L is for Lots of London Loot - Eight is for Late

December's London Toy Soldier Show, was a quiet one for me, not much purchased, and of that, we've seen one or two bits already in other posts, and one of the larger sets has gone to the archive, because I'm not Blogging them at the moment, but here are a few things which may interest some loyal readers!

 

A couple more of the Charlie Chalk figurines/pencil-tops, of which we saw one a while ago. Then, I hadn't heard of the show, now I've genned-up on it, but still haven't seen it, and it doesn't seem to be as iconic as some of his (Ivor Wood's) other stuff.

 

The Trader Joe seems to have had his hat crushed by the factory machinery, which, to me, makes it more interesting, the figures (I think there are seven) are always the same colour, so finding a normal one is inevitable, but a factory-damaged one is a different take on the subject.

 

Paul from the South Coast had a basket of these, and I saw them at the start of the show, and said "Oh, I'll have a few of them mate", forgot all about them as the show got busy and by the time I found them at the end of the day, only one Officer was left and colleagues on the Friends of PW site have posted better samples!

 

I have a few others, including Reamsa originals of these, which are probably Gormasa/Soldis reissues, and it's one of those corners of the collection which is building slowly but surely, as a decent sample of post-war Spanish troops.

 

Board game pieces, not sure which game, but I think the answer is in the archive, so they'll end-up on the correct A-Z page one day!

 

Two Phidal Buzz from Toy Story figures, a third would come in Peter's January lot (which we've just seen here), but Peter may have brought a bag to the show, that's one of the reasons why all these posts are getting the same title, they all got a bit mixed-up over the winter!

 

The other reason I forgot about the Reamsa reissues, was I bought these Eyes Right figures, from Britains, off Paul, at the same time, they're hideously brittle, but absolutely mint, they were worth the gamble to get the shots before they become micro-polymer dust, forever! The Band Major didn't survive the lift home!

 

The Royal Marines standing band, they don't seem to be as brittle as the red ones, but it's not like I'm going to test that theory, with any robust stress experiments! The Eye's Right (and some of the Swoppets) really are the high-point of toy soldier production, the finer detail leaving both hollow-cast and composition figures, in their dust, but soon-enough replaced with lower quality shite out of Hong Kong, after losing out to Timpo's, cheaper, technicolour 'sweeties'!

 

A couple of the 'Middlesex' regiment, the sword failed and will need a gentle glue-spot to get the better shot. This was the standard band's uniform of 'County' line regiments, like my own Glosters, now mostly light-infantry (the horror, the horror! Some awful grey and black arrangement with busbies, now!), but a paint-conversion will be easy!

 

We've seen these before, and it's not like I 'need' them, but as I have them unassembled in Almark packaging, and assembled (and factory painted) as Minimodels, it makes sense to have the other iteration, for the ultimate comparison/look at them all one day!

Bit of fun! About . . . 2007 (?) these started appearing all over the place (Marx websites and evilBay); novelty skiers, both civil like, this and Disney types, of interest in that they are manufactured in the same dense, flesh-coloured, stable PVC as the Injectaplastic-JSP-Culpitt-AHM stuff, AND some late Corgi die-cast vehicle accessory figures. The hint [from me!] being that they all come from the same factory, possibly Tai Sang's Blue Box Vinyl Manufactory in Macau?

 

A hollow-cast boot, for very small peep's to live in! I had a chat with James Opie about this purchase, he has one, and Joplin put one in one of his books, but as yet, there's no known maker for it, there is another, which is known (Segal), an upside down one, in red leather, but this - possibly a cake decoration, or miniature 'Japanese' garden ornament  - remains elusive.

 

Rounding off with a PZG or similar polish Napoleonic type, there must be a handful of hollow-cast missing from these show-purchases (I've got in the habit of always raiding Adrian's 50p/£1 trays at the end of a show), and some space-stuff, I think, but it did all get a bit muddled-up, and the point of these mixed posts is eye candy and the odd question-mark rather than an accurate diary of how it all comes in!

