H is for Helper Helps Helpfully!

Fun post, but Peter's box got a thorough search, and I thought it deserved a separate post . . . well, there were enough photo's!

Oh!  A box!

What do you mean, I'm standing on your stuff? It's a bunch of plastic stuff,

you keep complaining about all the stuff!

I think there's still some 'stuff' in here . . .

. . . just need to get the right angle . . .

. . . a bit of a stretch should do it . . .

. . mumm . . . there's . . . . some . . . . . something . . . . . . jus . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

H is for How They Come In - Peter - July

Another donation to the Blog wung its way from North London and the Generous Peter Evans in late July, and while we've seen one or two bits from it already, there were some interesting single/stand-alone figures which we're looking at in a minute.

First the inevitable 'group shot', the box ended-up in such a performance it's getting its own post! The bag of horses and the motorbikes both made it into a rather interrupted Rack Toy Month, but I still managed 45 posts, so all was not lost! Not shown below are the red mechanic, a couple of Britains part-zoo-keepers, ertzgibirge cottage and a silver Timpo-clone, sub-scale knight-copy.

A bunch of five! From the left; Worlds Apart/Horrible Histories Centurion, I may paint him up so he's not the same as the original gifted by the promoter, a - probably originally - 1950's kit figure, could be from an AFV, but in silver is more likely to be from an aircraft or rocket kit?

A very interesting figure, which is of the Airfix/Aussie/NZ set of eight seen here numerous times now, but this one a home-cast (and it is technically a casting, being poured) copy from a home-made mould, by Peter, more interesting still is that it's in a material which has set-hard, but flexible, with the properties of PVC.

Then we have a Safari astronaut of the NASA type and a fine but poorly-painted artillery corporal . . . sorry; self-confirmed Emperor! I'm guessing a modern'ish tourist keepsake? Having started a tub just for Blownaparts after I Blogged my small sample, he has a home to go straight into!

This must be kinder (or similar) and is a rather nice fairy, as you can see! Rather peacock'y wings which are made of a sort of plasticised cartridge paper which is relatively indestructible and the specific hols in the base may point to some kind of larger assembly being possible, or collectable toward? [Images might belong in the August lot - publishing later today]

Speaking of kinder, the Hippo'/Rhino' (it's not clear) are definitely Kinder from the 1990's or 2010's, as I have a similar Polar Bear family somewhere, as you can see they stack like Russian Dolls! The sci-fi knight on an armoured Dinosaur is also Kinder while the two (gum-ball machine?) finger-puppets are fun - a Lion holding burning brands a tad too close to his mane for comfort and an Impish Devil who's lost a thumb I fear!

The gold paper worked better this time . . . different light conditions? 

A handful of 'Chinatroops' made up the parcel, and these are they; two iterations of the same pose from different makers, a buckshee Airfix 8th Army piracy and a similar Afrika Korps soldier - we'll return to such things later today if BT Wifi lets me get them all up later!

Many thanks to Mr Evans for another fun lot which pushes the envelope that little bit further!

H is for How They Come In - Peter - June

Another day another gratefully-received donation to the Blog; just as Lockdown was starting to really grate with most, and the same morning as the latest issue of Plastic Warrior arrived, I received a lovely surprise from Peter Evans;

In the shape of mostly rack toy type stuff, or things suited to individual posts we have - now - seen most of the above sets and some of the lose bits like the pyramids - everyone should see the pyramids!

Other items of interest were the erasers (previous post today); a rather nice (possibly old'ish) crocodile; two mid-scale farm workers; the three large Egyptians, which due to one of them being a standing-about mummy with get a reprise later; an interesting copy of a Britains Deetail Japanese soldier who's not from the Kwong Wah series of chrome-sprayed ones and a fantastic Scooby [♪-doobie-♫] Doo (RIP Joe Ruby) dressed in a Sherlock Holmes costume!

Cracker toys, Boley cowboys, a wooden farmer's wife, snakes, a daft squirrel and a rather nice rabbit in a daft colour all add to the joy of sorting, and I suspect the twin palm trees are also from the large tub version of Wild Republic's set from whence came the pyramids?

While technically an action figure with various simple (single plane) points of articulation, I was rather taken by this, the construction of the horse is reminiscent of the larger Indians branded to Maxxi which wear various monikers, so he may be findable about the place under various brand-marks.

