M is for More from London, First of Three Plunder Posts

I was back up to The Smoke in September to pick up another batch of Car Booty from Peter Evans, and with another parcel from Chris now sorted and shot, I'd better get these up and cleared from the PC first, not least because there's one or two cross-over items!

 

How the sort/photoshoot starts, with me unpacking a box of goodies, giving them a once-over, having a look-see at what I've got, and deciding how to proceed! I did shoot the six bagged/carded sets for a post, but realised Peter had sent them all as shelfies in time for this year's Rack Toy Month, so those images have gone in the archive for now!

 

Three of the larger sized Fontanini Napoleonics, the third one is supposed to be Napoleon himself, I suspect, but in his earlier days as an artilleryman of the revolution? Note, as in past posts on the subject, the flatter painting of the cavalryman, over the faded washes of the two foot-figures, I also thought the horse was nicely painted, for a plastic tourist keepsakes, and all three mounted on a piece of Carrara marble.

 

Possibly home-painted, and seen before in one form or another, Peter remembers them being part of a shooting-game, which I have as yet failed to find on the internet/feebleBay, but now I know what I'm looking-for, it should only be a matter of time?

 

Parachute-toy figures, including an Imperial Toys PVC-rubber Poopatroopa (in front), always gratefully received, as there have been so many over the years, copies-of-copies, and slight variations, it's a probably never-ending field, and even if I've shot them for the Parachute Page, now, there will be update shots in the future, with all the colour/size/detail variations added.

 

Two Hong Kong divers to be added to their sample, and one of the small grey ones which I thought were Bluebird but aren't, and I can't remember if they've been ID'd yet or not, but I think there's a second pose?

 

Two 4-inch biggies, Blue Box, Blue Box-like or Blue Box for someone else? A bit battered, they'll be compared to the master collection and retained until better ones turn up, rather have a tatty one than none.

 

A mix of Hong Kong chaps, with a few modern China-troops, I think we've seen them all over time, but not necessarily in detail, and that's a job for another day! But an MPC copy with his accessories, sold in sets by Telsalda among others, they also came singly in generic bags at the 6d end of the market. A couple of the Arco Rambo types, a New Ray knock-off in silver and others.

 

A Tim Mee knock-off (or flashy, late-production from the European factory?), a chap who's probably from the turret of a novelty/powered tank/AFV of some kind, best ID'd from old catalogue images, or - if you're lucky - a minter on evilBay, another version of the common seated figure we've seen from several US makers and as a parachute toy. Lastly, a new-to-me figure I think, but possibly from one of the many sets of Monogram knock-offs!

 

Three Britains copies, who will need sorting into the larger collection, against a future shot for the Khaki Infantry page, there are so many variations of these, and I suspect this trio goes with the sets that include Lone Star poses, and came in generic trays?

O is for Once Upon a Time, in June! Historical & Ceremonial

This post gets off to a good start, with the third boxed set I got from Adrian, and then goes downhill! No, I'm joking, there are several interesting bits here, but originality of text for the opening blurb-o-graph of repeat posts, like these, is not always obvious, to an amateur author!

 

It would be lazy to assume that these too, are Torgano, like the two Western sets in the previous post of this series, they are A) thinner flats, altogether less robust, B) they have thin, oblong bases, C) decoration is, if anything more leery than the previously-seen, already pretty-colourful samples D) the generic gift-wrap 'foil' covering on the box, is nothing like the set-specific artwork of those other sets E) they are slightly smaller, and F) the subject-matter is altogether more fanciful!

 

Definitely Italians though! Shades of Captain Nemo?

 

Also shades of Captain Video with the American-football/1930's tank-crew helmets!

 

Three figures duplicated, in different colours, everything else is a one-off, and there’s a lot going on, paratroopers, artillery, flying-boat, early rubber boat, spacey guys, a Tom of Finland sailor (everyone loves a sailor!), yacht, battleship and a sinking (?) liner, this set would have been a fantastic exercise of the imagination muscles! And there's a man fighting a giant octopus!

 

The Noris Ivanhoe game has similar unpainted flats, however Torgano's own mini's (space and 'dolls') do have oblong bases, while people like Tibadabo and Co-Ma must have started somewhere? What were PRB or Sam doing in the 1950's? I have the two earlier Italian toy soldier books, and a couple of maker specific things, but I don't have the most recent one, are they in there, can anyone give us a branding on these? 

 

American Civil War, a right old mix here, with 'China' copies of Hong Kong 'solid' clones of Timpo Swoppets, actual Swoppet clones, enough Blue Box for a skirmish and a Waddington's game-playing piece - all grist to the mill!

