T is for Terracotta Troops

I can't remember if we've seen one of these before, or all of them on two occasions, or none of them or four of them in a large show-report shot of everything, but to find out I'd have to check back through the tag results, which I can't do until Monday, and I'm putting this together to post on Monday, so if you've seen them before . . . sorry!

Thought for the Day - If really very sorry and hurry have no 'e', why does Surrey?

Spaniards . . . from Spain! Little terracotta figures, I was going to say caricatures, but they differ for over-emphasising each subjects features? These are more consistent; 'cartoonish' maybe, they follow a stylisation anyway - bee-sting lips, short fat legs with big feet, offset, pool-ball eyes and relatively stationary posing.

State police (Civil Guard), Air Force and a soldier, I have no doubt there are sailors and other recognisable Spanish figures to be found; bull fighters? And they are probably (no 'e') or I assume; sold as tourist keepsakes? Both the policeman above and the Beefeater below have stiff-card enhancements, or detailing on their headdress.

But why would the Spanish sell British characters? If they do, must I start looking for Germans in lederhosen, French-bereted chaps with bunches of onions, RCMP Mounties? I would have guessed they were supplied to a British Tourist industry novelty (no 'e' - twice) wholesaler, but they all came together bar the Guarda Civil chap, suggesting they all came from the same place?

I can only suppose there are so many beered-up, misbehaving 'brits' in some parts of coastal or island Spain; they've found they can sell British icons to the British tourists as easily as their own Spanish ones? Especially (no 'e') those large numbers of regular visitors who are also [rather hypocritically (no 'e')] Bwreakshiteers!

Anyway, it's another Beefeater, and another Horse Guard, whom I prefer to Lifeguards! And thanks to Chris Smith or Peter Evans in one of who's parcels the latter four figures turned-up.

Second thought for the day - The gap . . . why don't Lifeguards or lifeguards have a gap, or; why do Horse Guards?

 

11th February 2021 - Now known to be craft figures (artesanos) from Alborox in Grenada

E is for Eye Candy

Just a bit of fun, I was playing in Picasa while I wait for the other wagons to turn up in the garage, and with the help of Andy Wilkinson, this is what's waiting at the moment.

These are mostly Hong Kong or unmarked, it's the W.Germany ones which have temporarily disappeared! Excellent for war-gamers in the 20-25mm bracket, but you do need to give them better teams, which means cutting them about, but - like most of the stuff - they are mass-produced polymer tat, and not that rare!

News, Views Etc . . . Vectis - Dr. Cornel Fleming Collection

Press release for a three day sale which is due at Vectis over Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week;

Cornel Fleming was a man of many facets; Doctor, Husband, Father, Friend and Soldier. But throughout his life, the one constant, was that he was a collector. His love of all things Science Fiction and Military led him to build this, “The Dr Cornel Fleming Collection”. As one of the largest privately held collections of Science Fiction and Military toys, as well as Militaria and Books on the same, this collection chronicles not just his life, but the changes that occurred during it.

It was always known that when he passed, his collection would be shared with the world and the idea of this was something he always liked – that his passion, his attention to detail and the sheer size of the collection would eventually be shared with the wider collecting community. For some, items will complete their set. For others, it may be just the start of catching the auction or collecting bug.

We, the Fleming family, hope that you enjoy his collection as much and he did and bid you the best of luck.

Marsha, Simon and Dalia Fleming

The Dr Cornel Fleming collection takes place over three days, with Day 1 being predominantly TV and Film related, day 2 features further TV related and Tinplate, and Day 3 is largely Military vehicles.

The sale features a large collection of Star Trek items, Dr Who Dalek models, vintage Transformers and other robot vehicles plus Action Force Action Man, He-Man, Gerry Anderson vehicles, Star Wars, Major Matt Mason, Madelman vehicles and figures plus Corgi and Dinky diecast vehicles.

Day two features a large collection of space and novelty toys, including robots, vehicles and toys from manufacturers such as HaHa, Ideal, Yonezawa, TOM Toys, and Horikawa (SH Toys of Japan).

