News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Events

Friday again!

Ongoing Nastiness

I must firstly thank Matthias Berthoux (aka: Breizh44) and Paul Stadinger (aka: The Jabbering F**k or TJF) for their juvenile rant'gasm yesterday over in Vichy, I think it got me another 25 hits or so, and hoping I get the 'three million' up in time for the Blog's tenth birthday I guess every little helps! In my dust guys children, and that's not egotism, that's the fact of the matter.

Show Dates

Right, to the business at hand, Sandown Park tomorrow, and 'only' Sandown Park - for toys; best show in the UK really, and last one this year, so be there or, err . . . be somewhere else . . . but you'll miss-out! C&T Auctioneers in the week, not the headline one which is still a month away, but there's plenty of good stuff in this one too.

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Toy Fairs

Saturday 10th November 2018

Sandown Park / Esher - Barry Potter / BP Fairs

Exhibition Centre, Sandown Park Racecourse, Esher, Surrey, KT10 9AJ

Web. - www.bpfairs.com

Tel. - 01604 846 688

Mob. - 07966 527 177

10:30 - 15:00hrs

Admission - Adults £6.50p, seniors £6, children £2, early bird (from 08.00hrs) £10.00

Tons of free parking, I mean, like; bring a convoy, there's room for 100-trucks down the bottom!

Torquay - Events Frontier - 'Devcon' & 'Collect-a-Happy'

Torquay Town Hall, Castle Circus, Torquay, Devon, TQ1 3DR

Web. - www.eventsfrontier.com

eMail - eventsfrontier@hotmail.com

Mob. - 07508 548 938

Sci-fi, Film & Comic Convention [alongside the] Toy & Train Fair

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Sunday 11th November 2018

Chester-le-Street - Jim Corr Fairs

Lord Lawson Academy, Birtly Lane, Birtly, DH3 2LF

eMail - jim_corr73@hotmail.co.uk

Mob. - 07504 035 955

10:00 - 15:00hrs

Admission £3, children/senior citizens £2, 'Early Bird' £5

Ipswich - Phil Cooper - Toy, Train & Diecast Collectors Fair

Copdock Village Hall, London Road, Copdock, IP8 3JN

Internet presence unknown

Mob. I - 01787 372 559 (Phil Cooper)

Mob. II - 01787 280 452 (Bill Bourne)

Hours unknown

Admission charge unknown

Light refreshments and bar facilities

Malvern - Bulldog Fairs

The Seven Hall, Three Counties Showground, Malvern, Worcestershire, WR13 6NW UK

Web. - www.bulldogfairs.com

eMail - bulldogfairs@aol.com

Tel. - 01373 452 857

Mob. - 07917 125 641

10:30 - 14:30hrs

Adults £4, under 16's free if accompanied, early-bird (from 08:30hrs) £10.

Rayleigh - SRP Toyfairs

Sweyne Park School, Rayleigh, Essex, SS6 9BZ

Web. - www.srptoyfairs1.co.uk

eMail: srptoys1@hotmail.co.uk

Tel. - 07739 998 012 (Paula or Gerry)

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Admission charge unknown

Wirral - Barry Stockton Fairs - Merseyside Hobbies & Model Railway Show

Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight, Wirral, CH62 5DH
Web. - http://barrystocktonfairs.co.uk/
Tel. - 01513 343 362
10:30 - 15:30
Admission - Adult £4.50p, Children £1

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Tuesday 13th November 2018

Hook - Steven Clements Fairs - Hook Evening Fair

Hook Community Centre, Hook, Hampshire, RG27 9NN (Near Basingrad!)

Tel. - 01380 725 322

Mob. - 07958 101 891

eMail: clementfairs@aol.com

18:30 - 21:30hrs

Admission charge unknown

Free Parking

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Wednesday 14th November 2018

Hertford - Joe Lock Fairs (Evening Fair)

Richard Hale School, Hale Road, Hertford, Hertfordshire, SG13 8EN

Internet presence unknown

Mob. - 07866 641 215

19:00-21:00hrs

Admission £1

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Friday 16th November 2018

Alfreton - Toy and Train Fairs (Malcolm Townsend) - Evening fair

The Leisure Centre, Church Street, Alfreton, DE55 7BD

Web. - www.tttf.co.uk

Mob. - 07951 072 790

19:00 - 21:00hrs

Admission charge unknown

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Auctions

Tuesday 13th November 2018

Essex - Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers

Cambridge Road, Stanstead, Mountfitchet, Essex, CM24 8GE

Web. - wwwsworder.co.uk

Tel. - 01279 817 778

Sale Starts 10:00hrs

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Wednesday 14th November 2018

