A is for And so to Sandown Park!

The ultimate cause of the failure of ITLAPD this year was a trip to NW Surrey two days earlier where I blew most of my budget on one item, but still managed to come away with enough stuff for a post.

What the budget was blown on, and no, I'm not telling you, but it wasn't cheap, and I had to talk myself into it with the help of the seller! It was the only item of Attack Force I still needed to find on a card, since finding the Centurion last year, and here are before and after shots.

There's not much of a difference, but I cleaned, ironed and wiped the card with a silicon furniture-cloth, to get a bit of depth back in the yellow. I also washed the landing-craft, but it's mostly dirt/dust, out of shot, on the flat surfaces.

This was only a fiver, it's pretty clean, and it's another tank transporter for that particular side-collection! With the die-cast collectors, box is everything isn't it, so a loose one is often to be found cheap, trailer is the same as the Airfix/Dinky/Lipkin (et al) ones, but the cab claims to be an International, although it's pretty fictional I think, the Aussies do have an International Harvester 'SF2670' tank transporter but it postdates this model by several decades!

Adrian gave me the five Les Higgins ECW's, they are exquisitely painted for 18/20mm figures, while the figure to their left is a rubber blow-mould from France, which being a latex type, has perished to a kind of chalky material, but still - mercifully - in one piece.

Bottom right are two other purchases, three of the smaller, better-sculpted, celluloid animals from Japan and a handful of Atlantic air force chaps, while the pair of guitar-playing Tim-Mee style GI's are what I have left after giving the rest away. They are/were issued by the US Armed Forces Entertainment (AFE) unit.

I bought a job-lot a while ago, and as they didn't owe me much and various people were interested, they all got divvied-out, three to mates from a Facebook group and the other five at Sandown, with Brain C politely declining, only for Matt Their to show up and happily take the 'spare'!

Bottom left was a little handful Adrian brought to the show for me, and the stretcher is important, I can't find it now, but I know it has been [is] somewhere on the blog as a pale-blue-grey unpainted moulding, 'probably' a margarine premium, but I said at the time, I think, that I'd like it to be WHW, and I'm confident with Adrian's turning-up of this painted one, that it is from the set of police figures from the Gau of Berlin.

A set which has several versions, painted, unpainted and silver. The set being three Nazi's, four gendarme and one each fireman, traffic cop and this stretcher-team for a ten count, not of 'police' but 'public' or mixed emergency-service personnel?

I also got a nice tub of cereal premiums from Steve Vickers, among which were these Kellogg's types; almost a complete set of Sooty, and a similar Noddy 'bear', a couple of the Olà & Co., Magic Roundabout and four of the comedy pirates, along with an astronaut - because the astronauts are known to be manufactured by Crescent (along with other marked premiums - guards, cowboys, Robin Hood etc.), it's assumed all these are (not the Roundabout stuff - we know that's Tatra), but there's nothing to say so definitely.

The same lot also had a nice selection of the Asterix figures from Europe (although as I've said before, they are common enough over here to have probably had an issue in the UK, possibly with Wall's Ice Cream), the lower lot are a bit chewed-up (compare the blacksmiths), but in an interesting plastic colour.

These were interesting, but sad, as they heralded the passing of Dave Pomeroy back at the start of the year, sadly his estate has been broken-up, and I happened upon these workshop bits which consist of the blue blob (back left) which seems to be a wax moulding of a (pre-existing?) Brickwoods Brewery key-ring (variation seen on the Blog), which sort of makes sense as they were Portsmouth based?

I have no idea on the queen, but she's got a resin body with a wax-head, but carving wax, rather than the poured candle-wax of the Brickwoods chap. Next to her is a resin test-shot (?) of the lady hockey players from the Subbuteo (or Waddington's?) board game, and a grave-stone, which must be of similar history - playing piece or game accessory?

