GF is for 'Grafar' or Graham Farish, and err . . . West & Short Ltd.!

Right I'm going to start this post by pointing out that in the research for all these model-railway figure posts, both those seen and those still to come, I found a forum online, on which one Jon Attwood, was exhibiting some mild chagrin that one of his fellow forum-colleagues had won an auction for a West & Short set, and further indicating that if any of the forum members saw any going, he was still very interested in obtaining one.

 

So, the fact that he is, a year or two later, sending not just images, but a whole, near mint set, to the Blog for me to share, is an act of extraordinary kindness, and generosity, well beyond the call of duty, as if any of us have any duty to our fellow collectors! So I am staggered to receive these, eternally grateful to Jon, and really happy to share them all, with the rest of you.

Way-back-when, seemingly before they were issuing their little booklet catalogue/modelling-guides (of which I have a few), Graham Farish carried (commissioned?) these figure sets from the West & Short Limited mention above.

And I use the question mark advisedly, as back at their start Graham Farish, were one of several companies (Basset Lowke, Hamblings (Bilteeze), H&M [Hammant & Morgan], K's [Keyser], W&H (Romford Gears), Prichard et al) supplying the model railway hobby by mail-order (as well as from any premises), all of whom tended to have a core product, whether locomotives (GF), rolling stock kits (K's), transformers (H&M), card buildings, or line-side stuff (Pritchard - Peco).

 

And with no other figures in their lists Graham Farish may have requested these, or just stocked them as they stocked other products, and it's not a question likely to be answered now?

 

I instantly recognised the figures, as I have some in the 'unknown metal railway figures' zone! Quite distinctive, with thin steel-plate bases, and blue paints which appear slightly metallic to the eye. This shot is from Jon, and shows his lose figures, to date.

 

Having sent the above images, Jon then sent this to the blog! It's a near mint set, with near mint contents, I don't know how to fully express my gratitude beyond the inadequate "Thanks Jon"!

But you guys want to see the contents! You get two little packets of that semi-transparent paper which stamp-dealers used to use, indeed, early stamp 'stock books' had strips of this paper across the pages before cellophane was invented - and for some time after!

 

One bag contains poses more likely to be associated with a locomotive's crew, the other clearly platform staff and porters . . . what happened to porterage? Wheels on suitcases' came long after porters disappeared, and some trunks had wheels, back in the Edwardian period, so the wheels aren't to blame!

The upper shot here is also of Jon's own sample, or should I say remaining sample, after his generosity? With the six figures from the box to the lower right and a couple of loose figures, Jon also sent me to share with you.

 

The fat guy asleep on a station bench is a lovely, nay 'charming' sculpt, and very few makers have attempted non-standard human forms, Preiser have, notably with their Family Krause series, old-man Krause being a tad portly, and easily identifiable in each set, but there's not much else out there?

And speaking of Preiser, after many years (several decades?) without figures in any iteration of their catalogues, in the recent round of mergers and amalgamations (well it was recent, 20-odd years ago!), and just as Bachmann (Europe) were taking them over, Graham Farish introduced these to their range, bought in from Preiser.

 

The two well-painted sets (018 & 020) might have been commissioned for Farish, but were/are in Presier lists too, along with lovely sets of Japanese, US and other nationality's railway staff/police/uniformed figures. Note - two fat ladies and a portly Deutsche Bahn stationmaster! I suppose, these days, they'll be called 'Rail Transport Senior Line-Managers'!

 

Note also that, as with the Primex/Vollmer sets we glanced at briefly the other day, the two generic sets (019 & 022) are given a basic paint finish, while for some reason sets 021 and 029 are given an intermediate or 'standard' paint-job? I suspect the seated figures will have the basic job?

Again, many, many thanks to Jon for everything he's contributed to this post, and the Blog.

B is to Boldly Go Where No Toy Has Gone Before!

I know. It's a hackneyed and clichéd title, which isn't even true, as by 1976 there had been many spaceship toys, but sometimes the obvious is good enough! I'll have to get all this stuff in the Tags too, won't I? If we're going to be full-on rivals, I'll have to get the playing field level, as soon as!

 

By way of a Brucey-Bonus, here's the NCC-1701, USS Enterpise, a 23rd Century Federation Constitution class starship, operated by Starfleet, and the first Federation starship to bear the name, previously used for planet-bound, surface navel vessels, of the United States!

