S is for Salute the Bear!

I had one of those rare moments the other day, as reported recently by Bob Legget in Plastic Warrior No.173, of purchasing a cheapie from evilBay on the off-chance, and having more delivered than was expected, not a lot more, but enough!

I'd bid on what appeared to be four loose AFV's and an aeroplane, only for both the original bag and the packing slip to turn-up - having not been in the photographs!

The Logo is similar to the Odessa cultural goods/metal-works factory (Kultbyttovarov) logo we looked at a while ago with the help of Nazar Marchenko, but while that was a cat-bear or bear-cat (?) this is definitely a teddy-bear's head (it's all in the ears!), and the work's title translates as Salute Factory (завод Салют = zeaveode Esaelyute = zavod Salute = Salute works).

The four AFV's which I'd looked for after posting the other rocket-launchers and things a while ago (it's nearly March FFS!); a nice mid-Cold War grouping of 2 WWII/post-war SU's, and a - then -more up-to-date T54 and a PT76, in a size which [we will see below] comes-in at a reasonable HO-gauge compatibility.

The two plastic colours fall either side of the Kultbyttovarov FROG, but these are unmarked, I wouldn't say they weren't from the same tool-maker's though! There is as much duplication among these Soviet toys as there was in British khaki-infantry, French bazaar toys, or US derivatives of Tim-Mee!

The turrets (and gun-breaches) are held-on but allowed to move by having the ends of their locating-studs/breeches melted-back with a hot screwdriver (the breaches are actually melted-in a bit more firmly), creating a retaining 'mushroom', here the operator has got the angle wrong or pressed too-hard and left his mark in the hull!

The four heavies are accompanied by a twin-engined Illyushin Il28 'Beagle' (? - copied by the Chinese as the Hong/Harbin-5) for a bit of aerial support. As you may already have cottoned-on; the paler of the two greens is possibly the most un-photogenic colour I've ever tried to shoot, it sort of soaks-in the flash and spits it out again, as glare, all in the same millisecond - I've deleted dozens of poorer shots, yet the dark-green ones are in proper focus - they're all similarly surface-detailed; promise!

The hull in the top-left shot is the Battlefront (GaleForceNine)'s Pz.Kpfw.IV in 1:100th scale, the T34 is Roco-Minitanks' [rather too-tall] early effort in a nominal 1:87th, while the PT76 is Roskopf's which should also be 1:100, the evidence - as you can see - puts the Soviet Salute stuff closer to the hundredth than the eighty-seventh!

So; with the previously seen stuff, I've now got quite a few Russian Bears in the Right-Revolutionary Ready-made Russkie Regiment! I'll track-down a few more (I know there's a KV II still to find) and then we'll look at them all together.

N is for Naturecraft

Naturecraft were a set of Christmas crackers issued back in the . . . errr . . . 1990's? 1980's maybe, but I think the 90's is closer; they do appear on evilBay on a regular basis, usually a sign that they aren't that old, which is not to say older crackers don't regularly appear on sales sites, but the frequency with which this, one, particular set turns-up, suggests it wasn't that long ago since it was retailed, and it probably only ran for one or two Christmases?

Painted, washed and varnished chalkware animals, I think there are eight in a set, maybe ten, but I seem to recall it wasn't a full-twelve; annoyingly I have all the details on the damaged dongle, but I'm putting-off the task of delving into it with the icare and testdisc software as I think it's an all-day (or many-hours) job, so I can only work with the actual loose sample, who are six!

Each is marked on the rear with a Naturecraft England mark, and I think each cracker had the picture of 'its' animal contents glued to it's main . . . drum? There must be a whole nomenclature for crackers . . . sleeves or grabs? Drum or compartment? Snap, motto, gift, hat, what about the scrunched pinch-points?

I have a half a thought there was a charity or some fund-raising (WWF/WWFFN?) behind the crackers?

N is for Nickelodeon's Ninja's in New York

With nearly 3000 posts under the belt it's getting hard to come up with original titles, so I apologise for the above! It's another quickie! It's another board-game! It's already gone to recycling! It had four figures!

Actually it wasn't a board game, more a sort of 'carpet game', with card discs (man-hole covers) to be shuffled, randomly spread in a trail and then followed by the Turtles. But - the important bit; it has four figures!

