About Me

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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 11, 2018

O is for Outfield!

Following on from Subbuteo in the original post was the minor makes and novelty items, among which was Mr Musgrave's Gem cricketers; big, green cakes! I thought I'd done quite well with originals and Vinyl copies of 'all three' figures, albeit a couple were damaged, but it turned out there were two fielders I didn't have - or know about!

One reason for this will be the fact that Culpitt's (who will have handled the bulk of them) seem to have only offered the three man 'stumps' vignette we looked at last time, at some point - a still sealed baker's display unit pack is seen here.

Bowler, batsman and wicket-keeper with a pair of stumps . . . is it a pair; or six? What about the bailes, or are they bail's, does anyone other than Wisden's editor give an ess aitch one tee? I have had a couple of loose ones come in over the last 7 years as well; both the 'common' poses.

 However, I picked up one of the missing fielders (it requires a very big cake - see?) at PW and John of eBay's PTS52 brought me the other to the Sandown Park toy fair in May, so - when I get the rest out of storage, we can have a final visit to them and look at them all together.

There are various reasons for why Culpitt's might have been behind the pulling of these two poses, the most obvious being that they are both rather stiff poses, the reaching guy is a brave attempt at an animated pose, but he looks like a Tantric Yoga teacher, not a cricketer, while the other guy looks as if he's waiting for a reaction to a joke he just told - or looking for a fight!

And, for them to be useful, you'd need more than two, AND a very big cake! This may mean that there's an unused stash of them somewhere though . . . but they were both impractical; the three-man vignette could fit nicely on a small round or square cake, and be a nice surprise for a cricketing fan.

My brother and I got hedgehogs (made with chocolate finger biscuits) until we were old enough to get stockade-forts - made with chocolate fingers! The forts had Cowboys and Indians - Herald Hong Kong if I remember rightly . . . early-mid 1970's; Deetail weren't out yet! One year I rebelled against the hedgehog and asked for a ladybird!

While sorting spare stumps for a mate, I noticed two things; 1) they seem to have been cut from triple-stump mouldings (sometimes not terribly accurately - if you're going to glue them to/with cream or fondant icing; I guess it doesn't matter), and 2) that there are (were!) two generations, with narrower and broader base-depths.

RDA is for A Sort of Follow-Up!

Many moons (and several actual blue-moons) ago, I added 'Cricket' to the lag list with a quick overview of the available figures, or at least those from my collection! This is one of two updates to that original post from 2011 publishing today on Small Scale World.

I picked-up this set in a charity shop a few weeks ago, it's the second version of the RDA Wicketz game using Subbuteo players, basically a re-issue in new graphics, it was one of two issued at the same time, the other having hand-painted figures laid out in a flocked tray and more accessories or something, it's all here on a real enthusiast's (Peter Upton) site.

Of more interest is that the final version (and the one I've still to find) was issued under Paul Lamond's label, now they are the current carriers of Hasbro's Subbuteo footballers, and it suggests Hasbro (or Paul Lamond) where somewhere in the background of the RDA thing?

A reminder of the figures, they were pretty-well done to death - image wise - in the original post, but suffice to say they are from the Subbuteo tool, but fitted with different bases, the batsmen converted to spin in their bases.

Note also; the wickets, previously shot in a wood-sympathetic shade of plastic, are now the same plain white polystyrene as the players.

Of far more interest was a change to the offered mail-away sets, which now included coloured team-strips. I have never seen these and presumed they hadn't been issued, however the link above reveals they do turn-up occasionally. The right hand-side shows the unpainted figures you could purchase to paint yourself.

The new teams and other accessories now read;

International Teams (painted, in order given)
- Sri Lanka
- West Indies
- England
- South Africa
- New Zealand
- Pakistan
- India
- Australia
- Zimbabwe

Sunday League Teams (painted, in order given)
- Kent
- Northampton
- Derbyshire
- Hampshire
- Surrey
- Lancashire
- Warwickshire
- Worcestershire
- Sussex
- Middlesex
- Gloucestershire
- Nottinghamshire
- Essex
- Yorkshire
- Leicestershire
- Somerset

