M is for Mini-Whinnies

I know; it's baby-talk, but they are 'infant toys' so it's perfectly understandable! Mentioned a couple of times here at Small Scale World in passing recently, when looking at other things, I saw these for a quid in a charity shop, and grabbed them as a perfect little Blog-post! And - they are paint-your-own which has become another recurring theme here!

The Breyer Mini-Whinnies paint kits;-

Packaging is a transparent zip-up 'purse' (I think blokes call them 'carry-cases'!!!!) with carry handle and inner vac-formed trays holding everything on display, there is an over-stuck errata-slip on the little tag, but the only change is to the imperial measurements; from 3oz. to 3 fl.oz. I wondered if they might have reduced the number of paint pots or something a tad more dramatic!

As the Britains horse was still out from the follow-up comparison shot with the HCF cart-horse the other day, I took advantage of it to provide a second comparison! You get four paints (two browns, grey and white) and a brush, which is of some quality and would make a useful addition to a figure-painter's tool-arsenal due to its short shaft?

The four hoses from both sides; nice sculpts in a dense polymer which has more in common tith polyethylene than PVC, but is probably, truly- neither. Being 'naked' horses, you can see they have conversion potential in several scales, and would be useful additions to any modeller's 'spares' box.

The larger one on the left in the lower image is - I think - the one copied (and scaled-up) in the fantasy paint-your-own set we looked at before the Christmas just gone.

Painting guide suggests other poses which means other sets (as dos the '2' after Paint Kit!), there were some on display at the Toy Fair (in this packaging if I recall correctly? Or possibly now squared-off?) in January, but I didn't shoot them for some reason? Although as a guide, it's got an awful lot of black detailing required - for a set with no black paint pot! This set is dated 2007, so they've been around a while!

That's the Breyer Mini-Whinnies Paint Kit 2

P is for Papo - 6 - Mini's and Mini+

So, the sets that really interest me (and hopefully some of you) are the Papo Mini at approximately 40mm and the Mini+ or previously/occasionally; Mini Plus) which weigh-in at approximately 56mm, sadly they are both limited ranges, but given that Schleich have nothing in either size range, it's better than nothing although China's Safari and the other French maker Plastoy do make similar toob-sets in one size or the other or both.

As seen at the show; tall, thin toobs are Mini (the biscuit tin/lunch boxes have gone by the wayside!); tall, fat toobs Mini+, and the shorter, fatter ones are the Mini+ dinosaurs.

Here I've compared the various sizes under slightly better light conditions, with a toob of mini knights, the header-carded monochrome ones Brian brought to my attention at Christmas and the Mini+ toob, while in the right-hand image we have a full-sized one who got a bit cropped-off!

Catalogue with codes and a better idea of what the figures actually look like than any of my show-shots. Skeleton for any  undead armies you may be planning or building, a nice Cerberus for re-shooting Ray Harryhausen with the animation app on your smartphone!

It's an odd selection, with some horror, some classic myth and an Ork for good measure!

The same scan for the medievals, these are the same ones I found in the charity shop biscuit-tin/lunch-box, but without the missing ones I couldn't show in the left-hand lot!

A couple of shots of the monochrome ones in all-over silver and gold, the poses are the same as the painted set, so these are either preferable for those who don't like painted figures, or a variation for those who will be looking for the painted-ones first.

Getting repetitive but I don't want the images clogging-up Picasa for the next god-knows-how-long! Painted Mini's on the left, monochrome on the right.

Catalogue images of the 56mm Mini+, pose selection of the Fantasy set is similar to the 40mm's, but there are differences, both in pose/sculpt detail and pose variation, with two Cerberus types - for instance.

M is for Mummies in Memphis, not Tennessee!

Or . . . in Tommy Vance's voice; O is for "Open Bank Holiday Mumday!!"

Continuing what may (or may not) become an occasionally-regular (proper oxymoron!) series, looking - not at all their sets, but rather - my favorite sets from Atlantic, and today it's the Pharaoh's Court set . . . err . . . set in my sights.

The covers of the small-scale sets (this is 1801; the smallest packing option) had photo-artwork of the 1:32nd scale figures painted-up by an - as yet -unknown artist; as far as I know?

59p! That was DM2 at the time (late 1970's) and this was so different from the stuff Airfix had been chucking out for the previous 20 years, you looked at it in the wire-racks of you local model shop with genuine wonderment!

What I consider to be the most useful figures for 'army-building', the guy on the left making a good unit commander, overseer or senior NCO, the next guy can go straight into the ranks, either by painting the fan-end of his staff to represent a bronze blade, or by cutting the end off and leaving him with either a single or a double pickaxe-headed pole-arm.

