T is for Two - Current Rack Toys

Another quickie, one of the things I like about RTM is that I clear 20/30-odd folders from the ever-growing pile in Picasa and this one's one of them! I think these have both come from Peter Evans, although I seem to have two examples of the boat one, so probably found one myself, it seems the same stores which carry the Red Deer rack-toys, often also carry the BJ Toys stuff as well, and we have one here in Fleet, but it doesn't always have the same stock as whichever store Peter finds his in.

We've been looking at these, both vehicles and figures in various packaging (Poundland, 99p Stores, Funrise &etc) pretty-much since the blog started, and always 'current', so this is just another iteration of product bought-in from multiple sources and packaged by a middle-man shipper, printed-up/configured for each contract/order - the VAB-type is new I think, and quite useful?

This is the one I have two of; better on the figures, not so hot on the accessories, but under the naff paint is something which could be painted-up better, and would/could serve a purpose in someone's wargaming army, I'm sure!

Close-up of the figures, better quality versions of the common 'new sculpts' (first seen from Ja-Ru or Ackerman in the 1990's?) and old Matchbox US Infantry sculpts, that's it, and thanks as always to Peter for spotting and sending the stuff to the Blog.

T is for Two - Euro Bags

Except, of course, when issued, one of these wasn't a 'Euro' anything, but rather a 'Warpac' bag! However, that was all so long ago now, it's almost ancient history, nearly 3/4's of the time it lasted, away from us now!

 

This one's obviously French, although there's no clue as to branding, beyond the repeats of 'Jouets' (toys), and as a 'bazaar' issue, probably meant to be pretty anonymous! The contents, however - hard to shoot through the billion-folds of age clouding the bag - seem to be original and shipped-in from the States?

As I think it's a complement of original Lido Japanese and German infantry, shoving the date back to the 1950's, and an odd combination, especially back when it was easier to see through the bag! Maybe another set was a mix of US Infantry and FFL! Many thanks to Peter Evans of Plastic Warrior magazine for this set, which was in one of his bags, and a donation one, not a pay-for one!

 

I found this looking lost, unloved and - most importantly - cheap, on feeBay, and it nicely confirms everything previously said here about these Hungarian semi-flats, despite my eemies best efforts to 'suggest' Poland or Russia in the past!

 

 

The Cavalry arrives! I love the motorcyclist - Indy' and his dad might escape the Germans in a stolen machine, but this Hungarian looks pretty determined to stop whoever is doing whatever from continuing to so do! As does the blue guy, firing his 'Schmeisser' MP38/40 from the back of a horse! Brilliant stuff!

Only the seven items in the bag, and I'll be hoping to find a few  more, for now, we can add the Hungarian collective Vörsas Game Department to the tag list and enjoy the simple pleasures of more innocent times!

V is for Viking, Vinyl Vikings

Quick box-ticker here at Small Scale World, nearly included in the mini-season on Supreme medievals back in January or whenever it was, and a go-to in Rack Toy Month most years; Supreme / SP Toys, and this year is no exception! There's actually some Arabs somewhere (show report) which may make the month, if I keep-up the posting rate!

 

Here masquerading as 'by Atosa', on a sticker, presumably an importer or retailer's phantom-brand, it's a standard Supreme packaging from about ten or fifteen years ago. Six foot, there may have been one or two pairs of mounted in similar packs? You can see two of them on the card and there were others on the back, but it wasn't in a fit state to photograph, or scan!

I was going to leave them in the blister so took this close-up, price label suggests the continent, but it could have come via the Republic of Ireland, however, I fancy it may have entered the UK on a second weekend in May, via PB Toys!

Here's some I prepared later! The packaging was pretty shot and only hanging together from the front, so in the end I binned it . . . makes room too! They're nice figures, one (guy on the end) needs his shield heat-bent the other way. That's it, box ticked, tagged - "Next!"

L is for Last One for Now!

