E is for Ephemera - New Ray Catalogue

Don't know when exactly this catalogue dates from, but I believe it to be slightly earlier than the 1996 sets we looked at this morning, so maybe 1989-01'ish? These are high-resolution scans, but the catalogue was a low level three-colour dot-matrix printing, so a lot of it is not as clear as we would like, but seems to be a pretty comprehensive listing of their sets before the graphics change to the sets in the previous post.

 

These day's it's all online http://www.new-ray.com/html/products_catalog.php?id=1 but mostly larger-scales and mostly die-cast stand-alone models, rather than the range of polymer play sets seen above!

MOC is for New Ray Play Town

Apologies for the large number of small-scale posts this RTM, as I recognise that if, in a hobby of - for arguments sake - 1000 fans, there are probably only 40-odd aficionados of the smaller scales to the same level of seriousness, it just so happens that one of the boxes in the garage that had to go up to the storage-unit was wedged-in and I could only get it out by tipping it, which required emptying it first, so with piles of stuff everywhere, it made sense to photograph them and they were mostly from my old small-scale exclusive collecting days!

And it gives those who don't rate 'plastic smalls' another day-off from studying my Blog!

These two have been in the collection since I don't know when and I bought them I can't remember where! But it says 1996 on the back, so possibly a cheapie store in Camberley around-about then . . . or Woolies'? Before they folded!

Both from New Ray, they are scaled pretty accurately between 00-gauge (1:76^th) or European HO (1:86/87^th scales), although described as 1:72^nd scale and - I'm guessing here - there must have been a selection (two of one and three of the other, according to the card backs?), from which I took one from the farm series and one construction, both from the overarching Play Town lines.

Backs of the cards give an idea of other items in the range, and the next post, following, will have more of this stuff from a slightly older catalogue.

Close-up of the contents; there was a lot of this stuff around in the mid-1990's, all or near-all plastic, there's a move back to die-cast vehicles these days, in the cheap toy field, I suspect due to the breakability of plastics? Meanwhile, the more highly-detailed European plastic makers have been consolidated under a few larger parent brands; same things happened with HO/OO railway makers/brands.

Best thing in the farm set is the greenhouse! Figures are showing heritage in Elastolin and Preiser I think and we have seen another of these little trays at some point on the blog . . . I'm not sure if it's in this post, or somewhere else; still to be sorted into New Ray's box?

Some of the lose examples include another figure insert-tray, complete and two more of the Elastolin rip-off 'land army' girl in her dungarees with a few other bits. I know I have some more in the TBS box, so we will probably return to these at some point, but maybe only on the A-Z pages, when I finally tackle that project probably.

There aren't many missing though, I think there were three sets of four civilians and one set of four emergency personnel, with a few more animals, only horses and cows?

A few of the just mentioned farm animals and the 'cowboy' from the other side - the ID clues are softish PVC in white, with thickish bases, ovoid for large items/animals, penny-round for figures.

While New Ray's 1:32^nd scale range included a large military series, the HO range was exclusively civilian, with some large sets including ports and battery-operated trains, cranes and suck-like, which will be along here at small scale world shortly!

W is for Wedge-Hand Warriors

I've been after a set of these for ages, I have one or two somewhere without weapons, or with the wrong weapons, but I knew what they were as they seem to have been common about 15/20 years ago - around the time 'The Wall' came down, and there had been several dealers; one in Ireland, one in the US and one in the West County (I think) selling the boxed sets, usually for a reasonable amount, but at the time I wasn't really buying online.

And while more recently I have bid and lost on a couple of boxed sets (or dropped out 'cos they went too-high for my wallet!), I spotted a lose but complete set a while ago and got it for a reasonable price (can't remember if it was bid or BIN?), so while a box is always nice, and makes for a longer Blog Post, it's really all about the figures, so -  with all the accessories - let's have a look at them!

Progress again, they seem to have been one of the more prolific of the Russian figure producers, surviving for some time after the end of the Soviet Bloc and with factories/licensees in some of the satellite countries, these Alexander Nevsky Knights are notable for having slot/wedge hands like the 1st version Cherilea combat infantry. I've also seen them described as Progress Medieval Retinue, but don't know if that was an/the official title or a Western translation?

Also like their British counterparts, these are not rubbery or 'grippy' hands, but quite rigid polyethylene hands you have to force the accessory into only for it to pop-out in play! The archer gets two plug-ins which are a bit more successful, while the chap in the middle of the upper row has a more conventional ring-hand for his sword.

The accessories they come with (and the ease with which they are parted from the figures is/was the driver for trying to find a boxed set!), some can be swapped between figures, but they aren't terribly good swaps - visually - and with differing thicknesses of shaft or handle; are really figure-pose specific?

