News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Events Saturday 14th-Friday 20th December 2019

Well! It seems like the Tories have won a landslide? Never have so many turkey's voted for Christmas so close to the oven. Being on the 'losing side' albeit as a Liberal voter rather than Labour, it not for me to pontificate now; I can only temper my disappointment with the hope that the Yahoos and Morlochs get everything that's coming to them.

I would also add that it was a full-moon yesterday and it's Friday the Thirteenth, so one can't be that surprised . . . oh . . . and news just coming across from the 'Well Fancy That' department is that a government requested and paid for independent report came out today (the day after a General Election) stating that waiting times in the NHS got worse last month, that's the NHS Boris was assuring us he loves like a brother . . . oops! If you voted Tory yesterday and are poorly, I hope you'll have the decency to go to the back of that queue before an over-worked nurse sends you there?

And - this close to Christmas - there's precious few events to drown one's sorrows in, nor - indeed - celebrate, and anyway, we'll all need to start husbanding our money!

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Toy Fairs

Saturday 14th December 2019

Gateshead - Jim Corr Fairs - Toy, Train & Sci-Fi Fair

Gateshead International Stadium, Neilson Road, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, NE10 0EF

eMail - jim_corr73@hotmail.co.uk

Mob. - 07504 035 955

10:00 - 15:00hrs

Admission £3, children/senior citizens £2, 'Early Bird' £5

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 15th December 2019

Stafford - Barry Potter / BP Fairs - 'Stafford Showground'

The Preston & Argyle Suites, Stafford County Showground, Weston Road, Stafford, ST18 0BD

Web. - www.bpfairs.com

Tel. - 01604 846 688

Mob. - 07966 527 177

Fax. - 01604 771 070

10:30-15:00hrs

Admission £4.00 (early-bird £8), OAP's £3.50, Children £1,

Free parking

Pudsey, Leeds - Steel Promotions - Leeds (Pudsey) Toy/Train Fair

Pudsey Civic Hall, Dawson's Corner, Stanningley Road, LS28 5TA

Internet presence unknown

Tel. I - 0161 283 1255

Tel. II - 0161 766 2012

10:00-15:00hrs

Admission charge unknown

Café, licensed bar

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Auctions

Tuesday 17th & Wednesday 18th December 2019

Newbury - Special Auction Services (SAS)

81 Greenham Business Park, Newbury, West Berkshire, RG19 6HW

Web - www.specialauctionservices.com

eMail - mail@specialauctionservices.com

Tel. - 01635 580595

Fax. - 0871 714 6905

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Overseas Events

Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th December 2019

Dulles (USA) - Greenberg’s Great Train & Toy Show

Dulles Exposition Center, Chantilly, VA, Virginia, USA (venue)

Greenberg Shows, 280 Carlton Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188, Illinois, USA (organiser)

Web. - http://greenbergshows.com/

Tel. -  ++6302 794 087

Fax. - ++2405 974 482
10:00-16:00hrs
Admission is $10 Saturday (for both days) or $9 Sunday (on-site ticket sales cash only), children 11-or-under free

Sunday 15th December 2019

Montvale (USA) - National Collectors Club - Montvale Train & Toy Show

The St. Joseph High School, Montvale NJ, 07645, New Jersey, USA (venue)

PO Box 604, Englishtown, N.J. 07726, New Jersey, USA (John)

PO Box 812, Ramsey, N.J. 07446, New Jersey, USA (Joe)

Web. - http://www.eastcoasttrainparts.com/98mar8.htm

Tel. I - ++7328 455 966 (John)

Tel. II - ++2013 275 254 (Joe)

09:00-15:00hrs

Admission $7.00

Featuring America's premier model train dealers

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Links

Because of the time difference, this may be of use to you if you happen to be near North NY State and read this in the next hour or two!

More toys . . . in Jordan!

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News

A World War II mascot teddy bear that went to war in a tank fetched £4,000 at auction earlier in the week. That's a Christmas story if ever I read one!

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H is for How They Come In

Has gone almost as quiet as the show dates and auctions, but I still managed two things to show you this week;

A leery, purple and puke-green bag of Moshi Monsters, something which is on the long-list and has been since I announced the imminent staring of them (and there ilk - they are piling-up) on the Blog about two summers ago!