J is for Japanese Machine Gun/Gunners

Paul Woozley kindly sent these in, in response to a conversation on one of the old Almark  / Minimodels posts, with reference to my comment of never having seen the Japanese MG and team;

They had to be there, as both figures were on the Almark reissue runners, but they aren't on the four-page gatefold flyer, and I'd never seen one despite sorting a large collection of these for someone else, a collection with had multiples of the US mortar and mule, and the German version gun-team, indeed I think the baseplate and MG are the same as the German one?

But it's nice to see them in the distinctive Minimodels paint scheme and plastic colour, so many thanks to Paul for sending them, and if anyone can help Paul with a replacement/spare machine-gun, I can get you both in-touch.

Minimodels is also for Almark!

I got a bit shirty a while ago and chucked this first-image up elsewhere, with a 'Sigh', after I had posted one lot (Minimodels) and someone (who clearly couldn't see his nose in front of his face) started lecturing me on how they were the other lot (Almark). Then, even as he'd been corrected, a couple of others' made the same mistake on that and another post, or thread, or whatever you have on Faceplant!

 

Now, don't get me wrong, people already know I'm prickly, or if they haven't learned that, they may have a surprise coming at some point in the future, especially if they cross me, but I don't get this almost teenage attitude among new collectors to open their mouths before they've even read what's in front of them; we're taking grown men in their forties here . . . late forties and fifties mind, not kids. 

 

It's great that there are a lot of new people in the hobby, that's obvious, and it proves the naysayers wrong, with their regular moan of 'Our hobby's dying' . . . Incidentally, everyone keeps saying the Metal hobby is dying, but actually even tatty hollow-cast seems to retain high values on evilBay?

 

And when watching this phenomena I am reminded that it is some miracle my father didn't murder me when I was a teenager - although he almost did the day I broke the 'unbreakable' fork; descending on me from the tractor-cab like a Ring-Wraith! But forks aside, I did ask an inordinate number of stupid questions.

 

I would literally think of something a bit dimwitted, and before I'd given it a moment's thought, ask the obvious! Dad was very good, he'd fix me with his look for such occasions and say "Think about it?", I'd realise I'd asked another dumb question, give it a moment's thought and go "Oh yeah! It is" or whatever!

 

It is similar with some new collectors, they don't bother to learn from the websites or magazine, but rather assume from half-understood bits, or ask about stuff which has been done to death elsewhere as if no one's ever covered it!

 

I'm probably being unfair, but then that's me, and when you post Almark and someone tells you they are Minimodels, or when you post Minimodels and someone else tells you they are Almark I think you're entitled to get a bit excised! Equally, I was polite there, but this is here!

And also frustrating is that it IS already on the blog, we've covered both makes over the years and the difference between them, I seem to recall with help from others on the German sets, but we're going to go over it all again, now, with the Japanese! But all the salient points in this post are already on the blog!

 

Five poses here, all Minimodels, we know they are Minimodels because the first image says so! No . . . because they are painted (a tad garishly) and pre-assembled with helmets in a different colour (and type) of plastic.

 

Minimodels was a toy plant in Havent, hampshire, a satellite of the Portsmouth & Southhampton conurbation, they were part of the Triang-Mettoy [Lines] group, and were set up mainly to produce Scalextric, the slot-racing system, after a move from London.

I shot the kneeling guy again, so there's only six more poses here. The figures were designed by Charles Stadden, or Chas' C Stadden, who did a lot of work for the Havent factory, producing original figures for Waddington's, Dinky (a Corgi-Mettoy rival bought from Meccano upon their demise*) and the most famous generation of Subbuteo footballers, among others. The officer is damaged and bayonets go missing too easily!

 

*An irony there is that Corgi continued to source their die-cast range's accessory figures in Hong Kong!

The Japanese on the Minimodels flyer; they were supposed to get a machine-gun team (like the Germans), but to be honest, I'm not sure it ever happened, I've never seen one, and it wasn't on the flyer, as the other 'support equipments' were - the US got a pack-mule for a Mortar vignette, seen here passim.

Minimodels got twelve poses from ten sculpts, by varying the arms on the bent-leg prone chap (crawling or firing both on the right here) and the spread-leg standing pose (advancing/thrusting or standing firing). The crawling pose is very good, with the hand correctly holding the forward sling-swivel, to keep the muzzle out of the dirt.

At some point, Almark Publishing contracted the figures as unpainted kits, getting Stadden to design some additional figures/accessories in metal, seen here before too. Boxed on the runner, with a packet of bases and simple artwork doubling as a painting guide, you get the contents of four tools.

