B is for Big Boxed Buccaneer's Black Boat!

There is another pirate ship in this year's ILAPD (going badley, it's now late Friday, I must go to bed and I'm only on this third post!), which I actually mentioned a few years ago, but it's still all over feeBay, and can be found on Amazon under phantom brands Jawseu, Gintdinpu and RAM among many others!

I got this one from Kandytoys, importers we've had here before now I think, the trick with these though is that the two crew come in pairs, fortunately the pairs are constant, but you need to make sure you know which - otherwise identical - set you're buying!

Mine come with figures not a little reminiscent of the Disney movies' Davy Jones crew, with a wild-bearded lobster-claw and rather dim-witted looking chap standing doing not much!

I'd already put the ship with the others in storage, so grabbed a couple of screen-shots yesterday (Thursday 16th) to A) give anyone who hasn't seen it in listings half-an-idea as to it's wherewithal, and B) show the other pair of figures, who are garbed to match the 'good-guys' from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise!

Then I found a better shot of them on Amazon, but the paint (and sculpting) is so crappy on these two, it may be that some of these are copies of the others! China huh? No honor among thieves . . . or pirates!

I is for It's all Happening Down at Pirate Cove!

So, ITLAPD last year was barely cold when these arrived in the eMail from Brian Berke in the 'States, and they are facinateing, although the link with pirates is tenuous, as their recorded activity occurred before the current stone fort was built, but it's (the diorama) redolent with pirate 'stuff'!

Brain has been building a diorama of an action involving the redcoats evicting some pirates from a lair based on Fort Matansas, which guards the rear-approach of the former Spanish city of St. Augustine, now in Florida (. . . now in America, it was always in Florida and isn't something you could move an inch as the British found out; twice!), and while I can't add much blurb, I've sorted it into planning, finished model and real fort - well, that's how they were sent to me!

Italics are Brian's words;

 

The background story is the Royal Navy decided to capture the Fort held by pirates by landing at dawn.

To the Marines dismay the pirate lookouts were alert enough to see their approach.

The fort's defenses cannot lower their swivel guns to the shore and the boat crew cannot fire until they have reloaded with grapeshot. If fast enough the doors may be blown before canon are brought into play.

Using the Revell pirate ship (recently re-issued as the Black Pearl) to plan the layout.

Starting to place the larger elements.

The display case from IKEA the diorama was planned to fit in turned out to be too small once the boat was assembled. It took a while to find another which for the moment will do to protect it.

I think there may be a basketball display case that would be better suited.

The . . [next three] . . pictures show the Marine officer leading the sailor with a barrel of gunpowder to blow the doors.

The brown dinghy on the shore to the left is an old Tri-ang item originally on a clockwork cabin cruiser back in the 50's. The three long boats at the galleon stern were from Revell's HMS Bounty and Endeavour which were the same model in different boxes also back in the 50's. They had been in a box of bits from my 50's railway. The Dory's are from the PYRO Schooner.

The two cannon on the shore outside the walls were RIPMAX, a company that made marine model accessories. They had a shop in Camden Town that I used to buy kits both plastic and Balsa at. I bought them to convert a Merit kit of a Chinese Junk into a pirate vessel back in the 50's.

In-situ, if only a temporary display-case.

On the stern is the Long John Silver figure with a green parrot on his shoulder.

The pirates are mostly Peter Pig. No idea where the others originated they were part of a bid on mixed metal figures of various scales on eBay many years back.

The actual Fort Matanzas; you can read-up on it here.

Cheers Brian, a brilliant idea, well-executed and thanks for sharing it with the rest of us!

ITLAPD is for I've Totally Lost the Administration of Pirate Day!

Aha! Me'arties! It be thaart toime'o yearrr again . . . it be talk loik a poirate day! Orrrrrr . . . if yer'appen to prefuurrrr; it be talk in a baaad West Cahnt'ree aaacent - in yer own 'ed - woilst do'win hous'old chorrrrs -day! Ahaarrrrrr . . . !

And . . . that's enough of that! If - and writing this, on Thursday night at ten-twenty-one PM, it's a big 'if' - I manage to get everything done by midnight on Sunday, this might be the best ITLAPD ever, and the last few were pretty good if I say so myself. But September has crept a little too suddenly into view, and onto the nineteenth?

