M is for Merry Mass of Malleable Model Mayhem! 8 - Transport

There was a lot of interesting traffic in Chris Smith's recent donation to the Blog, and in this penultimate post on the parcel's contents, that's what we're looking at, right now, as soon as I've loaded the photo's!

Mostly mini-cars, with four Kinder types at the bottom, a Blue Box Jaguar and a funny little kiddy-thing which might have carried a water-based paint pastille in a little tray (?), also Kinder, while the one at the top may be a cereal premium of some age?

 

Four of those educational supplies vehicles, one taxi and three racing cars, along with a soft polyethylene - probably Christmas Cracker - copy of the premium cars in brown, with a maroon original next to it, and another of the lesser version Formula One cars in front.

Below is a bicycle which I fear failed a battle against the mores of Postie! But they are clean cuts, and it'll go back together easily enough as it's polystyrene, although the cross handle-bar is missing. It's big too, occupying, probably. the same area as the three 'beetle' cars, so sort of 60mm compatible, and no sign of a base, so, roof-rack load from a Hong Kong big-box jobbie?

A Pair of modernish rack-toy fighters and a rubber-catapult glider, it's a long term goal to take them all outside and test them, as there are a few now, including the Hornby Battle Space one!

 

Marked W.Germany, this will be KUM, ooh-err missus! Still going, and nearly 100 years old (the firm, not the sharpener), and there's another in the queue. It's in need of new propellers, and is missing it's front/cockpit, which is detachable to empty the scrapings . . . sharpenings? Shavings. Planeings! And very unusual.

 

 

Two rack toy 'planes, sans cockpits and propellers, but useful spares against not having the type in/or the colour, if you know what I mean and plug-ins can be moved about for photo-seshes! The deck-plane is from Airfix's HMS Victorious I think, and should be a Sea Vixen, it'll be on Scalemates or Britmodeller I'm sure. The Concord was a Christmas cracker novelty, with a bomb and a rack-toy which looks like a Cessna A-37 Dragonfly, workhorse of the Vietnam war?

 

 

The orange gun is one of those things I keep forgetting, If I recall correctly, it's a smaller copy of an American piece from the dime-stor era, should be German (DOM Plastik?, but might be a sobre type thing, the attribution is in the archive, and may be on the Blog - somewhere?! While the little wooden one is probbaly homemade, but the red-ends have half a look of commercial 'meant' about them, so I don't know, it might be an erzgebirge Christmas tree-hanger?

Horse-drawn equipment includes my favourite, a Christmas cracker cart, body orientation corrected in the lower shot, a small wagon (mine cart?) from a play-set of some kind and a Blue Box canopy from the small scale copy of Crescent's Wild West pioneer wagon.

Military matters include the Hong Kong (and Speedwell) tank, a blue box motorcycle whos seen better days, but is polystyrene,, so modifiable, and off to the spares, a mini Humber truck and a wooden wheel which must be off something like out childhood staff-car, but it looks unplayed with, so must have been lost quite soon?

 

To their right are a bunch of the micro-vehicles which used to fill a blister in early rack-toys, as seen here passim, the blue one however is the cracker version with better wheels - a future post, there are three varients of A/C, two of the gun, only the one 'amphi-carrier'!

And finally - this lovely little thing from Hungary, it will have been from those mixed-content kiosk bags as we saw here a while ago from Vorsas Games, in fact something quite similar was illustrated on the header? Half-T34, half Jagdpanther, all cool!

A lovely thing to find in a parcel of free-stuff, from Chris and I thank him for it all, we will finish off with the Wild West in a day or two, but then the posting rate may drop off for a while, I pick up my new uniform tomorrow, then I'm off out, on the road for my sins!

A is for Actually, I Quite Liked It!

Another board game and this one's got 54mm'ish figures which will happily go with Star Wars Command figures, and a few of the other metal, PVC or resin figure sets issued over the years in that 54-60mm goldilocks zone, as called for by fans, but never supported well enough to last long in the market-place!

It wasn't a bad fillum, it just wasn't what people wanted, which is not the same as what you might expect, which is a good movie, with a half-decent plot and a big budget, which is what we got! Yeah, some of the acting could have been better, but that's what happens when you mix kids and animals, or Gungans! "Yessur'masser, I be pickin' many cott'n today sah!"

 

The board - as you can see - was a complicated arrangement of slot-together card levels, platforms and other bollocks, and went straight in the recycling bin! I was after the figures! I kept the big ball-firing weapon-thing, but I didn't photograph it, because it's a bit naff, to be honest!