And I also managed an almost perfectly 54mm Santa Clause - caught in the act of stealing someone's door-wreath! And I think he's going to announce the theft by ringing a bell to wake them . . . bad Santa! He's poured resin, but it's that 'polystone' stuff which loks quite chalky.

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Other Stuff

Only a horse this week, in the figural line (and Santa I suppose!) on the advent-calendar front and more 'hobby-' than 'cavalry-', note also how the different lighting and backgrounds change the colours of what is identically-coloured chocolate, always shot with flash, stopped-down two grades.

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News, Views Etc . . . Additions

I've added a couple of pieces to the Airfix 'Early Figures' page courtesy of Danny O'Neill in Australia . . .

. . . and some Britains boxed sets to the Khaki Infantry page which I shot on John Begg's table at the Plastic Warrior show two years ago; the show review post wasn't strong so I'm cannibalising it for useful images! Actually this one is not the best image, but it is useful!

News, Views Etc . . . Vectis Friday

Tommorow's sale includes a limited-edition Terrance Cuneo print of the Mallard - expect a mouse diving off the rails or riding the locomotive . . . I can't spot it, and not all his painting have one but . . .

Lot 5453

"The Model Train sale to be held on the 13th of December will feature OO Gauge British Outline Locomotives and Rolling Stock from Bachmann, Hornby (China), Mainline Railways, Lima, Heljan and others. Plus HO USA & Continental Outline from Liliput, Proto, Roco and Fleischmann; N Gauge, Hornby Dublo 2- and 3-rail, and Triang. Further lots include Wrenn Railway, OO Gauge Kitbuilt, Meccano & Other Constructional Toys, Live Steam and Gauge 1 & Larger. There are further lots from the Lawrence Scale Models OO Gauge Single Owner Collection, plus O Gauge ex-shop stock and others, Hornby, Modern and Further O Gauge and Kit/Scratchbuilt; Plus, Railwayana, Books, Magazines, Catalogues & Jigsaws, Pictures & Prints and our usual good selection of General Trains."

T is for Two - Of The Few!

As we lose the forth-to-last remaining Battle of Britain fighter-pilots, here's a couple of really very interesting model 'planes, the first is the less fascinating maybe, being a chunk of Alli', the other is a real treat. Both shot on Adrian Little's Mercator Trading table at Sandown Park, but photographed several months apart.

I think this is probably a 1st-year or 1st-term (Christmas) an apprentices or engineering student's test-piece, due to its crudity and lack of true mirror-symmetry . . . and the fact that the engines point outward, or that it lacks a notable or noticeable cockpit!

However, one or two people who saw it at the show thought it might have had a more commercial aspect, remembering similar stuff from their childhoods. Being older than me I'm not going to argue with them and will leave it to your judgement.

It's an aluminium casting, but appears to have been poured, not pressure-injected, resulting in softer lines and a rougher surface, and might be trying to be a Bristol Blenheim fighter-bomber?

We know what this is because it's written on both wings! A De Havilland Comet, but issued in a natty army-green, rather than the more famous racing scarlet! It's also marked with the B&s cipher of Barratt and Son's - similar to the cipher of the Bergan Toy Company (Beton)!

What I find so fascinating about this slush-cast lead-alloy (whitemetal) model is that it's almost identical in production values or properties to the early Supermarine Spitfire and Bolton-Paul Defiant models from Palitoy, not because it's copying them, but because they were aping the previous technology, prior to discovering the full potential in the properties of the new materials.

The way the propellers are fixed on with nails set into the casting, the whole profile of the wings and fuselage, even the marking position and style is similar!

Thanks to Adrian again, for the photo-op'.

C is for Carved Cedars and Cathay's Colonial Clones

I know; it's a clumsy title, but we've had Totem's before and in more than one configuration, so I tried to play it safe! Looking at the carved boughs of Reverence found in the Northern woodlands of North America and specifically the Britains Herald model and its may copies.

On the left are two early Britains Herald Totem Poles, the rust-brown one being the better 'full paint' version, the greyish one being the later 'reduced-paint' variant. Next to them on the right is the newest member of the family (as far as joining goes), the CMV copy, which came from Chris Smith earlier this year and may be among the earlier of the Hong Kong copies, being closest in size and colouring.