I don't think I've even used any of the 40 or 50 RTM posts, I was going to carry into September, and have only half-emptied the odds-folder I started doing the other week, so I've got three days to write this all up, but I had my second jab today, so may feel shit tomorrow, and then there's an early start for an all-day Sandown Park (which I'd better go and do a quick news views on! So that's not a good start) on Saturday!

But If I get this done now, a few tomorrow, and maybe one on Saturday evening, I'll then plug-away on Sunday and try to get the rest done!

Last year it all went like clockwork, but this year's . . . while I had lots of articles shot, I've spent the last two days going through them (when I've had a few minutes here and there), re-shooting, or shooting supplementary shots, which has taken half the contents out of this intro., and into two new post, while a couple have been added as I went through the boxes - which had to come-back from storage!

It's madness really in'it! But we're here, and I've made a start, but I must just go and do a 'News, Views Etc . . .'  for Saturday!

So last year, this year's ITLAPD started to take shape on the 25th of September 2020! With the arrival of a mixed-lot from that-there feebleBay! Actually joined a few days later (tenth October?) by a Diorama, which winged its way across the Pond from Brain Berke and which will - hopefully - follow this post, shortly!

This is they, mostly odds or colour-variation duplicates and some Naval/Boxer-rebellion figurines (AIP? & Replicants), which obviously looked piratey to the seller! Already sorted away, the Charbens pirate is a new-issue one, the Hing Fat's are the earlier (probably not Hing Fat, likely Rado) colours, but no tied-hands prisoner!

Thanks to Quentin McClelland for ID'ing the cannon back in December: "It is from Imex set 711. It was also available in blue. The Italeri howitzer barrel is assembled from four parts, left, right and two dolphins. The Italeri trunion caps are also separate pieces.", there had been quite a discussion as to which set it was from!

All sorts of Odd's have come in over the last 12 months, and some have gone into separate posts, others are here, and we have in this above collage; five (top right) who were a single lot - I think, two enlarged to the left look like Haribo, Kinder or Onken type yogurt or chocolate capsule-egg premiums/prizes?

A vinyl pirate who's new to the stash and a pair of vinyl smallies who are marked MADE IN CHINA on Smart Toy style bases. Below them is a duplicate Saom who came in with something and he's holding the hand of one of the ones on the left - I don't even know what they are, I have bags of this shite . . . Zuru, Ty, Flair?

But five of them are piratey! And there are gold versions . . . Zomlings, Moshlings, X-something? About three years ago I was threatening to do a bunch of posts on these, but they got put back and put-back, they are NO priority and there's so much of this stuff . . . Go-Go's, Shopkins, Ugly Pet Shop, Grocery Gang, Super Zings . . . Teeny Mates (sportsmen from Brian B in the 'States!) We'll cover them all one day, just to tick the boxes!

Note the busy table with Russian plastic flats, Chinese ivory, Indian sub-continent brass votives and Pelican markers!

The two new ones compared to the older six (1980/90's) and the three Halsall/HTI copies, similar not the same, but in that 30-40mm grouping of flesh-coloured substrate! Can anyone put a brand o the new pair?

These came in as two sets of four, only the other week, and four have gone off to one of the Blog's contributors to try and pay back all the past kindnesses! Softish, modern PVC-substitute, and around 60mm like several other sets of these corner-shop, display-box, pocket-money types! Again - no brand or brand-mark.

My first large-size Papo pirate, he has a separate sword and looks a bit like the chap from the statue my mate Louise dragged back from Corsica!

Bottom right is a singly who came in with something, compared to one of those Zizzle Disney-store rarities (they were a bigger part of this post but now have their own if I get round to it) and no brand, he could be a game-piece or chess-set piece?

A week later - just found him in a recent (Volume 172) Plastic Warrior magazine, ID courtesy of Colin Penn; he's by Klutz and came with a card homecraft model of a pirate boat. There's a Harry Potter too, along with knight and Space Warrior figurines.

To the left is a comparison with the new Papo, two new 40mm Papo's and the stripy-shirt we saw a year or two ago. Top is the three new vinyls compared with two older ones (Wild Republic in red and a blue pocket-money generic).