 

As modelled by Dinky in 1976, little did they know what was barrelling its way down the space-tracks at them, with Kenner/Palitoy written all over their huge polypropylene arses, and less than a year away from this archaic plaything!

D is for Dinky Dinky's, 'cos they're very Dinky!

Box ticking a couple of catalogues with what many of us kids considered the epitome of die-cast vehicle toys, the Gerry Anderson stuff! And it's funny how it coincides with the advent of mass-use colour TV, they never bothered with Fireball XL5 or Supercar, but once we were enjoying 'Supermarionation' in pantechnicolourfullness, the licences were worth the investment!

 

The 10th catalogue (1974 I think?), we never really saw Joe 90 or UFO, but we were great fans of Thunderbirds and Stingray and would catch the odd episode of Captain Scarlet, so we didn't want for the odd 'fix' but usually round a mate's house, we rarely had a telly, or not one that worked! Also, Mum made me watch Fireball before I was old enough to enjoy it, because she loved it, and would watch it while feeding me!

 

From the 12th Catalogue comes the previous year's (1975) new thing, the Eagle Transporters from Space 1999, loved that, I was a little bit in lust with the alien girl Maya who kept turning into a big-cat, or other things!

We tended to share our toys until we were older, and I think the SPV came, near-mint, from a church-fete (a lot of our toys did!), while i can't remember if either of us 'owned' the Thunderbird 2 (ours was the 'proper' green, with flimsy legs) or Maximum Security Vehicle (dropped from this catalogue along with the Patrol Car), but I know my Brother was sole owner of the FAB 1 Rolls Royce operated by Parker for Lady Penelope, and I think he saved-up and bought it with his own money?

The Armoured Command Car was based on a prop to be used in Gerry Anderson’s planned The Investigator, a series that was cancelled after Dinky had produced the masters, so they gamed it, with a quick military look and accessories, and issued it anyway!

While the Eagle Transporter made it to the back cover as well, with a simplistic 'blue-print' graphic. That's got them in the Tag-list! Next?

S is for Seeing Through, Seeing Double!

Found this on eBay a few minutes ago, postage is a bit rich for UK buyers, but North American/Canadian readers may fancy a punt!

 

Bull & Bull Fighter

I've nicked the image because I've produced a link-back, it's the right thing to do when the item is still live! I think it's a loose copy of one of the Jecsan poses?

 

They've obviously run out of stuff to say about space, so they want to park their tanks on my lawn, but learning 90% of what I've posted here will take them longer than they have left, so five-editors or not, they're on a hiding to nothing? More Gerry Anderson when I get in form work, tonight, I think? What do you think, readers!

S is for Slimy Slime From Slimesville, Slimesylvania!

I bought this back in the autumn, can't remember where, possibly B&M or even Smyths, but, I know it was inexpensive?

 

The turtle is not what I was expecting at all! It's an actual turtle, and I assume the other three would be similarly rendered, each is his own shade of green? But I'm not intending to try finding-out, as the slime is like fortified washing-up liquid, it's the vilest stuff you ever encountered, woe-betide any carpet or clothing this come into contact with! Co-branded to Playmates and Nickelodeon, it's pure weirdness on several levels, out there now.

A is for Airgam Apollo Astro-Spacemen!

I'll stick to toys! That's OK, they're pretending they never visit the Blog! These would go very well with the Lik Be astronaut-spacemen, having similar suits and the same mostly unarmed, but with a few ray-guns vibe.

 

There seem to be about eight sculpts of which I only have the six, these four with the lab-tech' type (far right), who I have seen in a set I've downloaded somewhere, but I can't find it, and three more conventional figures, who may look familiar?

 

Because, as can be seen from the one on the left here, they were copied by Bonux, who's French soap-powder premium figures we looked at here. Which means there may be a full ten, but the Apollo sets (Apollo I, II and III) always have the same six?

 

I saved these in 2012, and I don't know if mine are earlier or later than these metallic plastic ones, but I suspect the former, with no good reason! Although I'd almost prefer the red and blue figures! They'll come, eventually, it's all mass-produced polymer!

There seem to be several of these around at the moment, I's II's and III's, with most of them equally 'mint' so one suspects they found a warehouse full, like with the Pryo Atomic Disintegrator knock-offs, which flooded the second-hand market a few years ago? It also means some of the BIN's are a little overoptimistic! The 'I' has less 'space city' pieces, the 'III' has two rocket-ships.