These all ended-up with rather busy backgrounds, so I will revisit them at some point with a plainer setting, but for now you get the idea, the Soviet equivalent of rack toys gets shoehorned into RTM again!

I suspect they are the same sculptor as the set of WWII Infantry with the plug-in red-flag we've seen here (with Chris's help), and are reported to have first appeared in 1976, but with only the five poses in this set, possibly because of the extra effort and second mould-cost required by the accessories?

I ended-up with a couple of images which cropped so similar again, they make for a nice .gif, which gives the impression of 3D without faffing-about on making a short video which is often more effort than it's worth.

Progress Russian Alexander Nevsky/Medieval Retinue knights' set - box ticked! I'm now searching for a complete set of the MIR copies; cruder sculpts, also silver PE, but with plug-in heliotrope pink/red bases, making them even more 'swoppet'-like!

F is for Flexible Friends; an Update

Not really rack toys per se, but in the same pocket money bracket, so acceptable in Rack Toy Month, I think, and it's a while since we had bendies, despite a shed-load of them a few years back, and this is another post which quickly went from 1 collage to six images in about five minutes!

This came-in back in January I think? I've totally lost the plot this year on most things everything! Schleich bendy astro-spaceman type and he was going to be a stand-alone post, but then I remembered I had some wild west in the big folder who have been there for ages, as I keep forgetting what's in there!

Unmarked they might be Hong Kong, but I have a feeling someone said they were Italian? It may be that the Italians also got them from Hong Kong, as these were in a pick-box in a newsagents' back at the start of the Blog, so not that old, but old stock!

From behind; they are smaller too at about 54mm-compatable, to the Schleich's 70/80-odd (I didn't think to measure any of them - Doh!) and a softer PVC than most bendy-toys.

Thinking there might be some more [bendies] I started going through the 800-odd toy folders and found these in the ''Brain 2016-17'' folder . . . whoops! So Mr Berke must have sent these during the main period of Bendy Posts, but somehow they got lost . . . by moi! I think we did look at some Brain-provided bendies at the time, and he definitely sent a NJ Croce figure or two to the Blog which got posted, but anyway . . . sorry Brian (Brian knows how much other stuff is in his folders, but it will all appear here, eventually!).

Loony Tunes bendies - how cool are they!

I then finally realised I'd purchased these back in Jan/Feb sometime, probably about the same time as the Schliech? When I tried to clear 2021 by shoving a load of posts back to 2004, I'd left the spaceman in 2021, so there were two stand alone posts, eight forgotten Cowboys & Indians and the lost Loony Tunes in two different areas of the Picasa index and four folders! What am I like?

"I dub thee;

Sir Bent Bendie the Bender, of Bendsville, Bendsylvannia,

go forth and flex thyself!"

I think I bought them from a seller in France, thinking they might be Brabo, but they are just marked 'made in Hong Kong' on their back legs, but minty-fresh, or NOS as some put it! And possibly there might be more musketeers in the full set . . . and a Richelieu?

It's also worth noting that the above caption would have been considered inappropriate 30 or 40-years ago, but I'm pleased to say we've come far enough in our liberal tolerances that I don't think anyone uses the word in its negative connotation anymore?

So that's them then, 15 more bendies for the 'Bendy-toys' tag! I was in TK Maxx the other day and they didn't have any NJ Croce stuff, but they tend to get them in for Christmas, so I'll keep my eye out for them later in the year.

Ah-soh! is for Grasshopper!

I always try to sneak some of  the former-Soviet Union's equivalent of Rack Toys into RTM, however, this time it's a current set, but one of the more affordable sets from Biplant, as opposed to some of the incredibly expensive (for no real reason) sets emanating from the former Bloc.

Unlike the combat sets we saw, which come in a standard header-carded 'bottle bag', these historical sets come in wonderful display 'cabinets', which here gives us a lovely Imperial Chinese style building/roof reflecting the original Shaolin Monastery in Dengfeng,Henan Province, China.

Six of the floatiest flying Ninja David Carradines' you'll ever see! The plastic colour makes photography hard, but they are nicely done figures, all clean shaven heads and lethal weaponry! You can see also how they seem to pair-up if you were to be minded to paint and base them as mini-vignettes or a single larger diorama.

While this guy has the air of a master about him, maybe a trainer/instructor or older monk, with a heavier sword (for whacking students with the flat-side of?), bulky shield and substantial cloak. He also lacks the dynamism of the other six, but is still a nice figure. He'd also paint-up nicely as any 'biblical' era man-at-arms, albeit a bald one!

Packaging scans; the others sets get variations of a castle/fortress look which is not quite as ornate as this one, so this one might be the one to go for first! They're currently available from several dealers on evilBay (which is getting very evil these days!).