Britains themselves procured the dark arts of the toymen of aitchkay for the Herald 'Hong Kong' Totem, which was more of a hollow-backed relief statuette, glued to a separate base, with minimal paint and the whole in polystyrene. By the time it came-out (1970's) tastes had changed somewhat, and it's there more as a box-display scenic accessory, that an integral part of the play environment - I mean they could have glued a flat-back on it?

The CMV pole is second in this line-up with an equally decorated one (equally early?) to its left and two undecorated ones to the right. One of the undecorated ones has the later, more stable Britains base in its clone-DNA!

The painted one introduces gold, for the de'Luxe look! I think it's the same maker, and probably slightly earlier than the right-hand one in the previous line-up. Likewise the two shield-shaped based ones are colour variations of the previous example.

The last two are similar, but both have differences from each-other.

PSTSM look away now - as we will see in a minute; these are all smallies or 'Plastic Smalls' and therefore of no interest to you, even though none of you read this Blog because it's so crap . . . heeheehee; Hi guys!

The dark purple-brown one is a modern one marked China and as you can see although all to a similar size, they are three different mouldings, with the pale brown one the best - quality wise - the red one the worst.

I actually had one of these first, decades ago, but quickly realised large-scale Totem Poles were more in scale with HO or OO sized figures than the 54/60mm peeps they came with, so started collecting all totems as a side-collection, despite a dearth of Woodland Indians in the toy world back in the day!

♪ Twelve Wooden Totems, Standing in the Woods ♫

♪ Twelve Wooden Totems, Standing in the Woods ♫

♪ And if one Wooden Totem, Should get Dropped by a Lumber-Jack ♫

♪ There'd be Eleven Wooden Totems, Standing in the Woods ♫

Except they are polymerised-ethylene!

H is for How They Come In - Often from America!

The same day Peter's parcel arrived, another hitched a ride with it on Postie's trolley, in fact with both of them sent regular-mail and the postmen working under cut-hours (or under-cut hours!), he didn't even knock, just tucked one on the other, behind the wood-stack in the porch and I found them both returning from the station with the daily Metro!

It was from Brian in New York, and had all sort of goodies in it!

He sent three bags of the Flixstars from Mattel we looked at last time he sent some! I'm going to have to keep one mint, but don't know yet which of them will be the two to open, but I must say I think they're fun, and from the front they all make nice figures.

I opened this one straight-away, because the packaging is a huge thing, and I can scan the card sometime for the archive, which will stack flat 'for posterity'! He's a bigg'un, about 80mm if we assume they grew to human size, and from Monogram 'the new'.

Funnily-enough I found the old Playmate's 54mm'ish TMNT's while putting that Plume Brisse (or whatever it was) Indian premium away the other day and I thought that with the ones we've seen in the last few years and others including the Yolanda Sobre ones we might have a round-up of turtle ninja, mutant-teenager figuress in the spring!

This year's packaging colour-way from Dollar General/Dolgen, I would save it for October, but thought I'd clear the decks now, as we can compare all three - to date - next year, they being; black, orange and purple cards. Still unfair that the Mummy's get ten poses and the Skeletons only eight!

Brian also sent three bags of some of his finds on the secondary market; the top bag has a mix of MPC 54mm (which I know I'm short of) and Hong Kong Monogram clones, the middle bag are the Payton (? I'll check before I blog them again) copies of the Marx hard plastic polystyrene figures. We did look at them, but it was ages ago, so they will prove really useful when I return to them here.

The last bag was particularly kind of Brian as we've already had the images - indeed it leaves me with a quandary as I'd like to shoot them again (now they're here!), but with some more CMV shots (for that is what they are) from Chris Smith added to the mix, they were/are fully covered on the khaki infantry page, so I'll have to be patient, or get a grip on an A-Z entry!

A return to Mattel with these two 65/70-mil'ish figures, a nice Batman and The Rock - who's pretty-much escaped me but I know of him from my Brother's enthusiastic gabbling on the Fast & Furious franchise!

I shot the card backs to illustrate a point previously highlighted - the mass of consumer information you find on these things, these days - they must be as 'safe' as a lungful of mountain-air!