Still with Pikit Toys! I did a quick entry for Pikit on the relevant A-Z blog last night, it only reminded me of how little I've done on them and how much is still to do (and I thought by now I'd be settled and doing it . . . this time next year, he says, hopefully!), but it's there now anyway!

http://smallscaleworld-n-o-p.blogspot.com/2023/08/moneyitem-limited-piket-toys-limited-pt.html

Z is for Zoo Animals

Continuing to look at Pikit Toys carded sets here;

Another Pikit Toys import, probably shared with Gordy International, and - from the unpainted nature of the contents - possibly from Rado / Ri-Toys, I've added close-ups of the bright-pink Airfix clones to their posts;

Airfix Zoo Animals Set 1
Airfix Zoo Animals Set 2

These are the unused shots from that compartment.

A Rado Industrial Co. / Ri-Toys zoo set (isolated from a larger image in Bill B's catalogue), the similarities lead to the above comment, but, while it's not clear, the elephant is a different sculpt to the one in the Pikit import, so the Pikit set may have product of more than one maker and Rado can't be 'called', definitively, even though they may well have had more than one elephant in their inventory?

B is for Battle of the Bi-Trons

You may remember that back in 2020, Chris Smith sent us some robots in one of his donations to the Blog, and at the time I didn't have a maker, but a few months later (2021) I found this set, too expensive, on a Buy-It-Now, told Chris, and put a note on the original post and have since mentioned it cryptically, as and when we've seen bits from it, in other posts, I kept watching until the price came down, and I've now got one, so let's have a look at it! Robots & Space Tanks!

 

Due to the lighting on the day and/or the colours, photographing the whole card wasn't easy, but between the two shots I think I've done it justice, and you can make out most of the elements, the Pikit Toys sets (for that is where we still are, this early in RTM) with this bordered cartouche card-art, were also issued by Gordy International in the USA, with their info' overprinted along the bottom edge.

You get two sets of Bi-Tron robot battle suits, obviously ripping-off several Japanese Anime series including - I suspect - the 'mecha anime' series Dougram or Votoms? One set, here in blue, are the 'good robots' the other; bad!

 

As I wondered at the time, the plugs in the backs are for the turrets which come with the accompanying accessories, a slight daftness, as being single mouldings they can't be bent or animated into a pose where they can realistically fire at anything other than the sky!

Bad 'Bots are red! Whatever colour each 'army' is, you do get four unique sculpts in each quadrigeminal (it sounds more spacey!) team, Only two are carrying weapons, one in each team, here it's the chap on the right.

Early indications were that these yellow versions of the good 'Bots are Gordy and the Blue; Pikit, but then I was reminded that Chris's donation came in three distinct shades of blue (from more than one set, there were duplicates), so I suspect it was a bit more random, or they were issued by another brand, maybe at another time?

 

But this lot did come from the states, with 'normal' red Bad's, and I've seen a second set with yellow 'Bots, also across the Pond, so it may be a 'rule'; certainly a guideline?

Space Taaaaaannks! These are always green/red, and the same oxide-red as the naughty robots, some of which may be copies of the old Kenner Mega Force sci-fi'ish armour? Slightly larger than 1:600 micro-armour, they might be around 1:300?

AT-AT . . . not! There's also a walker, who comes with four jointed legs to be assembled by Junior, and then lost forever in the garden! I'm really not sure on any of the specific origins of any of these models, but I'm sure they are aping other toys, maybe Tomy and/or Takara stuff which never got Western distribution?

For instance, I thought this robot transporter was from the Takara Votoms range (as I pointed out previously; Bi-Trons - Vo'Toms . . . geddit!), but the one I was thinking of, has a rigid chassis and eight wheels/four axles, in-line, but I'm sure I've seen this prior to the Pikit set, so it's probably out there as something else!

Likewise, I think this might be ex-Takara, or certainly I think I've seen it in a Mecha' cartoon, it's a twin-rotor, very sci-fi, heavy-lift helicopter/sky-crane for recovering damaged 'battle suits', and a rather nice thing to find in a rack toy!

