News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Events Saturday 5th - Friday 11th October 2019

Are we watching the meat-faced* Trump have a very public mental breakdown, live and in glorious (if rather too-orange) Technicolor on international media feeds? I think we are!

Are we watching Boris the Buffoon discover that wanting power because - in your arrogance - you think you can dictate your 'way' and having power, but being unable to subvert Parliament or the law are two sides of the same coin? I think we are!

* Apparently some on the Right are unhappy with the term 'meat faced', thinking it's a construct, unfair propaganda or a misrepresentation of puce-faced, stare-eyed, spittle-flecked ululating rednecks, when in fact it perfectly describes them! Also, I think the meat-face has gained more traction than the Right's own snow-drop daisy-baby thing for people who want a nicer world?

Celebrate; this weekend; with old toys . . .

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Toy Fairs

Saturday 5th October 2019

Cardiff - Chris Dyer Fairs

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

Tel. - 01643 702 757

Mob. - 07966 694 579

Hours unknown (probably 10:30 - 15:00)

Admission [probably] £2

Crewe - Crewe Model Engineering Society - 'Crewe Toy & Train Collectors Fair'

Crewe Heritage Centre, Vernon Way, Crewe, Cheshire, CW1 2DB (venue)

CMES, 93 Merlin Way, Crewe, CW1 3YP (bookings)

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01270 505 781 (Mon-Fri, before 20:00hrs, not weekends)

10:30 - 15:30hrs

Admission unknown, dealers; £18 per six-foot table

Maidstone - Michael Spencer - Maidstone Vintage Toy Fair

Lockmedow Market Hall & Leisure Complex, Barker Road (Hart Street entrance), Maidstone, Kent, ME16 8LW

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01622 298 159

Mob. - 01732 840 787

09:00 - 15:00hrs

Admission £2.50p

Park & ride, pay and display parking, refreshments

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Sunday 6th October 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

Colchester - SRP Toy Fairs

Langham Community Centre, School Road, Colchester, Essex, CO4 5PA

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

eMail - srptoys1@hotmail.co.uk

Mob. - 07739 998 012 (Paula or Gerry)

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Admission charge unknown

Falkirk, Scotland - McLaren Models

Tel. - 01324 624 102

(All other details here)

London (Central) - Wendy's World - Dolls, Bears and Doll's Houses

Kensington Town Hall, Kensington, London W8 7NX

Tel. - 01895 834 348 (Wendy Hobday)

Cancelled

Needham Market - Stowmarket Railway Club (club event)

Needham Market Community Centre, School Street, Needham Market, Suffolk, IP6 8BB

Web. - www.stowrailclub.org.uk

Tel. - 01449 672 698

10:30 - 15:00hrs

Admission - £1.50p, accompanied children free

Wheelchair access, free parking, refreshments

Shepton Mallet - Bulldog Fairs

Royal Bath & West Showground, BA4 6QN

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

Diorama competition, cash prizes, show-exclusive tractor model

York - J&J Fairs (J&J Webb) - 'York Racecourse'

The Knavesmire Stand, York Racecourse, York, Yorkshire, YO23 1EX

Web. - www.j-jwebbtoyfairs.com

eMail - jandjfairs@virginmedia.com

Tel. - 01522 880 383

10:00 - 14:30hrs

Admission £2.50p, seniors £2, 1st child £1.50p

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Auctions

Saturday 5th October 2019

Ilkley - Hartleys Auctioneers And Valuers

Victoria Hall, Little Lane, Ilkley, LS29 8EA

Web. - www.hartleysauctions.co.uk

eMail - info@hartleysauctions.co.uk

Tel. - 01943 816 363

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Tuesday 8th October 2019

Newbury - Special Auction Services (SAS)

Originally there was a 'Toys for the Collector' sale pencilled-in for the 8th, it seems this sale is not now going ahead, replaced by a 2-day event on Tue-Wed. 29th/30th October 2019

