M is for Monogram's Many Mates

This post only tells a part of the story of the Monogram sculpts, not least because it mostly deals with the Revell versions, which are quite different, through the Roco-Minitanks copies - which are the wrong scale! The post came out of an eMail conversation with Gisby, but I'm not blaming him for any of this complicated drivel!

Original Instruction Sheet

Although not as obvious as other much pirated figures (Airfix, Lido Wild West, Elastolin Romans, Britains animals et al), the original Monogram set US Army Military Figures, is up there with them and there are at least three main 'families' of figures to look at.

Firstly there is the original 'kit-figure' set and the various derivatives from (in a possible. vague order of appearance) Pyro, Renwall, Hawk, Adams, San/Marusan, Revell, SNAP, UPC and Life-Like (among others!) Lesser players include MPC, Strombecker (four figure set) - and IMC?

Then there are the soft polyethylene Hong Kong piracies, from around 10-or-so definable sources, most were sold as generics but one or two can be attributed, not least a small set carried by Marx. Small Scale World briefly looked at some of these (the generic carded sets) in the past.

Note; the 1973 IPMS/MAP kit list is no help at all in this matter, listing only the Tamiya set and the Monogram (as 1:32nd scale!), but most of the sets branded to the above were out (and still around) at that time, the SNAP/Adams/Hawk set came with a howitzer and sandbag emplacement and appears separately in the listing though.

Re-boxing under Revell ownership

Still the Monogram tool and brand-mark

The final group contains the ones we're mainly looking at here - the Revell-sculpts' based Roco-Minitanks copies and their UPC piracies in nominal HO-Scales. Giant also lifted them in an HO-compatible size, but we're not looking at them today; they'll go on the HK Blog . . . one day!

Revell used the Monogram set as a basis for their own (this box was probably issued sometime between the two above?), but kneeling-down the radio and flamethrower operator's, straitening a couple of other poses and both dropping some and adding newer sculpts. It was this latter set which Roco used as the basis for three of their 'HO' sets, the only sets they produced in soft polyethylene.

However, in the Roco sets, the sculpts were divided, some duplicated and the sets contain a few other poses, including original Monogram sculpts, variously taken from AFV crewmen which can be found in military model-kits (of various scales) from one or more of the companies (in the first 'family') listed above.

So, set 117 US Soldiers Combat Group was the first outing, and it contained the fighting 'infantry platoon' poses, along with the flamethrower, bazooka-man and mine-detector, but not the No.2 on the bazooka, who would be held over for set 141 US Artillery Group.

This is the type two packaging with the AHM/Airfix panels removed and a white panel/flash where the earlier sets had had a blue one (see below), I think the 'Z' prefix on the codes is the AHM designator for Roco, they used a 'U' prefix for the MinimoverS which were supplied by Umex/Roskopf. Walther's used similar coding for their suppliers, but only for the Terminal Hobby Shop (and now online) cataloguing . . . I think; not on actual packaging?

The 14-figure count includes two identical marching poses and an officer we will return to at the end of the article. The second radio-operator (large set) and officer are additional to the two donor sets, but I don't know which kits they are taken from - yet!

The earlier packaging, seen here on the second polyethylene figure set with the blue-panels on the obverse and AHM box on the reverse, they were imported into the UK by Airfix to begin with (you can - in good light - just read 'Airfix Products' under the "United Kingdom"), while Roco-Peetzy handled European sales. I seem to recall Riko took-over the UK marketing as Airfix dropped Roco in favour of their own growing lines of 1:76th scale AFV kits and the more 1:72nd scale ('OO-HO') readymade polyethylene vehicles?

The larger figure-25 suffix in the product-code is the US price-designator; twenty-five cents, US Airfix used the same system, as did UPC, below.

Again we have other figures from new sources; the seated figure with the rifle is from the original Monogram set, but I suspect the guy holding his 'bum-roll' is a Revell sculpt, while the various artillerymen will have been taken from various older 1:35, 1:40th or 'box-scale' AFV model-kits from the list of companies above - Adams had the 120mmAA I think?. The MG and Mortar vignettes are from the Revell version, and we get the missing bazooka-crew No.2.

