P is for Plastolin Plasticine!

These may be the only examples in existence, or rare survivors of a small production run, we just don't know, but they are listed on the new Composition Page, so I need to get them up here, in order that a wider audience is made aware of their existence!

 

The label reads;

 

PLASTOLINE

Model Manuf: Co:

Set X1. Gestapo H.Q.

With Officer at Desk

NO.03.

Plastoline - Hand Made, enamelled,

Hard and glossy, copyright, patent.

 

And one has to assume the '03' is the number in a series of similar vignettes? There is nothing on the 'web to suggest any of it was ever patented, and copyright's a long shot, given some, most (?) modellers could copy it to a much higher standard!

 

This is the item described above, he has broken-off at ankles and stool, the shaft if which has been lost. The whole made from Plasticine, probably hardened with Banana Oil, otherwise known as 'Dope', or isoamyl acetate (also known as isopentyl acetate), painted and vanished in a deep gloss to give a lacquered appearance in the 'Old Toy Soldier' style.

 

Also in the box is this WWI'ish (?) machine-gunner, listed as (3) in the list below, as WWII, and which differs from the previous example in also using embedded wire for the machine-gun, not that it's prevented the gun from curling slightly over time.

 

Which, by a process of elimination, and considering the fact that no other suitable figure was in the unknown 'Question Time' post, also dealing with this make's figures, here, must be the number two item - Mexican irregular from the wars of the turn of the last century?

On the underside of the inner box, we have further clues as to the originators of these figures (the Mexican is really quite good, albeit a tad 'footless'), with this label, origianlly in Biro, but added to at a latter date in pencil;

 

(1)GERMANY-GESTAPO   -   C 1940

(2)MEXICO - IRREGULAR   -   C 1900

(3) GERMANY - M. G -    C 1940

(1) By  .  D. BROWN .

(2) By     M, LEECH .

(3) By  .  D  BROWN .

IN PLASTOLINE  .

 

So the clues, would suggest that a D Brown, and M Leech, attempted to manufacture, in Plasticine, a small range of figures with a commercial bent, when and for how long were they in production is anyone's guess, except those who might actually know?

 

And the three figures from Chang-Kai-Chek's Imperial Chinese forces, and the odd chap in a respirator, seen previously, were also stuffed in the same box. Anybody know anything else about them?  I believe, although I haven't found them yet, that there were adverts in the back of the periodicals of the time - Military Modelling, Battle, and/or . . . the other one . . . Campaign?

B is for Best Show on Earth! 11. Plasticine

I shouldn't be blogging I should be painting, but I've had a couple of manic days and frankly my brother is being a c**t, so I've about had life, the universe and everything human in it! So, let's have some toys! Continuing with the show reports from Plastic Warrior's show, now over a month ago, so less than eleven months to the next one . . . bargain!

Many years ago, well, 2008 or 9, so fifteen-odd years ago, I was helping the guys up at the Potter's toy show at the NEC in Birmingham, when someone can up to us with one of these figures, or someone had brought it to show everyone (yes, it's one of those anecdotes where nothing is quite remembered!), and no one knew what it was, although there were some good guesses including something like clay modelling former, but the next day, someone sent some photo's (maybe me but I haven't Blogged them, so probably not?) to someone else (probably Paul Morehead at Plastic Warrior magazine, but maybe not?), who said Plasticine sets.

 

So far, so good, and if you had asked me at the show, last month, I could have filled you in with chapter and verse on it, as per what I have been told, or what others were saying about it, which is;

 

Cherilea for Plasticine, six figure sculpts taken from hollow-cast, who've had their midriff's scooped/scalloped-out for the purpose of modelling onto them with the Plasticine as if they are the maquettes they sort of are? And each having a name originally - two are named above; Lola and Lucy, but by a previous owner on paper tabs?

But . . . 

• By 'originally named' do they mean in Plasticine publicity (in kids comics, it would have been back then), or as the original hollow-cast dancers?
• The Cherilea dancers in Joplin don't look anything like these? Don't run to six poses, and don't seem to be named?
• Similar circumstances apply to the Charbens dancers in Joplin's book, the above sculpts being almost more Charbens'y than Cherilea'y?

 

So, I don't know what to think, as I've only been told what I've been told by members of the 'old guard', some of whom are always quick to correct me when I get something wrong! But apart from [possibly] Paul (or someone else, one of the Brummies on the day perhaps?) being correct about them being Plasticine, nothing seems to stack-up as reported. So I'd welcome not just facts, but any thoughts you may have on these!

 

If anything, the fourth from the left looks like the Women's League of Health & Beauty figure, also in Joplin, from Hill & Co.? Were there six of them, did they have names . . . all a bit pre-war and slightly fascist-sounding to me! There's nothing in the PW Hilco special publication (ISBN 1 900898 36 5)?

 

Clearly they are dancers, and they could be from hollow-cast sculpts and are more-likely to be commissioned or bought-in than manufactured by Harbutt's, the makers of Plasticine, but who made them, were they ex-hollow-cast, were they named, who by (supplier or Harbutt's), while the box reveals more . . .

. . . as there is a mention of 'mens' dress, and the box-art, itself, hints at male dancers (there are males in both Cherilea and Charbens sets), clowns, historical costume, foreign dress, Kings & Queens and a policeman!

 

So there were obviously high hopes that this would be the first of a whole new line of Plasticine sets, but while the Pres-to-Shapes press-dies did run to further sets, this would seem to have remained a one-off and doesn't turn up that often?