In front of them are two 'product' quality shots, both busts, both board-games I think? The round blob is a Buddha or casting of a novelty smoking-monkey, it's not clear, while the other piece has plaster still stuck in it, so would appear to be a mid-process piece from the prototyping stage? And it looks like it might also have origins as a novelty key-ring? So he obviously used existing stuff to try things out on? Or 'keep his hand-in'?

Now, I had the pleasure, or privilege of spending a very enjoyable afternoon at Mr Pomeroy's house, many years ago now, with John Begg, having afternoon tea, quizzing him on the Triang game pieces I'd inherited from him a year or so earlier, and asking about the relationship between Almark, Minimodels, Omnia et al., while being shown various swords, model soldiers and a suit of armour!

Dave was also connected to the artist Denis Knight (of the Lettraset rub-down historical picture books, also carried by Patterson Blick in the States and someone else in Europe), and the pair of them probably worked with or knew Charles C Stadden as they all seem to have been involved with the Minimodels plant at Havent at around the same time, and to have also worked with Subbuteo, Waddington's etcetera.

So, while not necessarily monetarily valuable, the above are a small slice of the hobby's historical archive, if you will, and it's very sad to learn of his passing.

At the end of the show I helped myself to a fiver's worth of hollow-cast from Adrian's 50p tray, it's all grist to the mill, and provides further samples for future thematic posts, particularly the Robin Hood pair, while the sentry with gas-mask case on his chest looks similar to the Zang composition version. There was also a clean gun from Crescent.

The Batman sticker is a genuine 1970's vintage PVC vehicle-graphic which went down well on another site, the Crescent WWI plastics are home-painted, so will need cleaning, but I knew I didn't have one and couldn't remember which one, so got all three, as I knew it was one of the 'advancing' poses - it's the one on the left! Pink frame is chuck-outs and floor sweepings!

Y is for Yes, Well, That Was a Bit of a Wash-Out!

Wait all year for ILAPD and get hammered by a cold! Let me explain; Pirate Day was not supposed to happen as it did, but that I managed three posts was probably a minor miracle, because by Tuesday I was having some bloody odd dreams while snoozing for the best part of two days!

On the Saturday (17th), we'd had the Sandown Park Toy Fair, at which Adrian (he's not here to defend himself!) gave me the cold he'd brought back from Portugal a day or two earlier, and it didn't hang around, it hit me like a bus on Sunday afternoon, and while I muddled-through on the 20-image 'intro' post, it took me all night!

I then slept 'till lunchtime, and managed to get the two quick ones out, hoping to work on the other two posts that afternoon/evening, but the body refused and I lost most of the rest of the week, while having a parallel mini-adventure with the car, and discovering HMRC are claiming to have lost more paperwork, despite my having the signature from the Post Office!

I had half a mind to do a NITLAPD (Not Talk like a Pirate . . . ) day to catch-up, but to be honest, they can wait, one of them's already been held-over for a year, another-year won't hurt! There's still plenty in the queue, including the stuff left from RTM, and other things mentioned in passing, about 20 'Seen Elsewhere' folders, several new 'H is for's, the rest of the old ones and all sorts of other stuff . . . I'm going to try and get the Sandown report out later this evening.

So, in the end I just had a lazy week! But, what I would say, is, whatever Adrian and I had, it's probably this Australian cold they've been on  about on the Radio, and it's OK, in that it's a head cold that clears-up quite quickly, but it's pretty debilitating the first few days, and it's fluey-enough to make your bones and muscles ache, so best avoided if you get some warning.

And . . . nice things to look forward to for next year! I suppose we need a picture here?

F is for Follow-up - Kinder and Hovercraft!

S is for Scammers!

We saw one of these figures last year and I thought I'd try and get a full set for this year, and while there have been several on evilBay, they were either honestly claiming to have no figures and/or accessories, or two damn expensive! However I did find one which was both reasonable and 'appeared' to be complete . . . you know the rest Readers! But, more plaster-of-Paris in the stash!

