M is for Marx Space - Other Bits

A few other images I took while getting all these posts into some sort of sense or order, mostly from the loose stuff I had here in the sort of, last 24-months-odd acquisitions pile, there is plenty more in storage, I've always regarded all the Marx, MPC, Briatins, Timpo, Starlux, Elastoline &etc., stuff a bit 'box ticky' as there's tons of it around, plenty of collectors and loads of sites, but actually, in doing these posts, I've found either a dearth of decent Info, or gaps/conflicts in what is presented, or said, so when I do get everything together, I'll try to box-tick more of the supposedly common stuff!

 

These were already in the recent stash (rather than the collection), and they highlight one of the more interesting things I've noticed about all these Marx sets, each set has adjustments made to suit that set, which has lead to lots of variations to collect, more, I'm sure, than the few I've mentioned. Here - for instance - the tall rocket tower in gunmetal, doesn't sit flat, because it has two longer spigots in its hollow underside to local into a base-moulding that only came with some/one set/s.

 

While the yellow set here, which I assumed was a reissue, is actually a third size, to the two I've already highlighted. Also down the front you can see the triple-disc thing, now complete, along with a sort of searchlight thing, and the 'computer-table', now complete with its radar basket/salad dryer! Note also, the middle silo of the fuel-storage facility now has an extra collar at the base of the joined-pipe.

 

To which end, I shot these three, and you can see there is a 1.5/2'ish millimetre difference between the three mouldings, more than can be accounted for by shrinkage between harder and softer polymers, say, but, in fact they are all of similar density, although the gunmetal is a 'styrene, the mustard probably 'ethylene, and the lemon maybe 'propylene (and a Mexican re-issue?), however, the fact is - they are three separate tools.

 

Which does rather call into question, the whole 'mould (or 'mold') shot' shtick, some American collectors have been using to annotate their research, could we, in fact be looking at one tool list, from one factory, or one period in the company's history, or one auction?

 

We know some Marx figures (Warriors of the World and Miniature Masterpiece) could be produced in several factories (US, Hong Kong, Taiwan, 'Holland', Germany, Swansea), sometimes at the same time, and it looks like the same may be true for a lot of Marx's output, and that maybe, the tool lists are only a guide to some production, for a limited period, in one region/territory? While other, duplicate tools were authorised, or sent-out, with changes to the 'standard'?

 

A comparison between the 45 (Moonbase), 54 (Kennedy) and 70mm (Woolworths?) figures, It's not terribly clear, as I should have placed the tape-measure the other way up, so it started level with their feet, but you get the idea!

 

While I was shooting that, I shot this, the 7 humans from the 4-ich set.

 

But the white Alien was in another bag, which led to this all-Marx 'scaler' shot, with my only polyethylene 45mm, one of the Space Patrol, in the same metallic-blue as the 70mm robot. And I have another PVC-rubber crawling alien, not mucked-about with added home-paint, like the PVC sample!

 

The red figure is from the Mystery Spaeship, the yellow a re-issue 70mm, the sea-green a 4-inch original, and I added a spare 54mm silver astronaut, I also had here, there may be more of the smaller ones elsewhere in the storage.

 

The yellow 70mm was also in a separate bag, and has now joined these chaps, three reissues (Mexico, courtesy of Brian Berke) and one blue original, I think I have the whole set in blue somewhere!

 

Another one, I seem to have shot at some point, with a load of vintage stuff!

 

While Theo van der Weerden sent this to the Blog, several years ago, and again it seems to show the Mexican reissues (or are they from Marx Germany, Marx Holland, Heimo or a Charmore tool?!), in two shades of yellow and blue, with red, silver and green.

 

There were other things which seem to have missed the photoshoot, or just been lost in the first box-content's shot, a couple of the base-mouldings, again one was from the Moonbase sets. A NASA lifting body type thing, missing its missiles, in 'Marx' metallic blue, but made in polystyrene, got put to one side and not photographed, and there were other bits, so I'm sure we'll return to it all one day, not least - once I've found enough rocket sections, to make sense of all the part rockets, I've still left from the Kennedy and Space Patrol sets!

W is for What Might Have Been!

The future's bright, the futures white with orange highlights!

 

Original artwork for what was proposed as the next generation of Britains Starguards/Aliens, Star-Force/-Raiders/-System and their other 'Space' lines, within the Deetail range. I don't recognise the artist's signature, if anyone knows who he or she was, I'll add it to the post.

 

The Hexagonal 'turret' was to be a modular, plug-together construction system, like the hub-UFO's in the Swizzles Matlow candy-holder set, which would build up to ships, stations, or - as here - accessories on a set of vehicles of which this was to be the vanguard! There were both constructional/connecting tubes and plug-in weapons/equipments, proposed.

O is for Once Upon a Time, in June! Circus

Because I made a major purchase the day of the show, there's enough for a Circus post this year, instead of shoving them in with the civilian/sports post, and what a purchase it was, and very welcome, even though we've seen all the separate elements before. Fingers crossed they load in the right order . . . 

