T is for Tipi's, Teepee's and Townsfolk!

The last of the White Tower Miniatures shots, I could have taken more, but I was really only passing through, and if I showed them all now, you'd have nothing to browse on the website, and what would I shoot next time!

The wigwams (teepees or tipis) are the old Elastolin sculpts, 1st and second type origianlly in composition, Matt does a few old and out of production items, both in the metal figure range and the resin scenic range.

 

While the Wild West looks a lot less wild in the townsfolk lines, with lots of useful bits, a full-length bar and pool-table being the obvious stand-outs here, however the blacksmiths forge is also a nice piece, and you can see the Lone Star kids in the first shot, their tool never turned-up in the Marlborough-Dorset production, and seems to have been lost.

White Tower are still here;

https://whitetowerminiatures.co.uk/

 

B is for Bachmann, Busch and Other Blister Cards

Box ticking some more of the smaller railway figure issuers, it doesn't look like they actually made them, and because they are both blistered I've added a couple of other blister shots including one from Jon Attwood, as we are near the end of these posts for now.

These are the sets I hid in the Sandown Park plunder post the other day, a seller had a mass of N-gauge stuff, obviously an estate-clearing lot, and among them were several sets of figures, of which I grabbed four samples, one each of the two Bachmann's, the Busch and a Hachette (below).

 

A couple of points to note are that Bachmann admit to getting them in Hong Kong, while Busch, not known for figures, being primarily a tree/scenic maker, obviously got hold of some too, but give the impression - by subtle omission - that they are German products! The other point is that while graphics are similar, there is a year or two between the two Bachmann sets, with the green 'Accessories' line one being probably the newer, the blue 'Trains & Buildings' one probably older.

 

The usual scans (of the HO range) from various Walther's catalogues. In recent years Bachmann Europe and/or Bachmann UK have used various figures in HO/OO - also in sets of six - bought-in from Preiser, or even commissioned from them, but by "Recent Years" I realise I am talking about twenty-odd years, and there have been various changes in ownership of different arms of the brand in that time which are not for here, now, but can be looked at another day.

 

The same seller had these HO figures in tow, from Hachette the French-based part-work issuer, and (from the talk of 'Craft knife and scissors' in the instructions) possibly part of a larger building kit, and I think it was from the 'Little Benton Village' part-work? I suspect they are whitemetal, but short of getting them out and scratching one, I can't call it for sure!

 

While Jon sent these shots as part of the wider contributions, a bit too big for HO/OO-gauge related models, we have looked at them before, and this is the one with the bin-man which confused me a few years ago, as a similar chap came with a bit lorry!

D is for Dark Ages

Some eye-candy I shot on Matt's stall at the London Toy Soldier Show the other day, some Dark Age/Early Medieval/Norman cavalry types, as sold painted, you can always purchase the bare castings instead.

All available from White Tower Miniatures, where you will also find lovely Saxons and Vikings as well, many designed to make a shield-wall, along with scenic accessories and buildings. White Tower are here;

https://whitetowerminiatures.co.uk/shop

 

2 is for Not 3 Men From Outer Space

Returning to a perennial favourite, a line we've definitely had more than once as an opener! And it's our blow-mould copies of the Giant minis we're looking at again today, with a couple of new snippets of information to round the whole.

This was a evilBay lot about 18-months ago, showing the pose I actually only noticed as I was Blogging them last time;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2018/09/3-is-for-men-from-outer-space.html

The back of the card is overprinted to JBZ, or Joseph B. Zahn & Bros., a US importer ('Jobber'), who carried all the usual fantastic plastic from Hong Kong and repackaged the cheaper/smaller pocket-money tin-plate from Japan.

Then, about a year ago, I picked up a two'er myself, with the errant pose, and . . . blue lenticular eyes, not the common black, sometimes rendered as a grey, so, there's a variant to add to the story, as well as the 'new' branding! My card is the more-common unbranded generic, though. I wonder if they did 1's? Or 4's!

 

Close-up of the new guy, with his lady-charmer eyes!

