S is for Shamefully Ignorant!

King John's castle was a stone's throw away, for the whole of my childhood, and most of my Adulthood, and I only discovered the fact in April, at the grand old age of sixty-one! No school trips, no trips with the parents, and not me, having walked various other sections of the Basingstoke canal, had revealed its existence, or whereabouts?

 

Eventually I did notice it on one of the information boards along the canal, whilst on another walk, and determined to go and have a look, and on a balmy, summer's day (in April!), I walked the section down to the Graywell tunnel, and paused to inspect the castle ruin, from whence King John (the Boris of his day) is believed to have set out for Runnymede, to sign the Magna Carta, and begin the slow march to the Western Democracy we were vaguely enjoying, until recently, when it all started to go a bit wobbly! 

 

I took a video of the interior walls, but having rather forgotten how to do videos, it being a while since the last one, I've ended-up with a slide show, that has the video embedded toward the end, but it's all only a couple of minutes, and then all the stills are also below, so it might as well go first.

 

And for those who post all that anti-British shit on Quora; this was built over 800-years ago, 300 years before Columbus, it was a ruin 200 years before the American war of Independence, and yet, here it still is, anchoring any British arrogance in the history of a millennium.

 

These are taken clockwise round the castle, with one view obscured by trees, and it was, being April, a low, bright sun, so I had a few problems, but you get the idea! Originally eight sided, two walls have totally gone.

 

Indeed, what you can see in these photographs, is actually only the flint infill of the walls, all the dressed stone and masonry, inside and out has long-since disappeared, purloined for the buildings of the area, in later centuries - think Churches, farms, inns, bridges &etc! As I dare say, were any usable timbers!

 

Information boards on site.

 

One of the fireplace chimney flues.

 

The smaller holes are for the old floor joist timbers, the larger hole . . . ? Secret treasure nook/safe, larder, alcove for a religious icon, relic or statute perhaps? Cell for prisoners? Armscote? Somewhere for the ghost to hide, so Shaggy and Scooby walk past him, and he can jump-out behind them . . . Yah-yah-yah-yikes!

 

It is only infill, and in time there will be nothing left but a pile of stones.

 

This is actually reversed, it was the only way to get a clean shot! If you sit on the middle bench and move your head about, you can superimpose it on the ruins to resurrect the castle for a moment, albeit as a cutaway!

 

The castle is on the Three Castles Path/Walk/Way, which I naively, but admittedly confusedly, assumed must be either Basingstoke-Odiham-Farnham, or Odiham-Farnham-Guildford, but no, It's Winchester Hall-Odiham-Windsor Great Park & Castle! A 60-mile walk, and the other 'local' castles (orange dots, there's Highclere as well) don't get a look-in! But you can see how they form a line protecting the route to London, along the Downs.

 

For non-British readers, it's pronounced oh-dee-um, unless you're very posh, then you might get away with oh-dee'am!

T is for Two - Green Machines

Dropped into Blue Cross, the animal charity the other day, to drop-off some stuff for them, and managed to walk away with some stuff for me! Neither is that exciting, but we'll have a look at them anyway!

 

Timpo Bren-gun Carrier, nice and clean, with two, apparently unbrittle, crew, but needing a Bren and a set of wheels, I'm pretty sure the former is in a bag of spares somewhere, the latter may be found under a tatty one, at some later date!

 

Not so clean, but otherwise complete, a generic (for now?) Hong Kong tank, in the style of those which are usually die-cast (Zee), with the black-plastic plug-ins, for aerial and MG, but is, in fact, actually all-plastic, and recognisably a Panzer IV, albeit, 'only just! The barrel looks damaged, but in the flesh, seems fine, just a little loose. And it's not far of HO-OO 'readymade' carpet-toy scale!

S is for Seen Elsewhere - Speedwell Medievals

A trio of Robin Hoods, including a rather nice heat-conversion, a pair of Little Johns and two of the Sheriffs men, or eight, but you know what I mean, see elsewhere a while ago, not much one can add!

 

That's it, that's them, enjoy!

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?

H is for Highland Sentries!

In addition to the aircraft we looked at last week, I had another Zang purchase back in the Spring, the Highland infantry boxed set. We did look at one I think back in the early days of the blog, but to see how they came, and probably how the guardsmen we saw a couple of years ago were issued too, is nice.

 

Unbranded lid

 

Full set

 

Close up

 

No sign of a gummed Timpo label, so I guess these were Zang's own retail idea, but as a generic for small stores? Like my existing loose fella', two of these are snapped-off at the ankle, but composition figurines in approximately HO-gauge, of men with bare legs were always going to be a long-shot!

M is for More - Palitoy and Renwal's Plastic 'Planes

Not really a follow-up as it's been a while now since we last mentioned the Palitoy 'planes, and the Renwal are new to the blog, but I picked these up in one of the autumn shows, and there are a few things to unpack, so a T is for Two . . . maybe!