 

Characters, our two Jedi hero's and a princess, classic story, boy meets girl - the first three movies were a 'Western in Space', the second trio were a series of romances and bromances that went bad, Disney before they even owned the franchise!

 

The 'soldiery', two Gungans and two Nabootian Palace Guards, has anyone considered that bloody humans clearly came to, and claimed, someone else's planet? Or the above-water bits, at least!

 

Some of the models are in more than one part to allow for dynamic posing within the twin constraints of production and standard, or pretty standard games-box size. Or games-box shelf-size, this was issued when 50% of production, or thereabouts, in Western territories, would have gone to Toys'R'Us?

 

The bad guys, although we know two of the 'golden boys' above will turn out to be pretty effing awful! A pair of Trade Federation goons, The Emperor, Darth Scrawl'led all over his face and several Battle-droids.

 

A driedecker, no, that's a WWI plane, 'Droidecker'? Wookiepedia says spell it 'Droideka' (also known as destroyer droids ('destroyers' for short))! In Red Barron red, so that's all making far more sense than it should be, really! "You have five seconds to comply!", in my best 'Open Bank Holiday Monday' voice!

 

More parts!

Plotting! They're plotting, the bastards!

There's more in storage, and I didn't bother with the big Disney-Vietnam vinyls, but the recent Clone Wars Wookie is a tad on the big side, with the key-rings and Hologram Series (pink and blue) being a tad on the small side, but painted and based they would all be useful 'army builders'. Also seen is a Star Wars Command kneeling stormtrooper and what I think is a knock-off (from Chris?) keyring.

The late, and much missed Boysey-boy taking an uncharacteristic interest in the subject at hand, I still well-up every time I pass the big pet-shop in town as I have no reason to go in and explore the treats section, we'd just discovered those Bonkers catnip treats which are like cocaine for cats!

K is for Kemlows Illustrations?

These photographs are a sort of mystery, clearly sequential with those seen in the Brookes' book on Kemlows, but not apparently the actual shots used, I suspect they were sold to me by the Brookes, at the Alresford toy train day, many years ago, and while I say they are a bit of a mystery, I vaguely recall a shoebox type thing with pictures for sale?

 

Anyway, they were in the archive and can be shared with you after scanning.

So, for instance with this last one, in the book you get two shots, one of the five box types found, the other an end-on shot of the cycle rack with two green and two blue bicycles, neither with the white mudguards? The weird thing is, I would say all six of these shots are better than the corresponding ones in the book?

C is for Cast Communications Cabins!

Mr. B.J. Ward's 'Wardie Products' Mastermodels range of OO-gauge accessories weren't going to feature much in this 'mini season' of railway figure posts, as Jon hadn't sent me many images, and I didn't have much here, and what Jon sent will be in an overview toward the end of the sequence, however he did send me a pair of Telephone Boxes, and in looking for other things I found more Wardie stuff, and shot what little I have here for what will be two posts tonight - if I pull my finger out - which will take us to the not-so-subconscious next target, of 60-posts for the month, before midnight!

So, this is the little treasure Jon sent in one of the donations we looked at a while ago, briefly, because these posts were quickly envisioned! One's a bit tatty, but I do have loose ones in the main collection, so I'll make this right again with a couple of near-minters!

 

As with the other 'phone boxes (AA, RAC, Police), there is a paper wrap-around with the detail needed, printed on, and this casting was used for an information kiosk as well, a later version had a flat roof.

 

I can't remember if Adrian, Jon or Peter handed these larger, touristy ones, to me or if I found them somewhere, or a combination of the preceding, but they're not bad for model railways, maybe 28mm-compatible? One has been a key-ring, the other must have been part of a boxed-set of UK icons, as it's not had its roof drilled! And they are Chinese in origin!

 

Between them is a funny little plastic kiosk, of a modern city type, possibly based on something Asian, closer to the maker's heart? And the sort of thing which might be from a rack-toy, but might be from a comic/periodical giveaway?

 

It's a gratuitous shot of some elephants!

Q is for Question Time - Gymkhana Horse?

We've had this before I think, or one of them, the little Shetland pony from Britains for kiddies' gymkhanas, was copied by someone, in a nylon'y plastic, I'm guessing for some kind of Polly Pocket micro play-set compacts?

So, the simple question is, who? To which I suppose 'when?' can be a supplemental! There's no sign of the locating stud being attached, so it may be that no riders were involved, and the little piracies were background interest, as it were, but they're not that rare, so getting it ascribed should be easier than it's proved so far, and would be nice?