Mr. B also sent three more of these large stretchy 100mm combat types from Greenbrier/DTSC for Imperial with a new colour and a new pose - the bazooka firer. Thanks as always to Brian and wishing him and the rest of you a Happy Christmas . . . I know - but it's not far off; any-day-soon and it'll be in the past already!

News, Views Etc . . . Vectis Sale Thursday Next

Press release for tomorrow's TV and Movie relayed sale;

Lot 4092

"The TV and Film related sale to be held on the 12th of December features over 400 lots. Items in the sale include Palitoy Vintage Action man outfits, figures and accessories, Star Wars, Star Trek, Dr Who and Gerry Anderson, plus James Bond, Masters of The Universe, Lord of the rings, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Marvel and DC. There is a selection of TV and Film related diecast models, space related tinplate items and vintage gaming consoles. The sale will also include Part 3 of The North West Autographed Memorabilia Collection, which includes signed photographs, books, magazines, toys and displays from The Rat Pack, Gene Wilder, Take That, The Beatles and many more. The sale will also include books, magazines, and Comics, jigsaws and games, DVDs, and VHS. "

H is for Horse-drawn Hose-artists

Writing the blurb for the previous post reminded me I had shot all the Lledo back in the summer! So here's the firefighting element - Days Gone: DG5 Shand-Mason Horse Drawn Fire Engine - as a non-follow-up, follow-up!

There were three figures in two poses, and variations exist in painted (it wasn't just the dray master) and non-painted figures, a batch of washed-out blue (middle left)* polymer (properties of a nylon or polypropylene) and a frame-runner variation with 'ears' on (upper pair of arrows), possibly due to a change in the production cycle, they look like they were to be grabbed by someone or something, but whether they was later added or earlier removed I don't know. The same runner looses a small tab found at the bottom of the other type - lower arrow.

* The brighter-blue ones in the previous post were created by my colourising the photo's which were washed-out by shooting them through glass.

I have two still boxed and this is - I'm pretty sure - the earlier (1983'ish) one, following the general pattern of the Matchbox model which Jack Odell would have been only too familiar with. Some of the limited edition sets also had the manes and tails painted on the hoses and/or the collars.

Numbered engine 27 of the Chicago Fire Brigade (it's not only 'Engine'-v-'Appliance', there's been a move away from 'Brigade' to 'Service'?) and showing only six models in the line, on the back of the box, which has windows both sides to better display the complete assembly with painted figures.

Both my machines are of American subjects; Lake City is in Florida. By 1986 you had to fit your own unpainted figures which were tucked behind, where one of the windows used to be, but the range had increased to 16 with plans for three more. I quite like this version with the steam-pump painted red.

An older shot (2014) which has been sat in Picasa waiting for the main chance, only to be overshadowed by the 'storage lot'! In both sets of photo's the colour variation is not clear, but the greyer-blue is the lower runner here.

F is for Fire Engines

Now called Fire Appliances, which I've never been happy with as a hose-end is an appliance, an axe is an appliance . . . fire 'trucks' are mighty engines and should be called such. Equally and on the other hand I still have to change the tag from Firemen to Firefighters as that's the right-and-proper thing to do.

I've been keeping an eye on the display cases at Fleet library, hoping for another Christmas toy exhibition/spot the spider, which still hadn't happened (as of Thursday evening), but maybe this weekend will see a change, in the meantime they (Fleet and Crookham Historical Society) have had a display on the history of Fire Fighting in Fleet, and knowing there are several ex-firefighters or firefighter figure collectors watching the blog, this is for them!

I think this line-up is Matchbox original in the middle and two Lledo's either side? The green one has 'Guildford' transfers (which is only 20-minutes up the road), the Matchbox is labelled 'London' and the other seems blank.

We compared the figures years-ago, but I can't remember if it was here or in One Inch Warrior? Basically the two riders are reversed poses in Lledo's Days Gone (DG5) of the Matchbox, the driver's differences are more subtle, but Matchbox's Yesteryear's (Y-4) are smaller.

The little one here is again a Matchbox oldie, from the origianl 1-75 line, but the other two I'm not so sure, they look very alike, but there are subtle differences (the ladder clip-in for instance) so I think we may be looking at Lledo for the red & white one (DG12, Essex?) and 'new' Corgi for the WWII National Fire Service one?

