. These are a few of this years -

Pencil Tops; who'dve thunked I'd end up with six pencil tops! The Rabbit was a make-weight from someone's 50p tray, the Andy Pandy and Luby Lou were from a small tub of mostly circus stuff Adrian Little brought for me while I think the two 50p tray Biro's (you have to put your thumb in her crotch to click the Biro!) are a current or recent kids TV nature show and Peter Bergner's rummage-bins gave-up the purple Gnome (back in fashion - see 'News, Views . . . ' passim) who has a tight-fit PVC tube or cup, with an eyelet for a chain or string to hang the writing utensil or your choice, round your neck.

He then stars again in another small grouping along with a very small Gnome, probably removed from a snow-globe or similar 'Touristica', while the large one may be bisque, may be terracotta, may be composition, but his paint is so thick and all-covering I'd have to damage him to satisfy my curiosity - so I'll just stay curious! He's quite heavy, but not metal, and he's not too cold to the touch, so I suspect composition.

I also ended-up with a lot of early Airfix, most or all of it from Adrian (Mercator Trading) but at different times during the show as I spotted them. They will all be filtered onto the relevant posts on the Airfix blog at some point.

The real surprise was the amount of fish I ended-up with - at a 'Toy Soldier' show! I'd bought 4 different ones from Peter B's 50p bins (the Japanese blow-moulded goldfish, the modern eraser-type purple-rubber, blow-fish, the unpainted ethylene pipe-fish and the painted ethylene Hong Kong dolphin) when I started finding the painted ones in a huge bag of rack-toy tat Peter Evan's sold me (for next to nothing), the more I dug, the more turned-up until I had another six fish, and a giant crab!

I think they are mostly copies of old US mould-sculpts from the 1960/70's but will have to check with Kent Sprecher's Toy Soldier HQ website (where you find all this stuff), in the meantime I had bought a set of day-glow fish, and have a few un-blogged ones kicking around somewhere, so we may have a more in-depth post on these at some point in the not too distant future - if we do - I'll try to remember to shoot these from the other side!

I also ended up with the little tub of Circus mentioned above courtesy of Adrian, to which I managed to add the Crescent seal from somewhere, along with a couple of extra Crescent horses from Trevor Rudkin's bags and another Maysun ringmaster, he has very poor paint and I already have a better one, but again I was making-up a round-number from a 50p tray and marked HK from that era is uncommon.

The blue lion-tamer is a mystery, he's a dense PVC plastic of the type early Heimo or Corgi used from time to time, has probably been cut out of a bigger base and then super-glued to another diorama or vignette so a bit mucked-about with, but - the first example so he stays for now, also he's obviously expecting trouble from one of his cats as he's carrying a gun!

The yellow chap is unmarked but I suspect Gem or Festival from the George Musgrave styling, I have a tatty one (also yellow) juggling balls? The rest are HK copies of Crescent with the exception of the tall girl who is from another HK set - I already had a similar male.

In the same tub came these, I have a few more in storage, and there is a similar set of carol singers, and while Gem/Festival is the favoured option again, they too are unmarked and someone, somewhere (in the hobby) has linked them to Spain but I can't remember who, where or when - One Inch Warrior magazine? They are about 28mm and I think the green clowns are missing something; a barrel or hoop to roll-in; ball to balance-on maybe, or something for or joining their hands together?

Thanks to Adrian, Peter E and Trevor for the bits they saved for me.

News, Views Etc . . . Show Report - Plastic Warrior's 32nd Toy Soldier Show; Twickenham, London, 13th May 2017

Oh no! I lost the 'who can get a show report out first' competitive-blogging race for the umpteenth-year running, anyone would think I wasn't playing!

I don't know if anyone told you there was a toy soldier show at the weekend; best in the world, so commiserations if you missed it, but a brief resume of the day needs to start with the weather which threatened to be damp and drizzly, and started as such, but about the time the tables turned-up it had started clearing, and continued to improve to the point where we had the post-show 'autopsy' chin-wag on the lawn, in shirts, with tea and bisk'wuits!

Paul Morehead, the inimitable editor of Plastic Warrior was pleased with the turn-out, and table-space was over-subscribed in the end (so dealers: book early for next year!), while I thought the show stayed busy for longer than some years, with quite a buzz 'till well after lunch. I spoke to several stall-holders who'd all had a good day and I think everyone found something they needed, wanted or liked the look or price of!