 

I'm not sure Airgam is actually the company name, Airgam Boys were a Playmobil licence (or rip-off, we're talking the Franco years here?) and are so common, searching for these can be a problem, however, it you search for Airgam Apollo, you'll find all you need. But it raises the question that Airgam, per se, may be a branding for someone else?

C is for Coining-it!

I was quite surprised to see these on Mercator Trading's stand earlier in the year, as I didn't remember them at all, and we had all sorts of coin and badge-albums when we were kids, and I well remember Mum sending-off for the missing ones at the end of the promotion, to fill the gaps, but the reason I didn't recognise them, is because they are from 1993, not the 1960/70's!

Fina's petrol stations, what was I doing in 1993? Commuting to Uni' on the trains, and suffering some of the last IRA bomb-threats, along with all the usual points/signal/crew failures, not thinking about petrol!

 

There's one missing and at only fifteen, a lot easier to collect than some of those previous century sets, which went to double or triple gate-fold! Get's Fina in the Tag-list, box-ticked!

 

It was California! I didn't follow it at all!

M is for Micronauts

Not me at all, 1980, I was leaving school, wearing a denim-cut-off over a leather jacket growing my hair long, gardening and cutting trees at the weekends and going to art collage in the week, I wasn't interested, in bitty, lanky, movey, placky, Hong-Kongy and - looking at some of the vehicles - frankly, whacky, slightly tacky, large-scale figures which didn't tie-in with any frnachise I might have been interested in, but they need to go in that Tag List!

Airfix Micronauts;

And my view hasn't changed one iota since! You see them in rummage bins at toy shows, or looking forlorn and one-armless in charity shops, and I just walk on by! Sometimes one - presumably 'rare' - is sitting on a silly-money BIN-price on evilBay and I just walk on by! But, if they are your thing, I get it, youngster! I'm a man fathered by a child of the pre-Palitoy/General Mills iteration of Airfix, me!

 

The full - well, a potted - history's here (Airfix/Palitoy don't get a mention - bought-in end of line?!);

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micronauts

 

The funny thing is you can see the Takara heritage in the robots and smaller vehicles, some of which design-lines would reappear in the Bluebird-Kenner-Tomy stuff a few years later, the tracked robot looking very similar to the grey Tomy version of the  Blue Sharks one-man submersible from Manta Force, or the little robots from the same line.

Y is for Yabba Dabba Doo!

Who knew, who knew it had double-B's, who even thought to think of knowing you might have to spell-check yaba-daba-do? But there you go, the World's favourite allegory of the 1950's,  middle-class, suburban, American 'nuclear-family'? Actually the world's ONLY allegory of the 1950's,  middle-class, suburban, American 'nuclear-family', but I'm not splitting hairs!

Imperial Toys, these are a hard polystyrene, and hugormous, as we will see in a mo'. A ridiculously sublime exemplar of everything weird about my life alongside the rest of humanity in the late 20th/early 2st centuries. It makes absolutely no sense, is full of plot holes, anachronisms and plain idiocy, yet, it is absolutely perfect, and I don't know many people who actively dislike its daftness!

 

Marked Hong Kong and possibly cake-decorations, these are smaller and polyethylene. Fred and Wilma Flinstone and their neighbours Barney and Betty Rubble, live life as many american families were, or aspired to in the late 1950's, even to having cars, pets and salery-jobs . . . in a rock quarry, of course!

 

These are vinyl, and unmarked, so maybe knock-offs, or more recent playset stuff? Clearly based on the next lot down, but I've loaded them as I shot them. What would they make of the world we've created since, and I mean the people who watched as well as the characters!

Polyethylene copies (probably from the same tools) of the old Marx Minature Masterpiece set, these will almost certainly be from Rado Industries / Ri-Toys, but were not offered to the likes of Marksmen. Both Rabbit Angstrom and Willy Loman were, in their own ways the epitomes of Fred Flintstone, they both lived in and afforded (with troubles) the newish houses in suburbia, which they confidently hoped their kids' would, too.

 

Eraser to the left, Marx original to the right, as a sizer. Now, their kids can't get on the property ladder, and the longevity so sought 60-years ago, is the new millstone round the necks of people who have to sell those houses to afford healthcare over the pond, or 'downsize' for the cost of living, here?

