P is for Putt-Putt Tank!

Not - as far as I know - connected to this morning's earlier's (real problems with Internet again today!) ABC, but there are similarities; two colours, olive-green and sand; poor representation/sculpting of the original target model; made in Hong Kong in the late 1950 and/or through to the late 1960's and sold as rack-toys or similar within the pocket-money bracket.

Generally they come with colour-matched running-gear, but I do have one with contrasting wheels, so a 'Friday afternoon' job or a 'Monday morning' job!?!

We have looked at them before, so it's difficult to know what to add, there were sets (I've only found generics and they are on the blog), they were bought-in by Speedwell (with another generic gun) for adding to large gift-set boxed 'dioramas' and they don't seem to represent a specific marque, but could be used as Tetrach light, air-portable WWII tanks by old-school gamers with a bit of imagination!

There is a smaller copy which is less common (the larger one is relatively common as far as these things go), but it's tracks have aged slightly better! I only have the one so don't know what colours it came in - if any others?

The common, larger one is marked MADE IN HONG KONG NO 404, the smaller one just a MADE IN HONG KONG, both in a wide DIN or Ariel-Rounded type font.

This example has poor moulding with a hole and splits down the mudguards caused by 'short-shotting' in the production process. It also has better tracks in a silicon rubber best described as pinkish-gunmetal!

Side-on ambush! Despite being outnumbered 2:1, green-force should retire from this action with a 6-0 scorecard!

I found this shot after-all; three of the sets they come in with further cards of the figures which raises the possibility of blue, grey or purple-brown examples being out there somewhere but as the guns (which we looked at here) have so far only turned-up in green it's not that likely. And many thanks to James Opie for some (most! Four?) of the sets in the above image.

ABC is for Alarmingly Bad Copies!

Seen here at Small Scale World nearly a decade ago (!), loyal readers from way back will recognise these 'novelty' figures, but given how the traffic has increased over the years may be new to some of you. Chris Smith has only gawwn and found two new poses!

Running at under 45mm but mostly over 40mm, they are intermediate to the 'intermediate' scales! In Chris's own words . . .

"I finally picked up the officer last year from a job lot from ▲▲▲▲▲ on ebay. You don’t see them very often, then last month received two in a mixed lot off ebay that I hadn’t spotted when bidding."

"Two very interesting new poses; first up a charging with fixed bayonet pose, this is based on the charging with pack Herald figure but with the pack removed similar to the timpo copy you showed. Why they didn’t just copy the charging without pack pose? (Crescent had a charging figure as well, why not copy that?) The base is too small so impossible to stand the figure up without it falling over, blob of bluetack used for the photos."

"The 2nd new figure is walking with a walkie talkie, his DNA is from the Monogram GI’s but is a cut and shut of the upper half of the standing with walkie talkie and slung rifle and the lower half of the walking with slung rifle. I’ve got a few of the Monogram copies marked ABC so they would have them to hand. You can see the creases on the back of the figure are the same as the GI."

The full line-up with donors, they do - of course - fit in well with the 'pure' monogram copies and could be used with other 40/45mm figures, but I don't think there's much war-gaming with this kind of esoteric figure out there, they are collected for their own sake, and because they are a hundred-times harder to find than anything Airfix or Britains ever made!

Chris's eMails were all the excuse I needed to get mine out and shoot them again, despite them being the poor relatives now (I'll send one of mine to Chris by way of thanks for things and hopefully he's do us a follow-up shot of all four?).

The fourth pose being a pretty straight copy of a Timpo 8th Army figure with the same Crescent head-transplant as the others!

Base markings on mine; the officer is lacking the diamond-shaped ABC lozenge. ABC are quite good at marking though, even the cabs of their little 1-Ton Humber trucks (copied from Kleeware) had small marks, so this probably points to forgetfulness . . . or multiple cavities as . . .