Anyway, it was far too heavy to send back economically (what the seller was counting on!), so I scanned the box, archived the instruction sheet and took his pathetic excuses in exchange for a neutral feedback! If it had been more obvious he would have got a 'red', I like to give out two or three of those a year!

Anyway . . . to help you ID them in mixed or loose lots (how I will do it now; slowly!), here they are, and they are nice sculpts, although they are in two colours on the box, I've only ever seen them in silver?

The accessories may help you ID a mixed lot where the figures are buried under army-men, or mixed-in with the similar Redbox and Toy Major-Toysmith ones! That's it; 4M Brick'N'Build Pirate Fortress, half box-ticked, or box half-ticked!

C is for Colourful Cake Corsairs

Just a quickie here, these are the latest iteration of the old Marx sculpts which we've seen before here as Marx originals in various formats, and as the better 1970's copies, these however, are out there now and a o more than mere blobs, but a decent painted could still work magic with them, and they are polystyrene of the easily glueable verity, so can provide useful material for the Dr Frankenstein's of the figure-modelling world!

Cap'n; he's starting to look vary Chinese as his flamboyant soft fedora-type hat becomes ever smaller and more cone-like with each generation of piracy!

Cabin boy; he's trusted with the ships parrot and the treasure box - rum, buggery and the lash keeping him in-line!

"Where's me' boat?"

(I fear we've had that joke before Loyal Readers - soz!)

"If the cabin boy's got the treasure, why am I still digging?"

For my next trick, I will beat you to death with this piece of water-pipe while playing the Giant's mouth-organ, no-handed!

"Come back yer' cowards!"

Being polystyrene, some damage is to be expected (top left), while the cheap and much copied (these must be 4th or 5th generation pirate piracies!) nature of the sculpts/production has lead to some short-shotting or 'mismoulding', as on this shovel (bottom left), The rather crude CHINA mark on the body (top right) replaces all the old marks on the base which have been removed from the tool with an angle-grinder/disc-grinder, leaving small welts in the otherwise flat surface (bottom right)

ITLAPD is for It's That Long Assorted-Post Dissertation

Oi' been led to ber'live some scurrvy scurr callin' hisel' Mad Cap'n Tom were for a number o' years callin' hisel' the 'ead of ther Brit'ish ITLAPD . . . and feel Oi' should point owt, Oi's been postin' err' regulur-loik ferr longurr thun thaat!

http://www.yarr.org.uk/

So 'ere's be ther furrst o'a' few posts on Poirates and Poiraty things 'er at Small Scale Worrld, not as many as some yurrs, but plen'eny to's keep me 'and in! Aharrrrr maties!

First off, a question-mark; they keep turning-up, usually in small numbers and have as many clues to early Hing Fat or late Ri-Toys (plastic type, plastic colour) as they do to DFC or HG (figure size, figure subject), and could be two of the above (or others altogether) as there are definitely two versions of the sailors/pirates (left and middle), but so far only one type of AWI/Revenue-men?

You feel they should be commonly known, but they might have been some kind of cheap'o rack toy? Or I'm just being dumb! Anyone able to add any more to these; were they branded, big-box or bottle-bag, 1980's or '90's? I've been picking them up since the early 1990's and they're around the 50mm mark.

The weird thing is the unmarked revenue men seem to go with the middle pirates, not the similarly coloured lot who ARE marked CHINA, so late 1990's-onwards for definite, on them

Another question-mark; A rather stubby gun and pile of muddy cannon-balls. From the colour this looks as if is't cut out of a Bellona vac-formed scenic sheet, but which one? There was a 19th century battlefield one I think and a couple recommended for ACW, but the barrel here is more piratey than Napoleon or Parrot?

We've seen these before, and I keep a look-out for them on that there interwebamathingy, but the big lot were sniped at the last second and the others were too-expensive or reposted on value-aggregators like Worthpoint, but the two question marks remain; what's the significance of the wild-animal base marks? And what set/line/range were they in? I've seen them listed as 'The Disney Collection' but not found many more with that as a search term.

