F is for Five Do Follow-ups

Tying-up a few loose-ends from posts recent or not so recent, with the help of various contributors, bit of an eclectic line-up, but that's very much the nature of the Blog! I'll do them in the order they've come it, most recent first.

Theo van der Weerden sent this last week as a follow-up to the previous week's post on ceremonials, four more of Athena's models of Greece's finest in their finery! The two on the right are the same as two we looked at the other day, but the two on the left are both colourways of another uniform type, and also show two of the other plug-in arms these figures come with, being the standard bearer and 'sword downwards' arms.

The sword might be meant to be held against the waist/thigh, but their definitely had their hands through the hilt, so it may be more significant? While - having handled many more of these than I have got - I know the flag-staff is very thin polystyrene, and you don't often find it in this condition . . . it's also the spear issued to Athena's ancient Greek warriors.

Ha-ha! A few weeks after I'd Blogged the weird composition hedgehog in Chris Smith's donation parcel, look what I found on a shelf in the legendary Peter Evans' abode, and which he kindly let me photograph - a whole family of them!

Peter did tell me what they were, but I immediately forgot and had to Google them . . . trying 'Belgium' and 'Holland TV Hedgehog' with little luck I broadened my reach and found this;

https://blog.animationstudies.org/?p=951

https://housefulofhedgehogs.typepad.com/houseful_of_hedgehogs/2009/07/mecki-micki-macki-mucki.html

So that's them then! Mecki (and Macki, Micky amd Mucki) the hedgehog[s] . . . Brilliant!

These came in a while back, the Coke-Cola/Fanta premiums (sadly still no springbok) but with the remains of paint, heavily worn, they were clearly much-played with and I initially assumed they were home-painted, but given the un-Coke-marked ones have started to turn-up in other colours and more modern plastics, it's obvious the tools have had a good life, and I offer them here as a maybe factory-painted issue, maybe home-painted curiosity?

Around the same time and while I wasn't Blogging; Chris Smith had also found the hunter that goes with the Hong Kong African's he (Chris) had already helped with, back in the Spring.

Because I had already got the show-reports done (with my similar find), these got put to one side, but I shot the bases to show the smoothness and the translucence of the brown figures, where not enough pigment has been added to the neutral granules (cost cutting), rendering them 'smoky' in the thinner sections.

Finally Brian B sent the figure on the left ages ago and I didn't add it to the recent post on them, as that was plunder . . .  while the old feebleBay image on the right shows what might be the same set but which is I suspect a 5th generation copy (compare the dickey-bow) of Brian's 4th, against the 2nd/3rd generations we saw last time (larger hats), of Fontanini's originals. Although with both Peltro and Kinder (among others) also copying them, whose generation of copy is which generation, is a moot point!

Many-thanks to Brian, Chris, Peter and Theo for the input.

F is for Fishy Follow-up of Fellows Fly-Flinging

Chris Smith sent me an interesting mix of fishermen, and a whale . . . which is not a fish, but which smells pretty-fishy eviscerated on the deck of a Japanese 'scientific survey' vessel, so I've tacked it on to the end of the post.

Gutted! My guy is missing a fishing-rod and I hadn't even noticed; I thought he was holding his catch with a gaff or something! Anyway, Chris's is also a different colourway, has the same ring-chain loop-removal scar . . . and a fishing rod . . . fussa-russa!

Chris also wanted to know about this chap, he's around 60/65mm? I think he looks Fontanini'ish (precepi / nativity figure), but the plastic colour is wrong and the paint's a bit bright, so possibly a Hong Kong copy, although unmarked? Have you anything to add for Chris?

Seeing Chris's reminded me I had one (in addition to the larger Chinoisery one we saw from Hong Kong a couple of years ago), I think this guy is also Fontanini and I'm sure the cotton thread is an owner's addition, but I've never had the heart to remove it!

When I say I think he's Fontanini, he is the same dense PVC as a lot of their other production, particularly the painted stuff, in a flesh-pink polymer; which they commonly used, and has the same dark-green base as the African warriors.

But, it is a solid base (see below) with no hollow, or marks, so he could be from one or two of the other presepi-makers in Italy, such as Nadi, but they also tended to hollow bases and a mark?

That solid base on mine and a couple of size comparisons for Chris's pair, one with the aforementioned whale! Mine is smaller, but he comes from a larger set of European rural or 'rustic' types, while Chris's is in the Chinoisery style of the more upright set of Asian figures from Fontanini we've also looked at here, indeed there's a sub-set of fishing-related figures in the Sino-Japanese set?.