 

Newer stuff from the eminently forgettable 'live-action' remake, along with a Bullyland Dino the Dinosaur - Wilma's been cut-off her base. But elsewhere in Europe, where they understand liberal-socialism, or social-responsibility, things are a little better, CEO's do not earn the same ridiculous amounts they do in the English-speaking world, healthcare is now usually better than Britain's, wages are higher and disparity is lower, while their old and infirm are cared-for, looked after.

 

Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, these are Imperial too. Done in a faux-vitrine style. All that promise, all that promise of a brave-new-world and a bright-tomorrow, built on the '"white heat of technology", and it's come to nothing for most, and the poverty index is climbing into the middle-class, even as we create more billionaires who've never done a day's hard work in their lives, either as aluminum-siding salesmen or rock-quarriers.

 

It's no coincidence that the Simpsons, knocked the Flintstones off their perch as the most financially successful and longest-running, network television, animated series ever, the gentle parody holding the hope of the former, replaced by the cynical, near-hopeless, satire of the latter.

News, Views Etc . . . Bit of a Round-Up

I had an unexpected day-off today, so having had a lazy night last night and not popped-out the two posts I had planned, I'll try to get them out later tonight! But I did faff-about until the early hours, going through a stack of catalogues and ephemera, scanned a few things and archived some stuff from Bluebird, Comansi and Klienbahn, so it wasn't a wasted time!

In the meantime, someone eMailed me to ask if the article in January's Collectors Gazette was plagiarising the Blog, and the honest answer is, probably! A while ago I noted, here, at Small Scale World, that several articles in that publication bore a more than slight resemblance to articles posted here, a few weeks, or months before they appeared there, and while I thought they'd knocked that silliness on the head, you can't have missed their coverage of military trains, so soon after we had several visits to them here?

 

When the author (who knows me, and is known to me) waxes lyrical "...these little harbingers of the plastic revolution are often overlooked - but I'm about to rectify that situation", he seems to be ignoring all the work done here by me and contributors, or elsewhere as mentioned in six posts, over eleven years! And his total number of models is out by at least two, maybe more! [I think there may be a little helicopter of the 'grasshopper' type]

 

Let's not forget he/they published two articles on me in their November 2005 edition! And, I probably get more traffic in a week, than they sell issues in a month! He seems to have nicked the image of the Armstrong Whitworth 'flying wing' and added the data from this Blog's article, I don't know, and his 1930's date . . . where does he get that from? None of them were flying then!

 

It's actually a bit tragic, you have the two Paul's pretending they haven't seen the blog (one of them's regularly commented on), so they can post the same stuff a few weeks later, as 'never seen before', Ramses the 5th pretending he doesn't get his few facts from here, TJF and his cock-wacking monkey-lizard and their shite, the Vichy wholesale downloading my stuff, and the AFD, one of whom still pretends to be my 'mate', but only after Stad's has left the building! In point of fact - one of the Brit's does that as well, but usually before Stad's has entered the building!! And people making shit-up, all over the place!

 

Onwards and upwards . . . it's still the 6th! One of my neighbours down the corridor made a lovely little Christmas display on the door of his flat, and taking the lead from him, I managed to buy the last door-hanger in the hardware store a few days before Christmas!

So I made this, with some of the stuff in the 'Gay Tree' top-up box, which happens to be here! It was the sum-total of my decorations this year, but I had three shiny robots and an astronaut on the windowsill behind the laptop, which were joined by two large gold bows from my Crimbo' prezzies, so some effort to celebrate was made!

 

I used my surprise day-off to pop into town and obtain the offending CG, and while in WHSmiths, who I normally try to give as little money as possible to (I try to always use the much-cheaper Rymans after watching Staples fold), I found this Schleich boxed-set, at half-price! Shit shots, but I rushed them a moment ago! Well worth the seven-quid-something, for four, given they start at a fiver for the small ones in the toy shop, a few doors up!

 

I'll leave them in the bags for now! I wonder if this isn't just clearing the 'blind bag' stuff, I've seen them (the blind-bags) in Smyths, but who's going to shell out six or seven pounds for something they can't see, a pound maybe, even two or more now for the Lego minifigs? But more than a fiver?

 

I'm on the last of Lidl's Favorina bears, and gave the After Eight's away as a late gift, but I haven't started the chocolate orange, and still have most of the Belgian truffles and three Lindt mini-bears, so edible-Christmas will extend 'till at least Valentines Day! Shops are already full of it! So a proper Happy New Year to loyal readers, and to the plagiarists, copycats and annoying little tick-turd golems, may I wish only, my recent luck, on you!

