M is for Mammals, Mostly Horseflesh!

In Brian's parcel were a couple of bags of useful animals, which happen to be mostly horses, although one or two other animals were present, including one of my all-time favourites - “Ruh-roh–RAGGY!!!”!

Four horses, the one at the back left is probably an Empire Toys Grand Champion, with brushable hair, they came with such accessories (brushes, curry-combs, bows, rosettes etc....), while the white foal is a common enough Hong Kong sculpt, originally copied from Britains Herald by Blue Box, but subsequently copied by many others. Blue Box also used it as a Zebra foal, with the necessary stripes! As a horse; less common in white, usually brown, tan or black plastic.

 

The other two are more interesting, for being unknown to me, but A) good quality models, and B) the probably domestic American product which gave rise to other Hong Kong copies, even though one looks to be a copy of the Cherilea grazing horse, any info on either/both gratefully received.

Scooby-dooby-Doo! He's a pencil top, how cool is that, it's a pencil-topper of Scooby-Doo! The black dog is looking quite menacing and a hard polystyrene plastic, so may well be from a model-kit by Pyro or Aurora or someone like that, the Hound of the Baskerville's, something prehistoric, or a monster's companion? [the next day: GI Joe's 'Junkyard', see comments]  

 

While the cow is a generic cartoonish 'funimal' aiming for the same market as the Lik Be (LB) Farm Friends or Holly Toy's similar Funny Animals, both hawked to many other brands/jobbers.

 

These are definitely Grand Champions from Empire, but from the Micro-Mini's line, a nearer 40/45mm range, and you can see the GC 'brands' in silver or gold on the rumps. They tended to re-use the sculpts with different sets, so the horse's title depends upon the horse's decoration, but I think we have an Arab in the white one, and two quarter-horses from an earlier wave . . . However, don't quote me!

 

The History of Grand Champions took a very odd turn in 2000'ish, when they were bought by Alpha International, an outfit best summed-up by this US bankruptcy judge's summing-up of an interim hearing, of a battle-royal, with Super Wings, one of three rulings I found, spread over half a decade!

 

The whole thing is rather hilarious, with wives, ex-wives and sisters in Grand Rapids, Hong Kong and mainland China, holding each other's shares, companies, moulds and tooling (specified and unspecified), internal loans, subsidiaries, serial bankruptcies, past histories of wrongdoing and the IRS apparently far too busy on another planet to pay any attention, while none of the judges seem to care a jot for neither the word nor case-validity of either party!

 

I don't know what happened in the end but J.Lloyd now seems to be connected to Tim Mee (also claimed by BMC ? Some more digging to be done there?) and Alpha International's websites are dead from 2013, and only to be found on the Waybackmachine! That Mr. Keener sounds like a charmer, he should run for President!

 

Finally, some lovely old hollow-polyethylene farm animals from one of the early US makers, Lido I think, and among a few of this hollow-type from over there, I have. All useful stuff, and thanks again to Brian for sending them.

A is for Also Avon Again - Astrobot Astrigent-Amphora!

 

 

Captain Bubbles, reporting for duty, Sah!

(He'd be a good foil for those blow-moulded, lenticular-eyed doozers!)

A is for obviously, how could it possibly be anything else but, of course - "Avon Calling!"

I've scanned these 1:1, but have no idea how they will show on your system, and being press-out, it's not that clear where you will be required to cut, should you chose to try and make one, but I've darkened the instruction side to try and make it a little clearer, and the things to get 'really' right are the four slots in the engine tubes.

It's naff, it's very simple, and it was sold as a Christmas 'mobile', still, it probably made someone very happy way back when (1980), and was apparently supplied by Ccai Como, which sounds Italian? And it's a robot, so no scale, it can be a mile long or a nano! Avon calling, but not the 2nd Captain of the Liberator, although the walls are just as cardboard!

And - speaking of the BBC, for it was they - apparently as part of their maths programme; they made 4 (or 14?) 'Print & Do' Starships? Anybody know anything about that?

R is for Renwal . . . or not?