Other Items
- Unpainted Team/s (you had to specify team/s as they came in base-coloured plastic)
- All 9 Unpainted Teams (International line-up)
- All 16 Unpainted Teams (Sunday League line-up)
- All 9 International Teams (painted)
- All 16 Sunday League Teams (painted)
- Scoreboard
- Scorepad [sic]
- 2 Sightscreens
- Self Assembly Set (6 deckchairs, 2 rollers, glue)
- Complete Set (6 deckchairs, 2 rollers, scoreboard, scorepad, 2 sightscreens, 4 teams, unpainted)
- Complete Set (6 deckchairs, 2 rollers, scoreboard, scorepad, 2 sightscreens, 2 international teams, 2 Sunday League teams, painted)

Sunday, June 10, 2018

News, Views Etc . . . Toys or Figures in the Media

A round-up of the various toys and figures seen in the media recently, although when I say recently; I've stuff going back to October in the 'News Views' pile, I thought I'd use some of it over Christmas, but with stuff coming in and contributions I never really had time/space, then I did Kinder New Year, 'Thought for the Day' Jan', Toy Fair Feb'/March, and by then the queue was so long everything's on the back burner!

These were on Her Madge's cake when she launched one of our two new Aircraft Carriers, carriers which have already replaced all the others, yet won't have aircraft until . . . err . . . hell freezes over? One of which we were going to share with the French, now we aren't? One of which may get sold as soon as they've finished building it!

Defence procurement in the UK is a joke, but with a cabinet made-up entirely of failed leaders, or failed leadership-bidders, too busy squabbling among themselves about Europe - or leadership - to sort it out, it will stay a joke, and only Putin's laughing.

The Economist in the New Year gave us this meme of a snakes and ladders boardgame board, with the orange brillo-pad anointed one in full 'Fake News' fettle, it's all fake news folks, really, really fake news, so fake, it's so fake!

This is a traditional wooden Christmas tree hanging decoration, but it struck me it's a perfect size for a 15mm war-games village! Murder She Wrote until those T90's pushed through her New Hampshire holiday cabin!

Commonest use of model railway figures, after model railways are these kinds of newspaper background pictures, not the first time we've seen one here at Small Scale World, won't be the last (I have a bunch in the in-storage files), probably Preiser, but could be one of a couple of others?

B is for Because I Had Them Out!

Box Ticker - I had to get their box out for the sheep/shepherd comparisons. Just a few shots of Britains hens that have come in a couple of charity-shop lots since the New Year, but then that's nearly half-a-year ago now!

The first version are to the left and were taken from the old hollow-cast moulds, their legs soon proving as frangible in polymer as they were in metal, which lead to the replacement ones (to the right) from Herald, before the move to Hong Kong produced the vinyl groups in between. There were nicer Herald groups, but I didn't have one here to include!

I haven't asked those who know these things, but suspect all the later ones are supposed to be Rhode Island Reds (or similar . . . Supermarket Whites!), while the older ones are a recognisable British breed, with a bit of Bantam DNA?

The pair from Hong Kong could be separated from the tuft of grass to produce two singles and a piece of cover for 1:76th scale prone machine-gunners!

The 'from hollow-cast's' have very thin, smooth bases not shown in this shot, then from the left are the intermediate designs with an earlier, recessed Herald and later, flat 'Britains' base (or at least - I think they're that way round?), then the Hong Kong combo' continuing out of frame to the right.

F is for Follow-up - A Shepherd and His Dog

More of a return than a follow-up, it was a while since we looked at this here, and there's as many images this time, but last time I shot it in a hurry at a show, this time it was a cheapie from a Charity shop, so I pawed all-over it before the bulk went in the recycling, leaving me with the figures/accessories

Better shot of the box-lid, the boy in his shirt-sleeves rather belies the older Britains piracy within, which maybe why there's a photo of the game in play as well! A photograph which seems to be using all-Britains products!

It's not clear in these shots I'm afraid, but I can assure you the farmer is the same moulding as the orange and grey chap to his left as we look at them. The crook has been hefted-up to survive repeated handling, but the mould mark visible on the grey base is repeated in the orange figure. Flashing and gate-marks are also in the same places and of the same appearance.

To the left is a commoner, larger copy of the Britians original - who is himself - on the far right, as a late PVC one, made in Hong Kong. The fences on mine are of the same quality as the Merit ones seen last time (i.e. better than all the HK-marked ones in mini-farm sets), but are unmarked, so a possible conclusion is that the Merit ones were probably replacements, although Spear's may have procured two batches, one from Randall's the other HK?