 

Back to Italy and a nice sample of the Nardi Union/US Cavalry types, you look at these and wonder if they didn't borrow one of Cherilea's sculptors! But their charm is the stronger for the dancing-loon look!

 

The Confederate sample is smaller and lacking more hats, as well as 'kerchiefs and heads, which explains the outcome of that war! Lack of logistical support and fighting men!

 

Ceremonial assortment here, with one of the just mentioned (BMSS post) Monaco guards, sans plug-on base, a broken metal figure, three HK copies of lone Star, a trio of Sacul musicians, four Café Storme Imperials, a Hong Kong highlander, and two Hilco, who rather confirm the Band-Major in that previous BMSS post! And a sucker-guard!

 

Three pirates, too early for International Talk Like a Pirate Day, these are the Fontanini smallest version, but in an usual colour of plastic, and polyethylene, rather than the PVC resin of my other samples?

 

More Café Storm.

 

Two early British-made Arabs, I can't remember who's these are (BMS?), we have looked at them all previously, in dribs and drabs, and I intend to do them all together one day, when they are all in one place!

 

Two probably Fraser & Glass, and one early Herald - polystyrene horses.

 

From the left, a kit figure, Pyro or Revell maybe, another of the growing sample of Spanish terracotta caricature figurines, a French (?) Santon, and a very French-looking sailor, from the novelty stacking sets, we've seen clowns and policemen here, and there are US versions of the same stacking figures.

 

There’s more on this in a follow-up, but here sold as Walco Products Inc., a similar outfit to Grandmother Stover's or SSCO, dealing with both craft items, novelty tat, and cake decoration stuff!

 

Small-scale bits bring the post to a close, with a few Risk board-game pieces and three of my favourite Christmas Cracker prize guardsmen!

 

And again; thanks are due to - 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! Many thanks.

R is for Roman, but not Roman's!

I had an interesting chat with the couple manning the Roman stand at the NEC last month, not stuff I need to pass on, as they knew little of the history of Fontanini, had never heard of the elusive Fonplast, and were really just trying to find customers for their US-based stock, of whom I clearly wasn't one, but I shot a few of the modern 'Precepi' while I was chatting to them.

 

They've come a long way since the hand-crafted terracotta being prepared village by village between the wars, but it is now mostly poured-resin, and most of it wasn't worth shooting, as it just wouldn't have interested any loyal readers! And I think the Joseph's Studio stuff is 100% American in any case?

 

Company website;

https://www.roman.com/products/nativities/

S is for Shelfload of Shelfies!

I shot these a few years ago, not long after the multi-part overview of Fontanini and musings on Fonplast, back in 2017, but they were put on hold, because as I said at the time, I knew someone else was working on the military range. That author was Peter Evans, and those articles with the sets/generations and original Military Modelling adverts were published in Plastic Warrior magazine (which you can subscribe to, details below) over a number of issues, back then, but these then got forgotten down in Picasa's 1950's!

I thought fifteen-quid each was a bit steep, especially for a charity shop, the mounted maybe, on a good day, but all of them? I like to pick these up for between two-fifty and seven-fifty at most, but they all sold, within a week or so, and that's good for the charity.

 

At the end of the day, Fleet may have a bit of poverty, round the back of the football club, or hidden at the margins of the Ancell's or Elvetham developments, in the single-mother blocks or starter maisonettes, but overall it's an upper-middle-class dormitory town for London commuters, and there are many smart homes with trophy-wife curated decors, and I'm sure they found a good display or two, for their hundred-odd quid!

PW is contactable here:

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

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

eMail - pw.editor3@gmail.com

Tel. - 01483 830 743

And it's only five months 'till the next PW show!

H is for How They Come In - Charity Shop Backlog - 2022, 2 of 2

All the two's! Clearing the backlog of stuff down in Picasa's 1960, except for 2023! Slightly more interesting stuff for the purists than the last post, but it all has its place, and I make no apologies for any of it, unless I apologise first!

A rather nice two-headed dragon, I don't know who it's by, and it went to storage ages ago, but I think it's the same line as the black one we saw recently with the two different wing arrangements, so someone like Toy major maybe?

 

Another of the Jada die-casts, again I'm not sure of the franchise (so far all their offerings have been licensed) but it could be Roblox or Blockworld or whatever they are called, I liked it, despite its chipped nose, as it reminds me of the morphing-cubes robot in the water world scenes of Interstellar, the movie!

 

Seen before I think, some things do tend to get more than one outing now I'm shooting stuff for other platforms, my latest Fontanini on his chunk of Carrara Marble, and a bigger one at about 100/120-mil.

