S is for 'Soldiers'

I wonder how many loyal readers from the UK (or elsewhere if it was syndicated?) will remember, in the autumn schedules for 1985 (or '86/'87, maybe, elsewhere?), a broadcasting-extravaganza of a televisual production, with all the Reithian boxes ticked - Educational, Informative and Entertaining - called Soldiers, and presented by the mighty author of airport-carousel paperbacks, Frederick Forsyth, no less? A strange anti-war, Brwreakshiteer conservative!

Below is the promotional leaflet/marketing press release, which doesn't appear to be copyrighted, so I don't have to worry about the 'fair use' paragraph or anything! It is one of many pieces of crap in the stash which will have to be dealt with over the next few years, and recycled properly or sold to some other mug, but which might jog your memory of the series;

No? Well, it was a long time ago, and I certainly don't remember it being on the telly-box, despite staring in it! But then I had gone off to Austria (pretending NOT to be a British Soldier - they were neutral!) to do my Ski Instructors Course and be lectured into the benefits of regular colonic irrigation by a BASI instructor who had gone beyond Hippy, and was full-on nut-job, but he knew how to ski, and teach skiing!

 

You see, the supposedly 'independent' BBC, are not above getting so close to the Ministry of Defence (MOD), they can save a small fortune in extra's fees, by employing the British Army - for nothing! It's called low-level corruption, and happens in 'so called' democracies (favourite phrase of Trumpies and fuckwits), all the time!

The real reason Napoleon lost the battle of Wahterrr'looo, was not because he had the shits all day, nor was it because he'd spent the previous two decades killing the flower of France or leaving them casually in Egypt, or all over Eastern Europe, it was because the Allies had superior transport - heay; the camera never lies!

 

A-Company, 1 Glosters, being a company of somebody else;

 

"Form squares! And prepare to defend against cavalry!"

 

I'm in there somewhere, but I can only - now - name Benefield, Thomas, Carl Kerry, possibly Freebrey & Cpl Cordingley? Waiting, endlessly waiting for something violent to happen, the lot of the Infantry.

 

And you see, the reason we never got paid, was that the Army are considered to be paid 24-hours a day (which of course means they are well below the minimum hourly wage!), so 'didn't need' paying twice?

 

Prouse and Alan Greathurst? I have a friend who made her living as an extra, Natwest commercials, London's Burning, all sorts, and when she did a non-speaking role as body-double for the remake of Lost in Space, she made enough in eight weeks to allow her to emigrate (Canada), with her family . . . I reckon that the good-old 'Dear Aunty Beeb' owe me about ten-grand, more with interest & inflation, the thieving shitbags!

 

While we were in Kenya, earlier the same year, some elements (Support Company, I think?) were used in anachronistic kit, to do a WWII beach assault from Landing Craft, I don't know if it was the same production, or some B-movie which ended-up straight-to-video, or on the cutting-room floor, but it was another dodgy deal, using British troops for free labour, for profit! But then, so was building Daniel arap Moi's private airstrip . . . another story for another day!

D is for Dinosaurs, Lots & Lots of Dinosaurs!

And we arrive at the first post from Jon Attwood's latest and huge donation, which will be the last dinosaur post for a few days (already another one in the queue!), and because there are lots of animals to come in Jon's posts, I will try to alternate between donation and other posts for the next few days.

Because Dinosaurs are one of the unsung corners of the collection, which, apart from a few small scale and novelty types, have only really started accruing in the last 15 years, they all need a huge sorting and attributing session, likely to take a week or two, which won't happen for a while, and I can't pretend to be an expert on any of it, consequently I thought to do these as thematic shots, by way of an overview of what's out there, particularly of the Hong Kong / China variety, and to thank Jon properly for them by at least featuring them all here once, as while we will see them all again one day, they will be sorted into sets, by brand/maker . . . hopefully!

 

Here are me'fave's, the Dimetrodons, which, as I mentioned the other post ago, are not technically dinosaurs, but rather, to quote Wikipedia "a genus of non-mammalian synapsid that lived during the Cisuralian age of the Early Permian period, around 295–272 million years ago", in other words, among the first larger animals out of water, but not the first, and possibly warm-blodded?

