P is for Perfect Polymer Propine - Military

Apparently it's Scottish for 'sacrifice'! Theo, long-time friend of the Blog, has had personal tragedies recently, putting my own firmly into context, as a result of which he divested himself of his collection, but saved a few items of interest for the Blog, which arrived a while ago and have been sat on the laptop waiting for me to get a grip and post them, and, while I'd describe my grip as only tenuous, with many thanks to Theo, I'll try to get them posted over the next few days, interspersing them with a few new-purchase rack toys, to mix it up!

 

These were a real surprise, as they often turn up, but scruffy and weaponless, and usually only two poses, so to get three poses, with weapons and good-to-new paint was a real treat, and they were on top of the parcel, so got shot first!

 

And, these were with them, four different mounted figures in a similar state of near-new! Again, I may have seen the bowman, tatty, a few times but not the others, and like the foot figures, all are based on the Britains Swoppets, but you feel, probably hand-copied rather than anything as accurate as a pantograph?

 

9th Aug. - Peter Evan has suggested ABC for these, they are unmarked but could be, and I've posted a marked one on foot, ages ago, he also pointed out that the mounted legs are from the Herald Agamemnon, and you can see the sandals and greaves!

 

This may be the horse for the above, the other likely candidate would be the Timpo-copy with caparison (as found in the 'States in Ideal playsets), but I think they only have Timpo-copy riders. This one is a scale-down of the big Thomas/Poplar sculpt.

 

These are a useful addition to the Crescent Roman piracies, especially the chap far left and far right, who is one of the three Gladiator poses, and was missing when we looked at them last time, although I have an all-blue HK copy of the pose. It struck me that he would go well with the Charbens ancient set!

 

Marx 'swoppet' GI's, a real treat! I do have one somewhere, and a bag of bits, but there are three complete, here, sans one weapon, a B.A.R. I think, but at some point in the future it's going to enable a single photo of all the possible combinations!

 

An actual Crescent Roman! A damaged Cherilea knight, who may be the basis of a future conversion, he only needs a weapon to replace the missing lance, and one of many French 'bazaar' figures, or at least I think he's French (Koho, thanks to Theo - https://www.lastdodo.nl/nl/areas/4866119-koch-hofmockel-koho), and a bazaar issue, and he'll be sorted into the rest when they all come together, soon I hope, but I've been saying that since 2021!

Nardi and Lone Star, paint is good on both of them, and finding the Lone Star figure with complete spear is getting rarer, one of mine broke after the last photo-shoot, so being sent one and having him survive the postal services of Europe is another treat!

 

Three Cherilea; 54mm, 60mm and, err, gi'huge!

 

Two Tim Mee European issue, a nice Cherilea 60mm swoppet, first version with the separate boots, and four more of the smaller Monogram copies from Hong Kong, which will be filtered into a larger sample of them, for a definitive article one day, we had an interim look at them here;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2016/08/m-is-for-monograms-men-made-much_10.html

 

with another set looked at here;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2021/08/t-is-for-two-khaki-infantry-rack-toys.html

 

And, it's the large number of variants of these Hong Kong knock-off figures, which makes all samples so useful, toward finding the full story of them, one day!

 

I can never remember who these are by (and I've been told often enough!), with scabards and base markings they are Timpo 1st version, but with plain belts and smooth bases they are . . . Charbens, Speedwell . . . someone like that?

 

Finishing off with a lovely, clean sample of the CMV-marked Hong Kong copies of 'khaki infantry' from old Britains Herald, Lone Star and Crescent sculpts, so clean they look like they were made this morning! Thank you, Theo, sorry it's taken so long to get them posted!

C is for Ceremonial Roundup!

I picked up and shot these first two the other day, and thought it was a good excuse to get a few of the 'odds & sods' images out of the Ceremonial folder and share them with the Loyal Readers, no particular theme, but I left the Spanish, the Cossacks, the Majorettes and others in the folder, so we're looking at UK production of UK figures, even if some came from Holland!

 

So these are the new additions, a second sample of the maybe BR Moulding/maybe Hilco kneeling infantryman of the Victorian era, I'm not sure if it was in the BR mould-list? And a Sacul drummer, the Sacul sample is growing slowly, a few others have come in, and I am looking forwards to shooting them all together!

