News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Events - Friday 7th - Saturday 13th September 2019

It's gone waaaaay beyond parody hasn't it! Several parallel-universes beyond! Boris rants that Corbyn is the first leader of an Opposition to turn down a General Election; oblivious to the fact he's the first Prime Minister in history to lose his first three votes and not resign!

he's (in order) lost the trust of Parliament, The Scots, his majority, control over Brwreakshit, the sympathy of the Lords, 24, 25, 26 MP's and his brother, while the awful; tediously awful Reese Mogg has given the Election it's poster, lounging on the front bench like a Parisian whore posing for Lautrec! Or a Berlin whore posing for Schiler . . . ooooh-no, that though put's your teeth on edge!

You can't make this shit up and the rest of the world is wondering what the hell happened to the Bri . . . English! The idea we can start trade talks with the likes of Nigeria or Pakistan, Canada or Argentina with any degree of confidence now, should be swiftly forgotten, we have shown the world we are a spent force. With our 18 or 19 little boats letting the Iranians take our tankers!

And remember, even if Boris were to go - I mean GO - today or tomorrow, he'll still get a half-pension for life - courtesy of your tax money, as Maybe-Maybe Not will now be getting hers, as Cam'moron and Brown-trousers, even B.Liar are already in-receipt of theirs!

"Rather be dead in a ditch"? I can help you with that Mr Jonnson, you over-dramatic, over-privileged, under-developed, arrogant, needy, hysterical cockwomble!

Still, there's always toy fairs, and this weekend all the main promoters seem to be kicking-off their autumn programs, so enjoy the spectacle in Westminster for the Comedy Toff's Show it is, and console yourself with old toys . . .

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Toy Fairs

Saturday 7th September 2019

Beconsfield - Toy & Train Fairs (Peter Levinson)

Beconsfield School, Wattleton Road, Buckinghamshire, HP9 1SJ

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01282 051 518 (Peter or Diane)

10:30 - 14:30hrs

Admission charge unknown

Brecon - Chris Dyer Fairs

Market hall, Town Centre, Brecon, Powys, Wales, LD3 7LG

Web. - www.chrisdyerfairs.co.uk

Tel. - 01643 702 757

Mob. - 07966 694 579

10:30 - 15:00hrs

Admission £2

Didcot - Retro Ronnie

Civic Hall, Britwell Road, Didcot, OX11 7JN

Web - www.retroronnie.com

Mob. I - 07708 385 061

Mob. II - 07900 266 427

Hours unknown

Admission unknown

Look out for falling towers, exploding transformers and collapsing scafolding, please report any bodies to the authorities!

Penrith - Brian Tattersall - Penrith Toy Fair

Newbiggin Village Hall, Stianton, Penrith, Cumbria, CA11 0HT

Internet presence unknown

Mob. - 07498 711 514

10:00-15:30hrs

Admission charge unknown

New Show

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Sunday 8th September 2019

Ashington - David Parsons - Toy & Train Collectors Fair

Ashington Community Centre, Foster Lane, Ashington, West Sussex, RH20 3PG

Web. - www.modelcarmart.co.uk

eMail - modelcarmart@gmail.com

Tel. - 01424 846 676 (Pete)

Mob. - 07742 609 865 (David)

10:00 - 14:00hrs

 Adults £1.50, concessions £1

Buxton - Barry Potter / BP Fairs

The Octagon Hall, The Pavilion Gardens, St. Johns Road, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6XN

Web. - www.bpfairs.com

Tel. - 01604 846 688

Mob. - 07966 527 177

10:30-15:00hrs

Admission £3.00 [down from £3.50p] (early-bird £6, from 08:00hrs), OAP's £2.50p [down from £3.00], Children £1

[Note: admission-price reductions]

Chartham -  SRP Toy Fairs

Station Road, Chartham, Kent, ME13 7RA

Web. - http://srptoyfairs1.co.uk/

eMail - srptoys1@hotmail.co.uk

Mob. - 07739 998 012 (Paula or Gerry)

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Admission charge unknown

Kidderminster - Tony Oaks Toy Fairs

Guilt Edge Leisure Centre, Zortech Avenue, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, DY11 7DY