 

Although there were also small ones, and two similar species - Edaphosaurus (large grey above), and Secodontosaurus are among the toys, which should be leathery, not scaled, but I just like them for reasons of childhood fancy and nostalgia! The pale gape-mouth/spotted pair which are a classic 'chinasaur', are actually dated 2001, but probably shot from old tools? the teeny-tiny one is marked Koka China which would seem to be a branding?

Triceratops, Styracosaurus and similar Ceratopsians, among other favourites from childhood, as there were quite a few different ones and they all looked suitably wacky, and of a mind to not be a carnivore's lunch, or not without a damaging fight! Always stand up to bullies! The blue one second from right is marked Chasmosaurus.

A couple of Protoceratops on the right and lots of Kerthunkersauruses, more formerly known as the Ankylosauria, I have always called them Kerthunkasaurs, because Ankee . . . ancky . . . Annekey . . . the real one is too hard to spell!

The bright green one looks like an infant or bath toy, could even be a pet toy, but no squeak, while the four small ones in the middle would look to be from the same maker, but two species, and have the look of erasers, but are polyethylene. The big Proto' with the red head is a lovely sculpt, well decorated, with a nod to modern birds such as the Pheasants? Or, yes, some monkey's arses!

 

Pterosaurs, when I was a little kid, there were really only two of these in all the books Pterodactyl (it's OK with this one, spellcheck gets it!), which all four of these are, and the dog-headed one with a parrots beak, now there are loads, but not many toys, and few really-good toys as they don't lend themselves to posing! But these are all quite good, compare with the various eraser Pterosaurs, which all look like comedy vampire-bats!

Stegosaurs, didn't we all have a soft spot for these, I'm sure half the reason we liked them was because they had a whole driveway of crazy-paving on their backs. You don't see much crazy-paving these days, but when I was young it was everywhere, the ultimate recycling of not so crazy paving!

 

The second largest (green with red plates) is marked SH, which I think is Shing Hing, still around, they did that four-nation tub of 'army-men' in Smyths a few years ago. While the dark one back-right, is called Tuojiangosaurus on his belly, but is using a classic Steggy' tool, the true Tuo' should have spikes or narrow, tapering plates?

 

Sauropods, due to their immense size, they are nearly always a compromise on scale/size, even from good, branded makers, and while the palaeontologists have classified loads of them, we tend to think of Dippy's, Brote's and the other one, and wasn't one banned, but has it come back again, and did two switch name or classification and, and, and, they are really big aren't they?

 

I like the biggest one (marked Apatosaurus) with the head turned on the horizontal. The two long ones are variations of the same tooling, and both also marked SH for Shing Hing.

 

Parasaurolophos, one of the duck-billed dinosaurs, again when I was a kid, the more normal duck-bills tended to be modelled, but now this one with its hollow trumpet is everywhere! And again the red-headed one is particularly smart-looking, while the one bottom-right, with a flap of connecting skin, clearly establishes himself as a different species/subspecies within the genus. he also looks related to the Silurian Sea-Monsters from Dr Who!

 

I couldn't remember what the bumpy-headed ones were called (like I ever knew!), but googling 'Grape headed dinosaur' gave an instant 'Pachycephalosaurus', and I think the various plate-heads are related carnivores, the double crest/crown one is Dilophosaurus, if Gooogle is to be believed!

 

It's confirmed by the bellies of the large green one (Toy Major) and the generic brown one next to him, if you won't trust Google! Face-on to their left is the peach/cream Corythosaurus,

 

You know my view on Spinosaurs, just cheap Dimetrodons! The two little ones look like they could be freebies from the Dino-mag we looked at a few posts back? And two paint-treatments of the same sculpt at back-left.

 

Carnivores; the two biggies at the back are marked Deinonychus on their Chinese bellies, and are paint-variants of the same uncommon, but quite realistic sculpt. And while there was T-Rex and Allosaurus when I wer't'lad, now there are lots of these Carnosaurs.

