P is for Pop Music . . . ♩♬ m'Pop, m'Pop, m'Pop-Musik! Talk'a'bout doobie-doo Pop Musik! . . . ♩♫

Picked this quintet up the other day, for a song ('juke-box hero' . . . heh-heh!) I know I have a purple one in storage, but five was too good to pass-up, they're playing pieces from a board game the name of which escapes me but I haven't got time to look it up (timing's all shot to pieces this week!) and I think there may be a sixth (black?) piece missing, or was it a five-player game? I'll dig it out next week.

Pretty clean-cut for pop-stars; I tend to think of them as Cliff Richard'a'likes! Around 54mm and made in a standard model-kit type polystyrene you often find them at shows in the 50p rummage sections with broken or damaged guitar-necks.

Detail shots.

Thought for the day

There used to be a joke that when Elvis died there were x-dozen registered Elvis impersonators or tribute acts, ten years later there were x-hundred registered and ten years after that; x-thousands of the bespangled crooners, and that extrapolating those figures forward, the entire population of the planet would be Elvis impersonators by 2051!

Now - with news of a holographic Roy Orbison back on tour, and Elvis having already had similar treatment, will we one day fill the known universe with the sound of comfy-rock; with the entire population of the human race either impersonating a 50's pop-star, or paying to see a holographic one? Will planets of fake Elvis's launch vast armada's of killer death-ray armed starships against planets of Roy Orbison-a-likes.

Will the night-skies of a thousand star systems be lit-up with the supernova-flashes of intergalactic battle fleets deciding arguments between fans of Supertramp on one side and Supertrooper on the other! And will they all go into battle playing Wagner's Ride of The Valkyrie's? In space; no one can hear you croon!

Or should it be 'Sista', good name for a band; slimmer-sista! Comparison shot; all the others have been seen here at Small Scale World before, trouble-is they are hidden in the tag list under 'Band' I think, which is full of Guardsmen, one day I'll have to re-tag the relevant posts under 'pop music' or something, but we have a couple more HK sets to come and will revisit Gem at some point. Not to forget - rock star Smurfs!

Emirober on the left, two Hong Kong's and a resin 'unknown' (second from right) along with the game piece; centre.

♩♬ New York, London, Paris, Munich - Everybody talk about . . . m'Pop Musik! ♩♫ 

1st May 2020 - The upper five were joined a while later - Courtesy of Glenn Sibald in Australia) with a sixth, pink one, which revealed them instantly to be Tri-Ang as - together - they looked just like the Cops & Robbers figures seen here before!

 

2nd April 2024 - the resin figure is a Cakeboards chap.

F is for Further Fluff on Flexible Femmes and Funny Fellow!

Well, I can't keep having 'follow-ups', but that is what it is rather, the recurring theme which hadn't  been on the blog until a year or so ago, but which now keeps cropping-up!

This chap came in the other day with a mixed lot, he looks to be a classic 1970's type, a bit grubby, a bit sticky with leeching phthalates, and the paired holes on the rear in line with the wire armature, but he's marked 'CHINA' so - like the garden-ties which started all the 'bendy posts'; probably quite modern.

Also he looks familiar, but I can't place him; is he a non-police character from Space Precinct? Some of them were a little lobster/mantid-looking, although I stress that I'm thinking out loud as I don't recall the antennae  . . . Woohbwha-Woohbwha-Woohbwha-Woohbwha! - that's my Dr. Zoidberg impersonation, be thankful you're only reading it, it's a worse listen!

If it's Space Precinct that would definitely shove the date back to the earlier uses of China as a marking in the run-up to and after 1997's hand-back, funnily enough - I've just got an ethylene gorilla which looks totally HK but is marked CHIN!

12-04-18 - See comments; Dr Cockroach from Monsters V Aliens - DreamWorks tag added

A shelfie I took just after Christmas - more of the NJ Croce range first brought to our attention by Brian two years ago - DC 'babes' although it would be more of a fight-out than a night out with that quintuplet in the same hostelry!

I think one or two were in another line up a year ago, but with about five versions of the Batman now seen, they may all be costumed from different sections of the 'expanded' DC-verse?

T is for Two - Marx Brit's . . . from Britain!