I actually picked up a bagful of the Palitoy aircraft for next to nothing, which was nice, these bargains happen from time to time, and we all have them occasionally, so not an obvious or deliberate brag, but I didn't know what I'd really got until I'd got them back to Adrian's table, and looked at them properly.

We have looked at the Spitfire[s] before here, and the musing on that occasion, are upset by this pair where the supposed earlier, inaccurate one is here found in the supposed later, stable polystyrene, while the opposite is true of the other moulding, with an early marbled/flecked example of the better quality model, which logic dictates must have come later.

So some new points or musings from yours truly, first, in conversation with several other collectors at the show, we mused that (given the inaccuracy and pre-war nature of several of the other aircraft in the range) there could be the lines of a French Dewoitine D.520, albeit without the long sharks-nose of the original, and someone has started to add French roundels to this one in paint.

Now I'm not saying it ever was a Dewoitine, but I have learned that among the specific war work of Palitoy's Coalville works was Spitfire landing gear, and perspex components for the aeroplane industry, and there remains the possibility that it might have been renamed at the last minute, due to perceived failure by the French in 1940, or just the need for a Spitfire.

But the fact that the two now seem to have run alongside each-other, and the inaccuracies to both against real Spitfires, which they (Palitoy) would have been very familiar with, might suggest they were originally two different planes - maybe one was meant to be a Hurricane and got the wrong marking-stamps, first - and that my previous assertions of the age of these being definitely wartime and with possibly some pre-war production, seems more solid now.

The Wellington; the early ones might be manufactured from what Palitoy (then British Cascelloid, or even Pallet Toys as they may still have been known) called cascelloid, which was a rather flammable celluloid polymer, but that tended to be processed into product as/from a sheet material.

 

In 1931 they were purchased by British Xylonite (another branded celluloid), and in 1939, merged into Bakelite Xylonite Ltd. (BXL), who's Union Carbide partner in the 'States may have something to do with the earlier unstable plastic these aircraft are found in, some kind of Bakelite by-product?

 

My own feeling is that they are an early, unstable form of polystyrene, looking to copy the product being made by IG Farben in Germany from - also - 1931, which had been worked on, fitfully, since the 1870's.

 

Lockheed 'Hudson' bomber-reconnaissance aircraft and air-taxi; While the 'early' models tend to have the red/pink wheels and propellers, and the late (obviously polystyrene) ones black accessories, the fact is I now have all four combinations in the collection with the later Spitfire first seen here in a stable blue, having the red attachments.

 

This actually only reinforces my thoughts on wartime production, as while some will tell you there was no toy production in the war, that's not strictly the case, as with the tariffs we're all currently being threatened with by that lieing, criminal, orange loon, exceptions can always be sought in these matters, with exemption licences being issued on a case by case basis.

 

As a company engaged in 'war work' and a group experimenting with plastics on both sides of the pond, the idea that those experiments could be undertaken in small runs of cheap playthings makes perfect sense, and once they started playing with perspex components for real aircraft and gas-masks/respirators, the small transparencies on the Wellingtons also makes sense, and also ties them to wartime production. The toys helping boost morale while promoting popular aeroplane types, of the time.

I think these Renwal were either the same seller, or the same bag, I can't remember now, but new to me and ready for action as 'Dimestore' style ready-made's, one (wing-tip tanks) marked Navy Plane, the other Army Plane, I guess there's a third out there somewhere - 'Air Force Plane'?

 

The army 'plane is a generic design, although there are recognisable elements of Sabre, but not that pointed nose! The other is a better rendition of US Navy Grumman F9F Panther, capturing the rear-wing line quite well.

 

A comparison shot, between the two lines, scale per se doesn't come into it, but they're both the same size, which, with their simple construction, would put them in the same pocket-money category!

P is for Pulp Fiction

How have I not had that title before now? I'm not sure if these are Giles's work from Dorset Toy Soldiers, or Ron's from Good Soldiers, but as they are the Crescent sculpts it's all a bit academic and I'll Tag all three, just to make sure they can be found, no matter how future browsers are searching for them! On the Dan Dare Tag you'll find a larger sample of these from Brian B which we saw a while back.

The reproduction label is actually quite faded on my sample, and I've enhanced it in Picasa, to give a better feel for the original, the trouble with home printers is that the ink fades quite quickly, as anyone who's put stuff up at work, or on the fridge door, will attest! The yellow tissue apes the yellow card the originals are often found tied-to.

 

Box is in Dorset's style, but the subject is more Good Soldier'y, while the contents are the same as the Crescent toys set. Colours are best described as the common schemes, with the suited Dan being also found in dark blue, sky blue, red, metallic red, a pinkish metallic, and silver, with the Treens also having a fair few paint variations in the original, in this version it's supposed to be the Venusian character Sondar.

