P is for Perfect Polymer Propine - Animals

Continuing to look at Theo's donation, a post I told him I was hoping to publish several days ago, but I am struggling, not writer's block - I can talk for England - but something more existential, or malaise-like! Anyway, some lovely items in this lot . . .

 

These are very useful, in the study of the novelty end of things; they appear to be the same as the various, brighter-coloured ones we got (still occasionally get) in Christmas crackers, but in a more realistic brown/black combo'. And I'm looking forward to comparing all these relief-flats, when they are eventually brought together.

 

Various - probably - Hong Kong animals, including a very clean-paint cow, and a deer/antelope I don't think I've seen before, who, despite a missing foreleg, will occupy an important position in the collection, as first/only sample. And two black panthers!

 

These are almost certainly from a sled or sleigh of some description, judging by the opposite-side mounting holes, but who/where? I suspect that Manurba-Dom-Heinerle-Big combine, but I'm not sure, and was it Wild West, Arctic Natives, Antarctic exploration or something else?

 

I think these must be East German, they are a heavy synthetic, or actual [shoe] rubber, which was a favoured material on the other side of 'The Wire', and I'm hoping they will be in one of the Jürgen R Schüler volumes, which are in storage at the moment.

 

This is also interesting, slightly Hong Kong'y, but also looking a bit like some of the Prior stuff, it'll need a bit of research on the animal forums, but a cheerful-looking addition to the stash!

 

While this bunch, hopefully a full set (of ten) might be European or Hong Kong'ese, and may well be a set of premiums, certainly not a set I've seen before, and quality is possibly too good for HK, so some Euro-premium issuer? However, in the style of the Airfix dogs, with hollow-undersides, they have something in common with a set of HK wild animals (Elephant, Lion, Monkey), seen here before.

 

Lovely set of - probably - French figures, in soft polyethylene, I'm not sure if the more cartoon'ish Duck, front left, is part of the set, or even the same manufacturer (see also next shot), but they are all new to me/the collection, and the Peacock is lovely.

 

Slightly lesser quality, perhaps? But the Swan maybe belongs in the previous sample, and they could all be from the same source, especially coming together, as they did?

 

Many thanks to Theo for all these, a really useful bunch on animals, a branch of the hobby much bigger than Toy Soldiers, and about which i know little, but will gen-up over time!

R is for Recent Rack-toy Roundup

Or, at least, pocket-money stuff I picked up in a gift shop the other day! So, to Stansted Mountfitchet, from whence the Airport down the road took its name, and more on that visit in subsequent posts, but specifically, on the efficacy of the gift shop for toy and model figure collectors.

 

A soft, silicon-rubber skeleton in slime, and another coffin for the sub-collection of novelty coffins! This one made/issued in the UK by Whitehouse Leisure International of Dublin and err . . . Basildon! It's a bit of fun and I think we've seen the 54mm'ish figurine, separately, in bags, previously?

 

Poured-resin pencil tops from Elgate, a name which has appeared in the Tag List a couple of times, but on whom there are a couple of more substantial posts in the Toy Fair/trade-show reports queue, which may have these too! Approximately 40mm if you saw them carefully off their, err . . . oil drums!

 

Glow-in-the-dark aliens, again a similar one [actually, the earless one with lizard eyes on the back of the card] is currently in the queue, only found on Thursday (in Cranleigh Post Office!), this one is also Whitehouse (the other is under Kandytoys), and while a caricature type big-head/super deform, will add to the growing sidebar of glow-in-the-dark aliens! His (or her . . . its?) oil-drum has already gone to charity!

P is for Perfect Polymer Propine - Military

Apparently it's Scottish for 'sacrifice'! Theo, long-time friend of the Blog, has had personal tragedies recently, putting my own firmly into context, as a result of which he divested himself of his collection, but saved a few items of interest for the Blog, which arrived a while ago and have been sat on the laptop waiting for me to get a grip and post them, and, while I'd describe my grip as only tenuous, with many thanks to Theo, I'll try to get them posted over the next few days, interspersing them with a few new-purchase rack toys, to mix it up!

 

These were a real surprise, as they often turn up, but scruffy and weaponless, and usually only two poses, so to get three poses, with weapons and good-to-new paint was a real treat, and they were on top of the parcel, so got shot first!

 

And, these were with them, four different mounted figures in a similar state of near-new! Again, I may have seen the bowman, tatty, a few times but not the others, and like the foot figures, all are based on the Britains Swoppets, but you feel, probably hand-copied rather than anything as accurate as a pantograph?

 

9th Aug. - Peter Evan has suggested ABC for these, they are unmarked but could be, and I've posted a marked one on foot, ages ago, he also pointed out that the mounted legs are from the Herald Agamemnon, and you can see the sandals and greaves!