C is for Card Game, Card Table & Card Players

Matt Thier was at the show on Saturday last, and had his new card player's set for the saloon collection of White Tower Miniatures, the painted figures aren't available yet (but it should only be weeks or days now, keep checking the website), but the castings were there, for those who still have the eyesight to paint their own figures!

 

And they were being displayed on what looks remarkably like the water-butt cover I used to shoot the rocket-launchers, Jean stuff and a few other bits in the garage during lockdown! . . . Where did those four years go?

They are lovely, and I particularly like the standing figure, who could be Lee Van Cleefe, quietly sliding his hand to the six-gun's pistol-grip! Between him and the Moll and an eyebrow code, they've got the game sewn-up, but who's their man? My money's on the old bearded mule-poke, pretending to be a drunk!

They're not on the website yet;

https://whitetowerminiatures.co.uk/

But should appear soon under the Wild West Town folk heading near the bottom of the shop list. And the Windsor Chairs, previously available as part of the saloon range, are delightful!

E is for Easter Bunnies - Let the Party Begin!

 

 

Finally, Miss Fancy Pants turned-up from Sainsbury's in her best frock!

D is for Derivative Drivel!

We don't have many 'D's, do we, weird as there's plenty of words being with D, anyway, I was trying to find a synonym for Matter's Arising, which I know we had, not that long ago, and Derivative Drivel will do!

This arrived today from New York, I shot it upside down to hide all the personal stuff, but have since opened it and there's some good stuff coming to Small Scale World soon - many thanks to Brian Berke!

 

While I bought this from Peter Evans at the show on Saturday, and while I don't usually credit by name, when money changes hands (you could never remember everyone, and don't know half the people in the room!), Peter donates a lot to the Blog, and this was well below real value, so there will be a highlights post or two!

 

We looked at this rub-down set from Westair a few weeks ago, I think, but I forgot I'd shot it twice, and you can see the transfers in these shots, different to the old Lettraset or Patterson-Blick ones, but very much in the same vein.

This monstrosity was found when I cleared the weeds from the pond, I don't know why I was clearing the weeds from the pond when we have accepted an offer, and it's technically someone else's house, but there you go!

 

I would have cleaned it for the collection, but it was more than slightly-damaged and went in the bin! It's modern, a bead-soft or whatever they are called, so thrown over the fence from either side, by kids, or possibly stolen and then dropped by a Heron or one of the many Gulls on Fleet Pond?? It's not like I haven't had the water-lily out several times over the years!

I got these Fun Express zombies the other day, from an evilBay seller, we have looked at them before, but that sample was shite, although I may not have realised that time, how similar two of the sculpts are, or how much they differ individual-to-individual, due to shrinkage/heat (arms all over the place), so might have missed some that time, but here are all four poses in both colours, the snot-green is not glow-in-the-dark.

 

Peter also messaged me after the show-post to point out the guardsman I thought might be a Hong Kong copy of Crescent, is more likely to be a Hilco plastic-from-hollow-cast, which is sort of a better find, I checked him and the mark which I thought was one of those blobby Hong-over-Kong marks, is, in fact just a blob, so I bow to Peter's superior knowledge, and better eyes!

 

I found this on a hook in a small independent corner-shop somewhere in the Surry Hills the other night, when the thirst for a Rubicon fizzy-mango came over me, and as it may have been behind a six-hundred-quid card fraud I discovered tonight, I hope you enjoy it! Luckily I had the cash on me, as I'd just filled the tank, when my card was declined!

 

Credited to Asda supermarkets and claiming to be 8 snakes, it seems to be a bunch of previously-seen here, erasersaurs (10) and 2 of the original snakes, make of that what you will, but clearly I should have checked the label!

E is for Easter Bunnies - Still Growing!

 

 

Benjamin Brown (Asda) joins the party!

S is for Saunders . . . Roger Saunders

I hadn't heard of these until a few weeks ago, and I have nothing on them in the archive, so another "Thank you" to Jon Attwood for this submission, and consequently there's not a lot I can say about them, beyond what you see here, with your own eyes! Which is, a couple of railway modelling review articles and an example of packaging, but it gets them up, Tag-listed and box-ticked!