I saw these going reasonably, earlier in the year and bought them, not Disney's PotC Davy Jones crew, oh no-no-no, absolutely not! Mars's Zombie Pirates, first time ever I've bought the 54mm version of 1:72^nd scale figures first!

They're nice-enough, but I found them a bit thin, but some of my other zombie figures are, and a semi-dehydrated undead cadaver dropping bits of itself about the place is likely to look 'well exercised'!! Compared with another Zizzle, this one new to Blog!

I saw these going cheap on evilBay and stole the shot, Jema Plast from Mexico with a copy of the old Hing Fat/Pressman ship and Ideal pirates, there's also a totem-pole in there with two 'jolly boats' . . . "I don' like these Jolly Boats Captain", says a certain look-out as he sinks for the umpteenth time!

Unimax FoV pirates, I have started adding these to the collection, there's not many, but they seem to duplicate in packaging, so it's going to be like the Zizzle non-Disney's, a few at a time while trying not to get too many duplicates!

Right me'arties! Thaats got us off and runnin' a'Haarrrh!

News, Views Etc . . . Sandown Park?

Well . . . Adrian Little (Mercator Trading), John Begg (ebay's PTS52) and myself, are going to give Sandown Park a go on Saturday, this doesn't mean a return to regular diary-date posts at this time of the week, as the science hasn't changed, vis-a-vis Sars-Cov2/Covid 19, and, indeed, the reason we're going is because it may be the only show this year!

Can't speak for the others (who will both be 'stalling out' as normal), but I just need a show, whatever the health-risk, and I am going to try and wear a mask all day! But, if you pop-in for an hour or two, a mask is doable, while those who don't/won't wear masks are slowly taking themselves out of the gene-pool and/or the democratic process!

When you learn that many of them are Trumpies, MAGA's, Brwreakshiteers, meatheads and gun-nuts, including six pro-Trump shock-jocks, three pro-Trump v'loggers, a pro-Trump granny and other assorted right-wing old-gits and bigots, that's no bad thing!

The question is, what will the show be like, there's a chance the foreign dealers (which has always made Sandown unique) won't turn up (although by now they might have dropped-out without Covid), and sadly there will be a few gaps among the older boys who've been there since forever, because, you know . . . Covid's killed 200,000-odd Brits now, so there will be gaps.

Anyway, something's what you make of it to a certain extent, and I for one am looking forward to a day surrounded by tables of old toys . . . see you there?

News, Views Etc . . . Herald Toys & Models - Press Release

Latest from Barney's website, sounds good for Swoppet Knight and civilian fans;

"...we are pleased to offer for sale a very substantial collection of Britains Swoppet knights, including a number of mounted figures. Because of the quantity, we are able to offer all dismounted knights at a special website price of £19.99 each (there are a large number of duplicates, most likely old homeworker stock, please ask for details). We are also pleased to offer for sale Part IV of the Roger Saunders collection, including a very rare Britains Garage Petrol Pump Counter Dispenser."

Barney's site can be found here.

Later the same day . . .

"Dear Customer, as previously mentioned, we are having to issue supplementary invoices in some cases, particularly if you're a customer from the USA or Europe and your order needs to be sent tracked. We have been subsidising postage charges since September 2013, when the website was launched, but can no longer afford to do this as Royal Mail have regularly increased their prices, particularly over the past 18 months, due to the pandemic and the introduction of World Zone 3 for the USA. Hope you can understand our position. Thank you for your continued support. With all good wishes, Barney."

B is for the 'But is it Giant?' Blog - Space Aliens

I knew there was a reason why I (in my 50's) talked my late Mother into buying me a string/rope dragon for my Birthday a few years ago . . . it goes perfectly with the Giant Plastics Corp's bug-eyed space aliens!

I've added three articles covering the basics of the aliens on the Giant . . . or What? Blog, and as they are now in reverse order on that Blog, the links are below in the correct order, but here's that heavy-cavalry first:

Their (the aliens) colours don't quite match the dragon, however, the palate is similar, I think you'll agree, but look what I found . . .

. . . on clearance in TKMaxx! And they are already running a 'clearance' model, so this was a quid-to-go; three bog-standard metals and three coloured metallics which will definitely bring a patrol of aliens closer to the dragon sometime!

So to the articles;

Loose Giant originals with space disc and comparisons.