F is for Final Pair Found

I also managed to find - in the course of the pandemic - the last pair of the 'quite good animals!

Not much I can say about them as I think it's probably the third or fourth time we've visited them, but Lion and Giraffe, Imagination Play 2 Discover, open-fronted display box, in some Poundlands, but it might take a year or two to find all six pairs, but they are consistent pairs and seem to be constantly topped-up as a standard of the small toy section.

That's it, model Lion and Giraffe, Giraffe and Lion models, did I say they come in an open-fronted display box . . . but is it even a box? It only has one-and-some-bits sides, more a display standee-carton'ee thingy!

P is for Poundland's Prehistoric Plastic II, not!

I don't know if we've had that title before, but in case we have I added the 'II, not' just to be sure, it seems a little obvious as titles go? Anyway, despite the best efforts of SARS-COV II Covid 19 to keep us from the shops for half of last year and the first quarter of this, my vape-habit meant I had occasionally to take my face-mask for a walk to Poundland, where I kept a look out for the Series II dinosaurs, of the Series I we saw here a while ago; still no dice, but they did have these as a sort of consolation!

The TXA is backed-up by a "Produced by PLOZ" of Walsall (West Midlands), so still a phantom brand or brand-mark, but for Poundland. These are larger than the pairs, still also carrying the Prehisterror line-title and only one per card and this time they didn't even have the "...rainbow-mauve Per'Terry-dactill!" I reported passing on back in November, but they did have the other four, so I grabbed them!

You can see why I passed on it, it was leerier than the image and far from being either a Velociraptor or a Per'Terry-dactill is more of a Foh-een-ix! I am reminded of the B-Movie about the big . . . dino-bird (?) hiding in the roof of the Chrysler Building and eating sun-bathers for breakfast - can't remember the name of it?

But these are OK for a pound-a-piece, the blue eyes are a bit zombie-like, but that's the thing with cheapies - the paints always a bit simple!

That's it, box ticked, they're out there, now, for a quid!

P is for Posts Passim!

One of the things I like to do here from time to time, as I'm sure you've noticed, is a few posts with a narrative tale or connection running through them but with the first post covering both Wing Lung and the Knight Toys I thought we'd already got in the tag list, with these, it was a question of do I go Wing Lung/Knight-Knight-Wing Lung or (as has been the case) Wing Lung/Knight-Wing Lung-Knight, such is the executive stress / excitement level here at Small Scale World!

As the figures are dominant the first follow-up was the Wing lung, and this post is [was going to be?] a briefer affair, leaving as many questions as it arrives with.

Two sets, this is the first and they are in no particular order, of immediate interest is that we get two brandings; JE Toys and PMS (more usually associated with 99p Stores, but I think this may pre-date those now defunct emporiums of tat) on a sticker, the back gives us a clue that PMS might have imported this set from a wholesaler in Spain?

The contents are much-of-a-muchness, with figures that could be from Pioneer or Supreme (softish vinyl) or someone else, and are copied from the larger polyethylene ones associated with the Wing Mau Trading Co., and Hing Fat. And an eclectic mix of vehicles and accessories which may be from several of the lesser makers in that part of the world.

I would point-out that the early CGI image on the back of the box is quite sophisticated and would have required a large memory to render, prior to being converted into a '2D' .jpg or .png image for print.

The second (or 'other'; there is no order here) set is branded to the aforementioned Knight and Fancy It Agencies Ltd., the same combo as the toob, two posts ago, with Gausini in the mix on that occasion!

Contents are similar, but less, with the vehicles replaced by die-cast jets. The rocket, people-carrier and figures are the same, however the street furniture is different with the large 'facility sign' being a copy, although it's not clear and the different artwork could be batches rather than copying.

In all the complication of trying to ascribe rack-toys to producers, the only thing that really matters to a figure collector is the figures, and these are they! Soft'ish PVC vinyl and around 30mm, there only seem to be the three poses in this size - here compared with the venerable Airfix set.

As I said above the donors were probably Wing Mau (Hing Fat being the next-generation pirate) but the maker could just as easily be Pioneer, Supreme or an unknown party. Also I think I logiced (I know, but it should be a word!) that Wing Mau (or their owner) were probably middle men, while early Hing Fat seem to have copied Rado Industries late stuff, so even the donors are a question mark!

Indeed given that Pioneer are essentially a die-caster of small vehicles, and given the number of figures associated with their vehicle sets now, both home-branded and generics/other brand-marks, it may be they were themselves buying them in from a third party, in which case I'd be tempted to say Supreme/SP Toys, but, their own 40mm figures are so poor, they can't have produced the more delightful figures we've seen from Pioneer associated sets!