Of more interest that the sheep which are 'after' but not 'of' the Britains examples is the dog, which is almost certainly from the Britains mould.

Whether this was with the knowledge of Britains or their HK agents, or a back-door door job at the factory remains to be discovered, but there's nothing in the moulding, nothing in the paint to ID him separately if you don't find him in the box (he's on the right in both shots), and I don't think it's s second case of replacement, this was an unused set.

While I had them out! A living graph of the various Britains sheep generations, oldest on the left, newest (Tomy PVC) on the right! The Spears is to the far left with a resting Blue Box above it. In the 1970's at some point the dog was simplified and given a straighter head/longer nose.

The first generation were better detailed (the grubby one seems to be an owner added over-wash), then they lost some of that etched definition, as such they ran for the longest time, eventualy switching to both Hong Kong and PVC. Toward the end of 'Real' Britians (under/as Britains Petite?) they got a new colour-way, and finally you have the have the new Tomy vinyl sculpt, which keeps only the scale!

Being far more common than Toy Soldiers, these come in with charity-shop bags all the time now, and with some in storage, we'll do a better 'graph' with more stages in the future. My Barny Brown/Peter Cole guides are in storage, they have better timing/date info, than the quick 'overview' here.

Board!

Still bored!

Saturday, June 9, 2018

News, Views Etc. . . . Comet HO Model Railway Vehicles

I have been unable to find an eMail for the 87thscale.info Website's web-master/s, who were asking (a few years ago) for a better listing of the Comet model railway, solid cast, lead/white-metal vehicles. Could anyone from the die-cast side of the hobby who does have contact with them or a contact for them, please pass on the following list for them to use.

I notice they have deleted the whole Comet entry now, but they may wish to reinstate it with this listing? I have highlighted the vehicles-proper in red but they're welcome to the whole list, which comes from a 1950/60's catalogue.