It's a Sperm Whale I think, or is it a Blue? Chris wonders if it's Hill, purely on the painting, which is similar to some of their animals, likewise I wondered if it might be Hong Kong from the similarity with some mini dinosaur rack toy's painting, but it's unmarked (most HK stuff has some mark?), and reading the current articles by Steve Pugh in Plastic Warrior magazine (issues 175 & 176 - current) on early British dinosaurs, it's clear the red-mouth thing was a trope across the toy trade back in the day!

Again, if you can help Chris with either figure, that would be great.

News, Views Etc - Herald Toys and Models

Latest from Barney;

"This week we have for sale the second part of the Sheffield Collection of Charbens plastic Circus Models, including some interesting and unusual colour variants."

And you need to be quick . . . I would have grabbed the trio of clowns/midgets but they'd gone over the weekend!

Q is for Question Time - Composition Queries

Chris sent me an interesting shot last week, and as I had a few in Picasa, I thought it might be an idea to put them out here - all new-to-Internet, if not new-to-hobby?

This was Chris's question-mark. Flanked by two known or believed to be Zang or Zang for Timpo (Timpolin) figures - a pilot on the left and Tommy Atkins on the right - is an unknown guardsman in a similar material and style, but with a strange stalactite of flash running down his front, which Chris reports (it's not clear in the image) is painted a different colour. I wondered if that might indicate the removal of a drum or standard, but neither would match the arm/hand positioning?

I also think he may have been re-painted as he looks very clean and the flesh is pale for Zang? Now I know some Zang ceremonial guards have recently turned up but I was lead to believe they were matched to the 30/35mm highlander, not this 50/54mm size, so a big question mark here?

If not Zang, a name-in-the-frame could be Plastoline (Msrs. D. Brown and M. Leech) of whose 'output' or 'production' I know of the first three items (more on the 'known' another day).

They worked in Plasticine, hardened with what the old school (old-old-old-school) euphemistically referred to as 'banana oil' in old figure-modelling tomes, which could be any one of several things; cellulose 'dope' (flying-aeroplane modelling), cellulose lacquer or nitro-toluene thinners (automotive trade) or acetone (nail-varnish remover), or even wood-hardener - destroyer of good brushes?

These four figures, however, are unknown but in the style of Plastoline's known figures (anatomy wasn't their strong point) and anything anyone knows about them would be very helpful.

I suspect the first three are Chang-Kai-Chek's Imperial Chinese forces from the 2nd World War (70-years ago today - there's always method in SSW's madness . . . well, nearly always!); an officer (marked 10) and two soldiers (one marked 14) while the last figure is probably an early (WWI'ish) NBC-warfare (ABC/CBN) operative (marked 4), spraying gas by hand, whilst dressed in protective equipment, but which nation, or is it Sci-Fi, or an early Air Force firefighter, or a DDT fumigator?

He appears to have two tanks on his back, presumably; one to breath, one to spray shit with . . . stopping other people breathing forever?

It's very unlikely to get much odder, more unusual, or any rarer, on Small Scale World than these chaps, so if anyone can add anything; it'll be appreciated by the other 800-odd daily visitors.

Many thanks to Adrian Little and Chris Smith for the images.

K is for Knights and Castle . . . . 's

We've visited these small-scale knights from or after Supreme before several times now, with both Brian and my carded fort sets and probably briefly in a larger round up, and I'm pretty sure I kept mentioning that I had a set is storage which I'd bought in Guildford back in the late 1990's/early 2000's, and it has now turned-up, which was lucky as I had a couple of images from Mr. Berke in need of a post!

Blackrock Castle

Blackrock Again

SP is for Supreme . . . Post!

More (N is for Noooooooooooooooooooooo!)

What I had forgotten was that it actually contained two model forts! Perfect scale-downs of Supreme's larger fort (a moot point because it comes in at least four sizes and can be found marked as Simba or Tempo, with Toy Major [Supreme] knights in the larger scales - the figures issued here (UK) in counter displays as Strawberry Group/Tiger), in two colourways and with a bunch on equally scaled-down figures.

The artwork shows 16 foot figures which is a swizz as you only get half that amount, but they are clearly visible to the buyer so no doubt it conforms to advertising standards! You also get four mounted figures on the 'Supreme' horses rather than the 'Jean' horses, some of which came with the larger-scale King Arthur sets.

However you will note that the figures included have what I always refer to as 'penny bases', that is; perfectly-circular flat-disc bases; rather than the ovoid bases shown in the artwork and commonly attributed to Supreme?

These - in fact! Thank you Brian! Also available in black, and bright-shiny gold and note that these are probably slightly larger (23/25mm) compared to the boxed-set's 18/20mm and are the figures used for the artwork/publicity shots. Indeed both Blackrock Castle's have these version in the artwork, and the smaller, penny-based figures in the packs.