Tunbridge Wells - C&T Auctioneers

The York Suite, The Spa Hotel, Mount Ephraim, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 8XJ (Venue)

Unit 4, High House Business Park, Kenardington, Near Ashford, Kent, TN26 2LF (Auction House)

Web. - www.candtauctions.co.uk

eMail - enquiries@candtauctions.co.uk

Valuations - jamesopie@yahoo.co.uk

Tel. - 44 1233 510 050 (from abroad)

Tel. - 01233 510 050 (within the UK)

Viewing from 08:30hrs, sale starts 10:00hrs

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Thursday/Friday 15th/16th November 2018

Stockton-on-Tees - Vectis (2-day sale)

Fleck Way, Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 9JZ

Web. - www.vectis.co.uk

eMail - admin@vectis.co.uk

01642 750 616

Thursday 15th - general toys

Friday 16th - trains/model railways

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Overseas Events

Sunday 11th November 2018

Dublin Toy & Train Fair - Chris Dyer Fairs

The Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan Road, Dublin, Eire

Web. - www.chrisdyerfairs.co.uk

Tel. - 01643 702 757

Mob. - 07966 694 579

10:30 - 15:00hrs

Admission £4

Just off N11 trunk road

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If you are an event promoter/show curator/auctioneer and you want your toy, model, collectable or popular-/youth-culture type sale/exhibition/event listed here - FOR FREE - or linked to; please eMail me -

maverickatlarge[at]hotmail[dot]com

- stating the date/s of the event, address of event, contact details, opening/viewing times, admission pricing and any other relevant facts/details or features - parking, travel notes, disability access, availability of refreshments, event subject matter &etc.

And please mention any flyer-art or poster-/leaflet-scans but send by separate eMail, in case they go to the 'junk' folder, from where they can be recovered and marked safe, but only if I know they're there!

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Toys in the Media

Propaganda postcard from 1918

Sorry Prussians, sorry Austro-Hungarians, but it's pretty obvious who's wining here, but then it IS propaganda! Of interest is the variety of artillery pieces in use and particularly the Pom-pom in the foreground, which although on a tripod, is very similar to Granddad's silver-plate keepsake, also, it's clear those little red boxes looked tatty from 'the off'!

Also note the Zouaves in the background and how pleased the two small boys look as their picklehaubed columns are utterly decimated! And a fair amount of the toy artillery would have been pre-war imports . . . from Germany!

A is for Archive - Mattel's 'VertiBird'

I can just about remember TV ad's for this, but I may be getting confused with similar machines from Tyco, Airfix, Hasbro or someone else; there were a fair few around through the 1970's or early 1980's, this being originally released in '73 and later licensed to Bluebird as Air Police.

These are from the 1980 trade catalogue. As the rotor-blades don't have variable geometry, all the work is actually done by the red turret/gimball-thing on top of the box on the ground, but - you do get a figure!

Close-up of the figure, the sort of thing I'd expect to have in my 'unknown' sections, but I don't seem to have one . . . yet! The figure looks to be moulded into/onto the rescue sledge/tray, but is listed separately from a 'stretcher' and there seems to be a clip-in pick-up/carrying handle.

H is for Hawkin's HALO Heroes

That's not what they were called, as far as I can remember, just made for a half-reasonable post-title! These are unusual in being branded to Hawkin's Bazaar rather than the more commonly used moniker of the parent; Tobar, and being from the storage lot must be over 7 years old, actually titled 13109 PBF Parachute Soldier.

The five-figure stock code matching Tobar's current codeing, as does the manufacturer code (038728) but while the postcode given is Norwich, it’s different to the current Tobar postcode, however;  there was a solvency problem with Hawkin's a few years ago reported here at the time and it'll all be connected to that.

They are 95mm and made from that odd sort of recycled plastic which is best described as 'sandy' textured, and I must have grabbed all four poses when I saw them, however . . .

. . . they are 'similar' versions of the more recent, slightly smaller (80-mil-odd) Soldier Force figures from Hunson, sent to the blog in the last year or two by Brian Berke. While all the details are not the same, the painting style and plastic type is the same and it may well be they are all from the same contract manufacturer, and that I missed-out on a larger version of the 'Max Headroom' character (or is it Chip Hazard from Small Soldiers?) on the right?

M is for Magnetic Miniatures

I can't remember if we've had this on the blog or not, but I shot it (again?) in passing the other day, so here it is, clearly a magnetic novelty like the coffin skeletons, naked bath/bed ladies, kissing couples or sarcophagus Pharaoh, there's only one problem . . . it doesn't work!