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01270 652 773

Mob. - 07825 631 323

10:30 - 14:00hrs

Admission £1.50p

Free parking

Kirkby-in-Ashfield - Townsend Toy & Train Fairs (Malcolm Townsend)

Festival Hall, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, NG17 7DJ

Web. - www.tttf.co.uk

Mob. - 07951 072 790

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Admission fee unknown, aaccompanied under-16's free

Free parking, refreshments

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

Wimborn - David Rees

Queen Elizabeth's Leisure Centre (Sports Hall), Blandford Raod, Wimborne Minster, Dorset BH21 4DT

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01202 590 158

10:15 - 14:30hrs

Admission charge unknown

Free parking and refreshments

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Tuesday 10th September 2019

Elsecar - Newcomen Fairs Ltd. - 36th Elsecar Toy & Train Fair (evening fair)

Elsecar Heritage Centre, Elsecar, Nr. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S74 8HJ

Web. - www.newcomenfairs.co.uk

eMail - sales@newcomenfairs.co.uk

Tel. - 01226 744 425

19:00 - 21:00hrs

Admission £1.50p, children 50p

Hook - Steven Clements Fairs - Hook Evening Fair

Hook Community Centre, Hook, Hampshire, RG27 9NN

Tel. - 01380 725 322

Mob. - 07958 101 891

eMail: clementfairs@aol.com

18:30 - 21:30hrs

Admission £1

Free parking

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Thursday 12th September 2019

Theydon Bois - Joe Lock Fairs (evening fair)

Village Hall, Coppice Row, Theydon Bois, Essex, CM16 7ER

Internet presence unknown

Mob. - 07866 641 215

19:00-21:00hrs

Admission £1

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Auctions

Saturday 7th September 2019

Elstree - Excalibur Auctions (day 2 of a 2-day auction, day 1: yesterday; Friday)

The Village Hotel, Elstree, Hertfordshire, WD6 3SB (venue)

Chiltern Business Centre, Woodside Road, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, HP6 6AA (office)

Web. - www.excaliburauctions.com

eMail - enquiries@excaliburauctions.com

Tel. - 02036 330 913

Free Tea or Coffee

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Other Events

From Thursday 5th (last) 'till Sunday 8th September 2019

Largs - LVF - Largs Viking Festival

Various Locations, Largs, North Airshire, Scotland

Web. - www.largsvikingfestival.org

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Friday 6th (today) - Sunday 8th September 2019

Southport - Local Authority / Tourist Board - Southport Air Show

Southport Seafront, Southport, Merseyside, Cheshire

Web. - www.visitsouthport.com

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Sunday 8th September 2019

Cardiff - Film & Comic Con

Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales

Web. - www.filmandcomicconcardiff.com

London - (Central) - Hugglets Teddy Bear Fair

Kensington Town Hall, Hornton Street, London, W8 7NX

Web. - https://hugglets.com/tf19/

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Overseas Events

Reminder - Friday 6th (today) and Saturday 7th September 2019

Bornheim (Germany) - Antico Mondo (World Antiques) - Auction

Königstrasse 109, Bornheim, Köln, Germany

Web. - www.anticomondo.de

Tel. - ++0223 6961 894

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Saturday 7th September 2019

Joure (Netherlands) - E. Kramer - Die Cast Fair

Zalencentrum t' Haske, Joure, Holland

Tel. - ++0513 416 571

Langenthal (Switzerland) - Toy Fair

Pfarreisaal, Hasenmattstrasse 36, Langenthal BE, Switzerland

Tel. - ++0799 371 544

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Sunday 8th September 2019

Bourgain Jallieu (France) - Alain Taiwan - Toy Fair

Salle Polyvalente, Bourgain Jallieu 38, France

Tel. - ++0683 429 068

Brüchsal (Germany) - Dr. Rolf Theurer - Toy Fair

Burgercentrum, Bruchsal-39 SEAS, Germany

Web. - www.theurers-spielzeugmaerkte.de

Tel. - ++07115 590 044

Fax. - ++07115 590 054

11:00-15:30hrs (local time)