Then we have a senior or field-officer and two general/staff officer types, both (all three?) of whom; with all their finery can be used with other ancient/Biblical armies, and finally the guy with the fan can be cut to have a simple spear/javelin and be used for 'receiving' enemy cavalry!

The Royal family waiting for the 'telly' to be invented! As there is a standing and seated Pharaoh I have posed a standing lady next to the queen, but I think she's actually just a serving girl! Given the fine surface detail of both Atlantic's Egyptian and Greek figure-lines (the Romans were apparently sculpted by a blind man with a steak-knife); the thrones were disappointing lumps.

Apropos the two seated figures; one of the rarest items in my [written] archives is a pair of solid gold seated Egyptian royalty who used to be in the first glass cabinet as you came up the stairs from the entrance lobby at the British Museum (I don't know if they are still on display, these things get rotated and I last saw them 24 years ago!), at an almost perfect HO-gauge compatible size they are absolutely exquisite and seated on far nicer thrones, they were also probably made for actual Pharaohs, not pocket-money, pester-power!

The servant's or scribes; the lowly people paid shite to keep the whole society ticking over, the 'you and me' of ancient Egypt! The guy on the left can be militarised with the addition of a weapon and shield, the other two are really only good for the baggage train.

Atlantic spent almost as much of the set's budget on the afterlife as the ancient Egyptians did of theirs! Lovely toys, but no use at all in war-gaming, even war-gaming at the rolling marbles level, there was a Curse of the Revenge of the Mummy Returns II element - if you were familiar with that Hollywood trope; at the age you might have been owning these first-time-round I supose, but really, dead-weight (geddit!) in the box!

Pharaoh contemplates his future through his predecessors immediate present; top right, and - as you can see for the first image in this post - the whole painted-up well in the larger 1:32nd scale.

Guarding the casket!

Colour-your-own artwork on the back of the box, or; it could be if you want it to be! And - that's them done, tagged, away!

P is for Papo - 5 - Forts

Well I said we'd return to Papo to look at the Medieval Knight and similar Fantasy sections and that's what that is, this is! We're starting with the forts.

There were three rather nice forts on display at the Toy Fair, in wood and/or card as per the Pirate ships we looked at last time, along with a new one in the catalogue which is a bit differnet and something for smaller scale collectors.

The three together, it's pretty obvious but I'll suspect, assume and presume (to wind the usual suspects up) that they are in separate price brackets, but the differences between the two left-hand ones re- both playability and number of components/size probably mean they are similarly priced at the higher end, the smaller, predominantly grey one to the right having simpler components will be the true 'budget' one.

So let's look at it first; Mon Premier Château - My First Castle (code: 60006), ignore the two little bags, we'll be coming back to them in a day or two. All three forts were displayed with a mixture of both the knights and fantasy figures from the full-height ranges so you could get an idea of size versus scale and as you can see; even the larger monsters have plenty of room to occupy the nooks and crannies of the castle and to move around the battlements.

This keep'less 'mile-fort' has a simple slot-together construction, which leaves those little protrusions at the junctions of walls and tower sections. You will also notice that both the height of the battlements and the depth of the crenellations leave the fort equally ideal for play with- or display of- smaller 60 or 54mm figures. And is that a sticker sheet I see through the portcullis? I think it is!

The main difference between the other two is that the one in the centre of the line up (60002- Le Château du Maître des Armes - The Castle of the Men at Arms) had two of the larger towers at the front corners and a third as a keep, the other (60004 - Le Château des Chevailiers - The Knight's Castle) has only one as a keep, with four more crusader-looking corner-towers.

However, you will have noticed the positioning of the firing slits matches the slots for the connections between the walls and tower/gate-house sections? I knew you had! The whole line is a modular system and additional pieces can be purchased to build a complex as large as your house or budget will allow;

60020 - Large Tower

60021 - Small Tower

60022 - Gate House/Portcullis with Drawbridge

60023 - Pair of Long Walls with Tower Connectors

60024 - Pair of Medium-length Walls with Tower Connectors

60025 - Pair of Short Walls with Tower Connectors

The men-at-arms' castle is also available in a more playful dark gray paint-scheme with red highlights as 60052 - Le Château des Mutants - The Mutants' Castle, within the fantasy range.