As well as the two new 'specials' shown here on Friday evening last, the show was also the launching-point for the usual (or 'annual'!) new release from Peter Cole at Replicants and this year's was a delight; four Comanche warriors. I did take the middle image with Peter and the Westons in the background, but it was not the most flattering shot I've taken of him, so I hope he'll forgive me for cropping out the wider angles!

Wonderfully animated figures, with Peter's natural style to the fore, I particularly like the charging guy, reminiscent of the old Britains Swoppet chap, but while the Britains pose always looked to be dancing, Peter's 'local resident' is clearly bearing down on an illegal migrant from across the pond - with intent!

The archer reaching for a second arrow is nice, the kneeling firer is a very well observed pose while the rather gruesome scalping vignette has the perpetrator standing on a victim who - while wearing a fringed jacket - has few other defining details (and not much hair!) so can be painted up as a cowboy/settler/backwoodsman, or another - rival tribe - Indian. He could even be given US Army (cavalry) blue trousers with a nice yella' stripe down the seam - if only the natives had had a wall . . . a really big wall folks!

Also on sale at the show, and still available from Replicants' retail-agents (Steve Weston's Toy Soldiers) were the last set of figures from 21^st Century. They were described as 'WWII British' in the last Plastic Warrior, but are really British Paratroops, equipped as per post-D-Day, and might like to have their smocks repainted to reflect the Denison scheme.

Their helmets also being wrong for infantry as they are neither the old rimmed 'Tommy' or 'Brodie' (as the Yanks called it) nor having the distinctive shape of the Guards Brigade's MkIII 'Turtles', and as well as having the look of the Para-helmet, they have the chin-strap for it. However a couple of the figures are in other headdress, shirt or jumper, so are a bit more flexible.

However they're very good, highly detailed sculpts which would benefit from further paint whoever they were representing. The Bren-gun's magazine on one of mine needs a hot-water treatment to straighten it, but otherwise lovely figures which may prove hard to get in the future, so grab them now!

Five bags of other plunder were returned to Smallscaleworld Towers and their contents will feature in a future post.

The big difference this year was a lack of European visitors, most of the German faces were there as always, but the French and Belgians were missing, as were all but one of the Portuguese? I don't know if this was a Brexit thing, a currency thing or just a busy weekend for events elsewhere.

I hope it's due to developing support structures for the hobby in other places reducing the necessity to drag one's arse to Blighty - certainly it seems the French hobby has progressed a lot in recent years, and that means someone is digging-out and saving the stuff there, so it can in turn find it's way to evilBay for everyone to have a punt at! It didn't seem to effect attendance, and only time will tell if it's part of a trend or just a one-off?

Finally . . . 

Blimey! It's only less than a blinking year until the next Plastic Warrior magazine's Toy Soldier Show, the best toy soldier show in the world!

R is for Run Yourself Ragged at the Royal Tournament

Back when we had an Army (not an manpower-lean, quick reactive, defence force in gravy-coloured pyjamas!) and a budget to match, there was a lot more KAPE (Keep the Army in the Public Eye) activity than there is now, and like any 'club-activity' it had a vague season, with local and regional 'happenings man' and used to culminate in a grand 'National' pageant held at Earls Court called the Royal Tournament.

The events which led-up to it included various one-day or weekend 'Army Shows' and Military Tattoo's including the Berlin Brigade and Edinburgh events; these could be up to a week long.

There were certain memes and standards associated with these shows among which were the four brightly coloured jeeps of the REME juniors from Shrivenham (? Or RE Arbourfield?), which would be driven into the arena, taken apart, moved in pieces, put back together again and driven off; as a race!

The RHA would always be on hand with their 'musical ride'; dragging the guns to music, the Royal Marines could usually be counted upon for a blank-firing arctic warfare scenario, outdoor events would usually include the Red Devils or their lesser rivals while the White Helmet motorcycle display and MP dog display always pleased.

The host unit always had to come up with something, friends from abroad became regulars like the RCMP 'Mounties' and the US Marines Pokey-drill display team (did West Point have a bigger team, all in grey?) and the whole would be interspersed with various bands or pipes and drums, with larger massed-bands or massed pipes & drums (often with guest or civilian bands participating) bringing the show to a crescendo with fireworks.