Dublin (ROI) - Chris Dyer Fairs - Dublin Toy & Train Fair

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

Erpent-Namur (Belgium) - Risques Crépuscule - Toy Fair

Collage ND de la Paix, Erpent-Namur, Belgium

Tel. - ++081 400 149

Hoeselt (Belgium) - Hoeselt Treinclub - Train Show

Ter Kammen, Hoeselt, Belgium

Tel. - ++089 514 644

Milan (Italy) - Parc Expo - Toy Fair

Parco Exposizioni Novegro, Milano-Novegro, Milano, Italy

Tel. - ++0702 000 022

Mönchengladbach (Germany) - J. Hörner - Toy Fair

Kaiser-Friedriche Halle, Mönchengladbach, Rheindahlen, Germany

Tel. - ++0210 351 133

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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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Other News

Herald Toys & Models

Barney has an end-of-summer sale on at themoment if you're looking for a bargain to occupy the closing-in evenings!

Lego

The Danish pirates were in the news again this week (not many weeks when they aren't one way or another!) which was interesting for the opposite spins it got in different papers. Some claiming it was a return to performance; others saying it was a knock on profits. Basically the overall profits are down due toi store investment, but the year-on-year earnings and/or forecast is up on the 2017 blip.

I was more interested in the crux of the matter which is that they have plans to open 160 Lego stores (eventually the entire oceans with have a permanent, sun-faded but still technicolor scum of Lego-bricks!), most of which are planned not for Europe, not for the USA, but (as with Hamley's) for China and India.

Trump, Boris and the other burkes are only accelerating to a future which was always going to diminish us, and the fact that it's mainly the underclass who are voting for them, ain't going to help the underclass!

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Received with Thanks

You already know about the information and imagery which came from Chris Smith and Andy B earlier in the week as I've Blogged it! But Andy has sent more for the A-Z page (whenever I get that done!) or a future visit/follow-up - and there's a bit in the comments [on that post] re. extra listings of the 'whole' set.

I received some fascinating information from Jonathan Buss which I will edit into an article, or take straight to an A-Z entry.

And I forgot to do RwT last week, so have also to thank Brian Berke, Dougal Hare and Peter Evans for info/images sent previous to this week.

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H is for How They Come In

Only a few pieces this week, a pound-bag from British Heart Foundation with interesting knock-off Go-Go Crazy Bones, but these more figural, or super-deform and recognisable Disney charterers. I also picked-up a 50p bag of bits from Blue Cross which included some Polly-Pocket type micro-doll's furniture, an interesting mushroom and some kinder (or similar) Disney egg premiums of (I think) Aladdin or Beauty &t' Beast?

The best of the Go-Go clone-a-likes; it's a Star-Wars-Angry-Birds-Self-Referential-Up-Its-Own-Arse-Twice-Andy-Warhol's-Pop-Culture-Eating-Itself-Super-Deform-Ersatz-GoGo-Crazy-Bone-Rip-Off- Disney-Pixar-Toy-Story-Armymen Army Man! I think he's saluting?

Is there a box left un-ticked there? I'm only upset that it's not part of a set of 12 with matching Germans in grey!!!

I also picked this up (another 50p!) in . . . Cancer Research - I think; hoping it would help ID some of the more esoteric PVC shite which comes-in in mixed lots. Sadly, I don't think it will be that useful, but it may ID the odd figure from time to time, once I've had a read.

The trouble is - it starts with the premise that the reader already has the Manga in front of them and is needing a back-story or thumbnail history of a specific character, who they already know the name of.

To that end it only illustrates a few of them, so while there is stuff in the text which will help ID figures (split-colour gown, robe with such-and-such on it &etc), and about 1-in-6 are illustrated, it's really for fans of Manga comics, rather than an idiot toy-collector, but it will stay, for its limited use. It will - of course - give me the background to characters who I can ID elsewhere . . . like on any packaging the come with - my Dragon Ballz sets!

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Links

Following the Hamley's Asian expansion some may see this as a very shrewd-move, the Irish will have a lot of brand-familiarity, but, if you want to be a Toy Soldier . . . FAO Schwarz!