While this image shows other vaguely contemporary sets. I thought this image was from the Graces Guide page, but it isn't, so if it's yours I apologise, it's been in the archive for so long it's lost any note, or the 'X' I tend to use to ID such stuff, it's here now for research purposes, but if you let me know where the original is I'll gladly link to it with full attribution.

The Graces Guide page does have some interesting stuff, not least a large-scale lifeguard and an illustration of the Pres-to-Shapes dies, which look to be a hard rubber, like the Linka building system moulds?

More here - Brighton Toy Museum - Plasticine

And here - Brighton Toy Museum - Harbutt's

 

Thanks to all for everything last month; Michael Mordant-Smith, Peter Evans, Brian Carrick, Trevor Rudkin, Adrian Little, Andreas Dittmann and Gareth Morgan.

S is for Show Report - There WAS a Show!

So, lazy day, and normal service has not been resumed . . . tomorrow maybe? In the meantime I shot a few highlights of yesterday's plunder for another place, and will post them below with no text, as we'll have full reports once I'm through the posts on Chris's stuff, so apologies if you've already seen them on your favourite Faceplant group, but they will last longer here!

The camel is a hollow celluloid thing - exquisite!

 

V. Rare!

Anyone know where the horse belongs? Who made it?

Knight or Bullfighter?

Lovely!

Up yer' Cardinale, Cardinal!

At last!

 

Nice 'builder bits' with one complete figure.

 

Moldarama are bigger than I thought!

This one's Milwaukee Zoo

 

Good to see so many old faces, had some solid chats, many thanks to Trevor Rudkin, Brian Carrick, Gareth Morgan and Peter Evans for bags of bits, sorted Garath's last night (when I meant to post something!) and Trevor's just now, lots to 'Shoot &  Show' and we'll start looking at all the above again, in context/with blurb, in a few days.

T is for Two - Ships in Bottles!

A very quick one tonight, I've been having a 'bit of a week', boiler wise! Among the items I've inherited are two ships, in bottles, these are they . . .

This was from a Perrier Water promotion in the 1970's, a friend of Mum's (also our friend Guy's mum!) was a promoter who used to go round supermarkets or department stores demonstrating things and giving out free samples (Mum did too; a while later - I became addicted to mini frozen jam-doughnuts at one point!), and as well as the bottles of free Perrier, there were plastic key-ring bottles (which I should have somewhere, but can't remember seeing it for years?), and reward bonuses, and I think this was one of those.

Google and feebleBay reveal other Perrier ships in bottles, but they must have been different promotions or regions, as I only remember Janet having a few of these for her team. The ship - Loch Torridon, a four-masted barque/clipper-ship; one of the last) is fascinating, although it's history varies on the internet, some thinking it Norwegian when it foundered, some Russian, Wiki's probably best for a primer!

I've also seen this exact model in a different bottle, for a whiskey company's similar promotion, so the model must have been commissioned from a commercial ship-in-bottle modelling company!

This is more of a tourist memento/keepsake, and a fine example of blown-glasswork it is, one sail has fallen off, but finding someone with the skill to mend it is going to take a few phone-calls, as while there are craft glass-works about the place, there can't be many who can do key-hole surgery with long molten rods through the end of a bottle!

It's a more fanciful model of a more medieval type I think? That's it - two ships in bottles!

Q is for Question Time - Composition Queries

Chris sent me an interesting shot last week, and as I had a few in Picasa, I thought it might be an idea to put them out here - all new-to-Internet, if not new-to-hobby?

This was Chris's question-mark. Flanked by two known or believed to be Zang or Zang for Timpo (Timpolin) figures - a pilot on the left and Tommy Atkins on the right - is an unknown guardsman in a similar material and style, but with a strange stalactite of flash running down his front, which Chris reports (it's not clear in the image) is painted a different colour. I wondered if that might indicate the removal of a drum or standard, but neither would match the arm/hand positioning?

I also think he may have been re-painted as he looks very clean and the flesh is pale for Zang? Now I know some Zang ceremonial guards have recently turned up but I was lead to believe they were matched to the 30/35mm highlander, not this 50/54mm size, so a big question mark here?

If not Zang, a name-in-the-frame could be Plastoline (Msrs. D. Brown and M. Leech) of whose 'output' or 'production' I know of the first three items (more on the 'known' another day).

They worked in Plasticine, hardened with what the old school (old-old-old-school) euphemistically referred to as 'banana oil' in old figure-modelling tomes, which could be any one of several things; cellulose 'dope' (flying-aeroplane modelling), cellulose lacquer or nitro-toluene thinners (automotive trade) or acetone (nail-varnish remover), or even wood-hardener - destroyer of good brushes?

These four figures, however, are unknown but in the style of Plastoline's known figures (anatomy wasn't their strong point) and anything anyone knows about them would be very helpful.

I suspect the first three are Chang-Kai-Chek's Imperial Chinese forces from the 2nd World War (70-years ago today - there's always method in SSW's madness . . . well, nearly always!); an officer (marked 10) and two soldiers (one marked 14) while the last figure is probably an early (WWI'ish) NBC-warfare (ABC/CBN) operative (marked 4), spraying gas by hand, whilst dressed in protective equipment, but which nation, or is it Sci-Fi, or an early Air Force firefighter, or a DDT fumigator?

He appears to have two tanks on his back, presumably; one to breath, one to spray shit with . . . stopping other people breathing forever?

It's very unlikely to get much odder, more unusual, or any rarer, on Small Scale World than these chaps, so if anyone can add anything; it'll be appreciated by the other 800-odd daily visitors.

Many thanks to Adrian Little and Chris Smith for the images.