 

Almark's eventual A-Z entry will make for interesting reading as they were attempting world domination at that point, it seemed, with ranges of books, pamphlets, periodicals, AFV modelling guides, a wide range of waterslide transfers for Aircraft and Armour kits, sticky-vinyl and licky-paper flags and a short tie-in with Bellona vac-forms, if memory serves.*

 

Add these plastic figure sets and the metal kits, and for a short while it looked like they were going places, but it didn't last long, and after 12 or 14 issues of their own modelling magazine (up against Military Modelling, Battle and Airfix Magazine) they faded away.

*Memory may not be serving here; the Bellona thing is a Micro-mould/Armtech tie-in I think, but I'm not in a position to go and check right now!

The instruction sheet, while mentioning that they are made in England, and designed by a 'master sculptor' doesn't actually claim them as Almark, or credit Lines/Minimodels. At the same time there were hyping the 1:76 set to the nines in the modelling press (with the inference they were 'Almark's'), but most of them had previously appeared in the Tri-Ang 'Battle Game', although a set of support weapons was added to the oeuvre - in plastic. Again, all previously on the Blog.

What you get in the pack; the seated figure will go with the MG, so I must have just not encountered one? And while there is a limited scope for 'multipose' beyonmd the two pairs Minimodels had already arrived at, they go very well with the eponymous Airfix set, and I dare say you could throw some Tamiya or Esci-Italeri parts in for good measure!

 

The big difference, beyond the lack of paint, is that the headdresses, are here run in the same colour polystyrene 'kit plastic' as the figures' runners, rather than the softer polyethylene in a contrasting colour of the Minimodels issues - which were by way of counter-top pick-boxes.

Matching-up between the two, this is a new sample I was quite pleased to acquire, until I remembered (well, discovered on the Blog, looking for something else) I'd Blogged them quite early (2011) having found them in the 'big purchase'. That sample wasn't complete either, but between the two, I have now got everything except the machine-gun . . . help me out here, have you seen one?

To get them out of Picasa! The same recent (last summer?) purchase also contained a couple of Americans (of which I am very short, except for the accessories; where I have both vignettes) and a handful of Germans (of which I think I may have a few somewhere, along with the machine-gun on its little wire legs), all Minimodels, not Almark!

It's a minor oddity - worth mentioning - that the 54mm range never got British troops, while the 1:76th scale/20mm set never got the US or Japanese, but did get some metal Germans, again sculpted by Stadden. Again, all on the Blog already.

" An' 'Eres ouwer Graham with a quickh remindah!"

A is for Archive - Minimodels 'Scale figures'

It's funny, they thought to correct me on two 80-odd years old Spanish rubber figures last Christmas, yet seem to know nothing about anything, especially space figures! That was priceless the other day, they couldn't have got it more wrong between them if they'd tried, but then - by making it up as they go along - they are trying to get it wrong, comedy cretins and too funny, just too funny, he's got a little black box with his brain in it!!!

LP are not especially 'rare' and have been much covered here and elsewhere.

You don't know Co-Ma's Selenites yet?

They are not Thomas or Poplar; Thomas spacemen with bases are piracies.

Poplar were a Thomas offshoot.

Solpa are Greek not French - But then Schilling are American not German!

Amusing, yet pathetic - I mean it's painful to watch as you hear the gears clunking. If you're going to sit in my dust copying my recent output, at least try to get it right! Then the next day the idiot lectures the knowledgeable Frenchie and we get 'everybodyelsesstuff' Because Stadsstuff hasn't got the rightstuff and it takes ten of them and FacePlant.TwitSpacestuff to get it right!

Anyway, thought I'd put this up here as the Cock-whacking Monkey Lizard got a bit confused about these in his attempts to 'elucidate the Vichy' a year or so ago, despite it mostly being here at Small Scale World for some years!