BMC Armywomen - Gathering momentum!...

... and here...

...and here (pop-ups).

More on Yoga-joes, which saves me having to buy some - they're not cheap!

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Something Different

Shot these two yesterday down at the pond, the Red Admiral has a hint of the blue scallops you get round the edges of Tortoiseshell's wings, revealing a genetic link between the two 'senior' butterflies.

While I'd shot several good pictures of the red dragonflies in the garden a couple of days before which I mean to Blog separately!

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2nd is for Tranche

We looked at an almost complete load ofthese years ago, when I inherited my brother's lot and cleaned them up, these were in the storage lot and between the two I'll have quite an army!

The one figure missing from my brother's childhood stash was the radio-operator, so that's sorted! I also think that with a bit of warm water (to soften the lugs) I will end up with a complete set of the first six poses on both brown bases and green bases, and with my storage one, have matching mortar teams now, but will need to track-down the mortar bombs for both.

Seven more, just as I have the figure missing from my brother's set, so his sample has the second issue's marching/sentry figure I am missing! Also my squatting shooter seems to have had a terminal accident with his muzzle, and will be looking at permanent surgery to an arm-swap conversion of the type we looked at last time, now I have the spares!

I have two of the various vehicle crew/riders but no vehicles for them! The pale-grey motorcycle is also still to join the fleet, and the only thing missing now really.

On the right are the two I picked-up a few weeks ago in a Farnborough charity shop, these are the last version issued - to date - and are a bit leery. I suppose Tomy Britains have these now (but only run or develop new farm moulds); DSG have the Afrika Korps tool, but not the German infantry one I believe?

The best set was the mid-1990's set which got a good paint-job, matt dark-green bases and differing shades of helmet paint. Funnily enough I handled tons of them but it was before I collected the larger scales and so I now have none!

Both recent issues seem to use a re-jigged bolster with two cavities from the first set; the above MP40 guy and the grenadier, and four cavities from the second set; the above officer, and the radio-operator, squatting firer and advancing/walking with anti-tank rifle chap.

Stop Press Image

The whole army (almost) after the two units have been amalgamated, I'll sort them further another day, give that kneeling guy a new arm with a different weapon/pose and sort the six brown bases into a set, hopefully I know who to go to for a set of helmet decals, originals not copies, and there are enough for some of the arm swaps we looked at last time, but, after this shot was taken . . .

It's OK the presses are still stopped stop press image!

. . . the missing motorcycle turned-up! Along with another of the latter ones, but with the earlier rider, all I need now is another black Kar.98 and I'm sorted! they were both in the Motorcycle box, and despite an autumn Blog-post taken from that box, I'd forgotten these were in there?

You can see how the earlier versions have a plug-in rifle, rather than the plug-on rifle in tan of the later versions. And that really is it - box ticked.

E is for Esoteric

If Airfix and Deetail are too 'clean' or Lido too 'Toy' for your liking, while Atlantic may be too big or Esci too small, then what the hell are we supposed to make of this set? Marx's first entry into the British infantry field, was not as pleasing as the latter 54mm sextuplet, and that's for sure! But there is good and bad, useful and not so useful.

My sample is half-and-half Warriors of the World originals and Rado Industries (Ri-Toys) re-issues (which can be labelled Marksmen here in the UK), giving ten poses, but not all complete, due to the polystyrene of the originals being a tad frangible, and the figures over 60-years old?

My styrene officer has lost a thumb, but in war that's probably quite common, and once the stitches have been removed you may get sent back up the line, especially if you're right-handed and the problem is your left thumb, so he stays!

The pack on the grenade thrower is more inter-war period US Army, as is the 'bread-bag' (or is it supposed to be filled with Mills bombs?) but these are OK as 'toy' British WWII soldiers.

As are these, but one is clearly Home Guard or BEF (top left, damaged but I haven't tracked down a Marksmen replacement yet), another seems to be on the range (top right) while a third is in the Western Dessert (bottom right)! But - gasmask case with shorts = Mesopotamia, World War One! Bottom left has a couple of more reasonable poses though.