From the number which have turned-up and the number of duplicate characters/different poses now found, it looks to be at least two boxed sets of around ten poses? First two movies? Two waves of the second movie? Four boxes of six figures? I said we'd return to these and we have . . . and we will again!

We looked at these big-box generics last year, but I've collected a couple more images which are worth a peek, if only because one is wearing a rather piratical A-to-Z logo (which is the importer Padgett Bros) and new box graphics.

Just a bit of fun, these are out there on-line; expanding foam pirates, this one credited to a Forum Novelties Inc., but there will be others I'm sure! Put him in water and he grows, put him on a radiator and he shrinks, cat gets him and he shreads!

With the demise of the Early Learning shops, and having received a few of their other large 'solid' figures in Charity Shop lots, I was pleased to find this old sales picture still finable on-line, The Early Learning Centre pirates.

Saw this, or was I sent it? It might have been part of the wider conversation into Brian Berke's Charles W Morgan kit, which we looked at a couple of ITLAPD's ago? Or I looked it up after? No matter, it's piraty, and Captain Morgan may have produced pirate premiums at some point, maybe a little metal one like the old Britains semi-flat Johnny Walker? I just feel I should be saying more about it?

I got a Supreme carded pirate, I'm sure I've seen a generic version in a catalogue somewhere, but can't remember where . . . Henbrandt or Marshalls maybe? Anyway, it comes with a faux-velvet purse (treasure bag!) and one figure, who gets a rather crude boat to play in which is barely large enough for him and his huge treasure chest, which has a naff card-insert treasure, rather like Blue Box's hay-wagon load! Here branded to Halsall's (HTI) Time4Toys.

When I looked at the Klutz bits a while back, this chap had just come in, in a mixed lot, so I used him as a sizer, and shot a couple more to go here, so here they are! Fontanini, hard PVC 60/70mm, they also appeared in a smaller size, like these and as unpainted/antique-washed polyethylene versions - the cat'O'two-tails!

Peter Evans bought this for me in the Toy Project Charity shop a while back (Christmas-time I think) and we will be back with them in a minute, but this post is written-up in an 'as they were added to the folder' order, and he came earlier.

He seems to be designed to hold something on his head and I suspect it's treasure or tokens as you move round a board game? He may - equally - not be a pirate, but more of a general 'historical' figure, he looks a bit fairy-tale-artwork-of-my-childhood like? I think he IS a pirate, just covering possibilities - anyone recognise him?

Why is this in the folder? First Captain Morgan, now these? Goes away, has a coffee and a think, comes back non-the-wiser and writes a couple more picture captions . . . OH! Yes, someone (Chance Priest?) on Brian Heiler's Facebook group (where lots of them are Mego fans) found it and I was sufficiently amused by the subject-matter to chuck it in the ITLAPD folder!

Italian kids of the 1970's obviously thought nothing of buying their pirates large and in sixes! There's gotta'be a story here - festival of some kind, very larger garden-toy/sand-pit ship by the same company? Giocattoli Querzola.

Unknown cartoon octopus with a pirate's air about him, unmarked, but in a Kinder style, so maybe another capsule-toy issuer? Is he a character from Sponge Bob or a more generic thing?

This IS a capsule toy AND Kinder! Lady-pirate from a crew which is both unisex in mix/numbers and overall quite androgyn! Not sure if the 'Pablo' character comes separately - and apart from the rest of the set - in a larger 'maxi-egg', or is reduced from the apparent size in the artwork on the insert sheet (where this figure - Alisea - is not seen in the issued figure's pose/sculpt) to fit in the normal-sized eggs?

Not my thing particularly, but it does ID some blobby, black knights we may or may not have seen here, I know I had some come in but can't remember if I posted them? Redbox infant toy set, with equally blobby pirates and a ship which is of limited use in any scale that might be looking for something more realistic, but they would be cheap.