 

No names on them but various takes on Velociraptor, almost unheard-of in my childhood, they may have been in the books but I don't remember them, now made famous by the Jurassic Park movie-franchise, they are everywhere! They have also been bigged-up in other ways, by the filums, and were actually quite small.

 

Latecomers and oddments include a nice duck-bill (back-left) with an unmarked spiky-fellah in front of him, with a similar skeleton, a cartoony chap and another Pachycephalosaurus to their right, who missed his family picture!

 

Which leaves three dragons! The two larger just marked Made in China, the smaller green one unmarked, but looking like a Pokemon or Anime/Manga character of some sort, with very stylised spikes?

 

Sorting 2020

Just before they went in the car to storage!

 

Many thanks to Jon for all these, they will all be sorted into the master collection (shot above) at some point, and sorting was done as I went, as certain groups made themselves obvious, the gape-mouths with their '2001' mark, were a largish group for instance, so we will return to them as those groups, another day!

F is for Fleet Fell Flat!

Like Never Before!

This summer just past's hook for getting people up the High Street during the quiet month of August was very disappointing compared to previous years, and the reason seemed to be corporate laziness, relying on 'the Internet' to make the job easy?

Instead of a search for ten dinosaurs, ticking them off in your little guide-book/leaflet thing, as was the case in previous years, there were only three dinosaur models, some interactive crap, a post-box for a colouring competition (but no colouring sheets!) and a complete lack of interest in the task at hand, from Fleet BID, some retailer-funded marketing gimmick, like the old trade associations, or chamber's of commerce, but with money-grubbing Tory dogma written all over it!

You get the same problem everywhere now, we saw it here with the party covering the World's Apart - Horrible Histories figures a few years ago, young things, full of enthusiasm (and a still wet degree in marketing) on the phone, or in eMails, but with no knowledge or love of the product, losing interest and giving-up far too soon, because it’s not their product, it's not their problem and it's not their money . . .whack an invoice in, for services-rendered, and move on!

The annoyance was that everyone, including me, was still going to the council box-office to ask about the flyer, they said "We haven't got any this year, try the Library?", as it happens the library is next door, so off to them, they say "We've had loads of people asking, but we've been given no literature this year, and there's nothing on the website! But someone yesterday said there's something in the photographic shop?".

Then off to Kevin Wibbly (I think he's called, the only hint of 'community' I have - in this Stepford dormitory - is half-knowing the name of the owner of the photographic shop!) we go, where his assistant points out that yes, they do have an unhelpful flyer in the door-glass, but she knows nothing, and has been sending everyone who asks, up to the Library!

At this point, you can lose the will to live, but my life at the moment is the odd minutes of panic and a few hours of worry interspersed with a lot of spare-time, and this was that afternoon, where an answer would be found!

First thing to do was head on to the 'Glass Menagerie' as Mum's generation call it, our itty-bitty excuse for a mall, where there is usually one of the model dinosaurs/wild animals/nutcrackers situated, only to find that the station is unmanned, and there are no flyers, no colouring sheets and no model dinosaur, just an enlarged version of the window flyer!

So . . . off to the internet, ladies and gentlemen, off to get to the bottom of this phuqfest of ineptitude!

Opposite the Library, it was the Velociraptor which alerted me to the fact that this summers 'retail event' had started. It was a very good model, reflecting the very latest thinking on feathered dinosaurs, as is currently coming from the finds, out of the smooth sedimentary beds in the Gobi Desert.

Call Me Karen!

So, I found the Fleet BID Faceplant page, and the following exchange took place;

Me - So, I asked for the dinosaur map/leaflet at the Harlington Centre, they sent me to the Library, the Library had had dozens of enquiries but no promotional paperwork, then someone suggested Kevin Wibbly at the camera shop, his assistant has had to turn away six people today, and they got their poster late! Where are the dinosaurs, where is the map, where are the painting things, why do you need a QR-code reader (not everyone has a bloody i-phone) and what's going on? Get leaflets to the library! Get leaflets somewhere, anywhere, there are none with the picture post box in the shopping centre, nor is there a dinosaur? Get a grip . . . thank god it's gullible traders' money, not taxpayers!