 

 

Nappies in various sizes, the one on the right is the fun one, it's a well [home-] painted slush-cast tourist statuette! The other small one is a 'figure painters' whitemetal figure, I don't know the maker while the ceramic is a fairing type, which was going for a couple of quid rather than some Meissen/Worcester type, but a fun addition to the growing side-collection of naughty Mediterranean (remember the rules of French Warfare) corporals!

This was a 50p jobbie, and worth the read, probably collected articles from a history magazine or periodical or something, not exactly in-depth, and not revealing anything which isn't in AJP Taylor or Liddle Heart, but maybe a tad-less jingoistic.

 

This wasn't that hard to pin down, the artist being revealed as Eija Seras, a Canada-based Finnish artist of the 1960-70's, but the base mark with the 'H' seems wrong (the 'E' is as she did it), so it may be a maiden or married name from one end of her period of productivity? If you google her, you find lots of chess-set pieces, this doesn't seem to be one of them, so just a touristy piece.

"Seras produced a range of Inuit figurines, hand sculpted from terracotta clay, in the late 1960s through the 1970s based on her four years living at the U.S. Air Force base in Goose Bay, Labrador in the mid 60s . The artist was awarded the Canadian Design of Merit citation in 1974 by the National Design Council of Canada for her native figures"

 

'How they came in'! I forgot to load this picture in order, and if I slot it in now I'll have to rewrite the blurbs on the other two, and I'm intrinsically idle, so that's a big, fat no! I seem to recall they were a couple of quid each, from the BHF in Farnborough. Really showing the superiority of plastic in certain situations, as seen by those, back then, who couldn't foresee the pollution problem careering down the tracks.

S is for Seen Elswhere - Fontanini

Just a couple of finds from Fontanini which have come in over the last year or so, 2 of the 80mm polyethylene Napoleonics (90-odd with the bases), with their flat-matt paint-jobs, and a larger 150mm (who's 185mm all-in with base and Carrara-marble plinth), who has that distinctive antiqued wash, over his PVC, for most of the colours, I think they wash all the colours, then overwash with a watered-down/thinned sepia-brown or dark varnish?

Both the smaller ones still have the spigots for those mahogany-brown plastic bases, so I had to shove them deep into the bedspread! And like an idiot, I didn't think to take two bases of those Knights before I offered them as swaps . . . Doh!
 

S is for Seen Elswhere - The Italians are Coming!

I almost can't write for excitement, someone made my day earlier this evening, in fact he made my fucking year, it's like Christmas just came early, so a quick post on a few bits I've already posted elsewhere. Mostly Fontanini, but a bit of Garibaldi, all from the Roman Boot!

 

The Knights; We've actually looked at a pair of the larger ones and their Hong Kong blow-moulded clones before here at Small Scale World (which nobody follows - except everybody), but this bunch is, I think (I could put 'we believe' and then you'd really think I know what I'm talking about, huh?) a complete set of eight poses in the 75/80mm line with the same plug-in bases and silver wash over matt black.

Couple of close-ups showing the standard base and . . . errr. . . that's about it! They do all have date-captions, but I didn't think to write them down, so - another day! Lazy research, that'll be the problem!

Then, also from Fontanini we have Brain Blessed and his daughter, singing the Siegmund & Sieglinde duet, from Die Walküre at Bayreuth a few years ago! God knows, the fevered mind of Simonetti as he tried to finish a Commission while hallucinating with a particularly severe bout of gastroenteritis?

But Peter Evans, roving reporter for Plastic Warrior, reports either seeing or buying them from Hastings in the past, so they were a real thing! Aren't they charming? My piss-taking aside, Fontanini did a set of the Italian Commedia dell'arte, so a little theatricalise on their Normans (or Anglo-Saxons; it's not clear!) is to be excused, if not actually expected! I Really need to find the rest of this set!

The two Vikings are in the same size as the Knights, but with integrated bases, so you can see our Sieglinde (well, if she's not a 'she', he's a very pretty boy; no reading stories to kiddies in Florida, in that getup, mate!) is around 100mm in comparison.

Finally, a quintet of Garibaldini from Nardi, another Italian maker. I think they may be supposed to have red kepis, which, if they are, are obviously missing - I may have some spare Kinder ones I can force-on with a bit of horse-gum!

 

The same sculpts were used for Confederate and Union types and RCMP (as these, but no neckerchiefs and wearing lemon-squeezer hats), and possibly US Cavalry? These are a near 54mm. There were larger sizes of these as well, and compared to some of the dancing loons which came from that stable, these are quite reasonable figures.