This was sent by a loyal reader back in 2021, during a conversation about either Sacul, or unknown guardsmen, which I was thinking were from the Crescent sculpt, because of the epaulettes, but as pointed out it's the Sacul moulding.

 

And, further, the correspondent pointed out that the smaller drummer (second from the left) was probably also Sacul, issued as a drummer boy? The unknown is next and another probably Sacul forth, with the common Sacul varient on the left. And, if I recall the conversation correctly, the feeling was that all four were probably Scaul, with the [3rd] nylon'y one being maybe a late issue, early 1970's?

 

These were all sent to the Blog by Theo van der Werden from the Netherlands, back in 2018, again as part of a conversation on his - then - recent purchases, and because I'd covered most of them, I sort of filed them, with a bunch of other stuff, anyway here they are, three Britains 54mm and some nice examples of Cherilea 60mm types.

 

I really like the lifeguard (upper pair in middle image), he's a very unusual toy soldier, being that sort of late Georgian/early Victorian uniform.

 

We've seen better here in the past, but they came in with some mixed lot, or another, and the shot shows the three poses of Gemodels in the less common Horse Guard's blue colourway, which happens to be my favourite! Note also the two distinct shades of blue plastic.

Having mentioned BR, these are now known to have been issued as part of their home-moulding exercise, and here are three very different treatments of the same pose, with a hard 'styrene on the left, odd-coloured, unpainted polyethylene in the middle, and a marbled pinkish one on the right!

 

Finally, also a bit tatty and from some bulk lot, are these; four Herald and a Zang original (larger figure to the right) of the highland infantryman of the late Victorian era, just before the switch to khaki uniforms. The four on the left are not rare, and I may well repaint them one day, if I ever pick up that eye-glass prescription!

 

While (finally finally!) this is a 'seen elsewhere' shot from the archive (and from another folder, 2008) and shows what other bugger's can achieve with a bit of paint on these figures, four of the later Herald in a variety of late 19thC/colonial era uniforms, original on the right. It may have been on the Blog before?

 

There's lots of this kind of stuff in about 30 folders, and I'll try to get some more cleared in the run-up to Christmas, many thanks to Theo and Anon for the images indicated above.

B is for Brush & Rail, Britians Show Jumping, Bits and Bobs

I don't have the big Show Jumping boxed set from Britains, it tends to attract a pretty penny, and most of the contents are available loose, but there are a few bits which were unique to the set, not least the jumps, fortunately, Britains anticipated some wanting to extend their set to a full competition ring (circuit?), and made most of the bits available separately, so by way of introducing a short season on jumpers and jumping, here are a few bits from the Britains line, which I have here - we will return to them and look at the whole range of riders another day, as they are in (back-in!) storage.

The add-on Brush & Rail fence as sold separately, you get three units of fence, basically wooden boxes with faggots of brushwood, or twiggy-twigs, stuffed into them. While the boxed area underneath the backing-card, contains a standard Post & Rail fence, two marker-flags and a spare stand for the horses which were only, otherwise available in the big set, the riders when sold separately coming with/attached to a five-bar gate, to jump over.

How they all go together, and the various components, the brush is made from horsehair, which was curled (probably under heat, a hot water dip maybe, or hot-air?), then dipped in a rubber-solution or latex before being compressed into sheets or 'bisquits' (Yes, I like to use that incorrect spelling, it's fun Panda Bear talk), and cut to shape. It was a forerunner of modern foam packing, and had been around, commercially, for some time.

 

The extra stand, replacing the gate the seperate riders came with, which could also be added to your show-jumping display, this enabled them to face-off against the various other jumps in the set/line. Some place it the other way round, with the base to the rear, but it balances either way.

 

Early and late versions of the 'Captain Mark Philips' character, he also came with as the gate jumper, but is here on a different horse, as either an early Herald/Eyes Right/Swoppet era figure (white horse) or in a Deetail iteration, black horse, rubber-band reins.

 

There were actually several riders who performed in uniform back then, a German (whom I think is behind the mind of this figure's sculptor), an Argentinian (I think?) and maybe a couple of Spaniards, among others, I well remember watching Show Jumping (and tennis, and the tedium of 1960/70's Test Cricket), because with two, latterly three TV-channels, there was often bugger-all else on, especially in the mid-afternoons! Phillips usually performed in the No.1 Dress uniform, a blue-black affair, known as 'Blues'.