Fleet Bid Spokesperson - There are four elements to this summer's activities which are all detailed on our website: [link] The colouring sheets can be downloaded from this webpage. The shopping centre have some and we will also be delivering some to cafes etc who have spare space to display them this afternoon.

There isn't a trail booklet as the Augmented Reality trail is QR-code based so does require a phone with the ability to scan a QR code. The ten locations are detailed on our website with a map and by scanning one of the locations this opens up the entire trail. The trail posters were delivered to businesses on 29th July.

There are 3 large selfie dinosaurs (at Pedal Heaven, by Sainsbury's and by [redacted to prevent publicity - tossers]) - again these are listed on the website. These were meant to have signs which explained the trail but unfortunately we only received the signs this morning.

There will be a dinosaur show on the weekend of 19th and 20th August with more details to be shared once we've finalised show timings.

Me - There were no colouring sheets in the precinct at 16:50 yesterday, but that aside, you have established a pattern over a half-dozen animal-dinosaur-nutcracker things, and now you've totally broken it in favour of the posh Miranda's of the Blue Triangle, at a time when money's tight for everyone, and you haven't kept the participating locations up to date . . . there are dozens of people, every day for at least a week, already, going to the Library, going to the Photo' shop wanting to know A) where are the ten dinosaurs (there are only three?), where are the maps (there isn't one?) and where are the colouring sheets?!! Not everyone has a printer, not everyone has a QR Code reader, you're supposed to be encouraging people to come to Fleet, not alienate them!

Fleet Bid Spokeperson - More colouring sheets are being dropped off this afternoon. We have chosen to do something different this year with four elements rather than just one. We have dinosaur shows happening on 19th and 20th August as well as the AR trail and 3 large dinosaurs for selfies. This information has been published and these locations have been kept up to date and published on our website since the end of July. All of this is available free of charge to people visiting Fleet. We are sorry if you feel that this is not what you would like to see, but we hope by doing more things that are free and incorporating the interactive AR element that families would enjoy something different and have more activity to keep people entertained over the summer holidays.

I can't remember if this was a 'Dippy' or a Bronty (I think it says Brontosuarus?), but it was a bit cartoony compared to the other two, and much smaller, in scale, maybe a baby! Also, I thought it was a bit pink and mammalian . . . Hippogriff!

Conclusion

Now, aside from the fact that I'm clearly turning into a grumpy-old-git in my dotage (a left-wing one, I hasten to add!), and allowing for the fact that my interaction did result in some quick updates to both the BID's and the Council's Faceplant pages, and hoping the colouring sheets were delivered (I wasn't after one!), I think you can see where the problems are, it's all-singing-all-dancing tech'y bollocks for people with the right kind of 'smart' 'phone, time to be where they need to be, at the times they need to be there, and therefore suffering under the twin burdens of spare leisure time and disposable wealth, i.e., the 'trophy wives' of the Blue Triangle and the larger town-houses of Elvetham!

The BID spokesperson sticking to the scrip and not really realising how they have broken a contract, established by repeat actions over several years, and somehow thinking that for five- or ten-year olds, three dinosaurs in plain site, is in some way equitable with ten you have to go search for, with a MAP!

Our civilisation is falling apart, through the thoughtlessness, selfishness and lack of imagination of the establishment, unquestioned and not countered by the complacency of the citizens. And it was clearly going-off half-cocked, with elements not in place, late, you have eight months to get ready and . . . ! Phuq!

 

By far the nicest of the three, ONLY three, was this rather fine Triceratops, with a metallic, rainbow-sheen on it, like oil on water!

 

All this saddens me, as how do you get people back to your retail hubs, when you water-down the very idea you have been establishing over the previous few years, to attract people? And no sign of a Christmas campaign yet?

 

And, good retailers of Fleet, if you are subscribing to BID, can I suggest that if you spend the money on Sainsbury's excellent generic four-packs of mince-pies instead, and offer one for every purchase over £5, you will probably have a better effect on your footfall, than BID's shenanigans is going to deliver in a month of Sundays!

 

I must check the Library for their seasonal toy exhibition, that can always be counted on! Underfunded, and mostly volunteer staffed, what would we do without them? And the Tories have closed 800+ in the last 14-years.