If they are painted -

They are from Minimodels, of Havent in Hampshire (posh name for-/posh end of- Greater Portsmouth!), another of the many subsidiary works of Lines Bro's Tri-Ang/Metoy/Playcraft. Paint is minimal with gloss weapons and matt flesh and uniform/equipment-highlights. We have looked at some of the better pieces before here and they were sold from counter-display pick-boxes

 If they are unpainted -

They are Almark who offered them as boxed sets, on the runners as multi-pose type construction kits for home assembly, a few years after the Minimodels issues, in part to tie-in with their WWII publications. Almark didn't offer all the 'extras', but went on to commission some further sculpts from the original artist Charles C Stadden, which were issued as metal kits, we have looked at some of them too!

Minimodels were founded in 1947 by Bertram Francis (a former toolmaker) in London.

Minimodels moved to a purpose built factory in Havent between 1954 and 1956.

Minimodels were sold (by choice) to Lines in 1958.

Minimodels were the manufacturer of Scale Figures.

Minimodels were the marketer of Scale Figures.

Minimodels were a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lines and/or a administered as a branch of Triang-Mettoy-Playcraft.

Scale Figures was a sub-brand/brand-mark of Minimodels and sister-brand to Scalextric.

Minimodels were the contract-manufacturer for Almark.

Almark were the 'Jobber'.

Almark Model Products was a sub-brand/brand-mark of Almark and sister-brand to Almarks Transfers.

There is no, and never has been an Alamark Minimodels.

They are all dead! . . . Except Pedigree - strangely; they seem to be abeyance, possibly by/for the Hornby Group, the Pedigree name being held by a shell-office in Margate?

W is for Wehrmacht Series...&etc.

This is a follow-up article to some developments on the original listing post, and I thank Alex Keery for his input. I had originally listed the Century series with an impertinent note about someone's claim to them having metal parts (or being all plastic...or something...I edited it out a few weeks ago), Alex than stated he had them, and I said I was happy to be proved wrong, which he did with images (seen below here!).

I then dug deeper (on Google), but Alex was digging deeper into his stash of the old Modelworld magazines and it turned out that everyone was right, There were three series of Almark 54mm/1:32 scale figures, each series has three 'entries', one is all metal, one is all plastic and one is a mix of the two (the above link having been edited twice in the last few weeks is now correct), so we'll look at them all...

...starting with probably the first sets, the three Minimodels national troops from the Lines plant in Havent, issued as 'Almark Kits' but still on the runners, unpainted. the Japanese figures were set 2 and the US troops made set 3...

...which were enhanced with the 'Century Series' which are part plastic (figures) and part metal (weapons and personal equipment - including helmets)...

...and gave the infantry in the boxed sets their support weapons; the third card was holding an LMG (light machine-gun) team...

...to which further additions came in the form of the Wehrmacht Series of three stand-alone figures in all-metal. Like the 20mm range, these new figures are Charles Stadden designs, he having designed the originals for Lines/Minimodels.

Only the Germans benefited from these additional ranges, something that has bugged fans of other nations since the dawn of modelling, and from most manufacturers...it's all about the Germans!

Although...in the original Minimodels range, I've not [yet] found a German flag! The Japanese and Americans being the ones who liked to claim each other's bare-arsed volcanic atolls with flags! These were not - as far as I know - issued by Almark either, but you never know?

The original source was correct to suggest they were plastic with metal parts, I was correct in remembering all-metal ones and we'd all forgotten they also re-issued the plastic Minimodels figures. Hopefully that's put the subject to bed for a while, and thanks again to Alex Keery for his efforts and the four upper images, the flags were shot by me years ago, but I don't seem to have put them up here before!

M is for Minimodels

The Havant (Portsmouth suburb) factory of Minimodels was part of the Lines Group/Triang Empire, which means that at some point it probably supplied figures to any, all or none (?!) of the following; Almark, Capri, Corgi, Berwick, Frog, Pedigree, Penguin, Playcraft, Mettoy, Minic, Subbuteo, Triang, Waddington's and Wickets, with latterly; likely connections to Hornby and the Dunby-Combex-Marx group.

It seems to have been set-up in a new-build unit (I delivered too once! But sadly after it had ceased to be a toy factory...boo!) to consolidate the work being undertaken by several other factories in Tunbridge Wells, East Grinsted and (probably) the closed Merton works in London - but that is guesswork/assumption on my part based on previous sources of figures (and other product) to some of the above listed clients/members of the group.