M is for Merry Mass of Malleable Model Mayhem! 7 - Military & Marine

A shorter post, I suspect because Chris himself specialises in 'khaki', modern combat, WWI, II etc . . . and will hang on to any interesting things in that vein, although he sends plenty of shots as well as these donations, so it's no whinge, just an explanation for the shortage of images, also, I shot them in groups . . . but I've added Marine subjects at the end to make up the numbers!

Small scale; the most interesting is probably the chap on the far left, who needs a paint-strip, but seems to be a Hong Kong copy of an Eko copy of Airfix's first series 8th Army, we've seen similar here, but not that pose I think, and the base is the giveaway!

 

The US marine pointing is also interesting, as he's not from the Aurora 'HO' sets, but is in the same style, might be AHM? Three from Redbox's Motormax (ex-Zyll), a Blue Box vehicle-mounted equipment operator, three commoner Airfix piracies, a Skybird and a kit figure (at the back) make up the company!

The big guy is marked C-P Inc, which/who, I believe, are a subdivision of US Toy? They who make the sets of ten in two colours (five of each) mostly civilian 54mm rubber figures. These are a very brittle (from new) polymer, of the Nylon/Propylene feel, and I have some others somewhere (among the first large scale figures I got), and equally damaged on the extremities, so early-to-mid-2000's, maybe the late 1990's?

The heat-shrinkage Lido-copy German from HK, is fun for being a 'new' pose, albeit, dying backwards, and the Monogram which looks like many other copies, is hard plastic against the copies usual polyethylene, so may be one of the shop-display figures which came out of those early kit-makers, as the painting has a casual, but practised 'factory' look about it?

A 'Bonux' FFL shaking his fist at someone, but unmarked, normally the unmarked ones are in brighter colours, not the Bonux olive-green, so I think he's a useful addition? Some Hong Kong to sort, more of those Naval looking hard-plastic vehicle/vessel crew, and the one on the left is a colour-variaton I think, while the one on the right is probably home-painted?

 

Three useful HK copies to be sorted into existing samples, another US truck-rider and a couple of more interesting figures, the sandy one modern'ish, the other part of the ever-expanding 'might be Pioneer for somebody else' oeuvre?

 

Pitrates! It's all you're getting, as I never know, at this time of year, with an empty or near empty Pirate Zone, what I may have for next year's ITLAPD, so they have all gone there, in order that I at last have a few shots for the Intro-post! What can you spot anyway?

 

Ships and vessels, two of the Hong Kong copies of Triang Minic's waterline battlefleet, a smaller one with added hull from another maker, a yacht which looks like it should be from a board-game, but wouldn't be very playable with that keel, so maybe a 'working' sink/bath-yacht from a Christmas cracker, or a real-water race game?

 

The tug is another Triang copy, the raft is a Manurba copy, yellow boat is a Kellogg's cereal premium, and a more recent take on the old baking soda novelty and the orange cruiser is a novelty candle-holder for cake-decorations!

 

Many thanks again to Chris Smith for all these lovelies, and if you keep scrolling past the gold-lamé nutcrackers, I added a couple of images to yesterday's Crescent/Kellogg's knights post.

C is for Crackers, Nuts, Not Quite Sane!

A late entry for this years Nutcracker posts, these came winging their way here, from New York, the other day with a message from Brian that he was wondering how people could put this stuff in their houses . . . and it had to be said, that apart from the final image which is the traditional wooden type we've got  into the habit of posting here at this time of year, the other four are plastic shite, and couldn't crack a walnut, let alone a brazil or almond! And the first three are even worse - gold-chromed, plastic shite . . . 

 

. . . who indeed? Who would put this shite in their house? Well, I suspect footballers wives might? Golfers or working-men's club comedians who have retired to Dubai might? The wife of the previous President of the United States of America, might! But sane people, who paid attention in class, who learned about 'class', taste and decency . . . ? Nasty, nasty plastic shite!

Marginally improved by a traditional decor, but, we are destroying a Planet, our Planet, without another Planet to go to, so this shite can be put on a shelf, let alone taken home!

 

There is a madness to it, to stop it we have to take a long, hard look at our souls, we have to re-configure the way we live, in a million ways, and to do that we have to dismantle capitalism, and to do that we have to defenestrate the capitalists & big business, and to do that we have to disempower the powerful, and to do that we have to destroy (or rewrite by force) democracy, which the powerful and the capitalists seem to have a head-start on doing anyway! And not for the better? Sorry, to bring such a downer to the Blog at Christmas and all, but . . . this IS the time for reflection, and none of it bodes well for the future.

This is what we like, nice Bavarian, wooden, craft work, they would look lovely either side of the porch, or an unused fireplace, and might crack a nut! It's all nuts! And that green???? Thanks, Brian . . . I think!