I have no idea if Roco had a licence to reproduce the figures, or just copied them on-the-fly, I don't think Revell had taken over Monograme at the time they first appeared, and the fact that Roco would join Esci in later copying Tamiya sculpts (Esci also plagiarised Airfix and downscaled their sister company Italeri's 1:35th figures) suggests piracy?

Also neither Revell nor Monogram showed any interest in the smaller-scales at the time; although Revell would turn to it later (with re-boxed Esci!), so may have turned a blind-eye, or even tipped-a-wink at a toy fair, but equally they could have been fully-licensed? The figure next to the two seated figures is Patton.

UPC's box-art; above (large scale, channelling the Revell artwork) supplied by Gisby, below (small scale) from my collection appears to show basic training helmet markings and an oversized Hotchkiss on a Vickers' tripod!

I fired a Vickers once; I must have been five or six? Dad woke us in the middle of the night and  drove us to the School of Infantry at Brecon, where his staff (he was commandant) had set up the gun on the small pistol range/SMG butts at the back of the old wooden barracks (which would be unchanged fifteen-odd-years later when I stayed in them, winter 1984/5!), he then had my brother (four or five?) and I fire a 50-round belt each into the sand to wake the garrison - all totally illegal; even in those days! I coughed in the fog and nearly broke my teeth on the firing handles!

They (UPC) copy both the previously seen sets for a 27-figure count (even to the duplicate marchers!), probably pantographed; all the detail is there, but they are a tad-smaller, they are also the only polyethylene set in a polystyrene line-up, and the funny little bases (more Revell than Monogram, but all Roco) were copied as well.

#3039-29 - US Combat Group Soldiers, miss-attributed elsewhere to 3022 (actually a crewless/figureless artillery kit); I have set them out in the photograph  as they are laid-out on the instruction sheet - numbered top-left to bottom-right from No. 1 Bazooka man, to No. 28 seated, with the machine-gun as No. 26 and the mortar unnumbered/un-illustrated on the sheet. Full US catalogue listing with price in cents; 29¢

The third and last set manufactured in the soft polyethylene by Roco was 154 US Parade Group, 16 figures, but only a few new sculpts, again taken from Revell or Monogram (I assume) and probably from the various Jeep kits available in the larger sizes.

Contents give us a fourth 'George C Patton'esque officer standing, a variation of the 'actual' Patton figure from 141, but with standard combat trousers instead of the cavalry jodhpurs, two drivers and seated solder and officer, I guess the officer is the one in a side-hat, pointing?

On the far left (where Mr. O'Connell puts me!) is the 154 version, you can see he's been pantograph-copied from the larger 141 figure to his right. In the other shot is a usable miss-mould on the left, next to the standard figure. I could probably get him back with a bit of hot water, but I like to keep them, in hundreds of figures he's the only one who's turned-up! He looks like he's just spotted something dodgy and is about to un-shoulder his rifle?

Returning to the officers, there must be one [early?] Roco AFV which came with a crew-figure (US half-track?) as two of these (left hand figure) slightly larger versions have turned-up in polystyrene, but they could be further piracies? The base seems to be Roco, but could have been added by the owner, and I've found no other poses (from all three sets) in the same material.

Standard Roco-Minitanks in the middle and UPC copy to the right.

One day I will tackle the big-job properly, but for now, just a couple of shots which have been in Picasa for a year or three since a sorting-out. I have dozens of samples of this type of thing, along with one boxed set (may be Adams or SNAP?) still in the garage somewhere, and they range from the big 60+mm box-scale 1:24/5th or 1:30th figures from . . . not sure; Aurora, Pyro (?) or Renwall, through the standard 'early kit' sizes equating to 1:35 or 1:40th and the smaller 1:48th or 1:50th of the late Aurora and others, but with dozens of copies - sometimes in different sizes - it will be a major undertaking!

What we have here is - I think - on the left: Revell late/reissue in paler green marked (1) and 1st generation copy (Hawk/Adams/SNAP ?) at (2), with the same copies to the right compared to sub-piracies (Marusan/UPC ?) numbered (3). But - and I stress; they could all be by other people!