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Thursday 10th October 2019

Sheffield - Shefield Auction Gallery

Windsor Road, Heeley, Sheffield, S8 8UB

Web. - www.sheffieldauctiongallery.com

eMail - jmorgan@sheffieldauctiongallery.com

Tel. - 0114 281 6161

14:00 - Finish

Will print A4-portrait

Tunbridge Wells - C&T Auctioneers

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

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

Web. - www.candtauctions.co.uk

eMail - enquiries@candtauctions.co.uk

Valuations - jamesopie@yahoo.co.uk

Tel. - ++44 1233 510 050 (from abroad)

Tel. - 01233 510 050 (within the UK)

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

"Ancient Britains: Imperial Yeomanry, 6"‘ Dragoons, South Australian Lancers, French Dragons, Matelots, slotted arm bandsmen, Germanic household cavalry, rocking horse figures, 1st Dragoon Guards, tin swords, Donkey House Hussars, other early Britains etc.

Golden Age: US Cavalry in action, 2nd Life Guards, Turkish Cavalry, Anti-aircraft guns and

equipment, 1288 large Band of the Royal Marines, Carabinieri including SPECIAL Officer, 1436, Italian Infantry FSO, Egyptian Infantry, Cavalry and Camel Corps, Mexican Infantry, Khaki, Vehicles

Britains Postwar: 1894 RAF Pilots and WAAF, RCMP Winter dress, Royal Scots Greys Mounted Band, Highlanders, with Black Watch Pipe Bands, Royal Marines colour party, Royal Air Force Display, Danish Livgarde, Russians and other Foreign Troops, Foot Guards, Cavalry, Marines, Navy, Set 2116 Royal Air Force Band, Royal Irish Fusiliers, Commonwealth, Lorries, Centurion Tanks, UN Infantry, Ski Troops, Knights of Agincourt, Picture Packs in original boxes etc.

Civilians: Britains Racing Colours, Eastern People in RARE 19305 box, New Toy Figure US High School Majorette Band, Zoo Building, Footballers, Beach figures, Royal Oak Inn, Ecclesiasticals etc.

Continental figures: Composition and Heyde Personalities, Elastolin Bridging Lorry, Lineol etc. 70mm, Haile Selassie, CBG Mignot Huns, Napoleonic Lucotte, Heyde large scale Hunt

Collectables: De Agostini, Frontline, Altaya, Medieval and Landsknechts, King and Country Desert Village and Silk Road, Niena, Del Prado C20 and Napoleonic Cavalry

New Toy Soldiers and conversions: William Cranston, Nostalgia, Toy Army Workshop dioramas, horse drawn and motor vehicles, guns with crew, Sarum and Stackie Regimental Ball, Fusilier, Tommy Atkins, Steadfast, Imperial Productions, Mark Time, Lancer, Marlborough, Tradition, Bastion, Soldiers Soldiers, Richard Newth-Gibbs, Hiriart, Historical personalities, mixed figure Dioramas: 0fIicer’s Mess, African village, North West Canada, witI1 Zulu, Sudan and Chinese campaigns etc.

Models: Stadden unpainted, Ian White, Dioramas: Roman Orgy, Harem, ECW Tavern, Regency Soiree and Modem Free Living. with Fantasy and Science Fiction by Sanderson, Phoenix etc.

Recent Britains: Premier, Toy Soldier Collection, Ltd Editions, Delhi Durbar, Hollowcast

Collection, Metal Models, Knights of Agincourt, American Revolution, American Civil War etc.

Plastic Figures: Eyes Right, Swoppets, Deetail, Lord of the Rings, Starlux etc."

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Other Events

Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th October 2019

Bury - East Lancashire Railway - Day Out with Thomas

East Lancashire Railway, Bury Bolton Street Station, Bolton Street, Bury, Greater Manchester

Web. - http://www.eastlancsrailway.org.uk/events-activities/2019/5/day-out-with-thomas.aspx

Ickworth - National Trust - Wood & Craft Fair

Ickworth, Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk

Web. - www.nationaltrust.org.uk

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Overseas Events

Saturday 5th October 2019

Dallas (USA) - North Dallas Toy Show

Dallas Events Center, 4343 Sigma Rd, Suite 600, Farmers Branch, TX 75244, Texas, USA