 

. . . and they did! Wouldn't want to re-sort these one at a time, plays havoc with the formatting! A nicely labeled Crazy Cown Circus from Frazer & Glass (F&G . . . like LB for Lik Be, just sort of works, always has!), lovely 1950's (or late 40's?) lining paper/gift wrap on the box, and similar to some Italian stuff we'll be seeing in these show-plunder posts soon.

 

How you bought your cheap ['er] plastic toys in the years immediately before I was born, loose in a box! Or singly from glass compartments in Woolworth's! A complete set, the seller admitted it's made-up to completeness (I think he has a perfect one in his collection), but after 70-odd yeas I'm not complaining, and would have made it up from my loose ones, if it was incomplete, anyway.

 

One-ring circus!

 

Always nicer when it's yours, rather than an Internet image!

 

Balancing and Tumbling Acts, I don't know what I was thinking the other day, of course you could get a single one, without any signs of glue - the A1 Clown! But here with base, unlike the baseless one we saw the other day.

 

Three in line, and note: different spots, shape, base v baseless, cone hat size &etc.

 

Juggling Acts.

 

Ringmaster is a standard clown with no top-hat?

But he does have the red trousers.

 

Equestrian Acts.

 

Seller had added the band! I have recently come-across a dog, with top hat, in the same vitreous 'styrene, which I believe may be another late addition to this set (to go with/accompany the hoop-clowns?), it's in a forthcoming post, somewhere, I think, if not, I'll dig it out and get it up here with a few links back and forth. On the subject of links, the last time we looked at a few question-marks and variants, on these, was nine years ago;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2016/07/c-is-for-crazy-clown-circus.html

 

But the F&G Tag or Crazy Clown Circus will get all the thoughts/posts in one hit! 

Another marked Maysun set, of Crescent copies, adding confirmation to previous utterings here about them/that! With a couple of loose horse that have good paint, and one will need to be used to replace the brittle on in the bag, whose lost it's legs!

 

Charbens, a nice clean sample, with opposite colours of both clowns!

 

Late Corgi, I think, on the left and another M-Toy on the right.

Thanks this year go to, alphabetically by surname, Issack, Graham Apperley, John Begg, Barney Brown, Brian Carrick, Peter Evans, Adrian Little, Michael Mordant-Smith, Trevor Rudkin, Steve Vickers, and with no emails since the intro-post, anyone else who gave me stuff, I've forgotten to add! Thank you all.

M is for Marx Space - Space Tanks! Alright . . . Space Plant!

Also in the Captain Space box, but actually from the Luna sets, was a trio of the tracked exploration vehicles, which one needs to colonise a dusty ball of pumice and "orange dirt!" One or two of my existing white ones have crept into other posts over the years, but here's a slightly grubby pastel-blue set!

 

The fuel/water bladders, treated as wheels, something various militaries have experimented with since before I was born, but which don't ever seem to have caught-on in general use, or commercially? The actual tractor for them (like MPC's, a rather clumsy-looking, bulky affair) is missing from the box, and only the Dozer 'tank' seems to have another, suitable towing hook.

 

Bladder parked-up and dozer engaged, dome-space is carved out of the crater-floor!

Is this a simplified version of an old Marx battery-operated floor-toy?

 

After a quick clean, which the other two also got, before I shot them!

 

This is the crane, or tow-truck/wreaker, and we can see where Giant (and to a lesser extent/greater stretch, Lik Be) got their little centrally-placed domed cabs from, for their own space tanks. But Marx has the better-sculpted running-gear, of the three fleets!

 

The Space Tank'er, a pun so good it's worth using twice! Embossed into the tank-ends, on both sides, are the same Florine, Hyrdrogen, Oxygen scripts of the stickers surviving on one set of my fuel-tank silos, I have a mind to get a few more of these, old or reissues, and 'do' something with them, paint or conversion wise?

 

All shot with the Marx exploding mountain in the background. 

E is for Eye Candy - Timpo Police Tourist Trinket

Actually a 'Seen elsewhere' item, but the two recurring titles will be interchangeable!

A simple window box with a commercially available postcard as the backdrop, and a set of the Timpo 'solid' Police figures. There appears to have originally been a smooth foil round the sides of the box, to illuminate with reflected light?

P is for Public Presentation of Pure Nostalgia

I can't remember why I was in the Fleet Library back in April, probably looking for someone, but I happened to see what was in the 'Christmas Toy Display' cabinets, and found this. I also noticed Fleet and Crookham Historical Society, seem to have been renamed Fleet and Croockham Local History Group?

 

 [They've loaded back to front again, and I can't be arsed to switch them all round, it's only NTS imagery, and it leaves the chocolate wrappers down the bottom, near the Internet image of similar stuff, so it's sort of sorted itself out]

 

Definitely remember the Monarch seed packets!

 

It's funny how many of them I recognise, I'm only sixty-one, but a good half my life is 'ancient history' to almost everyone under thirty! Rudolf Hess, I met him twice, in my duties, yet, he's history, proper history to every single person born after about 1985, and many born in the years immediately before.

 

This went through Facebook the other day, it's frightening how many have gone, and how bland the choice actually is these days, I tried to buy a Topic the other day, and couldn't find one, Googled them, and they've gone! Just like that, partly my fault for not buying enough, "Use them or lose them", under Capitalism, the customer's never been right!