D is for Dino-Mag - 3 of 3

For those who don't like dinosaurs here, you will be pleased to learn that's it for these, but - no doubt - gutted to learn the next post will be on the same subject!

Another issue of Andy's Amazing Adventures (not!), with a decent head-count of dinosaur models, this time two bigger and four medium-sized, including metallic polymer being used for both the larger models. The Kerthunkersaur's are not the same species, but are similar sculpts.

 

While I've suggested some may have commercial origins, re. tooling, others may be copied from more commercial makes, like Scleich or Papo, I'm not familiar-enough with them to recognise them in the same way I might instantly recognise Airfix or Britains toy-soldier knock-offs, and they will be much reduced in size?

More paint and a new colour, also the first pterosaur with any realism, I had him on a piece of cotton, I've touched-up, out of the picture! As well as being painted, and one of the larger models so far seen by me, the sauropod is also articulated with moving limbs and head/neck for added play value.

 

This, also a larger model, came in a mixed lot from charity or one of the Blog's donators, however, the black-dot eye says 'probably from this magazine', and clearly I've missed more than I've found, but then I often see them in the Post Office and just think "No, you don't need them, wait for something interesting . . . ".

 

. . . which is why this was the most recent actual purchase of this mag', because paint-your-own, and PYO dinosaurs, specifically, have been another common thread here at Small Scale World, over the years.

 

This one not only had two nice models, but a couple of unusual PVA paints, in both the 'International Emergency' orange and the purple! In fact, the two greens and the muted mustard-yellow aren't the normal colours you'd expect with this sort of freebie . . . so keep your eye out for Andy's crap magazine with occasionally useful cover-premiums!

D is for Dino-Mag - 2 of 3

So continuing with Andy's Amazing Adventures magazine, and I call them magazines because they are not really comics, yet there is very little to their substance! When we were kids we had three types of periodical, straight-out comics, on newsprint, for various age groups, 'bigger boys' magazines like Look & Learn, World of Wonder or Tell Me Why and intermediate stuff, like panel-story fairy tales, or the Disney stuff which tended to be TV-related and aimed at those too-young for the other two types - they were the closest to these modern ones; with puzzle pages and such-like. There is, and always was, the Marvel/DC thing as well, but that's a whole fourth genre!

Now it's all these kinds of things, for all age groups until you gravitate to 2000AD or Judge Dredd, and whether it's this, or the Dr. Who Adventures we followed for a few years at the start of the blog (long gone now), or the stuff aimed at younger kids, it's ALL ephemeral crap, with little to reward beyond whatever IS taped to the cover.

 

Simple puzzles, a sheet of stickers in the middle, some colouring pages and an invitation to send artwork in, is the standard, with maybe an internet portal, all aimed at getting you to watch that programme or that channel, there is no adventure, and nothing amazing about any of the issues I've seen!

Of course, the freebies attached to the covers, need to wind you in, so occasionally, you get an extra-special one to keep you, or parent, buying, and this is a prime example, a substantial card volcano, on several sheets, plus three larger animal models, means this issue would have been sold at a loss, or as a 'loss-leader', to get new 'victims'! Ergo - if You are only buying occasionally, you can stay ahead of 'the man'!

 

This one also had three larger models, and while you may have clocked that the little black eye-dots is a trope with these (not all, but often), this was the first one I noticed with real paint, the spine of the Steggy' having a quick spray of red.

 

This is the same Spinosar as the orange one in the previous post, another thing you have to watch out for with these magazines, and I highlighted it with the Dr Who one a decade ago, is repetitions and duplication, again, by grazing occasionally, you can avoid the worst of that, while building a decent sample.

 

This one just had a decent model-count with three larger and five smaller animals, and another touch of paint . . . the same red! The five smallies look familiar, and will, I suspect, be from standard mini 'toob' dinosaur toys, normally found in more realistic two or three-colour finishes?

 

And this one had twelve minis, six animal models and six to be recruited into a Games Workshop skeleton army! Again, I'm sure all these have had commercial issues elsewhere?