 

12-03-2022 - It was the Italians I was thinking of (see FitzjamesHorse comment below), and I remembered I'd scanned this from the 13th October 1973 issue of World of Wonder magazine, expressly to add to this post, back in March '22! Honestly, the filing system is breaking down under the weight of stuff! Given when the Britains figure first came out, it was probably these guys behind the Military rider?

H is for How They Come In - London, December

The last show report of the year, and I've sort of caught-up, although there's a lot of older stuff still in the long-queue to be cleared, one day/some day. I've done them as one post, so there's a lot to get through, including two of the most interesting figures to come in this year, or any year, and they were both given to me.

 

Also, and genuinely without trying, I see that both the 2017 target of 468-posts and the best month (which I think was 81-posts a few years ago) are within my grasp, if I can get about 17 posts out in the next 7-days, so apologies if I post some crap to get there, but I'll have a go, although I am working five of them, so it's a tall order I may fall short on!

So, it's just gone 2pm, and as soon as I've blurbed this up, I've a Crimbo-dinner to cook, so let's get on, you often see these in this pinky-red, good ones are actually very red, but it's an unstable dye in the plastic which fades with ultra-violet light action.

 

Reisler, and I assume they did the whole set, although I've never seen the motorcycle or female soldier in this scheme, which could be a take on some African peacekeeper thing from the 1960's, the figures are always finished in an Afro-Caribbean skin-tone, as well as the loud uniforms? Anyone got any ideas?

My third (? I think?) Cavendish on the left, and not as explosive as the previously mentioned pair! Sadly, when Cavendish inherited the Britains Eyes Right stuff, they seemed to drop these, but they are lovely in their own right.

 

On the right a French premium, but in the middle a very interesting figure of an American Indian warrior with a swivel head? He might be Hong Kong, but isn't marked, he could be Argentine, but isn't marked, might he be Polish or Hungarian? Or even French bazaar?

Steve Vicker's gave me this, because he'd forgotten he had it and didn't know what it was, and while I did briefly discuss it with him, in case he wanted to change his mind and ask for some shekels, he was happy I have it, and it wasn't until I got it home and had a proper look at it that I realised it's very interesting indeed.

 

Obviously, it's a copy of an Elastolin Landsknecht gunner, but 1) it's in the same hard, dense PVC of the Azur-Culpitt-Injectaplastic-JSP (Jouets Super Plastic)-Prior-Rena family of PVC output, and B) it is carrying a base identical to the late Britains Herald Hong Kong production of Trojans and the Roman charioteer, when he - as over-production - was given a base and sold out of shop stock boxes with the Greeks.

We looked at them last here, and you can see this one has a 'NO 514' on the slightly smaller base (I suspect the figures is a straight lift from the 40-mil'), while they are randomly -618 or -619? But it raises the possibility that the/a factory in Hong Kong, being used by, or even owned by Britains, possibly the - previously mentioned here in passing - Herald Metal & Plastic of Kowloon, are going to link all the above together, and may also have been responsible for some of those generic antiqued pencil sharpeners, copied from the Spanish, and from which (one of the cannons) this chap probably came, with another pose/figure?

 

It's not that clear-cut, as we know some of the above were credited to Macau, and two or more factories could obtain the same dense pink vinyl I'm sure, but it opens up new possibilities for avenues of inquiry, and I'm very grateful to Steve for giving it to me, to share with you, to extend the conversation, as it were?

I was a bit disappointed with these, they looked lovely in the bag, but when I got them home they were just repaints with a replacement stretcher, but I think I have a spare stretcher somewhere, so I'll make good on the investment at some point, late'ish Tim-Mee, and nothing to get too excited about without the dog, but I think I have him too, somewhere!

 

Gareth Morgan also gave me an early Christmas present in this Hong Kong copy stagecoach, it's got a little bit of damage to the luggage-rail, but I know I have a battered one in the spares, and I think a careful mend with have it back to parade-finish, they are clean-breaks at either end, and I have the driver, because we saw him here, not that long ago! While the catapult-plane is missing all its flying surfaces, but is a first example, and was from a cheapie rummage tray!