Jon wrote "Roger Saunders is a well known name in the model soldier world and has a write-up in Garrett. So just a pic of the only rail set I have been able to find so far, and a couple of reviews from 1984 & 1985 Railway Modeller magazine.", and I have found and re-read the Garrett entry (pp. 149), which points out he produced sculpts for most of the 54mm solid metal kit makers/advertisers in Military Modelling in the late 1970's/early 1980's!

 

And having read-up on Pendon Museum, which I was living near-to, for several years (!), I think I'd better get my arse over there as soon as I can? Cheers Jon, a couple of rabbit-holes to crawl down there!

E is for Easter Bundesbunny!

 

 

Lady Favorina Lidl has joined the Family gathering!

L is for Lots of Lovely Loot!

Actually it's not much, but there are some interesting bits in amongst the box-tickers, and almost more metal than plastic, which is not a measure of how far I'm veering from the true path, but just the fact that the London show is the sort of show where some cheap metal is to be had!

Not sure if these are colonial French or British 'native' infantry, nor whether they are Indian or Arabic, or ancient/medieval, but I like to grab these semi-flats when I see them going cheap, and these were better than cheap, they were free! Adrian Little gave them to me, after I asked for a price, as they were in with something . . . err . . . much better!

 

Café Storm Coffee premium of Don Luis de Requesens (1520-1576, Wikipedia states b.1528, but admits problems with the page?) on the left, a mounted Arab from Britains 'Second Rate' subscale, pocket-money lines on the right.

 

Machine-gunners, a growing side-collection! Hollow-cast to the fore, a solid, commercial effort from home-casting mould behind him, the larger composition one is also unknown, but may be Belgian or Dutch and a Crescent gunner is behind them all.

Two shrubs, the left-hand one, more composite than composition, may be an early Faller, I've a couple of Faller trees somewhere with similar bases and construction, but with identifying stickers, or - to be accurate - glued labels. On the right is an aluminium one which could be Wend Al, but is probably Quiralu, as it was with a bunch of other Quiralu that Wend Al never covered themselves.

 

Five more metals, and most are Britians Second Rate's again (note the very different treatments of the two marching (US?) sailors), but the pilot is Crescent, and the running sailor is from B&T I think, from a Woolworth's exclusive set, post war.

 

A couple of ceremonials, one plastic and another of those Crescent sub-scale piracies from Hong Kong, [27th - probably an equally interesting Hilco plastic-from-hollow-cast - thanks Peter Evans] the other a hollow-cast and actually Crescent as far as I can tell, detail seems crisper on Crescent's figures than Britains.

 

I owe Peter Evans a small apology, I was holding two conversations at once, when he came over and gave me the red figure (another freebie!), and I glanced at it and said something along the lines of 'Thanks, I think it's from a firefighter board game like the milkman/dairy delivery one?', later I found the yellow one in a rummage tray (possibly the same seller?), and after getting them home, they are clearly spies or secret-agents of some kind, probably still board game pieces, but not firemen! I think I have the game's details somewhere in the archive, so one day the A-Z entry will have them corrected!

Between them is a rather nice 70-millimetre Nardi nativity Wise Man, from a crèche/crib set, or Presepe, he's got a swivel waist, but is otherwise not very swoppet'y!

The rest of what was only a cupped-hands'full, but all good stuff, especially with the large set we looked at yesterday. Clockwise from the top left, we have another of the soft-polyethylene versions of the Hardy (et al) G.I. flats, which I suspect are 'Euro-premiums' of some kind? A dug out canoe from Safari's Powhatan Indians set, a pack of eight Lilliput hurdles, and two of the maybe Charbens cake decoration plastic copies of the Britains' hunters, another Airfix fox-hound/beagle type and a Quiralu (?) black panther in aluminium.

E is for Another Easter Bunny!

 

 

Great Uncle Moldova dropped-by on his way back from Tesco!