I can't remember if we've seen these here before or not, they were available last year as I shot them for the 'seen elsewhere shot (next shot below), but I think I then realised they weren't on the Blog, so shot them for this year, or something, anyway, here they are and I don't think I know anything else about them - more corner-shop, counter-box pick'n'mix vinyl's?

That 'seen elsewhere' shot, which was all the softer PVC or PVC-a-like figures, with the K&M / Wild Republic; centre left, Klutz in his own row; top right, the chap from Brain B above him. The two ships crew; bottom right, the four we just saw; top left, and a few odds and sods.

These are on Alibaba, and are probably available about the place as generic cake decorations, I have a similar Disney Alice' set in the queue which I have managed not to post several times despite meaning to! Nice sculpts, well finished, but cartoony, and nothing like the characters in the licence they are knocking-off, but both the skeleton and the lady have mileage enhancing others sets?

Current listing on Toy Major's site, set W5545 Action World Pirate Collection window box, previously carried by Toysmith (and others), and here with some useful accessories.

Another one I was outbid on! And it went for silly money for a relatively current set, but there you go! Pech Brothers copies with a runner of crude accessories from BumSlot! They may previously have been seen from Montaplex or Hobby-Plast.

I was up in London last Wednesday and added these two to the post at almost the last minute, a Papo-Mini (40mm) and a piratical penguin of unknown origin who has something of Phidal about him?

Both bought from the Toy Project which I visited with Peter Evans, they have a new layout and more stuff (post in the queue) and have opened another shop, so seem to be doing well which is nice!

But the eleventh-hour slot on additions to this post went to an eBay BIN-purchase of cheap fondant-icing cutters which arrived a day or two ago! They were so cheap, and I plan on making a pirate-cake for a future ITLAPD, so we may see them again - plans and reality being separate tenants on life's journey!

H is for Hey Russians! This one's for you . . .

It's already started, the Russian pop-singer Alla Pugacheva has spoken out against the war in Ukraine and the “...death of our boys for illusory goals” and further called on the Russian authorities to declare her a "...foreign agent", in solidarity with her anti-war husband Maxim Galkin; already condemned by Putin's regime.

Don't be the last one off the plank, they will be the first to go to jail.

C is for Casually Converted Cool Container Cap Cable Coil Carrier

6th of the line in the slightly silly Hugh's Handy Helpful Home Hobby Hints thread, but from time to time something simple and easy presents itself for further dissemination, so today we're looking at model railways, or at least vehicle loads.

I think these are - possibly French - water-fountain seals/caps, but they could just as easily be - also possibly French - mineral-water bottle caps from the 1970's, gas-tank or tube seals or something else entirely, and I won't bore you with the explanation for the relative scarcity of detail in the preceding sections of the paragraph, as it's based on about 5 fragments of non-memory!

Collin's however state - for 'Negociant' "A wine merchant or wholesaler; specifically, one who buys grapes, grape juice, or partially fermented or finished wine from others and sells the wine produced under his or her own name", so it may have been grape-juice? Presumably pronounced as 'nego[tiator]' and '[pres]cient' with a French ey'ont flourish? And - thinking about it for a few minutes; Mum did do home-brew at one point, so it all sort of makes sense!

Suffice to say I have in the past here at Small Scale World mentioned the sub-collection of Triang/Hornby cable-drum carriers, for which there are a few lorries as well, and when I found these sorting out the garage, I realised instantly that all they needed was a hot-glue gun!

Suitably weathered and scratched by up-to 30 or 40-odd years in sheds and garages, no work beyond lining them up properly before the hot-glue (actually a synthetic wax) sets, and voila! - as the French say; and they all know what they're saying because they all speak French!

I have a small flat-car, which is similar to the cable-drum car, but has two beams across the bed, I think it was the 'novelty' single car-carrier from the early boxed goods-train sets, this will go in between the beams nicely.

And while I would wind some wire round it for cable, it might look good as it as, as they mist have rolled-steel drums for special or particularly heavy cable and they would cost so much to make/hold, they would be returned empty for a deposit?