The Turtles, around 45mm, soft vinyl/PVC and glued to harder, polypropylene bases, each base coloured to match the bandanna colour of one of the four characters, and that's it really, another box-ticker; Sambro for Nickelodeon, TMNT Foot Clan Street Fight Game . . . four more figures!

N is for Nadi 'Nanimals

Like Nardi, but not! Café Nadi was a European (French) Coffee house, and included these premiums on their coffee to encourage sales through pester-power in the 1950's, as every other coffee, margarine, tobacco, laundry-powder and cereal issuer was, along with various other common 'household' products or 'consumables', that is; those items which are in, or likely to be- in each week's shopping-basket, regular as clockwork.

Not a full set, I could cut-n-shut a few from around the internet, but that would lower me to Giselle's level, equally; I could show his under the implied ten-for-one rule, but as you can see - they really aren't that exciting!

As with a lot of these sets (there are many; flat and semi-flat) it's an odd mix of mostly African species with the odd Eurasian or American animal thrown in and the almost de rigueur Polar Bear and Kangaroo/Wallaby. The gorilla (if that is its designation) is the oddest sculpt; looking more like some kind of an early prehistoric-hominid!

A couple of duplicates in close-up, along with the lion and tiger, the small deer in a darker 'Ivorene' and a donkey who is paler, and greyish and belongs to the Nativity set from Nadi where he bears witness to the birth of the little baby Jesus. The horse is rather fine I think; not that finely detailed, but quite expressive.

Someone - Ludo I think (but don't blame him if I'm wrong) - had tied these flecked/marbled-plastic ones into British Petroleum, also as premiums, but French service stations I suspect, not our BP 'garages', I don't remember these back in the day, but if they were issued in the 1950's they would have been pretty scarce by the time I was paying attention to such things in the late 1960's, so they may have been issued here too? 

T is for The Mirror Should Have Cracked!

With three Hippo's standing on it, but they were quite small and polymer! Just me playing at trying to be artsey with the imagery . . .

. . . using some Timpo hippopotami, with a [later?] unpainted, coloured plastic one (aimed at the infant market?) on the left, and two [earlier?] painted ones in brown from the zoo line, standing on a  mirror with a jungle'y background . . . it didn't work very well; the mirror-image is sort of doubled, fir reasons I vaguely understand but car't be arsed to try and explain; it's all light-angles and crap . . so . . . that's it!

T is for Toy Fair 2019 Reports - Amerang - Nano Metalfigs

Jada Toys 'Metalfigs' are also being shipped into the UK and distributed by Amerang, and I shot a few while I was in London the other day.

This is probably more of a display-unit than a 'playset' per se, and has points for about 12 figures with room for a few more, themed to DC's Batman, it might look a bit silly draped in Disney figures, but each to his own!

Another man-bat and a bunch of other DC superhero comic characters, they don't all have metallic paint, or not everywhere, but it does suit them, and I know I've waxed lyrical on these in the past, they really are lush to handle.

I struggled to get a good shot of this Marvel set - Gardians of the Galaxy, but between the three most-usable images you can - hopefully - get an idea of the finished item!

The Harry Potter line is being added to with the Fantastic Beast off-shoot, and you may just spot the Walking Dead set - bottom right.

Again designed more as a display vehicle than a full-on playset, but this one does have a bunch of accessories for little imaginations to sculpt adventures rund, and those who follow the ways of Nottingham will see that some of the elements may have applications in more grown-up gaming - I'm thinking of the arched windows and pilasters.

A large twenty figure set, I don't know how much this costs; but I've found the single figure blisters in Asda supermarkets to be reasonable and the five-figure sets can often be found in Smyths, sometimes discounted.

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Speaking of Disney - as I was a moment ago - Brian Berke sent these shelfies over from the 'States back in July and they either slipped-past the last round-up of these, or missed it and were waiting for a post like this!

Not specifically branded to Disney Infinity, but rather Disney-Pixar-Muppets, it seems to be designed to carry and carry nevertheless; with almost limitless characters to choose from!

The fact that these are out there in several outlets, more than two years after the Blog first became aware of them suggests take-up has been successful-enough for them to be with us for some time now, which also means they will be around at the fairs in numbers for years to come, Nano Metalfigs are 'part of the landscape' now

F is for Follow-up - " ♪♪♫ . . . aaaaand there were Clockwork-men and Clockwork Cop's & Bot's" ♪♫♫

Mentioned in passing the other day (when looking at the other robots), the Spanish guy gets his fifteen minutes in the limelight today, and another robot turned-up in the Storage lot, so we'll look at it too.