Penultimately (as far as this post goes) there is this, described as PVC, I suspect that's shorthand/jargon; companies like Papo have long-since phased out true PVC for safer alternatives, but as I too use PVC for tagging modern non-PVC's I get where they are coming from. It's scaled to fit with the Mini range and looks to be a neat little thing? There's also a rather nice French farmhouse and double barn/outbuilding in the same series (33100)

There is one other fort in the catalogue, new for 2018 and part of the tie-in with Isiploy, called Le Château du Prince Philippe (60007) it is manufactured - like the pirate ships and arctic play-set we looked at in February- in a heavy-duty card/craft-board. And it's about time he got one of his own, that Lizzie-bet, she's got several!

While 60027 is a folding, ridged 'tray' (wooden play-mat), over printed with a cobbled court-yard effect, this is 73x45cm and large enough for any of the forts, with some expansions.

I should finally add - the My First Castle is not part of the modular system; having lower walls, its slots don't line-up with the 'system forts', likewise; Phillip's Palace is not compatible with any of the others . . . and - from a health and safety of knights and men-at-arms point of view - seems to have a few inherent trip-hazards in it's walkway-construction!

PIOT is for Peace In Our Time

Happy Easter everyone, I thought we'd look at one of the least known corners of our hobby today as I happened to pick these up for less than a tenner in a charity shop the other day (I know, but those old dears have all the reference works out the back you know , and it was less than a tenner, so I did OK), and they are very hard to track down.

Neville Chamberlin's ill-fated trip to Germany in 1938 was rather brushed-over at the time, and all but forgotten in the heady chaos of 1940, and the shoe-in of Churchill to lead us in our 'finest hour' which became the prase-de-jour however, once Hitler had been dealt with and the threat from the East become more obvious, Chamberlain's ringing endorsement of dealing with strongmen was remembered for the first-class naivety it was.

By the early 1950's parents were regularly chiding their unruly children to bed with the threat of "Peace In Our Time with Mr. Hitler's ghost if you don't behave and settle-down quickly", Squaddie's going off to fight Communism in Korea scrawled PIOT on their helmet covers when the QM wasn't looking and then blamed each-other to get off RP's, while on Humberside striking Dockers even had rubber-stamps made-up in the tool-sheds to leave oxide-red PIOT's on mounted policemen's' horse's rumps during the less than peaceful ruckuses' that accompanied their Industrial Action!

So it's unsurprising to find that the nascent plastics industry soon adopted this cultural meme for the production of novelty figures of Mr Chamberlain with the offending letter he had waved all those years ago tucked into his headband.

The above figure (counting out the 'peace'es') has been credited to both Rafael Lipkin and Chad Valley, although - with its resemblance to Britains 'Twizzle Town' circus - I wonder if it was an early, undocumented experiment in polymer from the - then still - hollow-cast experts? The unpainted one (with body on backwards) could be a later issue but is more likely to be an out-painters cast-off, as unpainted he has no distinctive moustache?

Chamberlin was always depicted as a slightly lunatic character with his hair all over the place and the look of a childish simpleton in these novelties and by the time I was born (1964) the phrase was one every school-boy knew, but the cultural overtones had all but disappeared - along with the novelties - and it was just more 'boring' history!

This 'booble head' figure of Chamberlain (looking fruitlessly in the dirt for the lost peace) is in a phenolic or early styrene resin and could be Kleeware, early Airfix or whoever did the crazy-clown circus?

Nice to finally track them down and at less than a tenner - Bargain! Have you ever seen any readers?

S is for Spidey Light

. . . ♫ ♬♪♩ Spiderlight! Spiderlight! . . . it can do any'thing a real-light might . . . ♬♩

♬ . . . . Spiderlight! Spiderlight! . . . dada-dada-dada-dada daar da-daaar! . . . ♬♩

♬ . . . Spiderlight! Spiderlight! . . . fighting-crime at-night with a tooor-che's light . . . ♬♩

♬ . . . . Spiderlight! Spiderlight! . . . dada-dada-dada-dada daar da-daaar! ♪♪♫♩ . . .

This came in with the three flashing key-ring toys we looked at earlier this morning, whether someone was starting a nascent key-ring / mini-torch collection, or not I don't know as Dave pointed out a while ago, the ladies probably save this stuff out t'back until they have enough for a bagful to go out-front or 'shop-side' . . . retail-side? They'll have their own volunteer-ladies jargon, I'm sure!

Spidertorch! Similarities with the other lot include LED fitted as a light source, a flush, sliding switch and key-ring function, albeit as a key-chain not the proper rings of the others.

Differences include shape - obviously, design aspects of the sliding switch and the fact that it's screwed-together not sealed . . . oh, I'm just waffling now, there's little to add to the photographs and I just want to get to the last shot, because when I put it down on the bed I noticed . . .