These 54mm hard styrene polymer figures were first sold like this - factory painted - as 'Minimodels', before being supplied to Almark as unpainted kits, however the larger items don't seem to have been issued by Almark.

The Mortar is a clear attempt to compete with the - then con-current - Britains Swoppet British mortar team, and the bombs are almost identical (too long and thin for 81 mil/3 inch mortar rounds) to the Britains one. The sculpting style of Charles Stadden is self-evident in the figures, he seems to have done a lot of figural work for the Havant facility including one generation of Subbuteo figure for Waddington's.

The pack mule places this set firmly in the Pacific/Burma campaign or New Guinea, however they did use pack animals in the Italian mountains as well.

This is an exquisite model, very well executed and as good as anything Britains were doing at the time, the poor reception to these figures (and their relative scarcity today) must have been a portent to the changing tastes that would bring all these companies down as the seventies ground slowly and full of toy manufacturing bankruptcies into the eighties.

H is for Havent

The Minimodels plant in Havent, near Portsmouth is responsible for lots of the figures that turn up in mixed lots of small scale and the hand of Stadden with his angular folds is everywhere in the sculpting. These are mostly more game playing pieces, but there is a Spot-On 'Tommy-spot' figure or two as well.

Some of these and some of the Wild West and - forthcoming - Spanish Gold figures were saved from the factory by either Brian Knight (artist on the Lettraset/Patterson Blick rub-down booklets) or David Pomeroy, all came into my possession before I met Brian, so I don't know who saved what, but thanks to both of them for having the foresight.

Triang's game Helmsman provides the little yacht with a plug-on base at the back, the divers are from the 'Underwater Battle from Thunderball' James Bond tie-in board game, with all air-tanks missing, the painted one is from an actual game, the other two are factory samples.

The 40mm Guardsman is from the Rolls Royce by Spot-On, one of six on the grey plinth-like bases the Tommy-spot figures had. The two cartoon characters obviously come from a board game aimed at younger players, I don't recognise the characters, not do I know from where in Lines/Mettoy/Corgi or Triang/Spot-on/Pedigreee empire the game will be found.

The other figure with the similar base I did find in a Corgi (or Spot-on?) catalogue and I had his name and everything, but it's lost in the depths of a shipping container!! Although he looks like a Diddy-man, he was in fact a mascot for whichever catalogue or product it was? His sloppy shoe-painting points to an outpainters guide/master rather than an issued piece [See comments for all three names].

The Sweeny was a popular TV series with a spin-off movie or two here in the UK, and these are from the Omnia game of the same name. Taken from the Tommy-spot range, but given sensible bases there are two each of the photographed figures in a full set.

Unpainted Subbuteo, possibly just undecorated samples, but might be from a board game, the player on a conventional base pointing to the latter, but there was a 'sub' warming up in one of the accessory sets I think?

It's almost certainly through Waddington's and their connection to Subbuteo and the factory at Tunbridge Wells that Stadden came to do all this sculpting for the Havent works. He was already known for his sports trophy figures as much as his military work.

Couple of scans of old film-camera shots I took years ago giving a different angle to the Triang/Almark figures I posted the other night.

Next I'll look at the Spaniards...

News Views Etc...

Well, I said I'd be getting thematic and the two posts below (Household Cavalry and Almark) are from the HC box and the Triang/Minimodels/Omnia box, so more of the two subjects in the coming days as I've dragged them both back from the storage unit, I've also got the Zang box for Paul Morehead over at Plastic Warrior to look at so I'll be putting some quality composition on here in a day or five.

I also updated the Almark and Silverlit text-only imports I loaded on here the other night, and added a text only on Armtec as it ties in vaguely with Almark - immediately below.

I've updated all links to other blogs in and out, as Blogger seems to have lost half my links to other people back in the summer when they were 'improving' things. I've also dropped the AdSense, complete waste of time with traffic at the levels you get on a collectors site, and makes the page slow to load for anyone without Broadband, anyone on dial-up, anyone with a mobile-Internet dongle etc...The Internet - like 'Western' Civilization - seems to be coming to a slow halt!!!

As stated the other night, the Manufacturers A-Z blog (which never really got started) is no more and all the relevant entries are now here with their tags in the index, and a more general cross-reference list is starting to take shape at the bottom of the page, this will not just be cross references here, but all the cross references you might come across in the hobby, helping with research, google searches etc...it will take a while to get to a useful size though, so be patient please - I'll 'News, Views' when it gets major additions/updates.