The standing firer has an - obviously - bent rifle, but I won't be trying to fix it, this old Marx polystyrene is getting very brittle now and complete figures are to be savoured, whatever their condition, not mucked-about with! Also, note the size difference (and sculpting) of the shooter and Tommy-gunner against the figures to their respective lefts.

Again, this guy is more BEF or even WWI'ish and appears to be wearing shoes! he's compared with the 'Britain' figure from the Soldiers of the World set (all marching) and another Frog RAF Regiment chap who's turned-up.

I've lost count of these Frog's now, I think I have nine, a set of four, and five duplicates in three poses? I keep meaning to start a swaps page, when I do they'll go up there, unless Chris Smith or Nazar want to add them to their wants' lists?

Another one which has survived damage and is from the desert, but Mesopotamia again, WWI again, not WWII! That's the trouble with these, they are from all over the place, and that's if you ignore the worst of the anachronistic equipment and the brown boots (please Louis; we've had black boots since . . . nearly forever!), yet they are undeniably charming toy soldiers, even as polypropylene or tinny ethylene re-issues! And the boots thing is inexplicable as they've got the charcoal helmets just right?

The other trio are the rest of the Soldiers of the World marching set, being Canada, Turkey and [South] Korea I think - I've put them away now! We looked at one the other day, another;  the Frenchman, when we looked at French stuff years ago and should have looked at the US ones a while back? The Canadian - in a tam' o-shanter (?) - has brought an elephant-gun to the parade!

Stop Press Image

This turned-up when sorting and putting-away!

R is for Real 'Toy' Soldiers

Lido! I thought they were Tim Mee! I went through them in my head and thought "They can't be Tim Mee, they did the common [and much pirated] 'Vietnam' ones [we've seen here] and the larger ones with extra poses and different sizes in the European issues, so they can't be" . . . but I looked in the folder anyway, and they weren't there, still; after a bit of a search - they turned-up on Kent's site (2/3rds of the way down, but worth a slow scoll) as Lido! Which I should have guessed, as I have  a few if the equally err . . . odd (?) Japanese!

Kent has them as being issued in various shades of grey only, so my sample seems to be mostly not Lido, but having looked at the Hong Kong copies of mini-vehicle next to the Lido originals and seeing them in Lido bags, it seems Lido went over to the dark-side and facilitated (or bought - at least) copies of their own stuff, so some of these non-Lido's may still be Lido . . . in a round-about sort of way!

Eight poses, very fanciful and not terribly accurate, if they didn't have a Balkan-cross on the helmets you'd be forgiven for thinking they are supposed to be US GI's!

I like the MG-gunner, despite the unrealistic pose, but he looks more like one of the PZG Warsaw Uprising Polish-resistance figures! The officer looks as if he's creeping-up behind a squirrel or something, but he has a nice attempt at a Nazi presentation dagger. However - both the bazooka and flame-thrower are more US than German?

The dancing loons or Mah' Mammee-poses, but, and as with the dagger; the K98 rifle of the upper figure is quite well sculpted and gets across the lines of the buttstock and thumb-hollow very well, even on the sub-piracies! The guy on the ground is so distorted by heat shrinkage he won't stand up, but may prove really useful de-bussing from a truck or half-track!

The stick-grenade is right, but once he throws it, he's unarmed, a strangely common trait with toy soldiers (witness this morning's Lone Star post), while the other pose is probably where I got the Tim Mee thing from?

Despite their relative awfulness and lack of Lido provenance, I like these; they are proper toy soldiers and don't need to be accurate, they just need to be there in the tin, or tub or toy-box!

Stop Press Image!

During the sorting and putting away after the recent WWII photo-sesh', I found this quartet which must be down to Chris, Jim and/or Adrian? Recent acquisitions anyway and they push my 'grey originals' total to six of eight, with a new colour variation of one. So thanks to whomsoever these came from.

Lido's lovely loons - box ticked!

A is for Antipodean and African Action Men!