Further to the earlier post, and in part an answer to Andy B's comment on that earlier post, I already had one of the tanks Brian sent, but mine was marked Renwall and is silver and green. Brief research (a google images results page!) reveals that they come in reversed colours as well - green body/silver turret &ect . . . missile, gun, whatever. A rule which breaks-down on the single mouldings, as seen on Ed's Blog with the Army Ambulance, where you get one or the other!

 

Brian's donation on the left and my sample on the right, it's possible they are trying to depict the M103, a heavy tank designed to face-up the JS/T10 series of Soviet biggies during the early Cold War, which, unlike the Stalin's or Britain's Conqueror (that all looked 'heavy'), was more of a scale-up on the M46/7/8 series, and looks quite normal in some photo's?

You can see clearly, that where mine is marked 'Renwal' the new addition has a clear remnant of mechanical scrubbing on the tool to remove the maker's mark. I think Plasticraft bought some Renwal tooling, could the all-green (more realistic) one be a Plasticraft issue? It's also a different shade of green, but I've seen other colours/shades so that proves nothing!

Another silver/green marked Renwall combo', they all have other markings including a title block, normally on an upper (normally visible) surface, and a stock-code/tool-number, along with the branding, usually underneath.

 

And another, this being a sort of giant Sparrow Missile, doing service as a Nike/Ajax anti-Nuke' SAM. Sadly, it's not a working "You'll 'ave yer' eye out..." toy, but a useful item for space bases and the like.

 

Comparison with the Norada we saw the other day (back), possibly also trying to be an M103? The Airfix 'Pershing' (front, nominally an M26?) and a diminutive, carded Marx cap-firing die-cast to the right!

M is for Military Marvels from 'Merika!

So, around the same time as the show the other week, I got a lovely parcel from the other side of the pond, and having covered the show a couple of weeks ago, and Peter's stuff from it, last week, it's time to show gratitude to Brian Berke, by sharing his plunder with the rest of the loyal readers, and we're starting with the military, in what was a vehicle-heavy donation.

This should be a Renwal readymade, very much in the same vein and size as the similar Airfix Attack Force, or stuff we've seen here from Injectaplastic, Jean Hoefler, Manurba or Norada, but this one isn't fully-marked, and has already led to a follow-up! It's quite 'space-tank'y isn't it?!!

 

Gilmark's Sherman behind and a lovely, early, polystyrene, US-made Lido jeep, trailer and gun in front. Following the pattern of the 25lbr and quads, I suspect some artistic licence from the 1950's dime-store supplier, with the very British limber added to a jeep, and a gun closer to the early war 37mm, which, although quickly rendered ineffective by advances in German armour, remained far from obsolete, retained as a very useful infantry support weapon, and which WAS towed by jeeps, among other tractor-vehicles.

 

It is a sad inevitability, that Royal Fail have to take their boatman's coin from pretty-much every parcel from Brian, Chris or Peter, and on this occasion it was the Auburn jeep which paid the price. No matter, I will glue it, and before the cyanoacrylate dries whitish, shoot it with the Airfix jeep for that post, on the Airifx blog.

 

Annoying though, as I'm pretty sure I have the original Auburn Rubber 'rubber' one somewhere (chunk of PVC), and having the polyethylene replacement turn-up is a fine showing of the other side of that coin!

Also the Auburn one I think, or 'based on', although we have seen various versions here over the years, not least the Banner, Bell, Lido and Merit ones, but unmarked and a clean mould-shot, so probably one of the US 'army man' issuers rather than Hong Kong's finest?

 

These on the other hand, are Hong Kong, but rather uncommon 'German' blue plastic, probably from Ri-Toys (Rado Industries), and one of their bagged or carded rack-toys of the 1970/80's, but equally possibly a sub-pirate, the tank being a cruder copy of the Blue Box one, than I remember Rado being responsible for!

 

Brian kindly put these to one-side when I mentioned them a while ago, and it's the Faun 6x6, NATO-era, 10-ton Bundeswehr truck from Roco Minitanks, with a load of assault boats and the larger rubber-boat.

 

Interestingly, I think that grey wheel, is the early sign of 'styrene-rot, and it's only the second time I've seen it, but on the other occasion it was A) also Roco product, and B) also from the 'States, probably AHM over-stamped stuff from the late 1960's? On that previous occasion, I rather blamed the climate in Florida - well, Americans themselves, seem to blame Florida for most things!