. . . it was a coloured light? A bi-coloured red / blue light to boot, and while they seemed to be side-by side you can't see anything by looking down the lens, whether while it's witched-off, or switched-on which just blinds you temporarily!

In the end I did manage to see it by shining another pen-torch through the thin casing, it was possible to see the little artwork and even get a fuzzy picture of it . . .

. . . but pointing it into the dark recess of the chimney-breast revealed . . .

..."Agonised Arachnids! Batman - it's the Spidey-signal!"

It is of course the same image as is presented on the side of the torch, although, why it's the shape it is, is anyone's guess, a sort of three-fingered knuckle-duster effect?

"This Spider light is dirty Soldier!"

The rather fuzzy look down the barrel reveals a little transparency set above the LED which produces the 'Spidey-signal' when it's switched-on, without a near target-surface and near dark conditions, it just acts like a slightly weak pen-torch.

Marvel though - bunch of twerps . . . is 'twerps' acceptable or is it unprofessional? TJF'll know, he knows everything; he has a little black book with his legend in!

LED is for Light Tanks

No, not a new line in Tron merchandise (mores' the pity!), nor a new range of aluminium-hulled reconnaissance vehicles for the British Army (who - god knows; need them) but rather; a couple of novelty tanks with lights!

There's not often an excuse for a video in the output or subject matter of Small Scale World, but when there is, it is now taken with glee, the opportunity that is, the actual videoing is still poorly lit and a bit amateurish, but . . . I'm an amateur!

In my little universe a novelty tank is a 'tank', but a novelty car is a 'novelty', so let's get this out of the way; first-up, it's a car! It's about the same size as those die-cast Burago key-rings, so HO/1:87th'ish and looks a bit Citroën-like with the aerodynamic wheel-arch fairings, but having the 'jelly-mould' lines of a 1990's saloon.

We saw it in the video . . . &etc.

But these! These are mini-tanks, with flashing lights, too cool for Panzer Schule! I know we've had that gag before, but it's my Blog and if I want to be repetitive - I will be!

Turret and upper hull have all the hallmarks of the T54/55 or T62 families, but - given its likely origin (it's unmarked) - probably an Type 59/69 or something - i.e. the Chinese copy! But from the waist down, it's a Tetrach! Was someone using the old small-scale, rack-toy, generic tank as shipped-in by Speedwell (among others) as a basis for the running gear? Nahh! Just coincidence - four-wheels fit!

Close-ups and stuff, the two positions on the turrets in the right-hand shot are the maximum extents of the traverse. The whole thing is a heat/pressure sealed 'sealed-unit' so once the batteries run out, it's basically recyce-fodder!

Has anyone else encountered these? They look to be 'brannies', so may be findable and it'd be nice to A) put a brand or a couple of importers' names to them and B) know what other colours are available . . . or - for that matter - C) are/were there slightly more military-looking (green or camo') versions?

R is for Return to . . . Rocco

Just a quickie, we have looked at these before but I picked-up a couple more the other day, so we can have a swifty-shuftie at 'em.

The household division seem to fare better than the knights and wild west, while there is damage to the locating studs inside the thighs, and you often find the lifeguard without his sword, these two are otherwise OK, and the horse seems the least brittle of them, as well as having the least damageable tail!

I don't know if the horses have shrunk over the years, but both riders slip on easily with no worries about the likelihood of legs being broken through forcing, although those missing/squashed locating-studs do help to! Anyway, this is what they look like 'mounting guard' on their two-tone grays.

Unlike the cowboy, where the same worries have lead to a bit of 'fake news', he looks right, but I've used the camera angle to hide the fact that his right leg is missing and he has no gun!

Pretty-much the same line-up as last time, only more bits! The newer one [with pistol] shows signs of green paint on his jacket, so an addition to the data if nothing else and we have a blue scarf on one and a blue shirt on another of the 'wavers'! If the storage-sample hasn't been crushed to dust in the move to Basingrad on the back of a lorry, there will be quite a final line-up of these in a year or so!

The knights are just a highlight from last time - without the loose leg! - for completion

But the image above them shows the varying degrees of distortion of the cowboy horse's legs, some of which is due to the polymer drying out and becoming brittle, some probably dates from the time of manufacture and some post-moulding shrinkage?

The black one's doing the splits, the near-white 'grey' is doing the giant slalom on his downhill racing-planks! The one in the middle's about to hurt himself!

I think there is still an Indian missing; full war bonnet (no tails) and similar pose to the cowboy (?), but I'm sure he's in storage, so next time, unless some more come in, new ('ish), first!