. . . Chris then (a couple of weeks later/a couple of weeks ago) discovered they are also available in green! And he is marked. So - my two are now looking for at least six mates in two colours and some of you may [now] be looking for eight!

The size difference is down to camera angle and the sand one being a poorer mould-shot, compare the green one with mine and you'll see they are the same moulding. Again - the more we know the less we know, although this time - at least - we now know more but there's more to find, have you got fifth or even sixth poses, or more of the green ones?

Many thanks to Chris for sending these treasures to the Blog.

P is for Princess Polymer's Perfect Pumpkin Pimped for Prince Plastic's Posh Prom!

"And be back before midnight young lady!"

Proving the old adage (we'll it's an old adage here as I keep saying it, it's one of the reasons I have so many 'eemies' (as they call theirs) in the 'old guard'!) that none of this stuff is rare!

I grabbed this the other day, the seller had two left at time of writing, grab-one before they're gone!

And before we go any further it's worth reminding you of these posts;

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2017/10/l-is-for-little-red-riding-hood-visits.html

Then click 'newer post' or;

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2017/10/g-is-for-golden-gamete-laying-goose.html

and then click 'older post'

How they arrived, in a little poly-bag like this they could have been aimed at cake decorators, Christmas crackers (so I'll stick Culpitt and Tom Smith in the tags), arcade crane-machines or travelling showground hoopla stalls? The point is, this is the third iteration of the two 'sets' of these, which ten years ago were 'rare' and only visible as a couple of thumbnails on TSHQ, but which are now becoming 'old hat'!

It's so cool! The mice needed some straightening with hot water (and I mean 'hot', this is polyethylene, not PVC, so a boiling kettle poured down the reins/traces for a good 15 or twenty seconds, then pulled taught and pressed against a piece of cold marble (cutting board) or steel (draining board), needed two goes, but right as ninep'nce now!

♫♫♪ "We will pull it, we will drag it, to the party, how, how, how . . .

we will pull it, we will drag it; lets get going, now, now, now" ♫♪♪♪

Obviously with this kind of ex-shop stock, it tends to look like it was made yesterday, and while it probably is later than the stuff we looked at last time, it's clearly marked 'No307 Made in Hong Kong' down both sets of the hard polystyrene suspension, so it must be at least 30 years old?

The three figures; these are unmarked and like the mice, a standard or 'Airfix'-soldier polyethylene, so probably the same ones previously (or subsequently?) supplied to Transogram?

News, Views Etc . . . PW Shocker!

Not them; me! I knew the 178 was overdue, but I seem to have totally forgotten 177, or not tagged it, anyway I can't find it, so we'd better have a quick run-through of all three, just incase you're still not subscribing and can be tempted by some of the contents!

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Plastic Warrior magazine issue No. 177

No-no, no, I've definitely done this one; I remember the stuff about it being an 'archeological issue' , let me have a better look . . . Phew! I hadn't tagged it! Now Tagged, but it begs the question, what else hasn't been tagged? Because if it's not tagged I haven't a clue where it is after a month or two! Do'us a favour - if you happen to find posts without tags, or spot me posting one, could you pop me a link, or say something in the comments? Cheers!

Right, anyhoos . . . onwards and upwards;

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Plastic Warrior magazine issue No. 178

Articles

* The issued get of to an intersting start with a look at some 'code-3' figurines from Bal-Ler courtesy of Andreas Dittmann and Figuren Magazin

* Andreas is back three pages later to debunk something Timpo some of us didn’t fall for!

* Ashley Keedham follows-up on Peter Nussbaum's original/previous article with a further plethora of Ninjas, Samurais and other Medieval Japanese monk-warrior types from a half-dozen-odd makers!

* The revelations on BR continue apace with shots of examples from Tim Baker's collection as the centre-spread this month

* New production from Russia is given an in-depth editorial from Tom Stark, looking at the Crusaders and Saracens from Biplant and Publius

* In one of his -sadly - last 'Converters Corner' Les White takes knife, glue, Greenstuff and paint to some an AIP (Armies in Plastic) WWI German soldier to produce an interwar-period policeman, and the 'after' figure looks better than the 'before' shot!