Comet Metal Products Co., Inc.
Listing
Railroad Accessories (painted HO Gauge Accessories, unless stated otherwise)
R1 - Letter Box, No Parking Sign, Fire Hydrant and Mail Storage Box
R2 - GM Milk Delivery Truck
R3 - 12 Coach Chairs, 6 Left, 6 Right (unpainted, railway passenger cars)
R4 - 3 [Staff] Lockers (O gauge)
R5 - Tool Cabinet, Utility Table, Utility Cabinet and Stock Closet (O gauge)
R6 - Superintendant’s Desk, Foreman’s Desk cabinet and Double Utility Cabinet (O gauge)
R7 - Executive Desk and Swivel Chair (O gauge)
R8 - Typewriter Desk and Swivel Chair (O gauge)
R9 - Lavatory Set - Sink, Bowl and Urinal (O gauge)
R10 - Stop and Go Sign and 2 No Parking Signs
R11 - Newsstand and 2 Half-figures
R12 - Stools and Stools with Backs (2x2 designs, O gauge)
R13 - Draftsman’s Table and Stool (O gauge)
R14 - Office Desk and Swivel Chair (O gauge)
R15 - 5 Assorted Cabinets (O gauge)
R16 - Single and Double-door safes, single and 3-drawer file cabinets (4 items, O gauge)
R17 - 3-drawer Typewriter Desk and Swivel Chair  (O gauge)
R18 - Cowboy on Horse and 3 Cows
R19 - 6 Cows (2 each in 3 poses)
R20 - 6 Horses (2 grazing, 2 standing and 2 saddled)
R21 - Cowboy on Horse and 3 Horses
R22 - Water Trough, Goat, Cow, 2 Pigs and a Horse
R23 - 4 Coach Steps (unpainted, for passenger cars at stations without platforms)
R24 - [Never issued?]
R25 - Passenger Set (unpainted, 8 figures from R323)
R26 - Drinking Fountain, Adding Machine, Wastepaper Basket and Armchair (O gauge)
R27 - 8 Sections of Farm Fence (unpainted)
R28 - GM Open Top Truck (bull-nosed)
R29 - GM Stake Body Truck (long-nosed)
R30 - GM Tow Truck (pick-up)
R31 - GM Pick-up Truck
R32 - GM Panel Truck
R33 - Push Cart
R34 - Baggage Cart
R35 - Chevrolet Sedan
R36 - GM Express Truck
R37 - GM Fuel Truck
R38 - GM Stake Express 1 ½ Ton
R39 - GM Stake Express 2 Ton
R40 - Railroad Signal Light Dwarf (unpainted)
R41 - Railroad Signal Lights Dwarf (unpainted, pair)
R42 - 8 Coach Chairs, 4 Left, 4 Right (unpainted, railway passenger cars, O gauge)
R43 - Freight Set Skid [stillage] and Barrel (unpainted, O gauge)
R44 - Baggage Cart, Crate and Basket (unpainted)
R45 - Hand Truck with Crate and Barrel (unpainted, copies of Britains?)
R46 - Parcel Truck with Crate and Barrel (unpainted, Powered? Crate and barrel copies of Britains?)
R47 - 2Fire Alarm Boxes
R48 - 2 Fire Alarm Boxes (O gauge)
R49 - 2 Signal Lights 1/3L, 1/2L, 1 Stand, 1 Base and 1 Connector (unpainted)
R50 - GM Taxi
R51 - Passenger Set (unpainted, 9 figures, O gauge)
R52 - Passenger Set (unpainted, 10 figures, O gauge, became; R723 painted, from Ireland)
R53 - Three Station Benches (O gauge)
R54 - Texaco Gas Pump and Attendant
R55 - Gulf Gas Pump and Attendant
R56 - Shell Gas Pump and Attendant
R57 - Esso Gas Pump and Attendant
R58 - Traffic Light - Stanchion Type
R59 - Traffic Light - Corner Type
R60 - Traffic Light - Hanging Type
R61 - Traffic Light - Boulevard Type
R62 - 12 Railroad Station Stanchion Posts (gauge unknown, seems to be ‘O’)
R63 - 2 ½ Ton Truck - 10 Wheel
R64 - Freight Van - 10 Wheel
R65 - De Soto Taxi
R66 - Heavy Platform Truck
R67 - Fire Chief Truck
R68 - Fire Engine - Pumper
R69 - Fire Engine - Hook and Ladder
R70 - Wheel Barrow with Man (unpainted, O gauge)
R71 - 4 Street Barricades (unpainted, O gauge)
R72 - Wheel Barrow with man and 3 Street Barricades (unpainted, HO Gauge)
R73 - Wrecker Truck
R74 - 4-door Chrysler Sedan
R75 - Ambulance
R76 - Subway Entrance Wall Type with Lights in Kit Form (O gauge)
R77 - Subway Entrance Curb Type in Kit Form (O gauge)
R78 - Subway Entrance Wall Type in Kit Form (O gauge)
R79 - Subway Entrance Curb Type in Kit Form
R80 - Sports Car
R81 - Farm Wagon with Two Horses and Driver
R82 - Coach/Buggy with Two Horses and Driver
R83 - Carryall Carriage with Horse and Driver
R84 - Van (equivalent of British 'pantechnicon' removal van? Lorry or trailer?
R85 - Policeman and Traffic Light (O gauge, painted)
R86 - Two Figures on Bench (O gauge, painted)
R87 - [Never issued?]
R88 - [Never issued?]
R89 - [Never issued?]
R90 Railroad Signal Set (O gauge, painted)
R91 Additional Figures and Signs (7 figures, handcart and 4 items of street furniture, painted)
R92 Crosswalk [pedestrian crossing] Scene (7 figures and 2 items of street furniture + 2 vehicles, painted)
R93 Fire Fighting Set (9 firemen and 2 fire trucks, painted)
R94 Accident Group (5 figures and 3 vehicles, painted)
R95 Large Farm Set (2 figures, wagon and 10 animals, painted)
R96 Bus Stop Scene (4 figures, bus and 4 items of street furniture, painted)
R97 Flat-car Loads (8 large pieces of civil-engineering, painted)
R98 Road Signs (12 items, painted)

F is for Follow-up - Hong Kong Copies of European Premium, Rack Toy, Bazaar and Other Wagons

Just a quickie - not long after I published the VT follow-up to an earlier JCT post, I remembered I had some more VT and/or other bits in the attic, shot them when I was putting the others away, then picked a few more up at the PW show, so here they all are!

The previously Blogged VT coach with it's not-correct driver at the back, in front are a bunch of bits (from Micheal Melnyk I think?), sadly one of the pulling ropes is damaged, so apart from coach-body, chassis or wheel colour swaps, I'm no nearer a whole one!

In front of that is an Italian cheapie version's horse team from Dario, these are closer to the French horses than the HK ones.