The trope is either that the bullfighter is supposed to chase the bull around, or drag him around, depending on the polarity of the magnets, but actually they do nothing and I know why; both magnets have lost their magnetism!

There are two versions, unmarked on the left of each pair and marked Hong Kong on figure and cloth (right-hand), but these two - who both have their magnets clearly visible - don’t affect each other nor a needle I tried them on.

The magnetic material is that rubberised sheet used for travel-chess and draughts sets back in the 1970's and some early fridge magnets, which you may have discovered are also starting to fall off and not go back on!

As a result of this loss of magic-power, and because the bull is two firmly-glued halves, I can't even say with certainty if there is a magnet in it, whether it's toward the front or to the rear or - therefore - even if it's the correct animal! It came with the marked man, and is equally well-marked so I'm confident enough in myself, but without packaging (empirical evidence!) you'll have to judge your own call from the pathetically non-magnetic evidence!

Might I be able to 're-charge' it/them with a really big magnet? Airfix Guardsman scaler

06th June 2020 - they are credited to a Chemtoy in the states, but were probably sold by many outfits as a bought-in novelty? 

S is for the Super-Size of the Quest Ahead!

So, in case you haven't been reading the blurb for the last few months, the collection is out of storage, and I'm starting to pick-over it, a lot is still in a heap in the garage, and a few things don't seem to have surfaced at all yet, but they will . . . and there's plenty to keep the Blog going, take this as a case in point;

This is one of 9 identical boxes of 'unknown' flats (we looked at some of the 'Wild West' box a few weeks ago), to which you can add another, twice as long, with known margarine premiums, that is: they either have the issuer moulded on, or the little paper label saying ei-fein or whatever; four boxes of US 'comic flats' and all the Russian/East-European stuff, which is more spread around, and other stuff I've forgotten! There are also two crates of those A4 sheets of foam-board with the lead flats.

In front of it are the Christmas cracker 'Putti Orchestra' figurines which have come in over the last 7-years, in a little 4"x5½" self-seal bag, which is my standard size.

In the box are approximately 150 four-by-five-and-a-halves, each with an index card 'stiffener'. At an average of two posts a day there's nearly 3-months worth of posts there, technically, in the one box, but as you can see; some subjects have several bags, while lots of bags only have one or two examples in!

After sorting the new ones into the older sample, there are still several with only one! You can see it's the earlier 'Hong Kong' ones (1) which are building-up fastest, as there are more of them in the backs of hall 'phone drawers, or 'the' kitchen drawer, to end-up at car-boot sales, or in the hands of house-clearers and so slowly enter the secondary market.

I've numbered them as I think they were probably issued, but it's only a gestimate, with (1) in from the mid-late 1970's through to (5) being probably still current, the pink 'china' one being in a cheapie-cracker in a restaurant in Frimley a few years ago. I also added annotations to the cards as I was combining the two lots, makes it easier to sort into them next time.

Ignoring the base marks for a moment, these are all the poses and colours so far found, on these ephemeral, cartoony, seasonal, novelty figures, and with the exception of the red one, they are all so flimsy their bases tend to fold flat in the bags!

The next card in the box, and only added at the time these shots were taken, are these alien/clown orchestra figures, are they from 'down below'? We know the Devil has all the best tunes!

All figures of both types are about 30mm and soft polyethylene; the last three sculpted on both sides, the Putti are single-sided reliefs, smooth on the reverse. And they will probably be moved to a fantasy box, as they are hardly 'civilian', just non-military.

In the same box was something instantly recognisable . . . now! Clearly another Rundlutscher Spitztüte Wundertüten probably from Kuefa Kreisel, and I expect to find more as I dig-out the other boxes!

F is for Fuchsia-Flushed Feline

As well as 'the year of the footballers', 2018 has also been the year of the carmine cougar, here on Small Scale World; equally accidentally, although with some design in the middle of the year when I looked for a few on feeBay! There weren't many in the storage lots, but three have turned-up in time to be posted before the year's end!

The key-ring we've seen before, around 50mm and old-school PVC, the 'green panther' is an old European premium (Olà Ice Cream?) in polyethylene and showing all the signatures of Tito except the mark, while the bike must have been Corgi's entry for novelty vehicle of 1979!

A rocket-firing, low-raked, street-fighter! What the fuck's that all about, the Pink Panther may have covered his little nemesis in paint occasionally, even helped him down a few holes in the road or pavement, but last time I looked he wasn't a cold-blooded killer?

