News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Events; Saturday 6th-Friday 12th April 2019

Well . . . so . . . errr . . . phew! That was an interesting un-birthday, was it not? We're still 'In' and looking for another extension as I write, which is all looking good for this year's May PW show!

I love the juxtaposition of the ES shot above, being a complete opposite of the demographic stereotypes we've been led to believe 'make up' the Brwreakshit/Remoan divide; with the 'old git' (whom the Guardian would have us believe is a reactionary, parochial Brexiteer) supporting Europe, while a young Afro-Caribbean looking chap (the Daily Pail would hysterically inform us was some sort of loony left, ganja-smoking immigrant layabout not interested in the crown or state and 'probably' illegal) is supporting 'Out'.

Note however - how the other stereotype of shouty, pointing, spittle-flecked aggression from the Brwreakshiteer is true to form, while the liberal leftie just looks faintly bemused! Right Wing pro-Brexit protests tend end in violence, Left Wing pro-Peoples's-Vote protests usually end with some Labour Front-bencher wishing everyone a safe journey home on the tube!

And does the guy on the right (in all senses of the word!) not understand what might happen to him if Mogg, Johnson and Farage (rhymes with C**t) start appointing Tommy Robson's goons to run the country, after all; a lot of intellectual Jews in 1930's Germany voted for Herr Hitler's mob to 'sort the country out'.

No doubt something they lived to repent at leisure . . . no, sorry, something they rapidly died regretting. But make no mistake, that's how the wind blows - in Trump's America, in Erdogan's Turkey, in Orban's Hungary, in Brazil, the Philippines, Rumania, Israel and elsewhere. And it was started by Teresa May-be Maybe-not's 'Hostile Environment' while she was Home secretary, also overseeing massive cuts to policing, prisons and probation - each of which is now in crisis!

So, for another week, the only ointment I can offer you is toy-buying while there are still toys to buy and a bit of geldt to buy them with!

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Toy Fairs

Saturday 6th April 2019

Cardiff - Chris Dyer Fairs

Penarth Leisure Centre, Andrew Road, Cogan, Cardiff, Wales, CF64 2NS.
Web. - www.chrisdyerfairs.co.uk

Tel. - 01643 702 757

Mob. - 07966 694 579

Hours unknown

Admission [probably] £2

Purley - East Surry N Gauge (ESNG) / N Gauge Forum - N Gauge SouthEast

Riddlesdown Collegiate, Honister Heights, Purley, Surrey, CR8 1EX

Web. - www.NGaugeSouthEast.co.uk

The Facebook - N Gauge SouthEast Show

10:00-16:00hrs

Admission £7.50, children £3.00, family ticket £20.00

Refreshments

Free Parking

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Sunday 7th April 2019

Bolton - Barry Potter / BP Fairs - 'Macron'

The Premier Suite, Macron Stadium, Bolton, Lancashire, BL6 6SF

Web. - www.bpfairs.com

Tel. - 01604 846 688

Mob. - 07966 527 177

[Probably] 10:30 - 15:00hrs

Admission £4.00, early-bird £8, (from 08:00hrs), seniors £3.50, children £1

Free parking

Eastbourne - Eastbourne Historic Vehicle Club - Toy & Transport Collectors Fair 

Polegate Community Centre, 54 Windsor Way, Polegate, Eastbourn, East Sussex, BN26 6QF

Web. - www.ehvc.co.uk
Telephone unknown

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Admission£1.50p, children free

Club event

Falkirk, Scotland - McLaren Models

Tel. - 01324 624 102

(All other details here)

Malvern - Bulldog Fairs

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

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.

Spalding - Colin Boor - Model Tractor, Construction & Literature 2019

Springfields Exhibition Centre, Spalding, Lincolnshire, PE12 6ET

Web. - www.spaldingmodeltractor.com

eMail - spaldingmodeltractor@gmail.com

Tel. - 07710 321 471

10:00 - 15:00hrs

Admission £6, accompanied children free

St. Ives - J&J Fairs (J&J Webb)

'One Leisure' St. Ives, Burgess Hall Events & Conference Centre, Westwood Road, St. Ives, Cambridgeshire, PE27 6WU

Web. - www.j-jwebbtoyfairs.com

eMail - jandjfairs@virginmedia.com

Tel. - 01522 880 383

10:00 - 14:30hrs

Admission - Adult £3.00p, seniors £2.50, 1st child £2.00p

Where the cats and the sacks and the wives came from, not Cornwall!