Now JE Toys are known to the die-cast collectors (there's a less than clear thread here), while PMS are an old-school importer/sourcer/wholesaler from the UK via Hong Kong (now also with offices in Shanghai and India) and not the in-house brand I'd suggested when I kept finding their stuff in 99p Stores - mea culpa!

While - with two sets in three days jointly fingering Knight/Fancy It - we might assume they are a joint shipping-branding exercise, who happened to select another set/set-combination from whichever middle-man in Hong Kong/China was putting these together to hawk round the trade fairs in the 1990's. They now seem to have moved out of toys and lost the fancy knight on horseback!

The few JE Toys the die-cast guys have identified seem to be at the poorer end of such production, garish decorated and slightly squashed, die-cast uppers on plastic lower-halves (I think I may have some of their AFV's), while these (the upper set) are more Pioneer in quality? Equally if an import from Spain (juguete Espania?) there may be two JE's under discussion here!

The two motorcycles in the initial set above are completely different, one a reasonable quality, mostly die-cast with plastic finishes, rendition of a Harley Electraglide (or Roadster?), the other a cheap, generic, all-plastic model of a Japanese street-racer of the sort you might find in a capsule-dispensing machine, Christmas cracker or lucky-bag type setting, so probably came from two different of the up to 600-odd [at any one time] yet to be named (within the hobby) toy makers recorded in Hong Kong over the years?

So it all proves nothing other than that it's never clear, wheels within wheels . . .

RTM is for Return To More - Wing Lung

Looked at these when I first ID'd them even though my sample here was rather pathetic, and despite the bulk still being in storage, enough have come in now to give a better picture and confirm better the base marking which makes these easy to sort from the chaff of all the other clones!

RTM is the best place to do that and having mentioned them in the previous post now is the time! With thanks to Chris Smith and Peter Evans as the latter sent the on-runner examples, while the former sends a few in each of his donations to the blog, to be shared here with you!

Starting chronologically; the Wild West are all Airfix clones and come in the same colours they used for their WWII stuff, six poses each of foot cowboys and Native American Indians, gives plenty of play-value from a rack-toy. I haven't got a bagged or carded set yet so I don't know if they got accessories or what they may have been, maybe a Tee-pee/Tipi or one of the smaller-sized Britains Herald totem-poles, which do come in oxide-brown?

American infantry; before and after cleaning! Im not sure what poses are missing, Matchbox bazooka and Airfix running Marine clones; is my best guess! but it's not that simple as we'll see next:

The Afrika Korps; All Matchbox piracies, but with the British officer giving commands instead of the original German, in a larger scale sample of Brit's in oxide red I have the other pose, clearly in a clean 'British' sample, but I suspect that the larger missing samples will have loads of this chap in the wrong bag! The running chap - bottom left on the green baize - looks a bit suss' too!

The British; Again all-Matchbox clones, with the conversion Tom spotted years ago, the prone Bren-gunner is also ex-Eighth Army, while the crawling guy is taken down from 54mm.

In all four cases they seem to have gone with ten-to-twelve poses (as per the 20mm), being the non-support-weapon/accessory-needing poses. Which is easy with the Brit's and Yank's, a mystery as to the missing DAK officer though, while the German Infantry however . . .

. . . get three Americans - MG-gunner, grenade thrower (Matchbox Germans had their own Airfix-likey - seen opposite him on the runner) and the platoon commander with walkie-talkie! And so little effort has gone into converting the helmets, there will be a big ol' sorting when I do get the others out of storage/the garage!

But this is why I'm reticent to commit to more than a guess on the two Americans missing from the runner above, until I get the whole lot together (there's loads of these in store, including metallic green ones and chocolate brown ones in a very small sort of 15mil who may not be Wing Lung) there are still questions to be answered.

However a small sample of the 20mm's (one of each known pose) does suggest the two missing figures might be taken from Airfix, as Airfix seems to have been the No.1 donor in the smallest size. And the German para's are a rare beast in rack-toy circles, not as common even as the US para's where I think we've ID'd three with two still looking for a surname.

Confirming my previous wittering on base mark, the real giveaway is not the marks themselves but the fact that the ovoid cartouches are pretty constant between sets and/or lines/scales.

I think I've only found the Wild West in 30mm, where they go well with the various cake-decorations, Lines-Waddington/Rosas y Malarat and Gulliver clones. The WWII might also be in a 50/54mm size, but I've not found any and someone (early Rado Industries?) has similar Airfix 8th Army clones in the larger size, with similar bases, but the are not so uniform in their geometry, and the marking is different with a 'made in-' prefix.

So - as a final aside - to answer Tom's question of a few years back, I think the Matchbox poses were limited to the 30 and 40mm sets, while the Airfix were confined to 20mm, with the odd figure (Airfix US officer) in all three sizes?

We will return to these, probably twice (three times with the A-Z entry), but for now that's a quick overview!