But he is big, ELC, Papo or Schleich big at about 70/80-mil? Still give him a better weapon, de-seam the joints and add some painting; he could look really sharp as a stand-alone display-figure and the caparison is begging for a complicated design!

S'not yours; s'mine!

E is for Erazeoo

I know! Some of them are so bad I'm shocked I get away with it! Claimed by RSW International and sub-branded to Royle Kids [sic] 'Animal Antics', these were a gift from Peter Evans in his end-of May parcel to the Blog, so many thanks to him.

Of interest to us as they (or the Hippo) are the same as the Hippo we saw from Tiger Stores (now Flying Tiger) a couple of [six!] years ago here at Small Scale World, so clearly a re-branding or separate contract. I was going to stack the elephant on the other two, but all three boxes are different sizes! I look for it but can't find it so it's probably in a mixed round-up or News, Views . . . ?

Close-ups; The Elephant is the weakest, being an odd shape really, more African than Asian and with short but fat tusks which can't be excused by production limits as the Hippo has a nice-enough and thinner tail?

But they are what they are, which -for the most part - is nice sculpts of animals you probably wouldn't want to actually use as erasers, so novelties! All grist to the mill - and thanks again to Peter.

H is for How They Come In - The Small Envelope!

Wung its way to me it did, no warning had I got . . . Chris Smith kindley thought I hadn't had enough plunder during lockdown, and he was sort of correct, but I spent on FeeBay for a few bits, but he sent a top-up parcel the other day . . .

. . . with some items for other things and some because they've been seen or mentioned, it is that later lot I've shot outside the bag! The rest will appear here in the near future, but you may spot some clues in the above!

Robots; Chris and I managed to ID the Hong Kong red & blue robots he sent just before Covid struck, and by way of continuing the conversation (they will get their own post when I find something in the collection that goes with them and which I thought I'd found but now can't find! Doh!) sent these individuals.

From the left, I thought this was from Robots, but it's from the earlier Iron Giant, the head being worthy of a law-suit over the later film's main characters' I think! Then two PVC Japanese Manga/Anime 'bots, I have little idea over either, but suspect the red one os a Transformer, the white one (a pencil top) possibly from an older franchise like Atomic Boy or Atom man or whatever it was! The final figure is a Kinder astronaut, but he looks robotic with all that silver.

I also received two gnomes needing re-gnhoming! (hey - it's Chris's joke not mine!), a small one which may also be a Kinder, and a larger one, which I told Chris I might offer to Mr Evans of Plastic Warrior magazine, before realising he sent me two others (in my Gnome Village 'starter kit'; see Blog passim) from the same set, so may already have it in his community?

I think the larger one is a Hong Kong copy of an old Fontanini sculpt, but I'm not sure, so don't quote me on that one, just musing out loud, on the posing!

Cheers Chris - keeps me going!

H is for How They Come In - The 'Meah' Lot!

Last week's finds were a bit disappointing I'm afraid, but to not show it would be to upset the sort of sub-conscious symmetry which drives people with Asperger's, so here it is for your amusement; two bags of relative shite and another teddy-bear.

Bag'a'shite! Bloooody Stuuudents! "Oh, oh look, I gotta disssserrrtaaation"! The bottom three rows are some sort of 'zing, 'ling or 'kin, which sort I haven't looked up, but they are all piling-up in Picasa (under 1964!) for an overview one day!

Purple Alien is fun if a bit cartoony, eight Iwako or Iwako-piracies top right, a Character Options footballer (useful as a sample for comparisons, if for nothing else) and three similar figures by someone else who makes better 'minis' than Lego!

Bag No.2; more of the same but mostly resin and I rather like the piggy-wiggy superheroes -  Superham and Captain Gammon! Anyone know anything about them; the trouble with poured resin is anyone can do it in their shed or garage and get it into a local craft or gift/tourist shop, so you never know the level of 'commercial' interest, but they are both quite professional looking so somebody may know what they are all about?

Footballer and the two love-hearts go back to charity, but the pink 'knitted' PVC monkey stays until I find out about it! And a couple more unknown 'kins.

Another teddy-bear who ticks all the Covid-19, clapping but no pay-rise, NHS cannon-fodder boxes!