Manufactured in the Swansea plant these two from Marx were going to be four, but I've dropped two, and then made them five anyway, below, so it's all gone a bit pear-shaped on the T is for... front! Still, this stuff is only a box tick!

I picked these up a couple of few-weeks ago now as a foursome with two others, going un-bid on feebleBay and probably because they were a bit tatty. But actually the only bad one is the late colonial/Victorian (?) fusilier (?) - always referred to as a Napoleonic when we were kids - who has a quite chewed rifle muzzle. Ironically I think I have a better one in storage along with the kneeling pose.

These are two of the six inch figures and they were photographed with strong daylight, not an issue, but compare the plastic colours to those photographed after dark with all flash . . .

. . . and, as already alluded to; two plus three is actually five, but one of the reasons for bidding on the lot was to get the officer with slightly chewed revolver for a decent comparison shot with Marx's other British Officers with pistols!

Clockwise from 12-o'clock; 25mm (old US 'HO' @ 1:64th) Miniature Masterpiece in soft polyethylene (they were also issued in polystyrene, in which guise they suffer much damage); a re-issue from the 54mm set - he's in a tinny dense polyethylene; a softer original from the same set and the six inch monster man.

The six inch figure in a conversion/variation of the US-sculpted chap with the ammo-box, the two waving guys look similar but are different in several respects.

W is for War-gaming on the Waves

A couple of comments on older vessel posts the other day reminded me I had these in Brian B (Terranova)'s folder (there's lot of good stuff in there, I will try to post more of it), and as we don't have much war gaming stuff on here; it's time to look at this interesting exhibition, which he ran into on a visit to the Grolier Society, where a member had this little display; I will be pulling the biographical details from the wall-cards Brian also kindly photographed.

I know this is the 'Holy Grail' if you happen to be a fan of naval war gaming; Fletcher Pratt's original 1940 wire-bound, manuscript-publishing of the - by then - well play-tested rule set. Illustrated by his wife Inga Pratt throughout, this copy actually carries the bookplate of his close friend John D. Clark.

As well as military and Naval history, Fletcher Pratt (1897-1956) was also one of the early 'pulp' science-fiction writers and Dean of non-fiction at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Vermont (not as odd as it sounds). The Pratt's organised naval war gaming began in 1926, the games being played in their apartment in New York.

The 10th of October issue of Life Magazine in 1938 carried an article "Life Plays the War Game" on the Pratt's and the popularity of the gaming which - as can be seen - had spread to the military - which had bigger floors! The same issue carried an article on the Munich Conference entitled "Hitler listens to Reason", so it wasn't just Chamberlin!

The really interesting thing here, apart from getting across the grandeur of the old Naval Reviews, is; no flat-tops? I think there are 184 vessels, or part-vessels in the shot but nothing which looks like an aircraft carrier? The two long, dark ones toward the back may be, but they look like capital ships/battleships to me?

I love that there's a huge 'NORTH' posted on the mezzanine walkway to remind everyone - at a glance - where they are, and where they are supposed to be sailing/shooting! Note also - civilians roll in the dust; senior naval officer's squat - stiffly!

I have no idea . . . well 'some' idea as to who made the model ships, in that it's probably safe to assume they are Comet? Although the exhibition seems to suggest some were home-made by the Pratt's - highly likely as they 'invented' the genre!

But there were other quantity, lead/whitemetal, model-ship makers; Wiking in Germany have a reasonable list and a Trafalgar in Britain; although I'm not sure if Wiking were that early and my early-photocopy/roneo'd catalogues (possibly from the 1950's) for both all three companies are in storage (they will all end-up on the A-Z pages). Also the Trafalgar lists may be imported Comet or Wiking?

I do know that Comet and Comet-Authenticast produced Naval Vessels in 1:1200th (280+ models representing many more actual vessels - within 'classes'), 1:500th (25-odd US military vessels), and desk-top/promotional models from 1:100th scale to 50-feet long (by commission), so I would imagine that the former (1:1200th)'s what we're looking at in these shots. Indeed - Comet originally supplied models to the US military to use as recognition aids, so the naval ones will almost certainly be Comet.

However, there are always smaller makers and home-casting to consider! Thanks - as always - Terranova, another treat to post.