 

This may be the horse for the above, the other likely candidate would be the Timpo-copy with caparison (as found in the 'States in Ideal playsets), but I think they only have Timpo-copy riders. This one is a scale-down of the big Thomas/Poplar sculpt.

 

These are a useful addition to the Crescent Roman piracies, especially the chap far left and far right, who is one of the three Gladiator poses, and was missing when we looked at them last time, although I have an all-blue HK copy of the pose. It struck me that he would go well with the Charbens ancient set!

 

Marx 'swoppet' GI's, a real treat! I do have one somewhere, and a bag of bits, but there are three complete, here, sans one weapon, a B.A.R. I think, but at some point in the future it's going to enable a single photo of all the possible combinations!

 

An actual Crescent Roman! A damaged Cherilea knight, who may be the basis of a future conversion, he only needs a weapon to replace the missing lance, and one of many French 'bazaar' figures, or at least I think he's French (Koho, thanks to Theo - https://www.lastdodo.nl/nl/areas/4866119-koch-hofmockel-koho), and a bazaar issue, and he'll be sorted into the rest when they all come together, soon I hope, but I've been saying that since 2021!

Nardi and Lone Star, paint is good on both of them, and finding the Lone Star figure with complete spear is getting rarer, one of mine broke after the last photo-shoot, so being sent one and having him survive the postal services of Europe is another treat!

 

Three Cherilea; 54mm, 60mm and, err, gi'huge!

 

Two Tim Mee European issue, a nice Cherilea 60mm swoppet, first version with the separate boots, and four more of the smaller Monogram copies from Hong Kong, which will be filtered into a larger sample of them, for a definitive article one day, we had an interim look at them here;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2016/08/m-is-for-monograms-men-made-much_10.html

 

with another set looked at here;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2021/08/t-is-for-two-khaki-infantry-rack-toys.html

 

And, it's the large number of variants of these Hong Kong knock-off figures, which makes all samples so useful, toward finding the full story of them, one day!

 

I can never remember who these are by (and I've been told often enough!), with scabards and base markings they are Timpo 1st version, but with plain belts and smooth bases they are . . . Charbens, Speedwell . . . someone like that?

 

Finishing off with a lovely, clean sample of the CMV-marked Hong Kong copies of 'khaki infantry' from old Britains Herald, Lone Star and Crescent sculpts, so clean they look like they were made this morning! Thank you, Theo, sorry it's taken so long to get them posted!

F is for Fugging-bluddery!

It's Rack Toy Month! It's fugging rack toy month and I totally forgot! To be honest I'm still not really in the mood, but at some point you have to get back on the bloody horse, don't you? Also, I'm not sure what I've even got in the bag for RTM, and I've promised to post a donation first, so, we'll see?

 

But I found these a few months ago in an almost deserted discount store in Borden, so they'll do, for a start . . . Rack Toy Month everybody!

 

Not a cowboy to be seen, I guess their sets had sold first! The slightly thinner copies of the Supreme/SP Toys Wild West, here under the banner of PMS International again, with two Indians and a plastic shrub per-bag, plus one of the previously seen scenic pieces, from the top: Totem Pole, 2 Tee-pee/tipi's, air-burial platform/lookout, and camp fire with tripod and pot.

 

And I think they were about one-fifty each, so proper rack-toy price!

News, Views Etc . . . PW Feedback

So, 4am here, and I've run out of puff, sorting the plunder pile! Yeah, I had a snooze earlier! There were three new Plastic Warrior Special Publications launched at the show this year, and the embargo has been lifted on them being announced, so they are:

A brief look at VP, not much added since the last issue, but all now in full colour for the first time, which with the sister volume . . .

. . . on UNA, means all five (Kentoys, Speedwell, Trojan) of the problematic Britains/Timpo-copy Khaki Infantry issuers have now been updated and colourised, I think? 

While this overview of Poplar Plastics, and it's relationship with Thomas, is also an update of a past title, with much more added, and again, in colour for the first time. They areare available separately for varying prices, or all three are in a bundle for £15:00, but I don't know how long that offer will last, before they revert to individual list items, or one of them runs out, so get your order in now!

 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PlasticWarrior?fref=ts

 

Blog. - http://plasticwarrioreditor.blogspot.com/

 
eMail - pw.editor3@gmail.com (pw.editor@ntlworld.com)

Tel. - 01483 830 743

 

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Peter Cole and his label Replicants had a 40th Anniversary (of Plastic Warrior magazine) figure, and four pairs of English civil War cavalry on his tables.