* The editor delivers on the Lone Star shooting game 'Cork ∙45' and its figures, with a full set of numbered sculpts and more on the background of this interesting source of red and yellow Native Americans

* 'What The !&*$?' is busy as always with an eclectic mix of figures to ID

• Ashley Needham seeks info on his Highland bass-drummer (figure's base says mallable Mouldings?)
• Gian Piero Larizza whould like someone, anyone to explain the Lido WWII Japanese officer pose . . . so would I!
•  Joe Bellis seeks further sighting of a Confederate and information on a Composition Guardsman
•  And has anyone else seen any Tara Toys stuff (from Wales), with or without Tim Mee copies?

* Peter Evans is back with part 4 of his look at the Military sets from Fontanini, throwing a few Regency-fops in for good measure! [Glasses - he's holding glasses!]

* Joe Bellis and the Editorial team join forces to tell the tale of Linburn figures with lots of pictures (I only have the one, an apparent re-issue, in bright yellow, so they won't be likely on the Blog any year now, so subscribe - Back-Issues Available)

Regular Features

* 'NEWS and VIEWS and other stuff ' covers

• Tragic news on the passing of Stuart Asquith
• Editorial thanks to the readers on a number of subjects
• eBay's AK Gifts courtesy of Ashley Needham
• News on Peter William's Airfix book
• Show Dates (sniff . . . sniff!)
• Sale of Paragon Scenics to Hobby Bunker
• Vectis Auctions
• The regular re-sub' details

* 'Readers Letters' include

• A report on the previous Autumn's Chicago Toy Soldier Show from Roger & Jan Garfield (organisers).
• Roger Barnier of Trooper Toy Soldiers has news.
• There's still more on BR Moulds from J. P. Young.
•  Gerrald Edwards shows an interesting Quaker cereal premium.
•  Stepahn Dance has some interesting memories of the Airfix racing figures to share, - and it struck me that the running driver is similar to the running 1st version paratrooper?
• A follow-up to the Replicants Dick Turpin is supplied by Brian Berke (of this parish) with a painted example.
•  Staying with Replicants; Tom Stark pays homage to the dioramas from PW's 34th Show
•  Graham Cooke and this author follow-up on a previous Barney Brown 'What The !&*$?' query.
•  Colin Penn adds to the 'Civilian V. Military' debate
•  While the editor sneaks in a featurette on Britains Hospital 'What Might Have Been's

* 'Book Review' ? No room!

* 'What's New' has six 'sets' from three companies

Replicants

• Texas Rangers firing/sheltering behind dead/prone horses (x2)
• Comance warriors firing/sheltering behind dead/prone horses (x2)

Engineer Basevitch

• 30 - White Guard Commanders 91918-1921
• 29 - leaders of the Ukrainain Revolution 1917-1921

Chintoys

• CHT023 - Italian Warriors
• CHT024 - Spanish Warriors

* Plus all the usual readers small-ads

* Covers -

Front; Kinder Samurai

Back; Bal-Ler Mexican

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Plastic Warrior magazine issue No. 179

The current issue . . . and it's a really good one;

Articles

* Fontanini (part 5) by Peter Evans covers the copies, piracies, licensed stuff and late entries from the military range parts 1-4 have been following

* Peter Nussbaum begins a short (but fascinating) 2 part series on early medieval artillery and other contraptions employing gunpowder, with samples from Elastolin, Zvezda ad others illustrating the evolution of canon

* 'Converters Corner' and other from the sadly lost Les White, who takes a Boxer rebellion Japanese Infantryman from AIP and turns out a series of Naval landing part troops from the rape of Shanghai (1937)

* A two-page spread with no by-line is dedicated to a boxed set by Oklahoma of Argentina and it's a cracker!