Here he is! Civil Guard - Spanish National Police? I think they are the equivalent of Federal police or Gendarmerie? I stand to be corrected; but he's a Spanish policeman and that's good enough for me!

He had to borrow my Guardsman's bayonet, as he came without one, but the other figures I've seen on that there Intermerweb thingy (Federal and Confederate ACW) both had one. I'm guessing these are aimed at the tourist trade in each territory, and there may be others to find.

The Spaniard compared with my Guardsman, which we have seen before here, briefly. You can see the only physical difference is in the headdress - along with plastic-colouring, and the tampo-printed uniform and face decoration, obviously!

I did try making a video, but the light was all wrong and you have to hold the wound-up figure/s 'till you press record, then get your hand out of the way, at which point they fall over, or go away from the camera or march into out-of-focus, or - when I tried both together - collide with each other, so I gave that up as a 'bad job' requiring five arms, three of which I've yet to grow!

From the sides.

As I say, I have seen Union and Confederate soldiers from the same series, in the US, often quite cheap, but the postage-cost has dampened my enthusiasm, a quick Google or feebleBay search will reveal them.

Base code/markings (or technically 'foot codes') are the same for both, but the Spanish chap has had a branding added to the other foot - he's not Hans, he's mine! The arms swing and the head turns from one side to the other by a few degrees each way, as they march-along. I think this was a charity-shop job, but it may have been in Jim's big box, so shout-out to Jim!

The robot in the left is the addition; we've seen my old yellow and red Christmas stocking one before. The ones we looked at last time (thanks Adrian) and mine are - for the most part - single action toys, just 'marchers', but the new one has similar cam-wheels with pins (to the arm-swinging Guardsman & Gendarme above) between different plastic 'plates' to make the arms punch in-and-out, or the antenna to move up and down as it walks.

G is for Greeks Bearing Similar Shields

Bit of a late one today; as I said [wrote] on Friday [Thursday] I hadn't got a plan for the weekend, and while I managed to get Saturday and Sunday covered, Monday rather went by the wayside!

Also apologies for my inaccuracy on Friday, it's not Vanuatu we're about to sign a trade-agreement with, it's the international power-house that is the Faeroe Islands! As someone with more knowledge of these things than me on the News Quiz pointed-out on Friday night; they're going to send us puffin meat, in exchange for the mould off Ms. Maybe-Maybe-not's jam!

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Another box-ticker, another set of the Toyway-Timpo vinyl figures with separate bases, we're off to Greece this time, and frankly, this set is not as nice as the Romans, the sculpting is a bit . . . sort of lumpy or rubbery! But there are some quirky figures and it's a full group.

The whole set, 10 figures, the painting is also a bit of a let-down, they are all 'text-book' boy's-comic Rome with all the red and silver, and they were - of course - from the bronze-age and Greek! Two musicians and a woman hardly help with army-building either!

Those musicians in full! The guy on the left is obviously a signaller, but the one on the right might be the more Mercurial, godlike character . . . Hermes! Or is it Ares/Mars?

The figure on the left here is also supposed to be a god, well, goddess I think; Athena/Athene (Minerva in Rome)? While the chap on the right appears to have been designed for a chariot, which - to my knowledge - was never offered, but might it have also gone with, or been designed to go with the Timpo Roman chariot, which Toyway may have been thinking of? As it is, he looks like he's about to start a race with an invisible watch!

Spearmen - a hideously unbalanced spear being wielded by the guy on the left, the other two are OK, although the middle figure looks more early Roman to my eyes; maybe he's the General? At least his cuirass is the right colour, while the chap on the right is wearing the latest in kilt fashions; imported from Polynesia!

Swordsmen - probably my favourite figures from the set, perticularly the old man on the left; some crocked Trojan packed-off to do his duty and die properly; the other two quite good poses, the kneeling figures is particularly nice, but all three let down by the fact that their swords have morphed into letter-openers!

The shields are all reasonable designs I think, most taken from actual Greek art or artifacts in museums, although the originals wouldn't have been quite so deep in relief, most being only painted-on? They fall down in the bright-yellow on silveriness of them all!

A scale comparison shot, with similar figures from two Atlantic sets; the woman with amphora being taken from a Roman set!

F is for Follow-up - Family Photo . . . Not!