The final item on the set's card is an attack helicopter, and given advances/changes in real life attack helicopters since this toy was issued in the 1990's; quite similar to some in service or heading for service now!

 

As rack toys go, with or without piracy, this is a really nice little set if you have the sense of imagination for sci-fi/futurism, or are a fan of anime Mecha's, however, for simpler minds it would be a bit of "shit" to be left on the peg in favour of a farm, zoo or 'Army Men' set, or some Chinasaurs!

T is for Two . . . Birds with one Stone!

A quickie now, as a follow-up to the previous post, where we saw some non-Rado/Ri-Toys figures in a Pikit Toys set, to here where we see a Pikit set which IS Rado/Ri-Toys!

 

On the left; the 8th Army as sold by Pikit in the UK, on the right Germans in the standard Rado packaging, both being scaled-down copies of Airfix 1:32nd (54mm) figures, we know this because [with the exception of the French Infantry] they only ever have the seven poses from the larger sets! It's also easier to pantograph down than up.

 

A couple of close-ups of the Pikit-supplied figures, you can see the slightly hollowed underside to the base and the distinctive H·K mark found on all the figures of this line . . . sometimes!

Because, they can also be found unmarked, as here, where - from the crinkly, cellulose, carded, bottle-bag -  we can guess probably a set of JoMe 8th army, have the blank bases.

 

JoMe (which might be Jo Me, Jo-Me or Jome?) were a German importer/jobber, and from the 'China' rather than 'Hong Kong' on the packaging samples, were a later issue, so it's reasonable to assume the earlier iteration are marked H·K and the latter figures are the unmarked.

 

Another, definitely JoMe set with unmarked US Infantry, you can see how the logo might be interpreted any of four ways! Note how the flash affects the apparent / visual colour of the plastic! That's three birds . . . lucky shot!

 

The German's in the Ri-Toys pack above are also unmarked, but I have both 1:76th and 50mm Ri-Toys with the H·K mark, packaged. the sets copied by Rado (correctly: Rado Industrial Company) ran to eight, all Airfix copies;

• German Infantry
• Afrika Korps
• 8th Army
• US Infantry
• Australian Infantry
• Japanese Infantry
• Russian Infantry
• French Infantry (copied from the WWI HO-OO set, and scaled up to 45/50mm)

with the Airfix Australians replaced in the larger-scale range by copies of the Blue Box Australians, a subject I think we've looked at separately, once or twice! There's a lot more to all this, and we will return to these sets another day, probably on the Giant or What Blog.

Rado / Ri-toys also went heavy on ex-Marx figures, but they seem to have had access to the original tools there, so it wasn't the same kind of Piracy as with the Airfix / Blue Box clones. Marksmen carried a lot of this in the UK, but it too is all for another day!

P is for Pikit Toys

Have we had that title before? Many, many moons, and a fair-few new-moons ago, I posted some of the Tank Transporters here, and the unknown Hong Kong one, bottom left image in the collage (second picture down, in that post), is now known!

 

Or at least one of its importers is! Pikit Toys, a short-lived but quite prolific while it was going, outfit from Birmingham, and for those fatuous gits who keep posting stupidly ignorant questions on quora.com; no, not the new one in Alabama, the old, original one in the Midlands, England, Britain, the UK!

 

Some Pikit sets were also imported by Gordy in the US with a different overprint, I don't think this set was one of them, but someone else may well have done so - Laramie or Ja-Ru would be main likelihoods?

My loose one was (still is!) missing its rear ramp, I thought I'd mentioned it at the time, but I'd carefully hidden the loss with an Imperial staff car! What? Misleading journalism? In the 'Free West'? Surely not! Next, someone will be trying to convince you the Daily Mail and Sun are full of shit and everything that comes out of Trump's press-office is a lie! It's shocking, we're all going to the dogs!

Clearly cobbled together by a middle-man from the products of more than one of the smaller toy makers in the colony (there were 2000-odd registered there at the time), the transporter is a multimedia model with working metal axles, polyethylene tyres and a well detailed, roughly 1:76th in-scale, polystyrene main-body, while the two little tanks are common HK fodder, found in various sets from various makers and or under various brands/brand-marks, so, not much to learn there.