 

It's not like the brittleness of dying polyethylene, but more like the Mazak-rot you get in early die-casts, the grey bloom eventually getting fine cracks in it before crumbling, more like biscuit. As with other plastic diseases, I'm sure it's a batch thing, but whether it's down to too-high or low injection temperatures, incorrect operating-pressures or corrupting additives/inclusions . . . as yet, as far as I know, that work hasn't been done.

Many thanks to Brian for all these, and there will be more on the Renwall tank next!

P is for Polski Sklep . . . They're Everywhere!

After posting those others an hour ago, I remembered I had this chap in the queue, so went off to find the shots in one of the 'Eastie' folders, then thought there were those other three, which I think we've seen before, but anyway, more shots have been fired-off and uploaded, so here's more Polish-made Wellingtonian cavalry!

He's 70mm, with a more 'Spanish' (production) looking horse, and is a lancer officer I think?

 

The other 40mm trio included another-one of the white cuirassiers, so I now have seven of them, and he had a slightly different horse which I gave to the trumpeter, further swapping resulted in this pair being odd-men-out, and the six cuirassier troopers match! Ulan and Hussar here, I think?

 

 

Quick comparison shot!

K is for Kirasjerzy, Polscy Kirasjerzy

And the 14th Regiment of, if my cursory research in anything to go by, and it probably isn't! Looking for something quick to post after work, and these are a 'seen elsewhere', so let's get them in the Tag list here, PZG's Polish Cuirassiers.

I'm not sure if the horses are correctly distributed/allocated, but they all came together, and if I know anything about Wellingtonian troops, it's that musicians often had the odd/opposite colours to everyone else! And they are small, they're only about 40/45mm.

HMG is for Huge Mutha' of a Gun!

As flagged in the previous post, here's me'gun! Because I collect military railway stuff in HO/OO-compatible sizes, and because I knew they were out there, I just found myself a cheap one and got it, I didn't 'need' a blog post to tell me, although there had been plenty, mostly on the rail sites, but also here, prior to 2019!

Shot in the August heatwave of 2022, this is how the beast arrived, a large window box which puts the Duchess of Sutherland's box to shame, as a runt of a thing!

 

Gun depressed for travelling/loading

"I'm a useless gun, nobody likes me!"

(Wot? The oldies are the best!)

Full elevation, they would have fired from suitably angled lengths of track, with recoil partly taken-up by them running away for a few yards, and then being shunted back to their firing position, high spotters, maybe miles away, or even aircraft (?), would report on the fall of shots.

 

It's a strange mix of simplified model and fine detail.

I think this is a frame to cover with camouflage nets for the crew to operate under?

Non-working/non-firing, and both the footplates at the back-end were damaged by whoever shoved the model in its packaging, still, nothing a gentle bend didn't fix though, so all's good!

 

HMG Gladiator, which, if you followed the earlier link, you'll know was based at Martin Mill on the Dover/Deal line, and if I'd read it better I wouldn't have said they were never used in anger, as there was some limited use!

 

When you see the immense faff they went to with these guns, you realise how incredibly awesome battleships actually were, they had 6, 8, 12 or more of these and could fire them all at once, while a single one on a rail-carriage got land-lubbers so excited they gave them names!

The real disappointment with it, is the very obvious split-line down the centre of the barrel, and the lack of realistic breach-detail beyond the unlocking wheel, both of which give it a toy-like appearance, despite the finely detailed railings and cranes. And I think I'd rather have had the storage lockers (under the barrel) closed?

T is for Two - Show Reports - Oxford Die Cast Military Railways - 2019 and 2020!

When I posted the Timely Manner thing the other day, I was - of course - only throwing back at The Jabbering Fuck, that which he had thrown at me a few years ago, if only to highlight the hypocrisy of the turd. Obviously I don't really, and prior to his intervention, had never given cause for anyone to suppose I give a shit who posts what, when, or why, unless they are A) plagiarising me, B) competitively 'following' me or C) attacking me, then - of course - I take umbrage!