More box-ticking and I still haven't found a hunter! Two sets in one with this mob, as they got themselves a second paint-job at some point and jointed the King's African Rifles, but they got their start as ANZAC's, although I think they were called Australians by Lone Star, the two national contingents of the Corps were similarly dressed and equipped and usually served side-by-side, so I'll go with ANZAC!

Ten ANZAC's from Lone Star, showing a variety of paint in hats and webbing and all the standard 'toy soldier' poses covered except 'casualty' where some makers are keener than others to represent the negatives of making war, although LS's khaki infantry have a lovely stretcher-team as we saw last year.

The KAR (King's African Rifles), same figures but with darker skin-tones and a typically; a darker green for hats and socks than the ANZAC's. Although - as he's snuck into the shot - the prone'ish Bren-gunner (front left)is an ANZAC with the darker greens of the KAR's. I don't know how he ended-up in the shot, there is a dark-skinned gunner, but clearly I wasn't paying attention!

Closer comparisons; showing typical Lone Star base-type variations. I suspect the larger bases are a later change to the tool, it's easier to make a component larger than to reduce it? However it's not totally clear as while the larger bases on the unpainted figure and/or KAR might suggest logically a later issue . . .

. . . here we find the KAR is the smaller base! A situation mirrored in . . .

. . . the kneeling firer. Assuming the grey-green bases were even later, would leave the conclusion some bases got bigger, while some got smaller? I know this has been pored-over elsewhere in the past, with an equal lack of a firm-conclusion, so I'm not going to try calling it, suffice to say there are a lot of variations out there!

Also I suspect the officer on the right-hand end of the rank has been home-painted/re-painted, but it's not clear.

Some more comparisons (they're not rare!). Black grenades seem to be less common and may be earlier, but one gets the impression Lone Star's out-painters had a freer hand than say Britains' did?

I have two unpainted figures in the sample; this advancing chap and the officer above, who (or which?) may have been stripped of paint by previous owners, but are more-, or as-likely to have snuck on to the market from factory-filches or old, forgotten, out-worker's stock?

Recent re-issues, these aren't the softer PVC of my Toyway stuff, so I guess Dorset or Marlborough? The colour of polymer chosen however (un-pigmented neutral granules?) is bloody insipid and hard to photograph! Although the kneeling Tommy-gunner is a better shot with more substance to his 'mass'.

Lower shots reveal that these Afro-Antipodeans are a bunch of big boys, with a buckshee Hong Kong copy, Airfix's Gurkah and a French Indo-Chinese (or Algerian campaign?) soldier from JIM (it's all in the hat!) all dwarfed by Lone Star's chap, although the usually larger (in shots of this type) Atlantic machine-gunner holds his own . . . a couple of six-footers if they are an inch in 54mm!

B is for Box-ticking - Matchbox Afrika Korps

Working through the DAK tubs in the WWII box we've come to these chaps, who are a solid-enough crew of not-so-Nazi chaps (it was the 'gentleman's war' apparently, if that wasn't always an oxymoron and I suppose you wouldn't feel much like a gentleman, dying in the sand with half your face missing, covered in flies?) from Matchbox, who - to us kids - appeared suddenly as a rival to Airfix, with lovely new sets, and then  . . . sort of petered out almost the same instant!

12 decent figures, short's aren't worn in this unit so it can be painted-up for other theaters and provide reinforcements to other units, although as with the Kepi = Union / Slouch-hat = Confederate rule of ACW toy soldiers; these guys are mostly wearing the cap, which may have been worn day-to-day but wouldn't have been worn by Infantry in action.

The most interesting figure is the guy waving at the back, who seems to have begun life as a motorcycle rider (note the goggles) with the polystyrene 1:76th scale model-kit range! My sample consists of a mix of older, played-with figures, and some near-mint ones with their little 'sprulettes' still in place.

I've mentioned before (when looking at the small scale versions?) the phenomena of some Matchbox figures leeching a deposit of a greasy powder, which seems to be a combination of pigment and lubricant?

These days it has mostly become a relatively stable substrate, which can still be removed (with TFR or a similar ammonia-based heavy-duty cleaner, or just a soak in warm, soapy water, and a scrub), it first presented quite soon after the figures were made, as a more transferable grease which would wear-off with handling.