Just a quickie, looking at the sum-total (not!) of ZIP farm animals, now I've found the storage lot;

This is what I had in storage, and which I thought I'd Blogged years ago, only to find I hadn't, when I came to Blog them [again!] a while ago. I'd forgotten the cow was in there, and the second pig was not missed, poor thing!

Putting them together with two lots I had here should have given us the 'family photo' in the post-title, but . . . the pigs which turned-up in one of Jim's donations to the Blog have disappeared into the semi-, un-, still-to-be-sorted heap.

The animals and the Wild West have rather been allowed to pile-up, and while I started to sort the Cowboys and Indians the other night, it proved too daunting a task and I ended up sorting Dinosaurs instead! So we will return to ZIP farm, when I have some new ones AND the missing piggie-wigs have rejoined the farm!

All marked ZIP except the Britains-clone scratching-nose-foal and the smaller, based piglet. Four legs - good; four legs present - better . . . next time!

M is for Multiple Manufacturers Mascots

A quick round-up of a few of the smaller corporate mascot stuff on hand, I think one or two have been seen here before in show-reports or such-like, but as a group they make an interesting diversion!

Starting with the all-important beer mascots!

This is a vinyl/PVC key-ring charm of the mascot of Brickwoods Ltd, a brewer from Portsmouth, founded in 1851 by Fanny Brickwood and acquired by Whitbread's in 1971, the last pint left the brewery in 1983.

This is a solid piece of polystyrene, another key-ring and mirrors the larger ceramic one which is quite common on evilBay. As a brand they (Flowers) only date from 1952 and seem to have brewed their last pint in the 1990's, whether that was a pint of Brewmaster brew is your guess, but you can blame Whitbread for the demise . . . again!

As an aside . . . while our (the UK's) much-loved beers all disappeared in the 1980's/1990's being replaced by gassy chilled shite like Fosters, Heineken, Coors &etc . . . the same thing was happening everywhere; back when you could have a decent chat about non-platform stuff, we were chatting about favorite beers on the HäT forum, I mentioned my favorite Phauenbrau from Tüttlingen and someone from Germany said "Disappeared years ago!", it turned out that all the old, little-town, local brands (and even some of the bigger ones - Herforder I think?) had been swallowed up in the same process, and not just in Britain or Germany, but everywhere - it's called globalisation, and has almost certainly lead to Trumpundbrxit, but it is also 'progress' and; like it or not, you can't turn the clock back, for good or bad 'progression' is a one-way trip; we won't get the old brands back by voting for populist reactionaries and disrupters, but we may well get war!

That's enough beer (I think?), and proselytising! But still sticking with beverages; I think this was a soft-drink (although several beers seem to have Lutin in longer titles - or Lutine?), maybe a carbonated thing, or a yogurt thing and while I thought it might be German (I bought it in Germany) a vague attempt to find it on Google resulted in a possibility it may be a Spanish drink? As the little bear supping the Lutin looks like he could have been manufactured by Manurba or Jecsan, it's no clue!

The bear looks a dead-ringer for Mary Plain, a now rather lost and forgotten children's character, one of my favorite books is Mary Plain in Wartime, which takes us neatly to the next entry in 'mascot of the day'! Seems to be a stand-alone figure, and is polyethylene.

I thought this chap was some DIY superstore, hardware or plumbing maskot, because of the tool-box, but a slightly deeper search revealed a darker history involving IG Farben and Courthold's (the Ford Motor Company may have made some army trucks for the Nazi's, but apparently one of our biggest pre-war concerns was making plastics/fabrics for them!), slave labour and all sorts of stuff - which may be a red-herring - but it seems Diolen was a man-made fabric brand of a Vereinigte Glanzstoff-Fabriken AG, in the polyester group, to which the forenamed companies were connected?

As a result I think the 'tool-box' is a US style lunch-box and that hideously patterned set of matching checked-hat and dungarees are in fact his 'mighty, hardwearing, comfy, Diolen' work wear? Another stand-alone figure, it's the sort of PVC thing that might have been contracted from Heimo/Bully?

Sugus is a survivor brand (over all the above?), being now owned by Wrigley's where it is used in several territories, but only Spain in Europe, although when I bought it several German collectors recognised it as having been a brand of their younger days. It's another key-ring, PVC.