The cowling is a styrene polymer and can be damaged if it comes into contact with the PVC cat, while the die-cast body has polyethylene wheels and I think this probably went in a little sub-set with the Muttley thing?

F is for Follow-up - Fearless Floppy-hatted Fellows

It's one of the Toy Soldier rules that being in possession of a soft, broad-brimmed jungle hat is a sure sign of ANZAC credentials! The exception to the rule being the Airfix Ghurkha's! We looked at a few of these a while ago, and this is the contents of the 'Aussie/NZ' tub in storage.

Timpo swoppet figures, only the first version got these hats, with squared locating studs, I'm not sure you can even get them to fit the last version Brit's or US Infantry? And it's only the hats which differ from the 1st version British Infantry, Armoured Corps, US-import 'Green Berets', Para's or - possible - SAS.

We saw a few of these Trojan's last time too, but I DID have a few from the 'Big Purchase', I was practically giving away the Germans at the last (2011) Birmingham show (in fact I did give a handful to a mate), but there were only the four ANZAC's and I'd forgotten them! The third figure seems to have a kukri, but they would have had the long-bladed parang or heavy, issue, jungle knife for clearing the thicker secondary and lower, shrubby/grassy, tertiary jungle, as modelled by Airfix's officer . . .

Much copied by Hong Kong's finest (upper shot - dung-yellow examples) and err . . . cut'n'shut by Rado Industries (lower shot, field-grey green), that is; Ri-Toys, funny, I have a whole tub of them in one of the Blue Box crates which we looked at here, but I had these five in the Antipodeans tub!

Having proven that my Blue Box were in fact, actually Blue Box and not the 'Ri-Toys' Erwin 'makes it up as he goes along' Sell stated they were, a couple of years ago; I think it's only fair to prove that his 'Blue Box' are in fact the Ri-Toys I had stated they were several years earlier! They'll learn, but it's beeing a long, drawn-out, hard lesson.

The Enemy! I dealt with the small scale twenty-odd years ago in One Inch Warrior magazine, and looked at my small sample of larger scale ones back at the start of the blog, and after a flurry of activity it hasn't grown much (couple more Tim Mee blobs perhaps and some extra Airfix), but these two came-in just before everything went into storage, indeed, as it was going into storage, the show being in October and my move being two or three weeks later! I don't know if the yellow one is Trojan or one of the others in that group of five or six early British companies? There is a third, but it's the standing pose, duplicated - with very poor paint!

Bye-the-bye; Chris Smith sent 3 Blue Box Japanese in the summer donation, and I picked-up the officer's horse (in one of Jim's donation lots I think!), so we will look at them again at some point, but right now I am literally drowning in Stuff . . .

. . . 'Storage stuff' photo's, contributed/donated stuff, other photo's, shelfies (mine and contributed), News & Views stuff, archive scans, charity shop stuff, gliders, a Viking long ship, flats, paratroops', circus, Lledo, 'Mocherettes', Funimals, cereal-premium kits . . . I just spent an evening combining the Starlux lots and sorting the 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50mm Rocco, Crescent, Hilco and Cherilea mounted (with a couple of 54mm Charbens!) and discovering four more Disneykins, a Japanese APC and a ceramic cat. . . it's all coming, Small Scale World can't be built in a day; but I'm not complaining, just panicking slightly in a "whatever!" sort of fashion!

I is for Interlude

C is for Carded Cartoon Characters for Concourse and Carriage!

I can't remember if we looked at these properly or in passing as part of a show report, but I know Peter Evans gave me some at PW's show earlier this year, while I added a few I had here, I've now added the card from storage, but was sure I had some lose figures in storage too, and I haven't found them yet, so there may be another few somewhere, however - the card is the important bit . . .

. . . as it adds two poses to whatever we looked at whenever we did/didn't last look at them!

So; the full breakdown is five staff members, and five passengers, semi-flat, Hong Kong and around 25mm. I think I have a spare of the green chap elsewhere as well, due to his looking like a meant-to-be fully-round figure, if/when found on his own!

Based on/scaled-up from the old lead HO figures from Märklin (via Hans Wettig?), specifically set 0201 and limited to the ten poses from that set - There were two other sets in the Märklin catalogue, a forth in Schiffmann 12 (under Wettig) and the unknown set we looked at here, none of which have turned-up, scaled-up in hard Hong Kong polymer, although the rail-maintenance set (0203) were pirated in soft polyethylene, same size.

Close-up of the fat lady (she hasn't sung so Small Scale World goes on!) and a member of the rail staff from the era when A) there were rail staff to find on the platform and B) having been found they were happy to oblige!