Some sources state the sky blue were only from an RAF set (which they certainly appeared in), and which includes blue versions of the two green service dress figures (Digby and Dan), while others claim blue spacesuit for Dan and yellow for Sir Hubert Guest? With Professor Peabody also getting red and silver issues, I suspect it was down to the out-painters or packers, on the day, and of little other significance?

 

The ship could be all red, split red/yellow, or red with a silver nose in the original, here the repro' has a segment of yellow running back from the centre of the cockpit, and again the launch-frame follows Crescent's blue, although orange and brown-red can be found.

 

Red Wing! That's three mini/micro spaceships, joining the stash, in a few weeks with a rather Tin Tin'esque rubber rocket pencil-top and the little novelty UFO in polystyrene alongside the Dan Dare whitemetal ship.

F is for Follow-up - Noreda and Injectaplastic

I mentioned in a comment the other day that I try to avoid 'khaki' subjects in December, and that's true, especially the more war'y stuff, but the odd bit gets through, and these ready-made AFV's are a perennial favourite of mine, with two purchases in recent months, both European brands.

 

I think this is the Injectaplastic Jeep, with a gun that's new to the collection, the owner has added waterslide transfers which some of you may recognise from plastic kits (Airfix and Esci - I think?), and which completes the line-up with their Munga and Kubelwagen, both seen here passim. It's darker green than my existing sample of these, though.

This was in the same purchase and is the Noreda one, which I seem to already have, but the trouble with show-purchases is that you are pressed for time, and have to make split-decisions on whether or not to buy something, based on what you can remember having, what you think you may have, and/or what you've seen and/or posted from elsewhere!

A comparison shot with the Triang Minic tin-plate in clean state, but missing it's key, hopefully I'll have one in the spare key zone! All a similar kid's handful size, and two of them needing a comparison shot on the Airfix Jeep page!

 

Also with the two jeeps and gun, came this truck with yet another take on that 1950/60's staple, the twin AA 'pom-pom' gun, now euphemistically referred to as a 'technical'! Again this seems to be Injectaplastic, from the wheels, and is new to the existing sample, but needs paint-removal, before I take better shots.

 

Then I picked these up last Saturday, from Tony Herrington, long time 'plastic warrior' who was stalled-out at the London Toy Solder Show, these are the Noreda truck we've seen before with canvas tilt and GS trailer, but now, also, as a tanker version, with tanker trailer and an additional 'goulash cannon' field kitchen.

 

The kitchen, while simplified for production in one shot as a pocket-money toy, follows the basic design very well, we had similar trailers on field exercises in the 1980's, four hot-plate/bain-maries over an oven and grill with the chimney long-enough to take the gas fumes (wood smoke or burnt oil in earlier times) away from the faces of the troops operating the equipment, or queuing-up for 'range-stew' - baked-beans, tinned potatoes and tinned mixed-vegetables cubed, with cheap sausages, diced in a thick gravy!

K is for Karate - Kung-Fu!

T is for Two Pairs! An oddity in the annals of toy solder collecting, or toy figure production first. One can see the thinking behind it, and had it succeeded we may have seen a pair of Boxers, Wrestlers, Fencers, maybe even Ninjas, but it didn't succeed and no further sets jointed this rump-line of the Deetail range.

 

The Karate Kung-Fu pairing from Britains, sort of a good idea, but not all good ideas are practical or desirable, and this has no play value beyond an ornament. And you do tend to find them in this condition, near mint, I've even seen near complete shop-display boxes of them over the years, so many were left unsold first time round. Now, of course, it's a gap-filler/collection completer!
 

I've shot this pair too, Kinder's martial-arts chaps, they can, at least, be posed and played with as two separate individuals, to tell 'stories', or whatever, and are pop-together polyethylene against the PVC of the Britains figures. Kinder, of course, did do Boxers and Fencers, while there are quite a few Wrestlers around now, and plenty of Ninjas have been produced!

M is for Motor Racing Series . . .

 . . . which extended to two sets! I picked this rareish carded set up from a mate a few weeks ago, I'd actually gone-over for an Arab, but he happened to have two of these, and I talked him out of the slightly tattier one!

 

 

 

The Kentoys Grand Prix mechanics, possibly designed in partnership with Victory Industries, the slot-racing and motor-boat people from Guildford. You can see the other set, St.John's Ambulance volunteers, as little stick-men in the background of the artwork!

 

They also did the wonderful set of six Dan Dare figures, in partnership with Eaglewall, and of which we have seen various elements of, here before, as indeed we have seen these loose, I think, even unto the very white-walled spare tyre, so really a bit of a box-ticker, but, it's a nice thing!