H is for How They Come In - The Really Quite Good Lot

The following week, that is; the week following the lot in the last post, or two weeks ago, roughly . . . I managed to find much better pickings as the sorting of Lockdown started to filter through, or so I thought (see next post for how that panned-out!), with three bags procured;

Three bags, or two bags and a loose figure, so three purchases, must have accuracy! You can see straight away how interesting the contents of the bag was, so leaving it would have been daft!

But first to Superman, who I thought might be from the comic+figure series, which it may be, I haven't looked into them, but it was a solid, so I grabbed it! It's definitely Schleich, and we may have seen some before in a Toy Fair post, but they may have been Bullyland, I can't remember, they'll be on the tag-list for those who need to know!

The main chance! Clearly the remains of what might once have been an interesting biscuit-tin or cigar-box full of similar stuff? But as was pointed out by a loyal reader over a similar lot a while ago, they may have been saved by the shop staff from a dozen donations!

The best bit is the rider for the Crescent/Kellogg's circus horse, which was the most obvious missing item in my sample, while the Roman was found two days after a bunch of his compatriots arrived in the post as the result of an evilBay purchase.

Not mentioned below are the Ricicles premium, a small 'Maid Marion' issue guardsman, a Hong Kong copy of Monogram radio-operator and a soft, black-rubber, motorcycle rider.

Clockwise from top left; the driver on the right is Tudor Rose I seem to recall, but the other two must be Thomas (UK) or Poplar, being polyethylene versions of the PVC-rubber Thomas originals?

Nice robot, probably from gum-ball capsule machines and a Jar-jar fuckwit who seems to have been atop something; an automatic toothbrush, money-box, knock-off play-set, who knows?

The Marx Jap' is actually a Hong Kong-marked copy and my first in this iteration, the mark is clear and on the upper surface of the base. The diver is probably also Hong Kong, although unmarked and sat on a rack-toy boat, while the other two are kit figures, a pilot or driver and an early AFV-kit accessory.

A rather clean but paint-chipped Lone Star officer, to which you can add the cleaner Crescent grenage thrower and three tatty Cherilea ceremonials.

H is for How They Come In - The Mixed Lot

So, we've had the first post-lockdown Charity-shop purchase post, but it's been a month now, so there have been three more trips to town, three more trips round the Charity shops, I haven't managed the Phyllis Tuckwell shop as it's keeping limited hours so I keep missing it, and I keep having to queue at Britsh Heart Foundation, but have managed to find a few bits!

I can't remember which shop which lot came from, but there were purchases in the three I got to, and due to the dearth of stuff since March, I grabbed what I could find and there's here in the order I shot them and then collaged them.

Four bears . . . well, to be accurate four bears a rabbit and a duckling! Three makers, no marks, resin, 50p each, probably originally closer to 8-quid a'piece in a jewellers window! The bears were three from one store and one from another.

Nice to get something Portuguese in the tag list, even though it’s probably a contract from 4D (who we've seen before here) abck in China, here branded to CF 3D, and imported by Brindflor of Lisboa (Lisbon), it's very similar to the Kangaroo/Wallaby we saw here a while back - also from a charity shop!

If you're wondering why I took such shitty shots of this on chip-paper, it's actually a sheet of stiff gold paper someone used to wrap some stuff in on a feebleBay purchase, and I thought it would make a good backdrop, but it was matt-gold, and just bleached out under the flash, leaving a rather drab view - soz! It's probably why the box shots are a bit fuzzy too?

P is for Portuguese Pachycephalosaurus!

Schleich cheetah cub; the orange is some kind of staining which I will try to remove with the laundry product for felt-tips and marker-pens! Isn't it lovely!

Finally a bag'O'shite, but it has a bear, two cereal premiums and a Kinder or two, so nothing lost, god knows what the ghost in a pink shell is all about, but I think it may be another cereal premium, glows in the dark, may have a bit of age about it and is clearly missing half its shell  . . . hey-ho! The actually rather well-executed zebra is either a fancy paper-clip or a hair clip!

S is for Santorini

Where - I think it's fair to say - a majority of ancient historians (that's historians specialising in the ancient period, not a bunch of decrepit historians . . . although some of them are bound to have some age) now believe an advanced, pre-historical, bronze-age, naval society, akin or related to the Minoans or Troy, were based on their island paradise . . . which just happened to be a sleeping volcano - and you thought 2020 was a bit shit!