Swindon - Retro Ronnie

Swindon Town Football Club, County Ground, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN1 2ED

Web - www.retroronnie.com

Mob. I - 07708 385 061

Mob. II - 07900 266 427

Hours unknown

Admission charge unknown

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Tuesday 9th April 2019

Hook - Steven Clements Fairs - Hook Evening Fair

Hook Community Centre, Hook, Hampshire, RG27 9NN

eMail: clementfairs@aol.com

Tel. - 01380 725 322

Mob. - 07958 101 891

18:30 - 21:30hrs

Admission £1

Free parking

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Auctions

Saturday 6th April 2019

Ilkley - Hartleys Auctioneers And Valuers

Victoria Hall, Little Lane, Ilkley, West Yorkshire, LS29 8EA

Web. - www.hartleysauctions.co.uk

eMail - info@hartleysauctions.co.uk

Tel. - 01943 816 363

Viewing 13:00-17:30hrs, Friday 1st April (today) and from 09:00-12.30hrs on the day of the sale; sale starts 12:30hrs.

General toys, collectables and autographs.

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Monday 8th April 2019

Downham Market - Barry L Hawkins

The Estate Office, 15 Lynn Road, Downham Market, Norfolk, PE38 9NL
Web. - www.barryhawkins.co.uk
eMail - info@barryhawkins.co.uk
Tel. -01366387180

Sale starts 10:00hrs

Scale models and collectable toys

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Tuesday 9th - Thursday 11th April 2019

Stockton-on-Tees - Vectis Auctions (3-day sale)

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

Web. - www.vectis.co.uk

eMail - admin@vectis.co.uk

01642 750 616

Tuesday 9th - Wednesday 10th - Specialist die-cast sale

Thursday 11th - General toy sale

[Note: There will be imagery and blurb from Vectis, probably on Monday or over the weekend so I'll do a follow-up 'News Views' before the sale]

Tuesday -

"The Specialist sale to be held on the 9th of April starts at the earlier time of 10am to incorporate the seven private owner collections. The Iain Gothard Collection, The Colin Collin's Collection - Part 2, The North East Collection, The European Military Collection, The Oxfordshire Collection, The Hereford Collection - Part 2 and The Swiss Collection all include Corgi and Dinky models. Including sports, racing and road cars; commercials, trucks, buses, farm, and military; Gift Sets, TV & Film related, French Dinky and Trade Packs. Plus others, including Britains Motorcycles, Scalextric, Budgie, Solido and more. Also included in the sale are White Metal & Resin lots from TW Collection (Trevor Wright models), Durham Classics and Brooklin. Plus, factory wrapped Dinky models, Corgi pre-production (1st shot) samples, catalogues, reference books and much more."

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Thursday 11th April 2019

Heathfield - Watson's Auctions

Heathfield Auction Rooms, Burwash Road, Heathfield, East Sussex, TN21 8RA

Web. - www.watsonsauctioneers.co.uk

eMail - auctions@watsonsauctioneers.co.uk

Tel. - 01435 862 132

Sale starts 10:00am

Toys & Transport Auction

Stockton-on-Tees - Vectis Auctions (last day of a three day auction)

[see entry/note above]

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Other Events

Legotastic!

There is not one, not two, not five, but at least six events involving Hestair Kiddycraft's most famous product (unless the stacking/Russian barrels were your favorite!), over the Easter break. . . and they're the ones that I KNOW ABOUT.

I bet there are more - where you are - as two of these are local-to-Basingrad things organised by those bandwagon firms exploiting the hegemony of the Danes in the [stolen] construction-brick business for some of the cash-crumbs!

Basingstoke - Milestones Museum - Bricktropolis and the Attack of the Mighty Monsters
Leisure Park, Churchill Way West, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG22 6PG (venue)

Web. - www.milestonesmuseum.org.uk
Tel. - 01256 639550 (venue)
Hampshire Cultural Trust, Chilcomb House, Chilcomb Lane, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 8RB (offices)
eMail - enquiries@hampshireculturaltrust.org.uk
Tel. - 01962 678140 (offices)
Open - Tuesday-Friday 10:00- 16:45hrs, Saturday-Sunday 11:00-16:45hrs, Mondays closed

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Basingstoke - Festival Place Shopping Precincts - Lego in Space

Starts 13th - Details next week

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

London (Forrest Hill) - The Horniman Public Museum and Public Park Trust - Brick Wonders
100 London Road, Forest Hill, London, SE23 3PQ