You can see that each copying reduces the size slightly, and the detail noticeably, especially on the 3's, it doesn't help that the pale flamethrower isn't in-line, but I can assure you the 2's are slightly smaller, the 3's measurably so!

Like I say; it's a big job, but not impossible! All the Aurora and Bandai 1:48th-scale smallies are elsewhere and a few are ID'd and in their company's box or tub, but these are the bulk of those early US model-kit makers' US troops. 30 to properly attribute, the supposed Stromberg set (I can only find die-cast Landser and a plastic pit-crew!) may be the pale grey-green foursome, bottom right?

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As well as the three polyethylene sets seen above, Roco-Minitanks produced a number of figure sets in the harder, glue'able polystyrene, and therefore I've put together a quick listing of those non-vehicular sets that might be most use to 1:76/72nd gamers, HO gamers should already be familiar with them . . .

Roco Minitanks Listing - Figures & Accessories Only

117 - USA Infantry Combat Group (polyethylene, ex-Revell/Monogram)
118 - US Assault Craft/Raft (Hong Kong piracies exist, same as 239? See also 363)
118A - Life Buoys/Floatation Rings (dealer's-list foul-up or late-90's reuse of the code with different contents? See also 363)

132 - Anti-Tank Obstacles ('Dragons Teeth' in various sizes + barriers)

141 - US Artillery Personnel Support Group (polyethylene, ex-Revell/Monogram)

154 - US Infantry Parade Group (polyethylene, ex-Revell/Monogram)

185 - Pine Tree Assortment (6 trees, like Faller, Merit et al)

218 - Tents & Cargo/Supplies (German WWII Zeltbahnen, copied by Eidai)

- single tent (four-joined Zeltbahn)

- double tent (eight-joined Zeltbahn)

- 2 drums

- barrel

- 2 different boxes/crates

- sack

233 - 2 Motorcycles (one with dispatch satchels, one without)

238 - BMW Motorcycle with Sidecar

239 - Large Rubber Dinghy (Hong Kong piracies exist, same as 118? See also 363))

249 - Bases for Battle Scenes (supplied by Bellona/Micromould)

251 - USSR/East German Tank Crewmen (10 figures)
252 - USA/NATO Tank Crewmen (10 figures, ex-Tamiya)

255 - 10-Man Tent (NATO 12x12)

258 - Guardhouse with Gate (figure, sentry-box and barrier, also issued as 851?)

261 - 20-Man Tent (two NATO 12x12's joined, many Hong Kong piaracies)

263 - WW II German Soldiers (15 figures seated and marching)
264 - US/NATO/Bundeswehr Soldiers (15 figures seated and marching)
265 - Russian Soldiers (marching, 2 officers, 8 soldiers, side-caps)

271 - Set of WWII Personalities (9 figures, 2 Goring's)
272 - US/NATO/ Bundeswehr Soldiers (20 marching GI's, ex-264, small set, off the runner)

272 - US/NATO/ Bundeswehr Soldiers (20 marching GI's, ex-264, large set, on the runner)

288 - Assorted Sheets of Modeller's Plastic

298 - US/NATO/Bundeswehr Soldiers [sitting] (, ex-264
299 - German WWII Soldiers

300 - 8 Officers, 2 Map Tables and Chairs (6 standing, 2 seated/stools, Vietnam-era, ex-Tamiya)
301 - British WWII Gun Crew (6 kneeling/squatting, ex-Tamiya)
302 - 16 Soldiers Infantry Group (Bundeswehr types)

308 - US Gun Crew (6 figures)
309 - 16 Tank Commanders/Drivers (NATO/Bundeswehr types, upper-torso's only; for hatches)
310S - Infantry Group 'Afrika' (German WWII Afrika Korps - limited edition)

317 - Barbed Wire

319 - 28pc Set of Ammo Boxes

342 - Fence and Gates

363 - Assault Rafts with Life Rings

450 - WW II Personalities (set 271 reproduced in 1:35th scale)

463 - US / NATO Tank Commander Figures (Gulf War? ex-Tamiya?)