Which would make these; two Lledo and an Oxford Diecast N-gauge example? The green one is Auxiliary Fire Service (also WWII) while I can't read the red one! Lledo issued up to 30 variants of their earlier models in each initial release, both commercially and on contract to corporate entities and premium issuers, as well as - later - some private collectors clubs, and with the older models having the more versions, and the Fire Engine being among the earlier ones, there will be whole cabinets full of these somewhere!

These were in the low glass table display only, the three-tier had photographs of fire stations and other memorabilia, hopefully; they'll both be full of toys any day now, we've got too used to it after three years to not see it over Christmas!

D is for Dino'shelfies!

Although there are a couple-of-three other animal sets, it was a title waiting to happen! A quick look at a few sets out there at Christmas time in case you need to buy yourself a present.

These are branded to NBC Apparel, not the first time in TKMaxx (for that is where they were) at this time of year. Mini animals and mini Chinasaurs in bog-standard toobs, but at five or six quid I only shelfied them to ID them as they come in loose - indeed I think that Hippo may already be here somewhere, and the Dino's with blue bellies look familiar!

A bit big and a bit toy-like, but I know the serious Dinosaur collectors will want one, especially as it seems to be a specific, yet less commonly modelled species, namely; an Eustreptospondylus! Let me get my teeth back in and I'll have another go . . . Yoos-trepto-spondye-luss (or 'dee-luss'), not that bad actually! Geoworld for this one.

The Daddy! "Inspires Learning"? Yeah; learn you don’t go anywhere near carnivorous dinosaurs as tall as your house! Playtek LLC, another we've seen before in TKM. They've both been manufactured with that two-halves hollow PVC or ethylene, but it's the standard way these days; larger mammals or other toy animals come the same way now, even big ducks!

Three tubs from Ravensden PLC; sea life, Chinasaurs and wild animals, again the metallic blue 'ceratops looks familiar, although to be honest I thing the sea-life is the better value-for-money, the other two having a number of duplicates. All three sets also have some relatively new or unique flat tress or other plants/shrubs/seaweeds.

Half a mile from TKMaxx these were made for B&M Retail (B&M Stores) by . . . err . . . whoever made then for 99p Stores (twice?), TKMaxx, Poundland, Poundworld Plus and the other lot . . . Blue-something or something-Blue? I've even done a post on all the brands we've seen these under, and after singles and triples you can now get the lot in one hit!

I'm beginning to regret the three or four quid I've spent on my three or four animals, as they are going to be common in Charity shops for the next twenty years (although with some scientists only giving us fifteen years now (their climate models underestimated), that might itself be a clever trick!), still, I can pick up the ones I haven't got, remember there are two paint variants (so far!) for some of these - or all six.

However, note the price; rounding off, the unit price of one set's individual animals is £2.20p, or for the B2F20, £1.60p (if my math's are right), both way over the 99p or £1 we've previously seen them at, even the tripple set at TKM a couple of years ago was only about £4.99p (giving roughly £1.50p each), and that's how capitalism works - these will more than pay for previous discounting, and there's less packaging per-animal here, so the true differential is even greater!

Q is for Question Time - Sacul Drummer . . . Not!

This rather interesting figure came in from Chris Smith the other day and if anyone has any idea's he'd love to hear them!

At first glance he looks to be slightly better sculpted or finished, but a closer look suggests he was probably poorly pantographed and then over-etched to re-establish surface detail? The drum's carrying-strap is vastly improved over the donor's and the left stick is extended while the hand's position is changed slightly. A heavy base lifts a much smaller figure and he looks to be relatively chalkless, so could be quite late . . . 1970's even?

Minor British make? Premium of some kind? Another of these BR Moulds Plastic Warrior has been tantalising us with . . . they mostly have thinner bases, but the ex-Airfix paratrooper has a blobbier one? Even a Hong Kong copy with a fort set of some kind? Thinking of the Tom Smith re-use of Kellogg's Thunderbird figures (Crescent), could he be a cracker prize?

It's plastic, so it was mass-produced, there must be more out there! Other poses?