Here we see on the left two such figures, next to perfectly stable versions, still shiny-new, with a similar officer to the left of one with the deposit, which these days gives a dry-brushed effect to the figures; rather than clean them I keep them as a 'variant'!

The 'Rommel' figure is more theatre-specific with the high lace-up boots and sand-goggles.

On the right is a 'scaler' of prone figures, with the Matchbox fully compatible with Airfix, albeit slightly better-fed, while Atlantic's is closer to 60mm; he clearly had a lot of 'muck in his boots' as a child! His equipment is roughly the same size as the other two's however, and that only heightens his lofty dimensions.

I have a set of nice copies from the colony at Haitch Kay in the same tub; only the eight poses, and quite reduced in size, they'd probably go better with Tamiya's 1:35th universe. I think we have seen others here at Small Scale World already, possibly from Brian B, but I may be confusing with the Highland 8th Army (which I know we've seen several versions of now), however we will look at all the copies one day, once they are all in the same tub, and if they have appeared here they will be under the Matchbox tag.

F is for Follow-up - Tobar / Hawkins Bazaar (Schylling / ZZ)

Well, that was quick! My inbox was full of useful stuff on Monday-gone, with Andy B and Chris Smith both adding to the weeked's post on ZZ and it's origins, but from the UK angle, with more on the back story of Tobar and Hawkin's Bazaar from Chris and a catalogue scan from Andy.

First the potted history from Chris, who has seen four members of his family work there; almost in his own words [he sent the following as a more personalised narrative, I've removed the personal bits]

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Hawkin's Bazaar got its name from the old “Hawk Inn” public house in Halesworth, Suffolk which was used as one of the early company premises. Named by the company's founder Sid Templer, Tobar was similarly named after his two son’s TOby and BARnaby.

They then seem to have moved to a farm in the village of Ilketshall St. Margaret. At that time everything was still ordered via catalogue which came as a Sunday supplement with newspapers etc. With the rise of the Internet they went on-line, success outgrew that site and they built a new site on the Ellough Airfield industrial estate near Beccles.

The Templer family sold the business after that (Toby seems to have done okay for himself; he bought a country house; Cockfield Hall, near Yoxford). The new owners moved operations to an industrial unit on Eye airfield.

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To which I can add that Hawkin's became a retail-shop arm, while Tobar developed into the feeder for Hawkin's shops, and - presumably - continuing with the mail-order side for a while?

Possibly about the time of the takeover mentioned above, there was a major expansion in the retail stores and suddenly (mid-1990's or slightly later?) they seemed to be in every high street, every shopping centre, precinct or mall, however they had over-stretched and there was a crisis - not that long ago - mentioned here in an early News, Views . . . , which resulted in a cutting-back of store numbers; they have survived, I visit the Basingrad store regularly, looking for stuff to buy so you don't have to - Iwako plug-together erasersaurs, stretchy aliens, jigglers, sub-sub-sub piracies of Blue Box 'Home Farm' sets!

I have a feeling that Hawkin's may have been sold to one of these corporate investment-management-asset stripper type concerns though, so may not actually be connected to Tobar directly anymore?

Meanwhile Tobar expanded the wholesale arm of the business/group, appearing in Army & Navy (before their demise) at Christmas-time (the ZZ tin-plate and both wooden and plastic toys), the links with Schylling and (through them?) ZZ and Supreme, and more recent supply to independent hardware / general-goods stores (like our own Izzy's here in Fleet), indeed, they may have contributed to Hawkin's troubles, by multiplying - too successfully - the number of outlets for their own products!

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Having mentioned ZZ, and the tree-hangers marked-up to Ingo Roggaz's ZZ, but probably direct from the Chinese factory (maybe via Schylling), Andy B sent this at the same time as Chris's anecdotes were coming-across;

Which is an old catalogue scan, from a 1990's Hawkin's Bazaar cataloge. Points of interest are that A) it backs-up my "...and possibly/probably Tobar and/or Hawkin's Bazaar (in the UK)" from the other day (I was sure I'd seen them in A&N, but got mine from JB years later), B) presciently predicts the eBayer who's auction we looked at in passing with it's "We know that soon they will be passed off as being very much older than they are." and C) fills a gap in the ZZ listing!