Web. 1 - www.northdallastoyshow.wix.com

Web. 2 - www.northdallastoyshow.wixsite.com

eMail - mailto:NorthDallasToyShow@gmail.com

Facebook - www.facebook.com/northdallastoyshow/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/NDallasToyShow

Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/northdallastoys/

Tel. I - ++12 148 937 726 (Doug)

Tel. II - ++12 147 554 271 (Gil)

09:00 - 15:00hrs

Admission $2.00, children under-12 free

Located between Midway Road and Welch, take 'Welch Road' exit off 1-635

Dietikon (Switzerland) - Dominique Durussel - Toy Fair

Stadhalle. Dietikon, Zurich, Switzerland

Tel. - ++0793 283 200

Marly (Switzerland) - FMAF / Antoine Golay - Toy Fair

Grande Salle de Marly-Cité, Marly, Fribourg, Switzerland

Tel. - ++0797 357 634

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Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th October 2019

London (Canada) - London Comic Con

RBC Place, London Convention Centre, 300 York St., London ON, N6B 1P8, Ontario, Canada

Web. - http://www.londoncomiccon.ca/

10:00-19:00hrs (Saturday)
10:00-17:00hrs (Sunday)

Admission - Saturday Can$40.00, Sunday Can$30.00, all weekend Can$50.00, *child pass (11 – 15 years) Can$10.00

Featured guests include Tim Curry, Kenny Omega, Denise Crosby &etc.

San Jose (USA) - Time Tunnel - Super Toy and Comic Book Show

Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, Expo Hall, 344 Tully Road, San Jose, CA 95111, California, USA

Weblog - https://timetunnelnews.blogspot.com/

eMail - mailto:timetunnelsj@gmail.com

Tel. - ++4088 094 457

11:00-16:30hrs (Saturday)

10:00-15:30hrs (Sunday)

Admission $10.00, (good for both days if bought on Saturday), 'Early Bird' $15.00 (from 09:00hrs), children under 12 $04:00 (good for both days if bought on Saturday)

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Sunday 6th

English - Will print A4-Landscape

Brussels (Belgium) - The Toy Market - 'Collect Hit' the 19th International Collectors & Vintage Fair

There are few events better than Sandown Park, worldwide, but Brussels beats them all;

27th Nostalgia Collection

Aircraft, Bears, Cinematography, Die Cast, Dolls, Ephemera, Games, Models, Playing Cards, Posters, Ships & Boats, Signs, Toys, Toy & Model Soldiers & Figures, Trains,

21st Barbie in Brussels

Barbie, Gene, Peynet, Sindy, &etc...

18th BD Comix-TV

Comic, TV & Movie Character and Show related toys and epemera, Action Figures, Manga and Anime, Film Cells &etc . . .

6th Vintage World

Antiques, Bric-a-brack, Collectables, Furniture, Jewellery (1925-1975 cut-off), Objets d'Art, Perfume & Scent Bottles, Slot Machines

Multi-lingual - Will print A4-Landscape

Brussels Cart Expo, A. Gossetlaan 9, 1702 Groot-Bijgaarden, Belgium (Venue)

Thierry le Clercq, Chaussee St. Pierre 362, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium (Organiser)

Web. - wwwtoymarket.eu

eMail - mailto:info@toymarket.eu

Tel/Fax. - ++32 (0) 27 362 864

10:00-15:30hrs

Admission €7.00 from 10:00hrs, €6.00 after 13:00hrs

Neuss (Germany) - J Hörner - Toy Fair

Stadhalle, Neuss, 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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Received With Thanks

A phat jiffy-bag wung it's way here from North London a couple of days ago, courtesy of Peter Evans and - as you can see - I shot it with my new and patented Superdooper-3D Jiggle-O-Chrome camera! I will Blog some (the piles of HK) separately soon. You can also see nice Blue Box or Blue Box-related stuff and some interesting civilian bits.

Other stuff has been sent to Small Scale World this week, with images on US production and ceremonials from Chris Smith, and charming Macki-Mecki-Micky-o-Mucky-stuff from Germany, via Mr. Berke of New York.