Day 3 includes a large number of tanks from manufacturers such as Minichamps, Forces of Valor, Franklin Mint and Polistil, plus a selection of tinplate tanks from TT Toys (Japan). Aircraft lots are available from Corgi Aviation Archive, with Matchbox vehicles and gift sets from Super Kings, Superfast, and Regular Wheels plus Battle Kings, Sky Busters, and Seakings.

There is a large selection of interesting items within these three days and at every collecting level there will be something for everyone. For further information please contact;

admin@vectis.co.uk

The Dr Cornel Fleming Collection:

Day 1 - Wednesday 27th November 201910:30am

Day 2 - Thursday 28th November 2019 10:30am

Day 3 - Friday 29th November 2019 10:30am

News, Views Etc . . . PW Show Confimation

New Poster!

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PlasticWarrior?fref=ts

Blogger - http://plasticwarrioreditor.blogspot.co.uk/

eMail  - mailto:pw.editor@ntlworld.com

Website's back on the menu but won't be updated (eMail first) - www.plasticwarrior.com

Tel: 01483 722 778

Fax: 01483 722 723

Address; Mr. P. Morehead, 65 Walton Court, Woking, Surrey, GU21 5EE, UK

And they are on Paypal

T is for Two - Large Scale Poultry

One of those posts which just sort of grew quietly, organically over time and from the sum of its parts, then presented itself when it was ready to do so! Large (or 'larger') scale farmyard birds, nothing exciting!

I dug the old 'other poultry' box out of the garage and found a Fontanini goose in there! Sorting the TBS stuff into the box and blow-me there was a matching turkey! I have no idea if they are from a farm series or make-weight, non-speaking, bit-part actors in a Nativity set? But they are rather nice, probably not Simonetti's work; they are fuller-figured, and the sculpting 'fluffier' than his stuff tends toward.

Meanwhile I picked these up about six months or a year ago (from Adrian I think), they had a little label in their bag saying Ohio Art and I wondered if they might actually be Auburn, but Auburn's are slightly different, although I guess one influenced the other - were Ohio the plagiarists?

The two lots together; while the Fontanini are big, the smaller birds from Ohio are bigger, you could tuck that chicken under Action man's arm and he wouldn't look incongruous . . . well; he'd look like a chicken-thief!

Not the easiest material to photograph, off-white polyethylene, but I did what I could; they even have the little tick/crab/spider with its six legs!

T is for Two - Rolling Russian Rockets

We have actually seen one of these before but it's worth a second visit to compare it to one of my favourite pieces of Soviet-era Russian die-cast, and having now got a brand for the one making a return, it makes sense.

Seen before, this is the same company that made the tank transporter, the little forward-control truck with tin-plate tilt and the airborne ZSU self-propelled gun, now believed to be the Tula Cartridge Plant, and all from a series known as 'Military Equipment', which included a handful of solid-cast figures. Vehicle is one of the early FROG (Free Rocket, Over Ground) launchers, tactical battlefield nuclear-missiles akin to the US Honest John or French Pluton.

But Era, in Sevastopol made this; I'm not sure but I think the NATO reporting name for this might have been Guild? It's two SAM-I's (think Hawk!) mounted on the same chassis as the previous beast (old T54/55 hulls), and is a most odd arrangement, with the vehicle manufactured to contemporary Corgi, Dinky or Matchbox 'Super King' standards with continuous rubber-band tracks, revolving wheels on through-axles etc . . .

. . . while the weapon platform is a really rather crude stamping, with no attempt at modelling the travelling/launching cradles/mechanism and with two even cruder aluminium castings for the rockets.

But I love it; it is an incredibly tangible toy, you really want to handle it. While there is no elevation, there is something really satisfying about the way the two rockets follow each-other round! The rockets also make a good handle to push the thing across the floor, it's hard to explain, but if you've got one, you'll probably know what I mean?

Comparing the two, you can see how the Cartridge Plant's is made the same way they made their bullets and shells, Heavy-castings riveted together with a set of carpet wheels, while Era's is a more complicated piece, but they still go together well, as they may have in real life -  it being 31-years since my last Soviet-studies courses - I can't remember, but a FROG batterys (or regiments) would have needed some high-altitude air-defence, tagging-along?