There was much more (a bit of clowning, some marching stuff, Lipizzaner horses . . . bull-fighting with horned-bicycles!) and another five minutes would drag more of them from the old memory-box - as I sat through enough of them! But the one I always looked-forward to the most was the competition between the Naval Academies.

It had elements of most of the above (no music), with an obstacle course greater than the RMP dogs had to face, broken and reassembled military equipment - each piece of which was heavier than the various jeep components - and spectacle which put the White helmets in the shade and made the Red devils look like cosseted show-offs!

The competition ran through the KAPE season but the climax (when two teams were usually ahead and vying for top spot) was the Tournament week, and each night they would heave, carry and swing their naval guns over, under and through walls, wooden-horses, imaginary canyons and water features in a race of epic drama!

They used various telegraph-poles and rope-jigs to create levers and swing-cranes and the whole thing was pretty awesome to watch. If they got something wrong the DS (Directing Staff) would make them do it again, while the other team crept-away up the course, heaving and yelling like berserkers!

Someone made a set for us to play with . . .

I say 'someone', I'm pretty sure it was Phoenix Model Developments, and if it wasn't, I 'know' who it was; as I have the paperwork in a 40' shipping container in Basingrad! But - I can't find them in the scanned catalogues, can't remember and know that while Phoenix had a range of 30mm ceremonial troops including bands, I just can't find these . . . or the set of White Helmets I think were also made - by the same maker; whoever it was, on Google?

In addition, I seem to remember there was a firm doing the London Shows about ten/twelve years ago who also had a range of 30mm ceremonials which may or may not have been Phoenix, or from Phoenix moulds, or 'after' Phoenix?

Asking Phoenix - who still exist but now concentrate on 1:12th dolls house accessories and larger bronzes (although they do still carry some of the costermen's carts which so pleased JG Garratt) was fruitless, so I'm hoping one of the 'metal guys' (Tim, Doug, Ross, et al?) might have the definitive answer, as it'll be years before I get my stuff out of storage I fear!

Anyway, I'll list them as Phoenix as they are 'in the style' of their 30mm ceremonial figures, on the presumption (far worse that a mere assumption!) that they are late-catalogue or un-catalogued Phoenix - until I know otherwise.

The above shots are of a vignette of the 'run down' after the final firing - they did two circuits if I remember rightly, slightly different order each time, with (obviously) reverse order on the second run down the obstacles, assembling the guns and firing a blank round at the end of the run-up, they then disassembled them again, did the 'part two' and then reassembled the guns, fired another blank and then ran them as fast as they could (with their effort-withered lungs) to the other [mid-point or] turn-end for a finish time.

The DS is looking carefully for infringements!

These all came - I believe - from a deceased collectors estate about 10 years ago, and I don't know what he's trying to do here, two men couldn't pull that gun and limber, that casually, and the paint treatment is very different (compare with the wonderful gun-metalling on the race vignette), while the gun doesn't have the race carrying-pole wedged in the breech, or the rope hand-hoops in the muzzle?

I think he was going to finish this as an in-service piece for shelf-display?

These were also in the set, I think maybe they were going to be the 'march-on' group. There are only three figure types in all these pictures; an officer or ensign, a running man and a marching/walking man, everything-else is done with moveable arms and paint.

One of the arms has gone AWOL, but then . . . one of the features of the race used to be the announcer telling the audience about the worst of the injuries sustained in races and training that year, how many were unable to attend the final race because they were in hospital, or - occasionally - if anyone had died. Both teams in each race had a couple of supernumeraries on the team to allow for injuries while under the stop-watch!

If that's not enough for you; on the last night of the Royal Tournament, after the final race, all the teams would parade for the prize-giving - with all the injured; arms and legs in plaster, a couple in wheelchairs and the hospitalised would get another name check! Those in plaster were also visible working the recruiting stands during the week and manning displays outside the arena - "Join the Navy and you can break you femur in three places, on training, too!"

The past is a not just a different country, it's a bloody rough place! But it helped us win the Falklands back, vastly outnumbered, from thousands of miles away.

Maybe that helps explain Brexit and the apparent (very apparent) popularity of the awful Mrs. May means Maybe, Maybe Not, but another thing about the past is that you can't return to it, progress is inevitable, for good or ill, and anyone who thinks differently is deluding themselves.