Toy House carded set of Strange Men From Mars

Copies from an unknown Hong Kong pirate 

Some branded to Novelty Headquarters Inc., of Columbus, Ohio.

News, Views Etc . . . C is for Comments - Not!

I've just found and answered a bunch of comments for which I'd had no eMail notifications, so I'll try refreshing my settings, but Blogger just hasn't been the same after last year's layout/format changes . . . it might be fine on a smart-phone, but if you're using a lap-top or desk-top it's glitchy and a bit crap.

I don't even bother with traffic stats anymore while tag-editing is a pain! In the past the big changes in - can't remember now (2010 and 2012 . . . 2009 and 12?), were always 'get-used-to-able', but these last changes are a year old and still visually horrible - in 'edit' - and technically annoying!

News, Views Etc . . . Obituaries

Given how sombre the day has been today (more-so than the 10th anniversary?), I thought upbeat or trite stuff about toys was out of place, and having got well behind with News Views . . . and links, here at Small Scale World over the last nine-months, it is the day for sad news . . .

Ron Angelon
https://obituaries.kokomotribune.com/obituary/ronald-angleton-1082992291

Melvin Aria (MA Toy Soldiers)
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/inquirer/name/melvin-aria-obituary?pid=199597871

Dave Bills (Wallace Ladmo Show)
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/arts/artist-dave-bills-wallace-ladmo-show-has-died-11771252

Charles Byron
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/fredericknewspost/obituary.aspx?n=charles-byron-fulks&pid=197602120&fhid=9951

Bruce Miller
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/louisville/name/bruce-miller-obituary?pid=199892757

Thomas Sandford
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/wiscnews/name/thomas-sanford-obituary?pid=197654895

Charlie Watts, late of the Rolling Stones (a popular Beat combo'!) who collected American Civil War memorabilia, including Toy Soldiers, among his other pastimes; vintage cars, breeding horses (Arabians) and antique silverware, he was a percussionist of some note[s] too!

P is for Previously Seen on the Internet . . . III - Ceremonials

Two more from the archive of stuff I've posted elsewhere, and we're all starched and ironed this time, with resin and plastic tourist souvenirs, the former new, the later seen before in one form or another.

Alan Copsey posted some lovely resin Turks he'd found (in Istanbul I think?), and in the subsequent discussion on them and similar figures (those pirates we've seen before here with different bases), and fallout from same, I picked-up these four vaguely-54mm (thick bases) figures in poured resin, which are obviously aimed at our tourist trade (as Alan's were aimed at Turkey's). No Yeoman 'Beefeater' or Horse Guard (they may be out there?) but a nice [Gordon?] Highland officer to make up!

It struck me the new one was (although unmarked) stylistically similar to the larger 85mm G•G-marked one we looked at a while ago, donated to the blog by Peter Evans of Plastic Warrior magazine (and coincidentally - webmaster of the Faceplant group), which was in part the point of the original chat; that these Chinese factories are making things for every budget in every [commercially viable] territory!

I also picked up another boxing of the Cavendish Miniatures Hong Kong copies, apparently sold by Cavendish (and many others) until so recently you may still find the odd one in the kiosks round Soho or Leicester Square, or that funny bazaar half-way up Charring Cross road?

The second issue (I don't know which is which, but would place the smaller/white tray as the newer (it's always about shaving unit-costs) continues the error of transcribing the two Household Cavalry regiments titles; 'Blues' are Horse Guards, 'Royals' are red . . . life-blood, Lifeguards!

You were thinking "They look the same size, what's he on about"! Less cardboard is cheaper, less, white plastic is cheaper than more, yellow, so on an order of say ten thousand units, that can be hundreds of dollars saved, plus, the price can stay the same or go up a bit (people expect things to go up after a few years), so you 'make' at both ends, factory-door and Joe-public!

P is for Previously Seen on the Internet . . . II - Ancients and Medievals

Continuing with my cheap Lazy Posts, and a quick look at a few figures depicting warriors of the earlier eras.

Starting in pre-Ptolemaic anciet Egypt, Tatra - the brown one is dark bronze and marked 'Made In England' as is the silver one below him, the rest only have the 'EGYPTIAN' name-plate mark on the chamfered edge.