542 - Sandbags

550 - Artillery/Munitions Accessories Set

614 - Nissan-hut (US; 'Quonset-Shelter', standard accommodation hut)
615 - Nissan-hut (US; 'Quonset-Shelter', extended administration/facility/classroom building)

851 - See 258

Roco Railways

40000 - Station (24 undecorated civilian figures, also supplied to/issued by Kibri)

40001 - Loco Crew (painted engineer and fireman from the steam-age)

Might as well do the UPC as well . . .

'HO Pocket Combat Series' Military Vehicles (definite pirates of Roco Minitanks, not sure if Marusan carried the whole line, and supplied UPC or if UPC were the pirates; supplying Marusan with a limited range?)

#3011-29 - German Armored Car 234/2 (also ex-Marusan)
#3012-29 - German Armored Car 234/1 (also ex-Marusan)
#3013-29 - U.S. 2 1/2 Ton Truck 6x6
#3014-29 - U.S. 2 1/2 Ton Truck
#3015-29 - Self-Propelled Howitzer
#3016-29 - General Patton M-48
#3017-29 - Self-Propelled 155-mm Gun, T-245
#3018-29 - Tank Medium PzKfw.V Panther (also ex-Marusan)
#3019-29 - General Patton M-47
#3020-29 - Half-Track Rocket Carrier
#3021-29 - General Sherman Tank M-4
#3022-29 - 120-mm Anti-Aircraft Gun M1A3 (not US Combat Group Soldiers, see #3034)
#3023-29 - German AA Gun 37mm
#3024-29 - German Tank Mark IV/Fl (also ex-Marusan)
#3025-29 - German Tank Mark IV/F2 (also ex-Marusan)
#3026-29 - German Tank Mark IV/H
#3027-29 - German 20mm Quad AA Gun
#3028-29 - Half-Track Munitions Carrier
#3029-29 - Sound Detector (also ex-Marusan)
#3030-29 - Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Guns (also ex-Marusan)
#3031-29 - Half-Track Quad AA Gun
#3032-29 - 2 Jeeps M38A1
#3033-29 - 155mm Gun M2
#3034-29 - US Combat Group Soldiers (combined contents of Roco sets 117 & 141)
#3035-29 - Honest John Rocket
#3036-29 - Tiger II
#3037-29 - Self-Propelled 8-inch Howitzer

J is for Jeep

Having passed-off two of these as a 'whole post' earlier in Rack Toy Month, I feel a bit of a fraud having them again so soon, but A) I did follow them up the same day with something else due to the frugality of that post and B) one of the features of this year's RTM has been the leading of things into each other, and this is a case in point.

I hadn't put the other two away when I blogged them and in doing so realised there were others among the bagged ones, which led to this comparison shot, however by the time I'd taken yesterday's shots for the Saracen Saladin hybrid follow-up it all grew a bit, so we'll have a bit of an inconclusive ramble here, now.

So, these are all very similar although there are differences, given the fact that those differences are found with the same cards, while similar Jeeps are found with different cards, it would appear that those differences are probably no more that either generations of the same moulds, different mould-tool cavities or shippers/packers using several suppliers and going through different generations of header-card . . . whatever the truth, let's have a closer look . . .

... or as close as can be with 50-odd years old polyethylene bags in the way!

The red one we looked at the other day is the better of the two; marginally, having a smoother pinch in the bodywork, forward of the seats, as found on the real-life originals while the orange one has the pinch sharper and further back.

Likewise where the body meets the radiator grill is simplified on the orange version and going back to the previous shot; you will also notice that the trailer is smaller with both the examples in the Army Vehicle carded bags.

Here is the other of the Army Vehicle carded pair with my loose green one; another telling difference is that the two loose ones have matching length axles, while the two bagged examples have too-long yet inconsistent axle lengths, something that you may recall differentiated types of the 1-ton Humber mini-trucks.

At some point in the future it may/should be possible to tie the one in with the other using these markers, the three letter code on the loose Jeep being another parallel with mini-trucks, swoppet Wild West copies, beach-toys and etcetera! Plastic colour in another signature, card art or the fonts or stamps employed to mark the toys are more ways of sorting, but you need the stuff preserved for such study to have any effect. And - of course - the other things in a set or bag, such as any accompanying figures; are also good markers.