Another Waddington's game today, with 'plastic smalls' . . . . [thump!] there, that's the PSTSM leaving the room, phew! I picked this up soon after it came out, for about half what it cost, with figures still on the runners, which is usually a sign the family didn't get through a first read of the rules!

The figures are suitably ancient in the fashion stakes, and while wildly different sizes (if she stood-up straight she'd be 7-foot-6 to his 5-11), they would both paint-up well for inclusion with Atlantic's Christians in the big arena! He'd also make a good chariot soldier, while she could hide from 'Kong'!

I wasn't prepared to do a .gif of this one as there are far too many pieces (120+) and I didn't bother reading the rules at all! But a central citadel leads-on to six town pieces, 12 countryside pieces and 24 rock-sections, after which, escape (the main aim of the game) lies in crossing the ocean . . .

. . . a task facilitated by catching a ride on a passing bireme - only three at a time thought (Covid-19 social distancing!), Ding! Ding! "Move down the boat please! And don't forget to report anything unusual - No! Not the molten lava-balls falling from the sky Madam, management is already aware of that - and take all you belongings with you if you leave".

'If', because there are giant octopi and sea-dragons to help stop you ever getting to the mainland and being sold into slavery to pay for your passage! Note; the box art has reverse colours from those in my set.

There are sharks too! Now you start to understand why each player has 12 counters, it is probably likely some players don't save more than one, if any at all? The dolphins probably help . . . bloody liberals, always wanting to aid people worse off than the majority . . . it's fucking socialism you know, sodding pinko-commie cetaceans!!

I posed them with the boat as I had it out for that post the other day!

There you go, someone else went to the effort of setting-up a sample game so I didn't have to!

I'm not saying she's mad, but look at the eyes, I think she's going to kill her 'mother' as soon as the photographer says "Wrap"!

 

19-06-2022 - I've since learnt that there are various versions of this game, some with simpler or more cartoony sea monsters, another with simple cone-counters for the people, one with all card pieces, another (Germany?) with wooden playing pieces and everything else in card, but I think the above is the best version of the lot.

U is for Update - Parachute Toy Page

I suspect BT has failed completely (or blocked me, without informing me, for being a complaining git), so this and the previous won't get up 'till Monday, but it will - at least - be in time for RTM, with the other stuff which should have published over the weekend being filtered into the normal output!

As you can see I got on in-time, but the six posts which were supposed to publish Sat-Sun., have been held so that's rather it for RTM, now, but there's always more to come here!

All these are contributions from (alphabetically) Brain Berke, Chris Smith. Peter Evans and Theo van der Weerden, and while the rest have gone on the other page, the section for 'poopatroopers' hasn't been edited or uploaded yet, so it can go here!

These are from Imperial, via Brian Berke over 'The Pond' and while they (Imperial) were responsible for the original Poopa-Troopers, these are slightly different, however, they are not the clones we've seen in BJ, Jaru and Kandy Toys colours in the last few years, they are if anything closer to the Imperial originals.

Also they are only a small part of a larger set of summer garden/beach stuff, although that bat could be used to get some height on the sky divers!

These four on the other hand have published to update the relevant sections of the Parachute figures page. That's got novelty paratroopers up before the end of RTM, and we'll be on to other things as the Autumn gets a grip, looks like we're in for a hard'ish Winter!

Y is for Yawn!

Nah! Not really, but we don't get many 'Y's in the tag-list! This was going to be a figure-free day today, here at Small Scale World, looking at vehicles and I said as much to a loyal reader in an eMail last night, but in the end and because of the problems with BT-WiFi (which clearly means 'Where Is FIdelity) I'm chucking this up here for now, cos I've managed an Internet window, and it may be all you get today!

For those who have been on holiday, there's plenty published recently to catch-up on, for those observing lockdowns and social distancing who have been following more closely, sorry; 'cos it's not even that 'new' or interesting, but the box needs ticking!

Seen just about everywhere now, and associated with about five brandings already, we're adding another here; Stobok, almost certainly a phantom-brand of Amazon's own warehouses (it was a 'lockdown' purchase along with the Egyptians!), it's the accessories which are of interest here, the figures being-sub-sub-piracies and of the accessories, the totem pole, being also the least interesting (also a sub-piracy of a common design), that's got the worst image out of the way!