The FROGs were replaced by SCUD, and  Guild was replaced by Guideline? All-in-all; a long time ago now!

The Era mark on the base, in Tula they didn't mark the Military Equipment vehicles; only the packaging! Both are around the 1:48/50th scales of the similar Western toys, think Corgi's Gepard Spaag or Dinky's Leopard I MBT.

H is for Hollow Herd!

I think we looked at the 'spares' of these years ago in a wider look at celluloid blow-moulds, but this is the original 'master' sample, albeit probably not a complete-sample as far as the species depicted goes . . . or went; these are probably ten years older than me?

Top left is an uncommon example of the really rare Tasman Tygyenalleppocat, although a poor rendering as it's clearly been on a diet! The Hippopottymouth is a bit weak as well, but the rest of them are OK for what they probably were - 1d or 5¢ novelties? Note also; the two very different coloured lions and the lack of a constant scale across the sample, being the no-box equivalent of 'box' scale.

As the large yeti-type seems more concerned with where he's left his keys, the Berserker is probably right to dispatch the man-killing Rea first! These were shot a while ago as I have cleaned the Berserker since!

Joking aside, I like these, and that's them, done.

A is for Another . . . Speeder-Bike!

Now, we may have had this, but I can't find it here in the archive, so while it's dated 2017, I think it's 'new to Blog', we saw the big orange Ray's Speeder one (from the same series?), and we've seen the Hasbro re-issues of the Micromachines ones, but I don't think we've seen this version yet.

Clearance at TKMaxx, less than half-price at 2.99, which I happened to have on me, Bargain! It's a pity that every set of Star Wars stuff is A) in a different scale to all the other lines and ranges, and B) not to a consistent scale within the line/range, but there you go?

Mattel's Imperial Speeder Bike; it is the biggest one to date, at about 1:48th/35mm, which means that when I dig-out all the others (Galoob Micromachines, Action Fleet and Hasbro) he will have to go at the front, but it will make an excellent forced-perspective 'squadron' shot!

F is for Favourite Trucks

We've seen these before (several times!), we'll see them again when I do a 'definitive' sometime in the future, but we're going to have a quick re-cap now, looking specifically at the civil versions of Blue Box's Bedford trucks!

The pictures are actually not brilliant, I took them outside  in that summer session and the sunlight actually seems to have worked against the camera, but they'll do! These are the Blue Box civilian versions of the Bedford RL they also used in the military range, based on the Britains Lilliput or Kemlow's (Sentry Box) die casts? I've never been too sure?

Crane on the right, the vehicle on the left is a sort of telescopic, vertical-only 'cherry-picker', with a ladder up the side, presumably in case the device got stuck in the up position, and while one is tempted to think 'It's only a toy', I seem to recall as kids that we spotted these incongruities as easily as the adults!

Both get copies of the Dinky road-workers, and the 'platform lorry' gets a temporary road-sign, nicked from the same Dinky set. The vehicle flatbeds are the military weapon-truck ones with the control-cabinet, but moulded in bright colours.

The crane is here rendered in reverse colours; I think the moulding was a pirate of the top-half of the old Matchbox four-wheeled Coles (?) crane in yellow-finished die-cast? These single window boxes (equating to the Combat Team military sets) were coded 77390.

The Bedford RL was eventually replaced by a Bedford MK, several of the bodies were retained, including the flatbed with crane. But new bodies were added to the range such as the shell tanker, although I've never seen a loose version of the wreaker-truck; bottom left, while the Sea-Land container lorry has a printed-cardboard container.

Figures have also been changed to the garage/service station mechanics/forecourt staff, also Dinky figures, all (the road workers as well) sculpted by Charles C Stadden originally, I believe.

I think this is quite a late issue, indeed from the price it could be anytime, some rack-toys are still a quid or a dollar? But early eighties I think for this one? The crane has been given something to lift with a card crate to place on it.

This set from the Toy Trade Distribution Company from 1986 is - in my opinion - trying very hard to resemble the Blue Box set, but with short (30-foot) articulated trailers on the fifth-wheels of what I suspect are the equivalent forward-control Ford cab-units? They have not only gone with similar artwork (including ship), but copied the printed-card shipping container!