Although, only the one car. While the numbering doesn't equate to the 10 of the ZZ zeppelin and the larger/smaller delineation will have to go; they are all really dinky. The changes will take the ZZ listing to;

Tin-Plate Christmas Tree Hangers (1990's, also carried by Schilling in the US, who work with the UK's Tobar, where they carried 10 in Hawking's Bazzar catalogues)

'Series 1' (probably numbered 1-12+ on boxes/packaging, Chinese (?) re-issues of old Japanese (?) or German penny-toy designs)

10 - Airship 'Graf Zeppelin'

? - 19^thC Steam Locomotive 'Nurnburg-Furth'

? - 20^thC Steam Locomotive 'DB 1571 Express'

? - Bi-plane ('31' with German WWI balkankreutzen)

? - Car (2-seat sports-saloon)

? - Fire Engine Ladder Truck 'Falke 13' ('Vomag 13' with Tobar/HB version)

? - Flying Boat / Sea-plane 'Dornier 18 / DO 18'

? - Horse-Tram / Railcar 'Pferde Bahn 15 Altona St Paula' (no horses)

? - Military Cavalry Rider on Horse (not carried by Tobar/HB)

? - Monoplane (not carried by Tobar/HB)

? - Motorcycle and Sidecar 'Sport'

? - Omnibus '103 Nivia-Puder'

There is also D) the very interesting phraseology; "German design & control", the message (also backing-up my previous assumptions) being - made in China! While the note about safety-loopholes in equally interesting because they highlight the 'loophole', but in language which suggests they want you to order them as playthings, not decorations!

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Thank you so much, Andy and Chris, it's nice to confirm a few points and it's fascinating to learn more about these jobbing novelty import guys, there were/are so many of them and most are still quite mysterious.

For instance I didn't discover Marshall's until weeks after they went under, and while I downloaded the catalogues, they were poor-resolution .pdf's I only occasionally throw in the mix as screen-caps!

Another one which seems to have disappeared now was Studio Gifts who were still quite big in the early 2000's but their business model (if I recall correctly) was more like Christmas hampers, WH Smith / Doubleday book clubs or old 'catalogues'; you ordered the stuff as a member and paid installments on the never-never, the monthly-due being adjusted to reflect subsequent purchases . . . what happened to them, can anyone fill-us-in?

F is for Follow-up - Wüsolin!

Finishing-off a Nazi day (not words I ever thought I'd put to the record!); this will hold the F is for Follow-up . . . record for time between post and follow-up for some time to come, if not the whole life of the Blog, whatever that may prove be?

We looked at this funny little 40mm composition on styrene-base'd dictator nine years ago and I promised at the time to take better pictures when I got my next camera, but that happened after the figure had gone to storage! I've worn-out at least three cameras (I think I'm on the forth?) since then, but here - as promised - are the follow-up shots!

Best to view these in the context of the original post; XYZ is for Busolin, Fusolin Musoline, or Dusolin! It's all there, especially in the comments; where Bod's Paul solved the ID and found some on-line which I've posted below.

The peskey base mark which caused all the problem last time, still not clear, but a heavy mark especially on the cursive 'W' and umlauted 'ü' have rendered it hard to read in any light!

This group was on feebleBay at the time and you can see the bases are the same clipped-corner lozenges, a bit like old Fisherman's Friends (which I quite like, but being a bit of a wuss; have to consume in quarters! But they definitely warm you up in a snow-hole!).

Sadly, apart from the stuff which Paul turned-up at the time, nothing much else has come to light on these, a few auction lots and a metal (demi-rond) naval band on the same plastic bases? But not much else . . . I don't know if they are in the new book? Dates of availability or a potted history of the company are the main missing pieces of the jigsaw. Although mine is obviously Hitler, in his 1930's-on party uniform, the other two - I think it's fair to say - could pass for late WW I staffers, as could (WW I) most of the other figures I've tracked down?