This illustrates the point I was making the other week in a the Tobar/Schylling Toy Fair reports; all these companies (Shylling, Hawkin-Tobar, HGL, Simba, SP Toys, Strawberry Group, Tempo, Tiger, Toy Major and others - the boxed set are shipped by Stevens International - plus generic issues) were getting their 'product' from the Supreme Industrial Co., who also contributed generic issues.

There is a complication in that 2nd and 3rd generation copies exist of the later Supreme types (with added ex-Esci poses), but generally if they are PVC or a flexible PVC-substitute they are probably Supreme, if they are polyethylene (especially that crumbly, tinny, recycled type) they probably aren't Supreme! The forts are a modern styrene-hybrid or polypropylene.

Note also that the smallest (in the boxed set) seem to be limited to four foot poses, while the others run to six.

I'm not going to dig-out the ones we've seen previously, but these have come-in since I last sorted and put-away, with Peter Evans and Brain B to thank for . . . err . . . most of them, I think!

At the back are four 54mm, marked Toy Major, actually Strawberry Group/Tiger retailed, really Supreme manufactured, then a single Supreme 2nd Type chunky one in black, two of Brain's little ones along with an identically marked Ninja bowman and then a pair of the Greco-Roman odd-poses from the 3rd [relatively current] Type (Esci poses +), which are probably copies, and have clearly been sorted-out of a medieval set as anachronistic, coming together, very clean and without any knights!

A is for Already?!!!

It is a fact that some shops, particularly larger chains and department stores already have Christmas stuff out and have had for several weeks, TK Maxx have managed to mix thiers in with the Halloween stuff which is a bit odd?

However, I thought this year I might be the first blog to annoy you all with a 'new' or 'this year's' early . . . really early Christmas post, TK Maxx was the venue and among the over-decorated, glass-bead encrusted skulls, I found this chap and just had to have it!

It's stretching the limits of 'toy', 'novelty' and even 'figural', but it's undeniably a guardsman (from one side at least!), gets India in the tag list for the . . . fourth . . . fifth (?) time (as it's made there) and kicks-off the festive season! 130mm, padded cloth, novelty Guardsman Christmas-tree hanger . . . brilliant!

PW is for Replicants

I can't honestly remember when this was issued, I think it was the 20th Anniversary show at Queen Charlotte Hall in Richmond, the old venue for the annual Plastic Warrior show, but it might have been the 25th, or even earlier . . . the 10th?

Anyway, Peter Cole at Replicants who's enjoyed a close relationship with the PW crew was approached to make a figure which could be given-out with the entry ticket . . . or in lieu of an entry ticket as - and I think I'm right in saying - there's only ever been a hand stamp for those wishing to take a break from the plunder hall!

This is the chap, as issued, in a glorious blood-hiding scarlet polymer, a late 19thC colonial type, originally suggested as/for the Zulu war but suitable for painting in various uniforms; the afore-mentioned scarlet, colonial 'blues' or the later khaki and usable with Boers, Mad Mardi types or other ner'do'wells who may have objected to the rule of the Great White Queen!

The seller had several colours of pre-production prototypes or test-shots and I took one as far from the final figure as possible, although some were marbled red and green and I now wish I'd grabbed on of them as a third!

Interestingly, the figures are made of a harder plastic than the figures I'm now buying from Replicants (which are an 'Airfix' soft polyethylene) and knock together with more of a hardwood or hollow-bones sound.

Been around for some time and seen elsewhere, if not everywhere else, but the box needed ticking . . . and is now ticked!

Ph is for Phollow-up!

A couple of few other Phidal or Phidal-like bits and bobs which have accrued since we last looked at them, and pretty-much covering the gamut of subjects the Busy Books visit.

We looked at these in a previous round-up, but as a part set and added the cat in another post, here we see the whole set in one place, those missing previously are the first fairy on the top row, the yellow one on the bottom row and the ladybird.

The Thor is definitely Phidal, so is the little Ice Troll chap (as we've seen him before - 'in set'), so the fact that they all have a third marking type from those we looked at yesterday may therefore be an indication of intermediate production, I may - of course - be reading too much into it, but it seems to be; . . .

© xxxxxx DIS1301      -      [early 2000's]

© xxxxxx      -      [intermediate - mid 21stC, so far]

© xxxxxx (s18)      -      [current, from s13 - 2013?]

. . . but they have already outgrown their container, so when I re-house them (I've just done the Fontanini) I'll try to annotate them a little more accurately and do a better overview.

I think I may have shown the other two before, but they're here now anyway! Action movies, cartoons, superheroes, princesses, idiot fish, square-panted Bob-sponges, Peter Rabbit, ninja reptiles, Peanuts from Schultz, Shimmer & Shine, fairies, Minions, a well-behaved dinosaur, Transformers, DC, Disney, Marvel, Pixar . . . the Phidal stable!