 

Although I notice he then stated "sorry for the slight delay in my report, but I had various other commitments that demanded my attention", what, like when I was saying goodbye to my ailing father, or a month or so later, burying him? Or more important than that, because he thought it was fine to attack me for not publishing 'in a timely manner' on that occasion, so whatever he was committed-to recently must have been really, really important for that excuse to be anything more than the pathetic whine of a self-justifying hypocrite!

 

No matter, I have the measure of the man, and to prove how little I give a shit about Timely Manners, here's two, part show-reports, from the London Toy fair from 2019, and 2020! Specifically the military train stuff, which I think we had already glanced at, and therefore flagged-up previously.

2019

The rail-gun which had previously been seen in a neutral greyish-green, was on display with a camouflage scheme and mock-up box, although we were told it might not get to the shops like that. In front was a military 0-6-0 saddle-tank locomotive in the colours of the Railway Operating Division (of the WWI-era Royal Engineers).

 

While the well-wagon with Sherman was back again, along with a weathered flat-wagon, suiable for stores or smaller/soft-skin vehicles. Both had only previously been seen as catalogue images.

 

2020

 

The final production version of the rail-gun, which - for a while - had looked like it might never happen was revealed, and while the same moulding as the WWI 'big push'14" howitzers, previously announced, was now going to be sold as a WWII-era, home-defence 13.5" gun, of which three were produced, and never [were] actually fired in anger!

The unweathered flat-wagon put in an appearance and I got to shoot the Sherman from different angles! And that was them, then, nothing time-sensitive about it, if you want the stuff, you go and buy it, if a Blogger doesn't cover it (and they can never, none of them, cover everything) you go to the company's website, I did, and we'll look at mine, shot in 2022, next!

 

It was pompous arseholery for TJF to bang-on about timely manners like a self-righteous, god-appointed guardian of the hobbies, in the way he did, when he did, and nobody cares (except apparently him) who posts what, when or why. Although other points have come to the light, so I shall be returning to his recent sojourn in the leafier suburbs of the post-industrial Ruhr, soon, but at a time of my choosing, which may or may not be timely!

P is for Pure Nostalgia!

MFP - Music For Pleasure, a British 'K-Tel', There's lots about both on Wikipedia, so I won't bore you with it, but it's interesting. We loved this, played it all the time! I don't know how it ended-up at our house, possibly Woman's Hour on Radio4 had something to do with it? All instrumentals, some originally having lyrics, and all pop-hits in the early 1970's.

I thought Telstar was on here as well, but I can't see it listed, so there may have been another 'Moog' album! We were quite late to pop/rock, living our early lives mostly outdoors, or, if it was wet (and it was 2024-style wet for years when we were kids!) it was Lego, the wooden fort or Action Man, with the odd dodgy foray into the chemistry sets - which invariably involved setting our work-table on fire . . . Methylated spirts, it's almost magic!

Anyway, as a result this was pretty-much what we got until we were old enough to buy our own, which for me was Blondie's Heart of Glass as a first single, followed by No Mean City by Nazareth as my first album, quickly joined by two space themed orchestral works off the back of Star Wars, then several more Nazareth albums and three from Tangerine Dream, I'm sure the Moog led me to Tangerine Dream, but it wasn't until the advent of Trance-Techno, that the sound I wanted to accompany mile-long starships, failing in C-beams off the Shoulders of Orion, finally arrived. 

 

Obviously by then Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Peter Gabriel, Mike Oldfield and Aphrodite's Child had joined the soundtrack, but that's for another day. However, I can't leave you with an album still, so make what you will of this! I'm not sure what I make of it, I'm pretty sure no one does, but the 1970's were a different planet! Watch the backgrounds, especially the Hooded Swan at the start!

I get sad watching this stuff, not because I'm some populist, flag-shagging, Trumpundbrexit Boris-hugger wanting to go back to some sunlit upland of chocolate rationing and beating your wife with impunity, but because we had such high-hopes then, for a magic, happy, space-age future, and what we've got is closer to the grey dystopia of Metropolis.

And I guess that's the point of nostalgia, it's got some poignancy attached to it, it's not necessarily a happy thing?