Web. - www.horniman.ac.uk
Tel. - 020 8699 1872
Until 27th October 2019
Temporary Exhibition Space

Forrest Hill tube station and overground

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Washinton (Tyne & Weir) - Giant Lego Brick Animal Trail

WWT, Washington Wetland Centre, Washington, Tyne & Weir

Web. - wwt.org.uk

From Saturday 6th April 2019

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Winchester - Marwell Zoo - Brickosaurs!
Marwell Wildlife Park, Thompsons Lane, Winchester, Hampshire SO21 1JH.
Web. - www.marwell.org.uk
eMail -  marwell@marwell.org.uk
Tel. - 01962 777407
Friday 5th April - Sunday 1st September 2019

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Windsor - Legoland - New Ride; The Haunted Monster Party

Opens 13th April - Details next week

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Re-enactment

Saturday 6th-Sunday 7th April 2019

Bury St. Edmonds - National Trust - 95th Rifles; Battle of Waterloo

Ickworth, Bury St. Edmonds

Web. - www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Children's drill workshops

Field-surgery demo's

Battles!

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

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!

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Competition - Just for Fun!

Tom Clague sent this image of a retail item for sale in Australia . . .

The competition is simple, what is it? Answer next week! I can tell you it's not a pencil sharpener, nor a topper (pencil or bottle), I can also tell you that you probably can't afford it, even though it looks to be an innocuous, probably resin, touristy, keepsakey, diver figurine, which - apparently - it isn't!

If you know - because you're in that trade - eMail me for later credit but don't spoil it for any guessers! For the guessers - there may be a further clue on Monday . . .

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

H is for How They Come In

This is a few bits which have come in over the last two weeks, along with an interesting infant's farm set and a mini-board game which will get their own posts, the two Almirall Hussars/Chasseurs (I don't know how you tell them apart!) are missing swords, but they were cheap!

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

And finally . . .

No toys in the media this week, but Tom also saw this and sent it along with the diver -

Apparently someone in the Brwreakshit Command & Control Centre (hahahahaha! There's no command and they're not in control!) think people (in THE ANTIPODES) needing some hi-tech financial services might seek them on the OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD!

Evan as Ford threatens to move all its factories out of the UK . . . presumably this is the work of the useless, serial-resigner Davis, or is it that cockwomble Fox? Forgetting that when we joined the EU in '73 (after the French had prevented us from doing so for a decade or two), we left the Kiwi's and the Aussies hanging!

If Brwreakshit was a book, you wouldn't bother to finish the second half and would give it a shit review on Amazon - This is far-fetched, with an unbelievable plot, unrealistic dialogue and the leading characters are all cardboard cut-outs from B-Movie's central casting!

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

T is for Toy Fair 2019 Reports - Bandai - Bits & Bobs

As well as the Anderson stuff I sent to Moonbase, I took a few other hurried shots while gabbling enthusiastically; having blagged my way in to get the Thunderbirds stuff I managed to grab these on the way out.

Bandi are one of the companies who run a closed stand at Toy Fairs, which you have to book-in to, then be escorted round, and preferably you need to be a toy-buyer, -shipper or -agent, or a member of an accredited journalistic outlet, not a blagging Blogger!

SD (super deform) Godzilla characters, I really was rushing the shots, and was taken with the triple-headed dragon, but you can see bits of two others in the background, deforms aren't 'my thing' at all, but they do come in occasionally with mixed stuff and some people will love them!

More Realistic Godzilla figures in two sizes, including the triple-head again in a more realistic form, if anything fantasy can be realistic, but you know what I mean . . . more accurate to the movie version.

Godzilla himself, this is the size where gaming him in 1:76/72nd becomes a reasonable proposition! The funny thing is, even though he's all modernised and professionally finished as a toy, he still looks like a man in a rubber suit!

All kinds of Gundam; from teeny SD's to what I think was a 12--inch monster, with plastic model kits for basher's to have a go at. I didn't get a good look at the 'weapon-sprue' runners, but suspect they are not multi-shot 'overmoulds' but rather slot-or-clip-jointed at the colour demarcations?

Close-up of the super deform, I saw some of these from the 1970's or '80's a few years ago, and you could see why they are so collectable, lots of fine detail, in brittle polystyrene or something similar and lots of metallic stickers, starting to lift at the corners,. To get a whole one in good condition must be quite hard; this modern issue is a more robust propylene type polymer and sans stickers!