News, Views Etc...Plastic Warrior No.170

The first true day of Spring! I saw several Brimstones, but there's a chilly evening breeze getting up now; it's almost like living on an islan . . . oh! Well - big one!

Technically a month behind this time; another bumper issue brings us . . .

Articles

* An editorial delivers the potted history of Atlantic's UK-arm and a number of the adverts from the press of the day

* A double-helping of Cherilea begins with Barney Brown's third visit to the early farm animals as he studies the Feeding Horse

* Which is followed promptly by a boxed Cherilea Farm Set from Chris Goodard

* The third part of Adrian Norman's - Scalextric series finds him looking at the TV crew, camera tower and race-starter

* George Nixon digs out old Cereal Offer Ad's from equally-old Eagle comics for Britians Lifeguards (Lifeguard cosmetics?) and Airfix's diminutive 'Combat Group' (Sugar Puffs)

* A Lone Star boxed set of divers is shown from C&T Auction's last auction catalogue

* An old Black and white article on Spanish Conquistador types from Paul Stadinger is resurrected in colour with additional information from Juan Hermida

'What The !&*$?' this quarter is an extended question-fest as;

•  Joe Bellis asks after a Cowboy and Indians (Segal?) and shows a Riding set he thinks may be Malleable Moulding    
• There's a Diver and Indians from Daniel Lepers
• David Pye seeks more info on the Pepsi athletes
• Brain Petrin asks about his mini caricature bandsmen
• Brian Carrick has a Quaker Oat's Quaker, a deer and a Grenadier
• A gondolier in search of a brand is presented by Barney Brown
• Gian Piero Larizza asks after a paratrooper
• And Andre Schell is seeking more on his unmarked, fully-boxed fort

* Peter Evans muses on Cherilea/Hugonnet Elizabethans and Francis Drake's additional pose

* There's a feature on the late John Clarke's Diorama's

* This quarter's three-pager is an insightful piece from Colin Penn on Lone Star's production; specifically in white plastic

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Regular Features

* 'NEWS and VIEWS and other stuff ' covers

• The forthcoming Plastic Warrior show
• GeModels' museum being up for sale
• More on the Toys R Us saga of woe
• Plea-for/details on contributions
• Belgian readers willing to cover Solido
• Cover beg for info.?

* 'We Know Wot' has Daniel Lepers ID'ing Nardi as being responsible for the previous issue's knight's horse

* 'Book Review' is actually Book Reviews with two tomes covered

• A precis of Jürgen R. Schüler's Militärisches Spielzeug aus der DDR by Andreas Dittmann make the book look very interesting
• Alain Thomas's latest work Soldats Plastique, Tome 3 Acedo & JSF is reviewed by the editorial team

* 'Readers Letters' include

• Bob Legget on Daz/Crescent packaging
• A. Pedant waxing lyrical on Elastolin's equine maths
• Owen Hoye with a request for 1:35th Russians to man some kits
• James Peter Young follows up on the Sally Army band sets . . . with a sorry tale of hungry ants
• David Pye gives an Antipodean angle on the same Salvation Army sets
• Andreas Dittman and Daniel Lepers both write in on Koho Knights
• Another letter seemed both political and at odds with the facts!

* 'What's New' covers recent releases from Expeditionary Force

• Napoleonic French Lancers
• Napoleonic French Dragoons
• Napoleonic French Chasseurs
• War of 1812 American Militia (in civil dress)
• War of 1812 Royal Marines
• War of 1812 Highlanders

Plus all the usual readers small-ads and a commercial supplement

Front Cover - shows a couple of unknown - probably French - conquistador figures

Back Cover - Another Atlantic scan

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And - of course - it's just over a month to the best Plastic Toy Soldier Show in the world!

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Contact details, as always, are . . .

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eMail; pw.editor@ntlworld.com

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News, Views etc . . . Running Late and Toy Fair

I've been running around like a blue-arsed fly today (Wednesday - in the rain!) so haven't posted much for tomorrow, but should get something up here in the afternoon at some point, in the meantime, news of a toy-club meet . . .

 . . . the Windsor International Toy Fair - next show is the 5th of May, exactly a month from today, and a week before the Plastic Warrior show, which is still more than a month away - whatever you've read elsewhere!

Car and model vehicle oriented, but there's always lots of plastic to be rummaged for!