Although they have a logo, I suspect they (TT) were a packer/shipper wholesale outfit, handing stuff from lots of smaller manufacturers, for offer as generics to the smaller chains and independent 'corner shops' (mom & pop stores) and the like (another was Hongkong [sic] Toy Exporters), that they have no 'Factory, Industrial/ Industries/Industry, Manufactory' or 'Production' in their title - which most of the actual makers in the colony seem to have had at the time - is another clue!

G is for Guest Post - Sam Toys

This started life as an email which I thought was a listing, probably of more use on the much-neglected A-Z Blog 'pages', and I downloaded it to look at at home, thanked the sender; Angelo, and got on with whatever I was doing!

When I opened it at home I found the following article complete, with embedded images, and frantically wrote to Angelo the next day saying please send the originals so I can run it as an article!

Not only did he send them, but he took new images of most of them and some supporting paperwork, to the point where I now know as much about these as he does . . . in five minutes time - so will you.

I then suggested I post his article as he'd written it and further look at the vehicles in turn after Christmas, but have instead collaged the images and placed them where the single pictures were in the first draft, which is the only real editorial change . . . I hand over to Angelo;

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SAM TOYS - " MILITARY SERIES"

Sam Toys produced model cars in the late 50s and late 60s.

The Military Series was initially composed of seven vehicles which were the plastic copy of similar metal models by the French Dinky Toys.

Below is a copy of the catalog of the period showing the series and the description of each individual vehicle.

Art. 431 – CAMIONETTA MILITARE - copy of model 641 ARMY "1-TON CARGO TRUCK" by Dinky Toys

Art. 432 – AUTO BLINDATA - copy of model 670 "ARMOURED CAR" by Dinky Toys

Art. 433 – AUTOBLINDO PER TRASPORTO - copy of model 643 “ARMOURED PERSONNEL” by Dinky Toys

Art. 434 – AMBULANZA MILITARE - copy of mode 626 “MILITARY AMBULANCE” by Dinky Toys

Art. 435 – AUTO CISTERNA  - copy of model 643 “ARMY WATER TANKER” by Dinky Toys

Art. 436 – CARRO ESPLORATORE - copy of model 673 “SCOUT CAR” by  Dinky Toys

Art. 437 – JEEP - copy of model 669 “JEEP” or 672 "JEEP" (re-issue of 153a) by Dinky Toys

                              Note the error in the name in JEPP

Later, other models were added that were variants of the first series.

A first variant was the MILITARY TRUCK where 4 soldiers were added to the platform. This meant that the lorry remained uncovered because it was not possible to put the tarpaulin with the seated soldiers.

The next 4 models were created using the floor of the MILITARY AMBULANCE which on the bottom always showed the writing 434 Military Ambulance for all these models.

AUTOCARRO SCALA MOBILE

AUTOCARRO CON CANNONE

AUTOCISTERNA

AUTOCARRO MILITARE APERTO

Finally there is a model 443 - JEEP CON RIMORCHIO that the SAM TOYS inserted in the AUTOCARRI series, but that actually refers to a military vehicle.

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A few points I'll add, all from the material provided by Angelo, firstly, the lorry used for ambulance and plug-in bodies is now recognised as being the Truck, 3-Ton, 4x4, GS, Ford Ambulance (Spurling, Muliner or Duple [bodies]), AKA; Fordson-Thames GS-Lorry, and an excellent article on all the toy versions (we've had the diminutive Matchbox RAF version on the blog and the article attributes the MPC 'Mini' ambulance - also seen here - to the same marque) appeared in the October 2011 edition of Model Collector magazine, with Nigel Robertshaw in the author's chair.

The image from which Angelo cropped the 'civi' Jeep, also has civilianised versions of the same lorry, each in a 'wagon-&-drag' configuration (commoner on the continent, although a lot of haulage companies use them on their late night 'trunckers' so you often see them on the motorway network in the early hours), along with a wrecker-body version of the Humber 1-Ton, which is lovely!

Many, many thanks to Angelo for sending this into the blog, a relatively unknown series of non-Hong Kong copies, and I'm very fond of my one example, the Humber with passengers.