Again, the more realistic lines of accurately scaled models, and I think - deliberately - all five display models are of the same character (the AILE Strike Gundam), for comparison purposes. If the HG and RG models are 1:144 (as seems to be the case?) that would make the other two eminently compatible with 1:76/72nd (MG) and 1:35/32nd scales (giant one).

Not much - but a few snatched shots from the 'inner sanctum' of Bandai's stand!

R is for Robin's Roustabout Rebels - Part 2 - The Figures

I also grouped the earlier post's figures by character/thematically, for closer comparisons, and this post is the result of those shots, in the course of preparing this pair of articles, they all got put away and taken out again several times, and one of the archers has migrated to another set!

Robin Hood's above and Will Scarlet's below, along with the guy I used to think was falling or sitting, but who I can only picture hiding in a tree now! The guy middle-bottom is an unnamed character - one of the Merry Men - but could pass for Robin or Will!

Now, there is no discernible difference between the two smaller Will's, and in the course of taking these mages I came to the conclusion I'd had the Down Under version all along, which means I need to find a Canada one at some point, just to satisfy myself as to their differences/similarities, as all the other figures do have clear differences between the sculpts and I believe the Canada issue is an unnamed figure?

The Maid Marion/ian's; Marx's 'ian is Rubenesque sexy in a Viking-court sort of get-up, the antipodean 'ion is a bit Hippy-chick sexy in plain Anglo-Saxon villager's garb, the Canadian 'ian sculpt looks like a rather dry Mother Superior or a 'Flanders mare' in full Norman aristocratic finery and Robin would be a fool to get involved with her, she's just gonna' whine alot!

'The Tuck'; my kind of priest - a godless one! I prefer the Marx sculpt, if he's got a staff he can get fightey-bitey, but the smaller ones have him holding a scroll or torch/brazier - it's not clear? This is the other pose (after the archer, if mine are of different sources) which has little change beyond base markings between Australian and Canadian issues - the Canada one is better detailed/etched and slightly taller maybe?

The two sheriffs' (Nott's & Darby!) and tree-climber/falling guy again! He's actually the most dynamic pose of all four sets (I haven't shown/got the other Marx set), but this may have meant he was a bugger to manufacture - lots of weird undercuts, not in the pose per se, but in relation to the layout of the other cavities/rest of the tool?

Little John; the difference between the two smaller ones is clear here with heaver sculpting of the thin parts obvious, while the dagger on the Canadian chap is longer. Neatly; both/all three issuers have gone with a taller sculpt for the man whose name was a play on his notable height, he's half-a-head above Robin and has a good [scale] six-inches on everyone else.

Alan-a-Dale/Minstrel, a close-up of the base marking differences, the 'Canada' sculpt is on the right. I find red plastic a bugger to shoot (so don't know why I concentrated on this one!) but with a black & white filter and some stopping-down it seems to show what's needed. The unnamed 'minstrel' could used as/taken to be the Coeur de Lion's lover; Blondel?

Much the Miller; I seem to remember him from childhood stories, although Marx haven't named theirs, they all share the same hood and similar kilt/surcoat tails, so they were all watching each-other or the Saturday-matinee's for their fashion leads, rather than historical sources, although they can all be painted-up for medieval armies!

Down Under this one's Will Stutley, another one I recall from tales told to me as a child, or read in comics, elsewhere he's the anonymous 'signaller'! One of the missing Marx versions has the green guy shouting with cupped-hand and no stowed-bow!

♪♫♪ Stick-fighting Maaaaaaaaaaaaan! ♫♪♪ The best candidate for converting/repainting to court jester or fool!

The other three! Australia/New Zealand give them all names, Canada doesn't bother, but they still make-up the numbers. The rock guy needs a siege-engine, but there are plenty around to chose from, and Will Stutley would make a good No. 1 to this chap's No. 2. While you can never have enough medieval archers, for Crecy, Agincourt or the other one where we gave Frenchie a good spanking!

Done did!

The lack of available information on the 50mm set from Down Under leaves questions still outstanding, for someone to follow-up, somewhere, sometime;

• ·         Which cereal were they issued with?
• ·         Were they Australian or New Zealand-issued, first?
• ·         Who made/manufactured them?
• ·         Did Canada issue a license or are they pirates
• ·         Was there a Sherriff or 'tree-hugger'!?

And - to be honest similar questions remain over the 50mm 'Canada' figures!

Many thanks again to Glenn Sibbald for revealing the antipodean versions and donating a set to the blog - New to Hobby/Internet - cheers Glenn!