G is for Gurt Galaxy Guardians

As I've said before I think, I've not seen this in the cinema or since, and haven't followed any comics related to it, so I'm not particularly eau fait with the whole thing, story or character wise, but the toy figures are nice!

Good guys, from the left; Star Lord and Yandu, Groot and the alliterative Rocket Racoon, when I say 'good guys' I get the feeling they are more Han Solo than JC?

Which highlights my first piece of ignorance . . . if they pre-date Star Wars, there is a feeling quite a few SW characters are taken from GotG, but I don't remember ever seeing anything about them until quite recently - in which case Marvel are the plagiarists, except of Groot who's clearly an Ent?

I think these are also good guys, but one or two of them might have questionable loyalties? Not least the two girls Gamora and Nebula who are sisters serving different masters, but I'm not sure how seriously they try to kill each other? Marvel - everyone's there again next issue! Also I'm not sure who is who but I think Gamora (green?) is the good guy? And . . . err; they're not Rylothians twi'leks, oh no! Oh no-no-no-no-no-no-no; absolutely not!

The others are Drax Korath (good? See comments!) and a mini Groot?

Pretty sure these are all bad guys? From the left we have Ronan the Accuser, The Collector and Korath the Pursuer Drax (see comments!). There's also Thanos who's even baderer . . . badiest . . . badly-bad . . . I said that! But he's not in the set, which he could have been as the 12th piece was . . .

. . . a crappy micro-space-ship. I have a drawer somewhere with all the sub-scale sci-fi Micromachines that accompanied the Galoob figures; Star Wars, Aliens, Star Trek and even a set of fantasy stuff, this pretty-well matches them and will join them!

I is for Incomplete!

This set is missing one figure, but it's not clear from the book which one, I suspect a third green alien (which may have come in in one of the mixed lots in recent years, I seem to have dozens of these aliens in various sizes and materials), but Slinky the slinky sausage-dog, the wind-up walker binoculars (Lenny (the lenses - geddit!)) and Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head are also in the book.

As each set only has the twelve items and with only one item missing the pair of spuds is probably out of the running but the hang-apart hound or novelty opera-glasses are still in the frame.

However, my attempts to guess the missing item from what's illustrated in the Busy Book are thwarted rather by the fact that that the baddie (Emperor Zurg) and both 'Army Men' aren't in it at all! I could check Google but then I'd have no blurb as there's only so much you can say about 12-figure, booked-sets when you've already Blogged them umpteen times!

But, the point here; is very much . . . two more 'Tim Mee' type army men!

The current Phidal's tend to have only the licensee and a code, as a mark, thus;

© Disney (s18)

. . . the lowercase 's' is constant, I presume the numerals are the year-date? But, the above (whole back row), which are all Phidal like, but mostly baseless, are marked differently;

© Disney/Pixar DIS1301

. . .  yet with consistency across the range (so far they are all DIS1301) and are I suspect from earlier Phidal sets?

Anyway in the above we have signs of a previous Toy Story set, The Incredibles (there's a full-based one on the shops now), Monsters Inc., (or Monsters High?), one of the fish-ones and that belligerent babe we looked at in a Phidal Disney Princess set; Marida. The two 50mm's (Cat Woman and bloke) are newer 's'-something's and I think we've seen the whole set previously here at Small Scale World.

S is for Spandex-Suited Super-People and Seven Silly Sinners

Right - time for some catch-up on what Phidal's been up to, or at least what's come in from them in recent months, and starting with a return to Superheroes, DC, not Marvel this time and one or two of the figures may have been seen in previous roundups, or I may be over familier with them from the time they've spend in the TBS bag and on Picasa . . . That Darksied for instance, we may have caught him already?

This is the third Superman themed set we've seen I think, since the first Phidal Busy Book I bought 18-odd months ago, but they seem to issue about 15 to 20 titles each year, with a five or ten title rolling replacement every 18-months or so (conversational guesswork not fact - just how I've observed the titles changing in TK Maxx and WHSmith with each re-stock), and they've been doing it since the early-to-mid 2010's, so there have been a fair few sets now.

The good guys; we get both versions of the alien, and the three characters he most interacts with. These days He'd presumably be deported to Honduras via Mexico as a child and die of sepsis in a favella! The figures are perfectly sized for standard 'Airfix' 1:32nd-scale soldiers, but the two girls are proportionally-larger than they've been modelled in other sets?

The bad guys; they get sillier and sillier, but the names get more and more simplistic, and why do they never die, never stay in prison, and always have the $billions required to re-equip and build a new hideaway every time they get out? It's all very silly - but they are lovely toy figures!