Coming forwards 3000-odd years nearer the present-day and we find the Vikings! Sorting to move to storage temporarily (I hope!) I grabbed one of each for a comparison; they go better together for being a barbarian horde!

Another 4/500-years finds us in the medieval period with Lone Star - odd plastic colours, from the left; metallic green plastic (and paint), a pinkish-taupe, a putty-grey, a dove-grey and a white plastic figure.

I've also been posting a few links of similar ilk/subject matter about the place, here are two on the ancient/medieval theme;

Faceplant -
https://www.facebook.com/worldbeautiesandwonders/photos/a.105095208262327/202175238554323/

My Modern Met -
https://mymodernmet.com/3d-print-sculptures-scan-the-world/?fbclid=IwAR06Es2t-HjS6KWMIvorj13Z9FjAis-x11q44T4kR8X_iIGAsijzxYBqg68

P is for Previously Seen on the Internet . . . I - Space

As well as here, I do from time to time post elsewhere, and for a while now (well, since the start of the global Covid-19 SARS-Cov2 coronavirus pandemic!) I have been posting the odd bit to various Faceplant 'groups', Heiler Brian's group tends to get stuff which has already been seen here (or is less relevant to this Blog - re-posted Star Wars and Dr Who memes, toy/pop cultural cartoons etc!), but Peter Evans's Friends of Plastic Warrior and a couple of the Polish sites get new stuff, and there's been the odd other bit.

As posting on such sites is a pretty ephemeral exercise with little in the way of SEO or tags/labels, and with them eventually disappearing off the bottom of the page (you can search by author, but if they've posted a lot your browser can slow to a stop on Faceplant before you find it), I thought I'd re-post some of it here, by way of a variation of Lazy Posts!

Jean Höfleur 40mm astronauts from the Luna Station play-sets, and - as far as I know - they only downsized four of the eight larger-scale figures, although there were [earlier?] multi-coloured versions; these have a coat of semi-matt silbver paint over silver plastic.

Britains Deetail-style Alien-Cylon-Robo' Babe, with an Argentine copy on the right, the copy is polystyrene and has a sensible 'toy soldier' base! I just love the metallic pink and cherry red . . . Space disco-babe! I don't have a brand/maker for the copy yet?

Fireball XL5's Venus (in blue jeans?) on a Speeder Bike, No! Hovercycle, No! Space Flyer, No! Lawmaster, No!. . . Jetmobile; she's on a Jetmobile! MPC. I still need a Steve Zodiac if anyone happens to have a spare (I know, I'm thinking of going into stand-up!), I have his bike, but he's wandered off!

N is for Nostalgia - Bread, Tiger?

Does anyone remember this? I don't and I've been living here for years! Found in a back drawer - I'm finding all sorts of stuff; about 3 meters [A4 stack] of Admiral Hall's paperwork, a bag of powdered asbestos (I nearly opened in a flurry of what I though was going to be wood-floor), the Imperial Chinese flag I knew was somewhere, a bottle of mercury, enough candles to get me through the first year of the coming apocalypse . . . !

Tiger Bread? I seriously don't remember it, but I'm guessing (no consume/use-by stamps or CE marks) that it dates back to at least the 1980's but suspect the 1960/70's! Did you have Tiger Bread? It came with  an orange plastic clip I forgot to shoot.

L is for Lido Lookie-Likees!

Probably the last post of Rack Toy Month, unless I get another out this evening which is unlikely, as I have old printers to deal with! But as I said the other day, there's still loads in the RTM queue and while some can wait 'till next year, I'll try to work through a few in the weeks ahead. Medievals seem to have been ignored in RTM so I'll clear them first, but posting will go back to occasional as I still have a shed-load to do in real-life!

We looked at my smallish sample of Lido-copy medievals a while ago, and how I worked out what they were; well, now I have the generic Hong Kong packaging! Horses are wackier colours than the realistic white and off-white of my pre-existing sample, but they're fun toys!

Couple more shots, same MO as before; soft polyethylene figures and hard polystyrene for the horses, and that's it really, it was all said last time!

I also had these come in . . . seemingly (lots of gloss black and silver paint) from the same source; cruder copies of Lido GI's and ACW in odd, marbled 'ethylene. These are all the sample and both yellow-green ones are damaged, but there must be more out there!