This is Rocco too, he survives in numbers (I have a whole bag of them in the storage sample) and usually quite well, although the odd horse's tail or guardsman's head can be found to be err . . . not found! It also differs in being a single moulding, rather than the two-part of the rider/horse combo's above.

I think I said 'probably Hill' last time, but I was thinking of their diminutive board-game supplied racehorse, while this - I suspect - was sold as a tuppeny- or sixpence-toy at tourist attractions, which would account for it's always turning-up in mixed lots, railway-figure lots, cake decoration lots, bags of car-booty Lego and such-like!

And Ross - I haven't forgotten you're after the bits, but the rest are elsewhere in the attic! Although if I get the rest out of storage July/Aug (as seems likely) there'll be a load for you!

C is for Cartoonosaurs

Several mixed bags from Charity shops have given-up a very 'mixed bag', among which were this bunch of loons! Now, there's a strange conceit within some corners of the hobby, where people think one thing shouldn't be covered but another should, and all three of these will fall into that category . . .

. . . my lines are probably further apart than other's that's for sure, but if you collect the Cherilea UN figures or Marx Disney, you can't really complain at these; they are all at the same end of the spectrum. Bit of fun for Good Friday!

These were strange, as they came from a mixed bag about a week ago, but I'm sure I'd seen them on a kid's comic as freebie/premiums in a newsagent's the day before, so I can only conclude that two siblings fought over the free gift until mum took it round to the charity shop - to end the argument? More likely; like those Dr Who Adventures figures, they keep being reissued and I happened to see the re-issues the same time some older ones got discarded!

They are caricature's of popular and common dino-types - Dippy, Ally, Steggie and Pht . . . Pte . . . Ffutt . . . the flying one! And I took them apart, because while I consider myself to be Homo-Aspergens, I'm still a curious, pink, monkey at heart!

They are hard Styrene and probably share origins with the Octonauts, Clangers and similar comic freebies. I'll likely give them to some younger relatives, they're new and clean enough (the Dino's; not the relatives!) or they may go back to charity in the next 'returns bag' - you should see the shite in the current one, a super-deform child-knight, WWF action figures, a Duplo Sheriff, Corinthians, a magic eight-ball which doesn't work. . . ugh!

These will definitely go back to charity, someone will love them, I can only hate them! I mean . . . they're hideous! But each to his own, and if you collect Nutty Generals you can't raise an eyebrow at these! The line I've drawn - in my sand - has these and the Nutty Generals on the Moscow side; if you know what I'm saying!

Marked-up to a Gosnell (could it be?), I assume they are from a larger line, related to some TV series, cartoon or movie? I don't care, they're horrid; but the box is ticked, the tag added! There's a stuffed-toys (plush) Gosnell as well?

This pair however will stay, they're very small, so will take-up no space, probably part of a larger range, which is still to be ID'd more fully, aren't that cartoony, match well with the board-game dinosaurs from the other day (lower image shows the closest matching two) and are the sort of novelty item the collection is knee-deep in any way!

Unmarked, Dippy and Steggie, softish PVC type polymer, the Stegosaurus over sprayed in a lighter orange and they both originally had their eyes dotted-in in black; it's all but worn off the Diplodocus.

G is for Good Friday

Start of the Easter weekend, and Brian (Terranova in comments) had sent us this year's seasonal window display from Scully & Scully (so good they named it twice!), and they are every-bit a lovely as last years, There's not much to say about them as this is the third time they've been here, so a couple of lines on each, but thanks to Brian for taking the shots and for taking such excellent photographs through what must have been one or - in places - two panes of glass?

Exquisite detail worked into each engraving and beautifully painted, these are a joy to look at and there's so much going-on as well, it's not just a rabbit, it's a rabbit with eggs and balloons and chicks and friends and a something-or-other . . . !

It's just as busy on the pond!

Easter wreaths, not a particularly UK thing, and I don't remember them from my childhood, but I have seen them for sale in the last few years, so I guess it's not just steel, aluminium or plastics which have 'globalised'!

Is that a young Dylan on the left? Roundabout of magic not folk-rock star of moroseness, of course! And don't lick that mushroom kidos, they look pretty but they're not nice! Although - maybe mice have evolved to eat them - slugs love'em!

Tuning-up for Sunday Service! I hope someone's going to be feeding all these chicks running around everywhere, and I love the little curious hedgehog that keeps popping-up at the edge of things!

"Faster little lambie; faster! Get us to the Easter party on time or I'll have to whip you with these silken ribbons!" It's a Harley Electra-egg-chariot-pram-glide!

Thanks again Mr. B; these are a real treat and it's a joy to put them on the Blog occasionally - timeless craft/art!