Meanwhile just now Tom Clague sent a whole post's-worth of images on a diorama he found in a shop window, so I'll turn them into a post!

Many thanks to all four.

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H is for How They Come In

A bag of mixed animals, both real and cartoony; produced the above for sorting. The Chap Mai snake keeps turning-up, and may be an accessory for an action figure as I've no other similar Chap Mai stuff, although they are listed on the STS Animal Forum so there must be some other animals somewhere!

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I'm a sucker for a small china cat 'fairing' (marked 'Foreign' so most likely German or Japanese), especially one carrying her own kitten!

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I also picked up a Running Press mini-boxed Stonehenge, for which there is a forthcoming post as you may remember we looked at another very similar one some years ago, and this one may not be as small as it looks?

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Links

Plastics Today do Yesterday's Toy Soldiers 'Go - Kent Sprecher!'

Plastic Archeology

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SSW Command Central

A single figure from evilBay came in a big box, but it was only a big box for a single figure, otherwise it was a very small box . . . nevertheless it triggered in the staff, not so much of a work-to-rule as a sit-in, or a sit-on, for no particular reason; I had to do the index-card myself ferfecksake!

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O is for Organic Growth!

The Blog doesn't have many 'o's, so any excuse for one! And I believe it's the correct term for the way this post came together, and - indeed - the way I am gathering Napoleons. I can't hope to match the excellent selection-collection we saw from PL Cunha in Plastic Warrior's 154 & 172 but I have managed to grab a few now, so we can get a post out of the arrogant old despot!

What kicked the post off, was Chris sending me some shots we'll see in a minute, the same day I bought the dog . . . more on him in a minute too; which lead me to think "Humm . . . I could do a little post on the little corporal, with my little dog?", who's not that little! So I dug-out the storage tub which I knew had one in.

I had picked these up back in 2009-11, the large French (Starlux - I originally thought, but it might be something better?) nappy in the big purchase I think, and the Timpo (an Action Pack re-issue) in a job-lot with seven others, but as I've since found another I'm guessing there are 10 or twelve to find (I thought I had 'all eight').

The rider is JIM and so is the horse, but I'm not sure they belong together, although as a pairing (JIM seem to have had a 'range' of interchangeable horses - like Timpo) it is trying to look like the painting of Napoleon on Marengo in a snow-storm? Also the Timpo probably isn't strictly a Bonaparte, but he looks the 'parte . . . hehe!

This has come from . . .  Chris or Peter . . . Sandown or my trip to the Toy Project? Sometime during the past year anyway, and was still at hand, it's the Blue Box die-cast Elite Command figure from 15-or-so years ago, and still findable on-line, a younger, slimmer dictator, maybe from the period before he was even technically a dictator and certainly not an emperor!

I took a base shot!

But - visible, yet not clear - in last week's 'other' bag (the one which wasn't full of Disney Princesses, had this chap in it! How cool is this? Too cool for puppy-training, that's for sure! AND, it's a dachshund, a German dog, even . . . a 'Prussian' dog . . . wearing Nappy's gear as a war-trophy? It wasn't Wellington, mate, he 'held the fort', it was Blucher 'carried the day'!

All of them together before they went away, the puppy (piece of resin tourist tat) is the best one there, he looks like he just nicked his hat of a bread-demanding, cake-damning, fish-wife on the barricades!

Chris's figure which kicked this post off, it's also a bit of a 'Q is for Question-mark...', in that Chris would like to know more about it, and I could only confirm what he already knew; . . . probably a tourist thing, probably missing a stand or plinth of some kind. To which after working on the slightly low-res images I would add that it might be casein-resin/polymer?

Also - is it depicting a specific statue somewhere; Paris, or Corsica maybe?

In the putting-away of the others, this chap was found in the PZG tub, and while he's probably meant to be a line-infantry officer with his fore'n'aft bicorn, I think he looks sufficiently like a certain young artillery officer to be considered another rendition of Nappy for the purposes of this post? I also have a diminutive PVC Nescafe premium buried somewhere, and the Beverly one we've seen here at Small Scale World before, so we'll definitely return to Napoleon when I've found a few more!