But at PW I got both a whole replacement draw-bar and ropes (unbroken) and locating plug, and a lesser-quality/later-generation open-wagon (sort of Giant scale-up), the wheels are sized between the front and back wheels of the stage coach and the figure, though the correct driver for all these wagons, is of too poor a quality to use with my coach, but there are spare drivers in storage (and hopefully - a few hats), if it has the same horses as the JTC one . . . they are a bit 'twee'!

So - when the two stashes are brought together I should end-up with a boxed coach, a loose coach (complete), a loose wagon and a few bits. All I need now are some poorer horses (I may have somewhere) and a draw-bar & tilt for the open wagon, which - I fear - should be a covered wagon like the one in the original 2009 post?

It's Hong Kong shite, but it keeps me sane . . . sort of!

K is for Kleeware's Komic Kop Kar!

Continuing with yesterday's 'oh that's what they are' meme, these were shot on Adrian's stand at the recent PW show and actually produced "Oh! That's where they're from / what they are" calls of recognition; all day.

Anyone who collects a bit of everything;, anyone who collects early-looking stuff; anyone who collects police, emergency service or civilian themes; anyone who's spend more than an hour going through rummage trays, bins or tubs in the last 20 or 30 years - has either got one or two of these or seen a few! Mine's the standing red one!

Now, given the amount of mould-sharing (and piracy) that went on back in the day, especially with Kleeware, and the fact that some US police forces had helmets like ours for a while (I seem to remember from the old B&W silent comedies of my youth - they were repeats all right! I'm not that old!), I wonder - given that they also have sheriffs/deputies stars - if the original might be an American thing?

The Kleeware Crazy Cop Car. The box is similar to that unknown-maker, clockwork, firing machine-gun nest we looked at a while ago, but that's where the similarities end. Where that was made of bright lightweight polystyrene, this is a much heavy, colder polymer, with more subdued colours; still a styrol I think, but it could be a late, stable, phenolic resin, or - from the damage on the foot-slots of mine - a high quality Bakelite?

The wheels are fitted to cam-equipped axles which jump the seats up and down causing the policemen to bob about as the vehicle moves. Additional fun can be had by piling them up using the various slots/grooves and protrusions on both the figures and the car.

A few shots of the box sides gives a further idea of how they stack and join-together. If you have them, you can get them out of the 'unknown' zone and label them-up! Cheers Adrian.

Friday, June 8, 2018

News views etc . . . Woburn Abbey Teddy Bear Festival

Picked up this flyer for a Teddy Bear event Sunday;
10th June 2018
Not really the blog's shtick, but, hey; if it's toy related I'll share it!






Might be fun for the kids/grandkids?

F is for Follow-up - Place Marker / Glass Hangers

Remember those two figures Peter Evans sent the Blog around Christmas-time and my tale of woe in trying to get some surfer-babes only to find you needed to remortgage your house to purchase them? Well Terranova sent these and judging by the price sticker, it's the same story the other side of the pond!

Now these are hard to make out, the one on the far right seems to be giving a thumbs-up sign, but number three looks to be 'flicking the bird'. Far left may be thumbs up, while 2 would appear to be giving a Papal-blessing! I suspect they are all thumbs-up and it's just my imagination? Inspired anyway - the sort of stuff Archie McFee used to do!

But these are NPW, previously associated - here on the blog - with cheapie-budget stuff, yet the four come in at a frankly eye-watering . . .

. . . $15! Which is around the same price as that I baulked-at in Basingrad's new M&S back in the January sales, I guess they're aimed at the sorts of Trumpundbrexit 'eer celeb-culture types who will pay to have the 'right stuff' at their party?

'Men in Uniform'? I think we're talking a Village People tribute act at the Blue Oyster Club here, aren't we? Not so much publicly-spirited, uniformed professional types, nor heroically serving Blue Watch night-after-night while the nation sleeps, but rather baby-oiled,  semi-dressed, hen-night heroes - pumping to the beat!

Cheers Brian - has anyone else seen these, what others are out there, we've seen Her Madge The Twoeth, Surfer Dudes, JC and the above, I know there are bikini-girls (keep the surfer-dudes happy!), but there must be others? They're 54mm give-or-take!

600 is for Welsotoys!