* Loads more BR figures are supplied by Chris Smith who compares with Polish figures and raises the possibility of newer production? Colin Penn's Kleeware truck closes the spread

* Andreas Dittmann returns to Bal-Ler with help from Figuren Magazin (link above)

* 'What's New' includes two sets from Chintoys . . .

• CHT021 - Landsknechts
• CHT022 - Swiss Warriors (Swiss mercenaries?)

* Part 2 of Pedro Lopes da Cunha's overview of HaT Indutrie's ancient-figures' production reaches the Cathaginains (and Hannibal's funny little Elephants)

* An editorial with help from Kent Sprecher and Steve Vickers looks at the Crescent sculpt cowboys & Indians, with an interesting revelation (which will be incorporated into the article I pulled to await publication of this!)

* There's a round-up of British consumer-goods/food premium figures from Gerald Edwards with sampls of Nestlē's (as they used to be called!), Peak Freans and Betterware ephemera

* Reader's Letters packs an amazing amount into three pages;

• Eric Keggans throws some wonderful Mettoy space under the bus
• Robert Cullinan calls for newer 'Specials'
• Colin Penn shows the Bisset/Hachette part-work Egyptian Gods
• Peter Evans shows Papo pirates and medievals
• Ashley Needham follows-up on Bal-Ler instruments
• Brian Berke advises on Lido Japanese!
• Nigel Lambourn shows a full set of the Airfix-copy gunners which have been bugging this Blog for years! Still no maker, but possibly a stand-alone artillery toy?
• Chris Smith follows-up on the 'What The !&*$?' highland drummer from PW178, and then shows a bunch of Linburns 

And - speaking of 'What The !&*$?'; it too packs a lot into three pages this issue;

• A James Bond/Space Car from Andreas Dittman needs its FE moniker expanded?
• A 'Could It Be' from Jack Shalatain presents the possible missing Speedwell horse?
• More on Herald Trojans Hong Kong clones and background also from Jack S
• More on the Clairet/Timpo/Trojan et al advancing American with SMG
• James Opie also expands on the highland drummer from PW178 and the hunt set from PW's passim

Editorial Page - News and Views and other stuff

* Obituaries for both Roy Dilly and Les White are a sad start to one of the best issues in a long while.

* Show news is as depressing as anywhere else at the moment, with PW35 hoping to reschedule for the autumn, Herne hoping to open it's doors on the 5th July and Chicago holding their powder dry with time to decide still in the bag? But check with each for further progress - Herne may be over-ambitions, but Germany haven't made the mess of Covid-19 we have, and with a strict distancing and 'up & down' aisle system it could still work, but buyers will have to get a move-on if everyone's 'queuing', if you miss something go back round and look again! PW's hopes for the autumn look more realistic, but it's starting to look like the US are going to have another spike and lose - potentially - another 100,000 souls (because they have an insecure, childish, semi-fascist, illiterate, short-tempered fuckwit for President), so I think they'll see Christmas still stuck with left-over controls, but fingers crossed for Chicago - and for all three - they are the trio of 'headline' plastics events! No news on Birmingham yet?

* The old PW website has gone, really, really, nothing there to see gone.

* Steve Vickers has a new phone-number - 07456 173 178

* Plus all the usual small-ads and the trade-ad flyer with more on sellers.

* Cover images this issue are a shot of Peter Nussbaum's massed guns (front) and some Engineer Basevitch cavalry painted by Fernando Enterprises on the back.

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All - in both issues - continuing to be presented in perfect technicolourfulness!

* PW's contact details;

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

Blogger - http://plasticwarrioreditor.blogspot.co.uk/

eMail  - mailto:pw.editor@ntlworld.com

Website's back on the menu but won't be updated (eMail first) deader than a dead-thing that paid Charon, crossed the Styx and went to Hades to have itself declared very dead.

Tel: 01483 722 778
Fax: 01483 722 723

And they are on Paypal