 

The two stegosauruses, though, are from completely different subspecies! But the other five aren't that bad, as matches, with both Dippy's having the head-bump, and the Triceratops horns' being similar.

And, I'm only buying the odd set, as samples, if you are a dinosaur fan, irrespective of the poor contents, or the occasional piece of duff, plastic crap, alongside your dinosaur models, after a year or two, you will have a large tub of many dino's, as most months have at least one, usually multiples.

D is for Dino-Mag - 1 of 3

Another trio of posts! I could have done it as a two I guess, but I had a lot to go on before I did all the collages, and they broke-down easier as three! I've followed this mag pretty casually, only buying it when I feel flush or there is something particularly interesting/worthwhile on the cover, and these posts are what's come-in over the last four years or so.

 

I can't remember if we've done this Mag already, some may be a bot older, but I wasn't paying much attention to the dates, just got on with the images, but they are in the order I took them which should be vaguely chronological!

So this was the first one I noticed (if we haven't had them before), and it wasn't until I got it home that I realised the larger model had a stunted tail! But the fact that the two 'baby' T-Rex's are different sculpts sort of made up for it, and the large one either went to recycling or charity?

 

Another one with half-crap contents, but that's the shtick, isn't it? For the kids or parents of kids who want to follow these mags, most of which are quite short-lived; to get the good ones, you have to pay for enough poor ones to make the thing profitable over its run.

 

I just liked that you got an adult and a baby, even if it is that poor-man's Dimetrodon; a Spinosaur . . . which  - speaking of Dimetrodons - I learnt the other day weren't dinosaurs, but the precursor of dinosaurs, which themselves, probably went on to be mammals or something . . . which might be why the better-modelled ones tend to have that dog-like countenance, they are distant kin?

This one was a bit daft and I thought it might amuse one day (this day!), as it's a capsule toy in which the contents of the - open - capsule are clearly visible! Although all these are in bright, unrealistic colours and look a lot like erasers, they are all modern, environmentally-clean[er], stable (as far as we know, only time will tell) PVC-substitute, polymers.

Note also, it's not the same magazine, this is Cbeebies, the little kiddies BBC mag, I mean they are both BBC mag's, but this title is aimed at a lower-aged demographic, and had dinosaurs as a coincidence, not a regular occurrence, although the eponymous 'Andy' of the other title is there.

 

Another one where the main-item went straight to charity or recycling, pretty sure it was charity, as I thought it was a fun novelty some kid would like to muck-about with on a tedious shopping trip! And with two larger dinosaurs, I was building a more varied sample of the Mag's output . . . more in an hour!

D is for Dinorasers - 3 of 3

The third part of this quick round-up/catch-up, is basically a comparison of older and newer sets, but the newer sets have a couple of extra tricks up their sleeves!

We start with a set which is basically a China-marked green set of the old Diener-rasers (geddit!) or the Total premiums from the 1970's, with a cheaper sub-piracy in blue (with a key-ring/charm loop), in the middle, which have come in recently, and that's it for a minute!

 

I also bought this bulk lot on a clearance price, and they are imported by an old favourite, David Halsall (now HTI). Each pack has one flat/block silhouette dinosaur and one semi-realistic erasersaur, except the pack which has two multicoloured extrusion 'slices' - bottom right.

One of which must be near the end of the run and is totally unrecognisable as an anything, leave-alone a dinosaur! Obviously the streams of different-coloured polymer have shoved each-other out of true? The other though, is a quite clear Triceratops.

The fully round ones are also harking back to the early sets from my own childhood, but again have charm-loop/key-ring holes, which - in this material - wouldn't stand up to a day's wear & tear? There are also subtle differences between the older and newer (these will be no earlier than the mid-1980's) versions.

 

This was the sample just as it went to storage in March '22, and includes all past posted stuff and everything in these three and the Iwako post, but not the stuff in last Thursday's post, which is the most recent stuff to come in.

 

And you can judge for yourself how size differs between the sets, erasers have a small-hand rule and don't vary much (beyond that huge blue lump, in the centre, from Flying Tiger, I think?). But there were those sets of little micro-mini's which were everywhere a few years ago!