L is for Last of the Season's Best to You!

I like to post something before midnight, when I get in from work, but I've been faffing about with a Carbonara, washing-up and vape-batteries, so, what can I say, mere culpa! Anyway, here's a quick shot of the items that went on the tree, new for 2015, which we may have had here already, which makes my self-convicted crime even worse!

Just in time, as they must all come down tomorrow, and that's Christmas for another year, I painted over the mawkish message on the bear, so he was just carrying a parcel, the smallies came from TKMaxx, Paperchase or Tiger, but I can't remember, they've all been doing them for the last few years, but none of them had them this year . . . well Paperchase have gone, of cource! All very useful for filling gaps at the end, and they leave the tree rainbow bright! The missing one was bright pink and went with the 'Gay Tree' stuff!

The two little glass ones are birds, and the other four were charity-shop baubles I think, all glass, with the clear one having sort of glass 100's & 1000's glued on. The nights are drawing out, the shortest day has been and gone, Easter-eggs are on sale, and soon it will be summer, then there's Christmas to look forwards too!

R is for Railway Figures - Primex and Vollmer, Not!

Quite a few model railway companies never paid more than lip-service to scenic, producing a basic station or a few lineside accessories like signals, or a level-crossing, but from time to time would buy in other makers products to 'make up the numbers' in a glossy catalogue, this is true for figures too, and, later in the series, we will look at some interesting British ones from Jon, but these two obvious candidates have come-up in the research!

Primex were a budget firm set up by Märklin, while Vollmer are one of the three or four main producers of ready-coloured building kits, however both have, from time to time taken-in what seem to be Preiser figures, to enhance otherwise rather one-trick catalogues.

 

Primex getting sets of six, as per Preiser, but with basic paint, Vollmer having the indignity of only five figures per set, along with the simple paint! Both firms also get a few of the earlier animal sculpts.

L is for Lone Star's Luna Shooters!

Trawling the archive for more rayguns and water pistols, it quickly became apparent that Lone Star would tick both boxes for us! Isn't that nice of them, now the gloves are off, and we need to get this stuff posted!

From the 1958 catalogue comes the Dan Dare Space Gun, which, like most Lone Star cap-firing guns, would take a whole real of 'amorces' (we need em' for our forces!), and get through it in proper quick-time!

 

Mum would go spare "I'm not buying you any more caps, that's the last two rolls, use them sparingly, when they're gone, they're gone, that's IT", and if Dad was around he'd mutter "Use aimed shots, conserve your ammo.", neither of which entreaties would have any effect on us, as once the caps had run out, we just started "Bang! Bang!" 'ing each other, or the Collidge gang from Mattingley!

 

By 1963 Dan Dare was out, and generic sci-fi was in, with a quick renaming of the toy to The Space Ranger Pistol, which, even from black & white artwork looks to have been a tad more colourful?

 

Also from the 1958 catalogue, was this Trick Jet Water Pistol, with very 'spacey' lines, and if it was die-cast (possibly with similar brass fittings to the HR one?), there should be a few survivors out there, not that I intend to start collecting such things I have neither the room nor the budget!

W is for Wilton's Wandering Willbury's from Warner

I've always had a preference for Hanna Barbera (Scooby, Wacky Races), MGM (Tom & Jerry, which was originally Hanna and Barbera) or Warner or over Disney, it's not that I hate Disney, some of its output is excellent, some now considered classic, but I have never liked the Micky/Daisy 'Disnyland' Disney, and think Fantasia was ruined by the sudden appearance of the dratted mouse for the Sorcerers Apprentice sequence!

 

But Warner Brothers had quite a cast of characters for their Loony Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts, and five of the best are featured here in this band of a band, of cake decorations from Wilton. Large scale and Polystyrene, like most of Wilton's output, but not all of it - Circus wagons, for instance.

Bugs Bunny conducts - from the left; Sylvester (oboe), Porky Pig (cymbals), Daffy Duck (saxophone) and Tweety (aka; Tweety Pie or Tweety Bird, bass-drum). And I hope that's a band-master's baton, because if Bugs is about to sing, I could quickly lump him in with that squeaky mouse!

 

The extra joke being that Tweety, the smallest of them all, gets to struggle with the largest instrument! They are glued to matching green disc-bases, fully marked-up with Warner and Wilton property messeging.