 

These two were from Mercator's cheapie tray, and I got them as the Frenchman is quite unusual, and the 'Afrika Korps' finished German even more so, I think they were marked, or one of them was, but I haven't got time to look for them now, so they can come round again, or I'll look them-up this evening and add something here?

 

Frenchie is marked Durso, a Belgian producer of composition figures, while the DAK chappie is unmarked and appears to be chalkware which could make him Belgian also, or French?

 

Also from the cheapie trays, were a few more hollow-cast lead 'Khaki Infantry', again, we'll return to them another day, but if you follow the Blog, you'll know I've had several lots like this in recent years, and am getting a half-decent sample of these types, whether originals or copies - as per one of the pair in the middle?!!

 

Well, this is getting silly now! A forth Argentine copy of the Timpo Hopalong Cassidy, but this one in more realistic decoration/plastic colours than the previous three! Along with two Lone Star because they were clean and unbroken!

 

And . . . having had the lovely Landsknecht gunner from Steve, Adrian Little gave me the figure in the middle, who looks to be composition, but is a crude plastic figure! And again he gave it to me because he didn't know what it was, I guess we both hope one of you do, Loyal Readers! I guess some Tourist thing, but where from? Lancers in black with New York cop hats? South America, smaller European state? Mystery figure, the second in one show! And unusual to be holding the lance in the left-hand?

 

To either side of him are a nice marbled Hilco infantryman and a dog with two locating-studs who is technically as interesting as anything else unknown, but I know he won't be rated the same as the Landsknecht or lancer by most of you!

 

Three clean ceremonials, with - from the left - Hilco, Charbens and believed to be Trojan, I don't think I had the Hilco previously, and the Charbens soldiery seem harder to find than their Bandsmen, who are very common?

 

Is it a Tresco? I don't know, but it's about the fifth in the collection and we've seen a couple of others from Brian B or on evilBay, so there are many variants of the Tresco original to track-down! It must have been one of the most widely used novelty items of childhood, ever, and you can still find new issues/piracies now, forty or fifty years after anyone wore something like that underwater!

 

And a little whitemetal bicycle?

The Gopher/Groundhog actually has a damaged (missing!) tail, but is unknown to me, so came into the stash as a first sample, while the Totem Pole was a speculative purchase against my not knowing in the moment what I had, but I think I do have one in this colour-way, with this base, as well-preserved, so one day I'll have to move one on!

 

In the bag with the gopher were a 'Funimal', an Aristocat premium and the two Kinder solids between them.

 

I'm not sure on the Pirate, he's sort of half Ideal, half Hing Fat, and I have half-an-idea I should half-know him, so I guess he'll be returning, when I remember! The Timpo copy obviously went with the Tim-Mee's above but was in a seperate rummage tray, while the ABC copy of Herald's ACW had good paint!

 

Blue Box doll's house lady, the 'atomic family's' stay-at-home housewife, all dressed up to do dinner after receiving her new Hoover from under the tree - no, she really, really wanted it! And a space-man rider/driver, I don't recall seeing before? He/she/it has a plug-in polyethylene or nylon ariel thingy, but is otherwise polystyrene and of a crudity that points to Hong Kong.

Hopefully, like with the recent Lady Penelope Chitty Chitty Bang Bang figure, the two Paul's will find and post the correct figure for their self-awarded brownie-points soon, and I can add a note here, and we'll all know!

Couple of make weights, a Gemodels/Festival I don't think I had, or if I do, in a different coloured coat maybe? And another of the now confirmed Blue Box firefighters, loose.

 

The organisers of the show, Guideline Publications, were giving these to anyone who wanted one, upon entry, and there are supposed to be instructions on their website, but I'm damned if I can find them, so? However, it should be easy enough to put together, one day, looks to be about 1:24th, and possibly a Model-T?

 

So less than 50-items in total, barely a cupped-handful, probably my least show-plunder ever, but I was being careful, and it's full of interesting things, Thanks to Adrian, Gareth, Guideline and Steve for the freebies!

Right! It's nearly four-o'clok, I must start cooking or |I'll be eating at midnight! Happy Christmas all!