If anyone can think of anything else I can do to improve the blog let me know, I'm 41% into my Image allowance, so you've got about 4 more years of my pontificating to look forwards too!!!

Cheers - H

A is for Armtec

Armtec, 5 Belinda Lane, Enfield, Connecticut 06082, USA
Polystyrene kit accessories/detailing parts lead to marketing deals with Crest and Canuck, resulting in a nice range of subjects available by the time their illustrated catalogue was published in 1976, two updates would also be issued and the three when combined with the early advertisements have lead to a bit of confusion re; set numbering! Carried by Almark and laterly Micro-mould in the UK.
Product listing
Accessories 1:76
Set № 1 - German Machine Guns
Set № 2 - 10 Jerry Cans
Set № 3 - American AFV Tools
Set № 4 - German Pioneer Tools
Set № 5 - German Spare track Section (swaps numbers with 7 in the 1976 catalogue)
Set № 6 - German Vehicle Breakdown Equipment (also; OVM – Outer Vehicle Material!)
Set № 7 - 70 Scale Feet Length - Tow Chain (swaps numbers with 5 in the 1976 catalogue)
Set 8 - Hetzer Road Wheels
Set 9 - 15 Sandbags
Set 10 - British Tools and 7 gas-tins ( ‘Flimsies’?)
Accessories 1:35
Set № 8 - 35 Scale Feet - Tow Chain (renumbered 1976; Set 1)
Set № 9 - German Machine Guns MG34 (renumbered 1976; Set 2)
Set № 10 - German Machine Guns MG42 (renumbered 1976; Set 3)
Set 4 - Tow Cables (72 scale feet)
Set 5 - German 81mm Mortar
Set 6 - British Weapons (Bren gun and Boys A/T-rifle)
Accessories 1:48
Set 1 - Tow Chain
Set 2 - German Gas Cans
Accessories 1:72
Set 1 - US .50cal. Aircraft Type and Accessories (also; AA1, became; Set AC-1)
Set AC-2 - F101-B Conversion Kit (canopy, nose extension, tailpipe extension and rockets)
Vac-formed conversion kits
Conv.1 - Cast Hull and Sand-shields for Airfix Lee/Grant
Conv.2 - Cast Hull and Sand-shields for Airfix Sherman
Crest Reproductions - Artillery (“manufactured exclusively for Armtec”, metal)
Set#1 - German 105mm Howitzer
Set#2 - German 150mm Nebelwefer
Set#3 - German Pak.40 Anti-tank Gun
Set#4 - German 8.8cm Pak.43/41 Anti-tank Gun
Set#5 - British 17lbr. Anti-tank Gun
Set#6 - German 7.5cm Pak.36 Anti-tank Gun
Set#7 - German 3.7cm Pak.36 Anti-tank Gun
Crest Reproductions - Artillery (“manufactured exclusively for Armtec”, metal)
Set M-1 - German 20mm Solothurn
Set M-2 - US .30cal. Air-cooled Machine Gun
Set M-3 - US .30cal. Water-cooled Machine Gun
Set M-4 - US 75mm Recoilless Rifle
Set M-5 - German 2.8cm sPzB.41 Gerlich
Crest Reproductions - Vehicle kits (“manufactured exclusively for Armtec”, metal)
#A1 – Jagdpanzer 38t Hetzer 1:76
CT1 - Cast Hull Sherman Conversion (1:76)
CT2 - Cast Hull Lee Conversion (1:76)
CT3 - M4A1 Sand Shields (available for Sherman and Lee – probably the same as; Conv.1 & 2 above)
CT4
CT5
CT6
CT7
CT8 - L-33 Tankette
CT9 - L-35 Tankette
CT10
Figures
#FC1 - Boar War Highlander (using Airfix 1:32nd Napoleonic Highlander)
#FC2 - WWI Highlander (using Airfix 1:32nd Napoleonic Highlander)
#IT1 - Tank Crew Member (1:35th Italian tank crew)
#IT2 - Tank Crew Member (1:35th Italian tank crew)
Decals (transfers, by Canuck Decals)
D-1 - RCAF Sheet

WD is for War Department...