 

In a departure for Replicants, there is a new horse with separate base a' la Britains/Timpo, and the 40th Anniversary figure is of a spy, saboteur or 5th columnist, with headphones, using a morse-sender/receiver, in a suitcase. Whether this is a metaphor for PW's revelations on the secrets of plastic toy soldier production over the years, I didn't ask, but it seems apt! He may, of course, just be getting the football results?

 

********************************** 

 

Graham Apperley reminded me he has a Blog now, which I had read on Brian Carrick's pages, but forgot to action, so this is the URL:

 

https://talesfromthetoyroom.blogspot.com/

 

Away from the show, Tom also has a new blog:

 

https://tomertonvillage.blogspot.com/

 

and sent me a link to an interesting 3D print source for civil/railway figures:

 

https://www.smartmodels.org/

 

And I'm hoping to get commenter John's Blog-link shortly. 

 

10-06-25 Done - https://toysoldiersblog.wordpress.com/

 

It's nice to see a resurgence in Blogging, especially in our field.

 

It was a fantastic show as always, and credit is due to Paul, Peter and Brian for putting it on, I don't know when I'll get the plunder posts out as there's a ton of stuff in the queue before it, even if I get stuck back-in, which I'm not sure I'm ready to, but it'll all be here in the end!

N is for Not Really Sociable at the Moment!

I'm not 'people'ing' right now, too much other shit going on, but I will be my usual cheery self tomorrow, at the world's best Toy Soldier show, being the . . .

Usual contact details and travel stuff from the usual sources:

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PlasticWarrior?fref=ts
Blog. - http://plasticwarrioreditor.blogspot.com/
eMail - pw.editor3@gmail.com (pw.editor@ntlworld.com)
Tel. - 01483 830 743

. . . and Brian posted all the relevant details a while ago.

And, given the success I had last year, pre-mentioning the need for a blue astronaut/paratrooper, this year I'm hoping to find . . . No; you don't tempt fate!

Here's some eye candy for stuff you may find though, and I will get round to answering comments/eMails, next week if I can.

Airfix window display, circa 1949!

H is for Have a Happy Easter!

Well, I seem to have managed to get Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday off, so I might get a bit posted, but I might go off and do something more meaningful! I fancy a walk this afternoon, but in the meantime, it is time for the regular look at what Scully & Scully have had in their window this festive season, courtesy of Brian Berke from the New York office!

 

Trees and shrubs were a noticable portion of the display, and Brian actually went back to shoot a couple more. I think the first one may have been flocked with micro poly-beads, but the others just look to be painted?

 

They seem to have moved them around between visits, so we get different lighting, if not different angles, hard to shoot flats anyway other than straight-on! We saw this sculpt (or Edition, as the flat 'publishers' call them), last year, but they always seem to use a new painting, when they do re-use the models.

 

 

A hundred-and-fifty meters to Easter people, a few circuits of the garden, or pop-down the corner shop and back, you'll be there! And if you don't use the carrot-car you'll get a bit of exercise!

 

These are a delight, every time, and just as traditional as chocolate eggs, although I was now years old when Kalani Ghost Hunter (one of my current secret pleasures on Facebook reels) educated his followers to the fact that the American's don't do chocolate eggs like the Europeans do, his mind was literally blown (non fatally!) by the wall of eggs in an average UK supermarket, and when he went back to the 'States, he showed us a Walmart display, and apart from a few Cadbury's Cream-Eggs, similar things from Reeses, and a few minis, there was nought!

 

And, many thanks, as always, to Brian for taking and getting these shots to us.

News, Views Etc . . . White Tower Miniatures

Matt posted this yesterday;

"Sad day, we have done our quarter one review. Sales are down quite a bit. It must be a combination of three things, firstly the world climate is stopping people buying due to costs and fear. Secondly ebay has added costs to our products, more of that later. Thirdly we are possibly making too much.

So something will be changing, our products will no longer be on ebay. It is marking up prices, gouging on postage and making listing very difficult. Its not worth it, so go to our website to gain free shipping cheaper prices and the full range of our products. Secondly the price of metal has skyrocketed so production costs are beyond sales, so we need to tread more carefully. This means we will still release the next two batches but after that until we start to break even I will use you good people to pick what gets made, I will sculpt figures and put them to a vote.

Sad but needs must till things balance out. Please help me find new customers by sharing our Facebook and website with people you might think will be interested. And you at least will have a say in what goes into production as I will not be able to subsidise the width or figures I sculpt into production. A bit gloomy I know but as a one person operation I can not bankrupt myself for a hobby."

So grab anything you need off of evilBay if you use that platform, before he delists it, or remember to use the website from now on; https://whitetowerminiatures.co.uk

 

You can get hold of him on Faceplant too; https://www.facebook.com/whitetowerminiatures