G is for Gun Crew

I dug out the pair of crewmen for the Britains AWI gun which I got a while back (Jim at Sandown?), only to find I had another pair in storage which must have been in the 'big purchase' back in 2010, anyway they presented a couple of opportunities . . .

. . . the first was a photo-op comparing what looks to be two cavity mouldings (upper shot), one with a heavier match, although looking at the photo's it probably only a bit of flach! This presented the second opportunity, and preferring the finer match of the figure on the right, I trimmed the other one back (lower shot) to a bit of a stick!

Taking a couple of pinches of Milliput, I mixed up a tiny amount and made a teeny sausage to provide a stock, a little blob for the grip and a fragment for the hammer (left shot), it wouldn't stick to the vinyl, and being an impatient sort once I've got the bit between my teeth, I hurried it all along with a super-glue bath and a Plastix accelerator-pen!

Once the superglue had rendered everything hard, I attacked it all with fine-tipped, black and brown marker-pens and within ten-minutes of the idea he was finished - dodgy image on the right!

Better images (it's all in the backgrownd!), I used a spare Innovative or other copy of the Britains musket to arm the other spare chap, although he will need some heat-treatment on his elbow to drop the hand enough to hold the muzzle firmly, although a flag on a pole would be an easier 'instant' conversion.

I will also tart the pistol-up a bit one day, it needs a better grip . . . and paint it properly with gun-metal and some spots of brass, but there you go; dismounted cavalryman (?) and sentry! Again, add a sword at his waist and you've got an officer.

G is for Gun Line

Keeping with the theme of follow-ups, this harks back to the flurry of AWI and Innovative posts a year or two ago but which also included several sets of cake decorations &etc. This time we're looking at the heavy-hardware!

The three guns together with a close up of the Britains piece which is lacking it's side tools but I seem to recall a post on a bag of bits from a show a while back in which the tools were to be found . . . all I have to do is find the bag again!

The darker of the two Hong Kong copies (both of which have the tool hooks but never had separate tools) is the one seen previously from the second (carded) issue on Innovative's, while the other may be from the earlier Shell issue, or be another copy altogether, I don't know?

Comparison doesn't help date the two Hong Kong copies as the smaller and less detailed oxide brown one actually has the better barrel, with the 'US' clearly reproduced while it is no more than a smudge on the Innovative Promotions piece. It also has more realistic plating on the barrel than the gold-chrome Innovative went with.

Because I am new'ish to this large-scale malarkey, I don't know how many generations of these there are, I suspect someone like Rado Industries or Hing Fat might be responsible for one, but given the differences we've already seen between the two issues of Innovative's (Shell's premiums first and then the Men of '76 anniversary set) I'm tempted to think the smaller one may be the Shell issue, knowing the other is from a MO'76 card, however, before TJF and the minions of the PSTSM climb up on their high-horse of idiocy, I'm musing rather than carving anything in stone!

The ironwork and wood-grain are nicer on the larger gun, but the wheels (particularly the hubs) are better-rendered on the smaller-piece, and with the differences in barrel already mentioned, it's anyone's call as to which is the copy or came first? Unless you happen to have the smaller one - in mint packaging?

I shot this (TV mini-series, press-release image) from a recent newspaper (Times I think?) a few days ago, purely to use 'one day' (imagining sometime in the middle-distance) in the future, but realising it would be ideal here with regard to the plastic colours of the carriages; I thought the colours of the wood of these two, otherwise identical [Polish?] rifles perfectly illustrates how all figure-painters are correct in their choice of woodwork colour!

One being a dark mahogany, looking like a hardwood, the other hinting at pine or softwood? Now I realise they may both be dense-rubber film-props, but I've seen the same differences in older (pre plastic-furniture) SLR's and the many shades of AK woodwork, again - before Plastic became the norm, also if they were prop's they'd be more likely to be painted alike.

The point being both HK guns can sit together 'on the line', happily!

The guns crewed! Britains get their issued crew, the question-mark gets a Shell lady and later US figure, the Men of '76 gun get a British crew, with the mounted officer put on standing-firers legs and given the Britains ram-rod.