...the precursor to the modern Ministry of Defence (MoD), and the title of the range of WWII figures Almark produced in part from ex-Minimodels plastics moulds and by returning to the original sculptor to expand the range with Germans (small scale) or fill gaps (54mm range) in metal.

Two sets of British Infantry were issued and two packaging types appeared, always sold on the sprue there was an 'infantry' sprue and a 'support weapons' sprue. Much anticipated and covered after release by Military Modelling, they appeared [1970/71?] several years after the Triang Battle Game [1968'ish] that had first featured them.

It must however be assumed that the idea was always for someone to market them, as the Set WD-2 sprue was never utilised for/in the earlier Battle Game? Maybe the Battle Game was dreamt-up for Christmas while they ironed out teething problems with the mould for the second set?

Poses and contents - Set WD-1 to the top left; WD-2 - top right. Below them are the Triang playing-pieces with their locating studs/spigots, and right at the bottom; a couple without helmet paint which probably came from an outworker somewhere in the Havent area, being bought at a car-boot sale on the A3 out of Portsmouth.

The helmet paint code was dealt with on the Battle Game post, but I'll repeat it here, green is troops, brown is engineer, red were the NCO's and white the Officer.

The latter [1972/3?] German 'foe' were available as 5 poses each of regular infantry (early war uniforms) or paratroops, sculpted by the same Charles C Stadden who had designed the plastic figures. Initially sold on the same (now sticky) vacuum-sealed cards as the plastic figures, they soon moved to the more common type of shop stock-box that Minifigs, Hinchliffe and others were using.

It has to be said; these knocked the socks off Airfix 1st version Germans and Combat Group, and probaly led directly to the Airfix 2nd versions being released a year or three later [1974-77'ish].

A is for Almark

Almark Model Products Ltd.

They were also primary importers to the UK of the Armtec range of accessories from the USA. Charles Stadden was the sculptor, and cross-over exists with Triang/Lines, Waddington’s and others through the apparent use of the Minimodels plant in Havant, Hampshire for the production of the ranges, upon their demise; Micro-Mold took over marketing of the Armtec range.

WD Series’ 20mm figures Carded sets 

WD-1 - British Infantry 1939-45 (as Tri-ang battle game figures, without spigots on bases) 

WD-2 - British Infantry Weapons 1939-45 (Some the same as Tri-ang battle game figures, without spigots on bases) 

 

Bagged sets

WD-1 - British Infantry 1939-45 (as Tri-ang battle game figures, without spigots on base 

WD-2 - British Infantry Weapons 1939-45 (Some the same as Tri-ang battle game figures, without spigots on bases) 

 

White-metal Range 20mm (5 figures, carded;later 20-odd figures boxed)
WD-201 - Panzer Grenadiers kneeling firing
WD-202 - Panzer Grenadiers throwing grenades
WD-203 - Panzer Grenadiers MG34 lying firing
WD-204 - Panzer Grenadiers advancing
WD-205 - Panzer Grenadiers standing with machine pistol
WD-201/205 - Panzer Grenadiers (One each of the above)
WD-206 - Panzer Paratroopers NCO with MP38
WD-207 - Panzer Paratroopers MG34 gunner
WD-208 - Panzer Paratroopers kneeling firing
WD-209 - Panzer Paratroopers advancing
WD-210 - Panzer Paratroopers MP38 firing from hip
WD-206/210 - Panzer Paratroopers (One each of the above)

 
Almark Kits (54mm plastic figures, ex-Mini-Models sets, unpainted on runner)
No 1. - German Panzer Grenadiers 1939-1945
No. 2. - japanese Infantry 1939-1945
No. 3. - US Army Infantry 1943-1945

 
Century Series 54mm figures (plastic figures, metal accessories)
Kit № 101 - German Army 1939-45 5cm l.gr.W36 light mortar and crew
Kit № 102 - German Army 1939-45 Pz.B39 7.62mm anti-tank rifle and crew
Kit № 103 - German Army 1939-45 MG34 light machine-gun and crew

 
Wehrmacht Series 54mm figures (metal figure with metal accessories)
No. W1 - Waffen-SS Panzer Grenadier
No. W2 - Army Officer
No. W3 - Waffen-SS Drum-Major