K is for Knights in Armour, FREE! From Kellogg's

So, the other scan from Brian Berke in NY, I had hoped to shoot the set yesterday, but sadly my dealer-fixer/pusher-man (Mr John Begg!) failed me, but he had the missing archer, and between what he had, what I'd shot, and a quick paint-stripping last night, we can see the whole from the sum of its parts, because it's all a bit bitty, and was shot in several batches and collaged likewise, I'll load everything, in whatever order Blogger fancies, move Brian's image to the top and waffle down through them!

The advertisement - in Comet again, this time a full-page ad' rather than the quarter-page I cropped-out for the Guards the other day, while the Guards were simply unpainted Kellogg's-marked Crescent figures (as were the Robin Hood, natural 'enemies' to this set), in the case of these knights, they were presented to Kellogg's in new colours, a powder-blue and creamy/ivory off-white.

 

The Crescent originals (weird miss-mould/experimental (cake candle-holder?) figure to the left) were in a metallic silver, which could vary to the gold'ish hue on the right here, the left-hand figure being the common shade.

 

With the two shades of Kellogg's premiums being here, I guess, that while in the Crescent inventory/on the shop shelf, the Robin Hood could provide a good foil for the silver knights, Kellogg's wanted the scions of late-Empire to hone their belligerent aggressivity over the breakfast table, by providing two distinct 'sides'!

 

Note also the different plume on the blue guy, Crescent often show marked sculpt differences between cavities, which I guess makes them a little more collectable? We've seen similar differences with the American Indians, and with bases. Indeed, 'Bluey' has a smaller base too!

 

Three Kellogg's painted at home, the archer was one I didn't have here, and we see, under the paint, two creams and a blue. Some years ago, possibly actually nearly two decades ago, I posted the small scale (Giant et al) versions of the axe-man in One Inch Warrior magazine, with derivatives, and it's quite a common pose, with two from Airfix, and both Italeri/Zvezda and Accurate/Revell managing similar sculpts, one via Elastolin!

 

Two Crescent originals, also home repaints, if the Sheriff of Nott's is in the Robin Hood set, can we make the chap on the right King John, or Gwuidergisbourne? I jolly-well think we can; they're ours to do what we want with!

 

I had these four also home-painted, but necessity dictated they lost their paint yesterday evening, so in the self-seal jar they went with a slop of bleach, and . . . after a few dozen shakes, over a few hours, a quick scrub and some tooth-pick work, to get the silver residue out of the armour-plate's corners, later . . . four pristine Kellogg's medievals!

 

This chap was shot earlier in the month as my only blue example here, I'm sure I've a few more in storage, but I'm not sure if I have all of them, in either colour, or between both colours, they are not as common as the Guards, or the Robin Hood figures. 

 

So I think, one way or t'other, that's four of them in blue, five in cream and all six overall, with a few silver Crescents! Kellogg's also carried the Wild West from Crescent, but they were in the same colour (Indians) and some of the colours (Cowboys) of Crescent's own output, so it's only getting the base-mark, with these Knights, it's more interesting!

 

Thanks to Brian for the scan and the nudge, to John finding what he could at short notice, and letting me shoot them, and to Sainsbury's for fast acting bleach!

 

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Added the next day!

Apropos the comments below, the 'Crusader' axe-man has quite some company, in small scale; in the upper shot we have from the left -

 

Airfix Sheriff's man, Italeri/Zvezda (behind) Giant knight, Giant Mongol, Accurate/Revell (behind) and Airfix Ancient Briton.

 

and the lower shot is - 

Giant, Giant, post-Giant 'rock on a pole' copy, Airfix, Airfix, Accurate, Italeri, with the swordsman from Airfix's Ancient Britons missing from both shots, he's very similar to the Sheriff's man. Quality is poor as they are scans of old photographs. I suspect there will be an older 'first' version, maybe a Courney or one of the earlier French plastics, can you think of another candidate?

While I found this in the 'junk folders', I must get better at checking them, there's tons of stuff down there in Picasa's 1951! I think these were a 2013 shoot, and had probably come in with that year's Plastic Warrior show plunder, or the 'big-purchase' from Southsea, a year or two earlier, which really completed the first-lap of my other-scales collecting? Original paint, silver plastic, Crescent-marked. Note the 'cavity variation' in the half-moon of chain-mail over the crotch of the upper pair, much finer on the right-hand figure.

The irony is, I know I have several archers, yet he's ended-up the least represented in this post! Another one who's similar to an Airfix Sheriff's set pose.