The previous owner had started to scratch-build the obstacles, one day I'd like to finish the project but time waits for no man! The limbers were levered over the wall like this, but in reality the wheels would have been removed and they had to be rolled through the hole in the middle of the wall - if the two wheel sub-teams got their timing out, they would wedge-tight as it was only wide enough for one, while if the receiving sub-teams got their part wrong the wheels would be the wrong way round to go back on the limber (or gun) and time would be lost - precious seconds.

Also a close-up of the movable arm, you simply press the receiving stud with a screwdriver blade or something similar to burr it back against the shoulder, which holds the arm on, but allows movement.

The paint difference between the two main elements of this collection, it's not that he hasn't finished the one; it's a different treatment, a different blue. So I suspect he was doing one as a race team from the collages, the other as a WWI or WWII era parade piece?

Anyway, if I ever finish them, they will be a hell of a sight, and can anyone cast firmer light on the maker? I've just Googled both these and the White Helmets (being scrapped this year!) again with no luck, yet can picture the paperwork in my head!

T is for Two - Modern Board Games

I've been busy going round the charity shops this spring - all those unwanted Christmas presents starting to filter through - and among recent purchases were these two board games, both recent, and both on the wants list for the pieces only.

This came out about 10 years ago, from Toy Brokers and was quite expensive at the time, but the Daleks looked good, so I made a mental note to look-out for it at 'car boots' or charity shops and sure enough, a minter came in to one for two-quid!

I've kept the six Dalek's, the six Doctor flats with their full-colour, photo-artwork and the electronic Tardis (which is not bad size-wise for 54mm figures), along with the instructions to scan into the files. The rest went straight in the recycling bin!

I wanted the cat as soon as it was announced (2012/13?) so this one has come-in quite quickly, but then like lipsticking a pig, there's only so any Monopoly sets needed in a world where most families have one, no matter how 'limited' or 'new' you make it (this one as a 'speed die' for faster play!), and the best selling thing in the world will eventually run-out of customers!

The dog has shrunk, the boot has been replaced by the more traditional slipper and had a tread added for the first time, the cruiser and Car have both reverted to older looking versions (although that happened a while ago) and the Iron was cut for the new cat.

Both the wheelbarrow and thimble have also taken a hit, size wise with the barrow being about the worst version ever. The thimble of my childhood used be usable as a thimble, this one wouldn't go over a little finger!

We looked at them a while ago

The giant Formula 1 board-game project is starting to look very doable now, with all these being new (the ones we looked at way back when are in storage now) although we've looked at some of them here in other novelty posts; I've definitely got an orange team now, a dark green and silver/grey to replace the Black, but gold, pink and light blue are looking good, and all the teams could have three cars!

I am now starting to think about building the 'board' as an all-weather outdoor track using Italian glass mosaic-tesserae!

N is for Nomm-Nomm-Nommnivore and No Toy Soldiers

None, Nix, Nada, Non, Nien, Niet, No! No-no-no-no-no, NO! All the toy soldiers worth looking at today are in Twickenham; didn't you know? Better get yer' skates on; the doors open in an hour-and-a-half!

But you want something to look at first huh?

How cool is this? This is too cool for Panzerschule! When I mentioned Paladone-Noki the other day (giant Guardsman sponge/Roman arse-wipe thing) it put me in mind of another modern Novelty company; 50-Fifty, who had a cast metal bottle-opener in the shape of Tim Mee's crawling GI.

Now this 'putting to  mind' happened as I was perambulating through the teeming metropolis that is Fleet High Street, so I thought "Ooh,  the hardware store was where I got that other 50-fifty thing" so I popped into Robert Dyas and asked if they had the bottle opener - they didn't - they'd had a pirate one!

But then on the way back out of 'The Glass Menagerie' (as the main shopping centre is referred to round these parts) I popped over the road into the British Heart Foundation's [charity/thrift-] shop and they had this tank!

Bargain! It is actually Paladone - so some kind of synergic happenstance there - and must have come before the Guardsman egg-cup - which they are currently advertising - for it to have had time to get old'ish looking (and a bit sticky - eeuw!).

Although Two things: 1) looking at the size and shape of the cup; I think it may be better for poached eggs, and 2) E-1 while possibly meaning Egg-one, could also be seen as Ei, or egg in German . . . so what I think we are looking at here; ladies and gentlemen, yet to be seen in Jane's Defence Weekly, are the first snaffled shots from behind the kitchen curtain of that rare beast, the Par-boil Panzer!

It comes with a soldier-maker - for dipping! I assume it's the same mould as has been reused in red-plastic for the current Guardsman?