 

But the figures (Airfix 8th Army clones) do seem to be married to the Jeeps in origin (plastic colour), so a small clue against future research, they are similar to the Rado Industries (Ri-Toys) ones, but with solid bases against the slightly hollow ones of Rado, a bit bigger too, I think, in a year or two I will nail all this down on the But Is It Giant Blog, indeed I probably should have posted this there? Another day, new images!

Aaaaannnnnd . . . that's Rack Toy Month, off and running! You can all sod-off on holiday, and hope, maybe, I'll have something more worthy and meaningful for you in September! Those travelling incognito can find something similar to post on Faceplant!

A is for Aaaaahahahaaa, aahh, haa, haaar!

Which may be the sighing-yell from The Good The Bad and The Ugly, I'm not sure if I got all those 'a's in the right place?!! Just a quick follow-up on the Argentine Tarzan post of the other day (two posts down the page), and to welcome the Blog's newest fan, Mr. Incognito? Those who know; know, hee-hee-hee!

 

Friend of the Blog Gisby pointed out a marked similarity between the Marx Indian with knife and the various Argentine iterations of Tarzan we looked at the other day, and I thought I had one here for a comparison shot, but I only had the MPC copy (far left here), so the one on the right is from Worthpoint, and while it may not be obvious, there is, in other shots, from other angles, a clear resemblance between them, the Argentinians having raised the arms, while MPC move a leg slightly.

 

I'd also forgotten how big the pink Argie is, next to the painted one which goes on the elephant, I would say the lead one is 54mm, the painted one was about 60/70mm (same as the WoW-style painted Marx one here from Worthpoint) while the pink one is nearer 90/100mm (so that Jaguar probably does go with him?), and the MPC clone is closer to 50mm - all by eye, mind, I didn't measure any of them!

This chap's come in recently, the Blue Box kneeling, we saw them (there's a standing one too) here at Small Scale World, years ago, but the paint on this one is marginally better than my best example, so will become the new No.1, when they are all reunited in the new house . . . which is closer now this one's on the market! He needs a careful clean with a cotton-bud!

Mr & Mrs Gorilla visit Tarzan for tea! Also a recent purchase, I have all the Dulcop figures in storage with some of the animals, so the Tarzan is a duplicate, but I needed both gorillas - Lord of the Jungle, King of the Apes!

S is for Sandown Park - May 2023 -

Welp, it seems to be Rack Toy Month already! But I've the Sandown sequence to finish first, just a few composition figures I picked up as samples or to compare with those in my existing collection.

 

Three - in khaki - marked NB for Nazaire Beeusaert, the Belgian composition maker and a fourth - sailor - who may be from the same maker, but is unmarked and a little smaller, so he may be another Belgian maker, they had several manufacturers who shared a certain style?

A Zang to check against the existing sample behind, and in front two which I was told were TAG, and may have shown here as TAG? Except I don't think they are, any more, TAG's seem to be larger, better detailed models, so these two are probably one of the other early British composition makers?

An unknown prisoner (who probably doesn't go with the Mountie, but 'goes' with him quite well here!), with his hands tied behind his back (possibly Italian?), and, errr, a Mountie! The Mountie is Durolin, from Germany, and I'd happily accept any help with ID on the seated Westerner?

He's quite rough and looks cheap, his paint a water-soluble thing, which has soaked and spread into it's not very dense composition, which almost has the feel of old egg-boxes, but isn't papier-mâché as far as I can tell?

 

And a few close-ups of the RCMP figure and his base mark, in the best traditions of learning something new every day, or whenever you can (life-long learning!), I was today-years-old when I learnt that in French they are the Gendarmerie Royale du Canada or G.R.C., which may be the 'R' on the left side of the saddle-cloth, with MP on the other side for Mounted Police, but a quick google-search only confused, with various saddle-cloth marks including a badge, but MP on both sides seeming commonest?