For the second positive ID of the day (and second mention of Lone Star by-the-by) we go right back to the beginning of the blog and an image kindly lent to me by Moonbase Central (link) for an article on the Raphael Lipkin tank transporter (mentioned again the other day!) which I then further mined for the not-Lone Star crewman figures post . . . or maybe I borrowed the image for the later and returned to it for the former? Mass-nicht!

At the time I stated "I was not so sure about these as being also Raphael Lipkin, and suspect they are actually Triang 'Minic'" and "The figures I thought were Lone*Star are - in fact - a slightly different design, clearly copied from LS,..."], and it turns out they were neither/nyther/none [of the above], they were actually Wells-Brimtoy's under the Welsotoy branding, catalogued together with the Raphael Lipkin set.

From the box-art it would seem you only got one figure per-vehicle, and could chose weather to have him seated on the crew-bench, or operating the 'load' from a protruding bucket seat - faithfully reproduced by Blue Box in their diminutive piracy.

Now - Wells, Brimtoy and Wells-Brimtoy pre-date Lone Star/DCMT by some years, if not decades, and given the resemblance of several of Lone Star's Wild West to the Britains/Herald figures, I think it's fair to suggest that the figure we looked at in the above linked post actually originated with these '600 series' toys and was lifted by Lone Star, but in their defence it may be that both companies availed themselves of the services of the same sculptor?

The wagon in detail - there were still a few of these Bedford RL's in second-line service when I served in the mid-1980's, mostly with fixed, specialist bodies, or recovery gear. I don't know when they came into service but I think it may have been quite soon after the war, as they are 'next generation' although in Malaya they were still using QL's and - to ferry the kids to school in CT-troubled areas - armoured AEC's or Ford WOT's . . . or Indian Patten equivalents (this is from memories of pictures in Soldier Magazine, not absolute fact!).

Blue Box in copying these for their small-scale range, as well as adopting the Lone Star seat position while sticking with the Welsotoy flat-bed seem also to have replaced the crew-bench with their own design of James Bond-style control console! Albeit; not copying the gear-wheel revolving mechanism.

Thanks to Alcuin for letting me shoot this at Sandown Park while he was trying to pack-up; nice to end the mystery.

A is for A Problem Solved is a Problem . . . err . . . Solved!

I was going through the 'Unknown' dongle the other day, transferring stuff that actually has been ID's to the correct folders on the A-Z dongles, a job I don't do often enough (if I die, someone will go through that dongle saying "But he's ID'd them correctly on his own Blog?"!), and to aid the - ongoing - task, today we're closing the lid on two question marks.

The figures tentatively described by me as "... probably from an 'old fashioned' car, and look to be early British in a chalky brown plastic..." even thought they were included in a couple of articles here and elsewhere on unknown HK motorcycles as being quite similar to another question mark (draws breath...) turn out to be from an 'old fashioned' car[s], and look to be early British in a chalky brown plastic!

So off to Lone Star's folder both these and the older images go! Road-masters; die-cast metal, beautifully made and finished to a standard that holds up next to Corgi, Matchbox or Dinky. And the mystery figures are indeed the driver/passenger of the Ford 'Model T' . . . among others.

Now - I'm hoping this chap may be in the 'Unknown Seated Civilians' box in storage, but he's so similar to the others I suspect not, so there's another figure to find! Driver for a Ford Thunderbird coupe (second time we've had Thunderbirds this week and I'm still typing it Thinderbirds or Thunderbirts!), except . . . is it a UK 'Thunderbird', or has another car been placed in the box, it doesn't look like the huge wallowing American T'birds I used to see at the Guildford cruise? [Google says:-  '55 T-Bird! And possibly ex-/licensed from Tootsitoy?]

The driver gets a second outing with the iconic 1904 Darraq 'Genevieve' from the eponymous  movie, and the backing/shop-display cards of both packagings suggest several other Marques which could be responsible for the black-garbed version of the driver in my collection and the pink (versus grey) highlights of my lady-passenger?

A couple-more shots, not a lot to add; sometimes the lady is driving the Darraq. And - it's nice to finally put the files in the right folder and to label-up their index card correctly. Thanks to Mercator Trading for the photo-opportunity.

The three I have here cropped from the old article's images, there seems to be at least one other pose, a chap in a large bakers cap and long waterproof coat? As I say I may have some in storage, but I don't think so . . . Lone Star (DCMT) . . . Road-masters! Army lorry later!