 
Almark tank/AFV transfer sheets (water-slide type)
T.1 - Africa Corps Emblems
T.2 - Africa Corps Emblems
T.1/2. - Africa Corps Emblems
T.3. - German Army Crosses 1939-45
T.4. Alamein sheet
T.5.
T.6.
T.7.
T.8. - US national markings and numbers
T.9. - German Panzer divisions and vehicle classification signs
T.10. - Panzer division markings and warning signs
T.11. - Panzer division emblems
T.13. - Airborne and infantry divisions
T.14. - Russian Tank markings
T.15. - Arms of service signs
T.16. - Arms of service signs
T.S.1 – Wittman’s Tiger, Russian and Normandy front

 
Flags
F.1 - Confederate flags for 20mm figures (Self-adhesive vinyl)
F.2 - American Civil War Union flags for 20mm figures (self-adhesive coated paper)

L is for Land of the Rising Sun

There will be a slightly thematic style to a lot of the posting in the foreseeable future as I have to grab whatever is to hand when I visit the storage unit, find somewhere quiet to photograph it and throw it up here. Case in point is this post, I thought I had some Britains Detail Japanese for some posts to appear above in the next day or two, but I don't, however with my fledgling large scale collection being still small it is stored thematically (with exceptions - Speedwell for instance) rather than the alphabetical by make of the small scale, it was not until I'd dug the Jap box out and brought it here that I realised I didn't have any Britains.

Anyway; as the 54/70mm stuff seem to be closest to the storage unit doors, there'll be more like this to come, and as a starter here's the Japanese - I have picked-up in three years of sporadic purchases - as enemy for the post above, when it appears!

Better start with the British production, as stated; the Detail are yet to be collected (despite a false memory that I'd found some!!) and the exception that proves the rule is my one Speedwell Jap, who is not it the Japanese WWII box but rather the Kentoys/Speedwell/Trojan box!

At top - in this shot is an incomplete set of Minimodels works-painted Japs, the missing bayonets are mostly painted over the 'join' suggesting miss-molding in the factory, but one or two have broken-off. The set was later sold unpainted by Almark on the sprue in the same green plastic.

Bottom is one each of the Airfix 1:32 set, which needs to go on the Airfix blog/page, but I'll re-take photo's for that job when I get round to doing that set there. Above are four Hong Kong/China copies of which the right hand two are piracies of the standing firing Airfix pose.

The one on the left I'm really pleased to have found, a friend picked one up a few years ago and I liked it then although I wasn't collecting the large scales then, so was happy to later find him myself - he reminds me of the Atlantic 'Sendai' sniper! The one in the middle is a 'CHINA' marked copy of the Chinese Hing Fat's take on Japanese troops, they are also not here being in with the Blue-box/Rado/Ri-Toys 45/50mm ones which I will have to make a mental note to try and cover another day.

These all seem to be the Spanish firm of Jecsan, I thought some (the UN helmeted troops) might be Comansi and had titled the image to that effect but a frantic search of the Spanish blogs in the early hours reveals that they are all Jecsan.

The two with chunky bases are early production Japanese Infantry, the officer is from the River Kwai set I think (plastic colour?) The others are late production repainted as UN forces to take advantage of the interest in the conflict in the Congo in the late 1960's-early 1970's, and I think the waving guy may actually have been a US soldier originally.

The Americans, having such a great role in the defeat of Japan, made quite a few, and some of the best, top in this collage of vintage makes are Marx, a mix of old figures and re-issues in various colours, with the very similar MPC set below them. The MPC figures are slightly gangly, but still quite animated.

Below them are three Lido figure with what is best described as 'Toy Soldier Charm', I like these and the similar German set because of their crudeness rather than in spite of it!

The US has been responsible for more Japs in recent years and here are samples of two of them; BMC above and CTS below, sadly not very compatible with each other (one lot being closer to 60 mil and quite chunky, the other 54mm and of more oriental slightness), but in a rug-war joining with all the above; they just add to the display as they should...they're toys!

While writing this I've reminded myself that Atlantic are also absent, I might have one or two in a mixed large-size Atlantic tub somewhere, but already having the small ones, Atlantic are a low collecting priority for me in the larger sizes.