Also it only seems to survive as a fruit-flavor brand of wrapped, boiled-sweet (candy), while this mascot pertains to the liquorice variant, which even if it survives as a brand, won't use a mascot which might be misinterpreted in these PC times - look at the trouble they are having in Holland with the innocent Swartz Pete, or what happened to our Robinson's Golly mascot?

Again "It's progress", again problematical [in the moment] for some, but I'd rather lose a few mascots or traditions, than be a part of bullying, whether deliberate or sub-conscious, whether meant or as a bi-product of cultural activity . . . after all we used to have the happy 'cultural tradition' of burning people at the stake, after church on a Sunday; usually for living alone with a few cats!

I don't think even the execrable Mr Mogg hankers back that far - although he's a 'landowner' so he'd probably jump at the chance to add a few empty cottages to his estates, after the owners' have been immolated! 'Vote for my idea, I've got a silly accent!'

We ended-up with more proselytising! Who'd have thought I could find so much rant in five little polymer novelties, but they've all got a history! I haven't measured them but they are all between about 30 and 45mm

H is for Hard-plastic Hussar!

It's beginning to look as if just about everything Fontanini produced (most of which they themselves produced in several sizes, materials or finishes) between about 1965 and 1985 were pirated in Hong Kong (in several sizes, materials or finishes), this is yet another!

From the commoner sculpt-set of Napoleonic troop types and in the style of the blow-moulded knights we've looked-at in the past, the main difference is that this isn't a blow-mould, being a solid, very-dense, polyethylene lump. Finish is the same as the knights though with a metallic bronze/gold dry-brushed over a flat black.

Over eight inches with the base the figure is a good seven-odd.

The base does seem to be slightly hollow, which may be due to shrinkage (the result of injecting such a large piece), or the use of a blow-mould/Rotary-mould tool with a large shot of plastic designed to be slightly hollow for cost, but tough-enough to survive handling? The little sticker is a generic version of the ones used by HCF, but lots of from-HK import novelties had the same or similar, still do, but now they read 'CHINA'!

The depth of the plinth and strange pinch to one end may be a sign that the statue was pleased in some kind of receiver or holder of some kind, maybe a piece of kitsch furniture or a lamp stand? The Sabretache has a florid, copperplate 'A' on both sides - as per the Fontanini original.

R is for Roskopf

'Redhead' and I think I'm guilty of nearly always using Roscopf with a 'c' in the past, and will probably do so again in the future, my bad, but I'll try to get in right in this post! A post which is really only a small-scale box-ticker; looking briefly at the figural output of this Austrian maker's military range.

How they came in! Each set was available painted or unpainted and seem to have been removed from the runners in the factory or at the out-painters, unlike their German rival Roco Minitanks' which tended to be sold on the runner, but unpainted only. RMM stands for Roskopf Miniatur-Modell.

Marching and advancing infantry; Set 181 - 8 Soldiers with Weapons (set 181a painted) consisted of only four figure posess, and they are quite thin and crude sculpts, but when they came out there wasn't so much opposition and very little in the nominal scale of 1:100th, although that is a moot point as we will see in a forthcoming post.

There's a possibility that the unpainted set is also numbered 151 in some catalogues, either as a foursome or, possibly from before (or after?) the painted sets were offered, or even just a typo?

185/185a Five Soldiers with Infantry Weapons, this set reveals exactly the era it was issued in, with the now anachronistic bazooka and the ground-launched, wire-guided missile operator on a camp-stool (ammo-box!) with his clear line-of-sight to the people firing-back at him! They are based on other figures around at the time (Monograms 40mm and Roco's copies) but I think it's more familiarity of the others leading to similarity, rather than any direct piracy?

I have lost the two Sagger-looking rockets which accomany this set in the unpainted lot, and the painted lot's are both damaged!

Sets' 183 - Sitting Figures & 184 - Drivers and Passengers and 183a/184a were seated figures for the AFV range the figures were designed to accompany, and I only have partial samples of each.

With drivers and co-drivers/convoy sentries (184/184a) on the left, and 'loads' for troop-carrying trucks etc . . . (183a) on the right. Again there is a hint of Monogram/Roco in the trooper and again; these also seem to be the basis of the similar EKO set, which also produced them in the same dark-green polystyrene.

As well as being pretty crude, these figures are also quite generic and could be used with NATO, Soviet or neutral state equipment, especially after a bit of paint - both the lack of detail and the diminutive stature hiding a multitude of sins!

I suspect I still have to track down the contents/examples of a 182/182a unless they are the rockets for 181?