These are the nice bits; and worth the paltry sum you can find the set for. A 'sky' or 'air-burial' platform (which can also be a lookout!)* in six parts and a five-part camp-fire and cooking tripod arrangement. The latter useful with any period or scenario from cave-men to a galaxy far, far away!

* Or shelter roof!

The Teepee (Tipi) is a bit so-so, but nice for being not the Britains one! Both the decoration and the fully-round sculpting setting it apart from the much copied 'usuall' one and while it's fair to suggest the flat has britains DNA, equally there aren't many ways of showing a flap and folded back against the tent's body is the easiest!

Heh-hay! It's another Marra'jah'wanna-tree! The last time we saw this it was in a Red Deer dinosaur set I think? Which probably means this set may turn-up in Red Deer packaging, although it has already been attributed to Maxxi Toys, who sell in the same stores that take Red Deer branded product, so they may both be generics from the same source anyway?

That's it, that's them, box ticked.

M is for More TaT!

I'm sure we’ve had that one before, but they were asking for it all those years ago!

Quick look at a boxed truck from TAT of Hong Kong this is toward the larger end of toy vehicle scales at around 1:43rd scale.

For some reason I didn't do a nose-on shot, so it looks like that old favourite of mine a Bedford MK, but I think it's a Ford D-Series? Also, while it's a skip-bodied tipper-truck, it doesn't tip! But it has a standard (for the time) flywheel, kinetic-energy 'friction' motor, so you win some, you lose some!

Box! It's got a box. That's it - box-ticked!

AB is for Vidalis Brother's 'Joy Toy'

Back to Greece, pure coincidence but there it is, another Greek plastic toy here on Small Scale World, but sadly no figures again; no figures today actually, so figure-purists come back tomorrow, and more 'plastic smalls' so the PSTSM can have the day-off too!

The set, which has - since these shots were taken - gone in the bin! Reason being, it was a very poor carton when I got it, with a sun-burnt blister-window, and a lot of hidden mending; I did the whole dismantle - dampen - iron - patch-the-inside (with Butterfly paper-tape) job on it years ago; so it was already a bit ersatz over its originality, and these are not so rare on feeBay, or at the bigger shows like Sandown, so - in the end - there was little point keeping it limping along.

The 'meat and two three veg' in this set is the Bedford car-transporter with three VW Golf/Polo type 'hot hatches', all have tinted windows and the Bedford is particularly well done with only the gryphon missing from the little shield 'nose'.

Partly that is down to a larger size, these are toward the larger end of 1:72nd, rather than the similar Blue Box's smaller end of 1:76th, and the cab is the same model as that military MK from Blue Box (and others), but as a triple-axle tractor unit this would have been a larger engined vehicle or have a different gearbox and therefore a different code-designation, I suspect?

The same cab on a longer chassis provides heavy-lift and there is a good measure in interior detail in the cab. As far as I know this type of Bedford nevr saw service with the British Army, who used Foden's in the heavier classes, but some other NATO members may have had such equipment, while for old school war-gaming all they need is a coat of matt-green and they can serve in any army you want them to!

The logo is an AB from the Latin alphabet, odd for the country which still uses the Greek alphabet, but as it stands for 'Adelphoi Bitali' which is the Greek for 'The Vidalis Brothers', I suspect it's all cleverer than me! This is - obviously - the Mercedes bus.

While there is a lack of figures, there is still a lot of play-value added with the inclusion of a whole bunch of accessories, including both working traffic lights and working pedestrian crossing lights (for the non-existent pedestrians!), for those who need to know about these things, there are two variants of road sign with longer and shorted plinths at the bottom of the Lego-like pole.

The light units are quite clever with a slider placing a white plastic disc behind clear, coloured plastic lenses as you push and pull it up and down behind the cover, finally' two slightly sub-scale petrol-pumps are included. there's also a bag of traffic-cones

The typical range sample circa-1970, when this set was issued (note the larger 1:43rd (?) sports cars), there are a few earlier, simpler models from the 1960's, and it may be that more will be revealed by Greek collectors going forward, I don't know a good source for Greek toy info, beyond a couple of toy soldier pages, but 87th Scale Info havea page on them here, despite their mostly being quite oversized for HO-gauge - the smaller turcks here are Toyota's in a very HO-looking size.

And - as with the Comet-Authenticraft stuff (which they never actioned) if someone from that site contacts me I can give them the new model numbers and some new photo's?