However; . . . with over 600 makers, in plastics, in Hong Kong,  in the late 60's (he says from memory?) feeding maybe a couple of hundred shippers/agents and a few dozens of major importers/wholesalers/jobbers, the most we will ever be able to do with any certainty on a lot of this stuff is link them to the same factory gate, but we may never know the name of that factory!

Here we see the two in the Army Jeep header-carded bags to the left in the second image above; the gun-tractor is identical to my loose two, but the other is a third design with all plastic running-gear and a simplified body-work boundary.

Was it later (the card is glossier), or a deliberate copy by a third-party? We may . . . hell; 'will' . . . probably never know, it could have been an emergency purchase, to fulfil an order after another tool got damaged? I would imagine simply a later version/replacement moulding, designed [re-designed!] to reduce costs and make assembly simpler, but whether it came from the same source is a different matter?

Finally; to the two smaller bags on the right-hand end of the comparison-shot's row. The one in the newer-looking, glossy-carded bag is the same as the better quality loose pair, but with all-plastic wheel/axle arrangements, while the one in the much older-looking card is the simplified version, so as far as clues to research go - no bloody help at all!

However, both contain figures and there is a difference, the set on the left above; Larami's 'US Combat Tank and Jeep', contains the same little Airfix '1st version' and Britains 'being shot' copies we saw with the SF sets two days ago (I shook them out of the way for the shot - they're on the Airfix Blog somewhere!), while the set to the right 'Army Jeep'; has the same copies of Blue Box Germans carried by Nadel & Sons in little bags, so actually the clues to future research are sitting there after-all!

Moving away from the bagged/earlier Jeeps, we find these two which are interesting as the better of the two (the herb-green one with bigger wheels) is almost certainly the copy, while the rough-looking moulding is almost certainly the original!

I say 'almost' in both cases as there is a lack of packaged examples, but the olive-green one with little wheels is a late-1970's/80's one, which came-in with a bunch of contemporaneous stuff, while the later one (actually the four inset, with red backgrounds) came in Peter Evan's 'Big Bag' of recent/current rack toys.

They may come from the same place, may even come from the same tool, but the newer one has been cleaned up, release-pins have been moved and it's got better wheels, but from the currently common chalky-feel polymer.

The big boy on the left is the Imperial/Rex one from the post a week or two ago and lined up in front of him in the top-right shot are my loose green one form Adrian and three others; the earlier one from the previous image and two littlies, one a common 80/90's moulding and the other an unmarked copy of the Giant Jeep.

Below them . . . the state of play today - pretty poor really! The grey one (apparently missing a plug-in) is hideous, all tall and squished; it looks like something you might find on a coin-operated roundabout in a shopping-precinct or whizzing around a regional mail-logistics depot . . . when not plugged into a charger!

The other two are sort of OK for what they are and while both would benefit from a re-paint, the Willy's looks like a Mahindra copy and the Wrangler looks like it was requisitioned from Barbie!

That common 1980-90's one in two sets, both shipped and sold by LB Ltd (Levy Brothers), later than the Mini Army sets we've previously looked at, these contain very poor, crumbly figures, a third or fourth-generation copy of Blue Box's Patton tank (itself a copy of a larger battery toy by someone like Marx) and the worst copy of Kamley's little truck - look closely and you can see how it was cut straight into the tool-steel with a router and a drill; CAD-CAM at its most basic, if they were even involved - it may have been done by hand!

I have a shed-load of later Jeeps and/or smaller Jeeps along with a few larger vintage types and lots of Land Rovers, in storage; so inevitably we will return to them here!

The other day I mentioned the missing crew . . . well these (red and yellow sample) are the figures I was referring to and they are in two sizes, I think we've seen a carded set here with them (I can't find it so that may be a post to come?), but it may be on the Airfix Blog? Not only have none of the Jeeps in today's post got their figures; they are nearly all equipped for figures with ether male spigots or female receivers evident on most.

The provision of spare tyres and Jerry-cans with the vehicles is also a bit hit and miss with some having both and some having neither! And I was guessing the kit responsible (UPC - but who made the original? Renwal, Hawk, Adams?) for the figures also provided the material for the various HK Jeep trailers, even the Blue Box one, but it might be taken from MPC's Korean War CJ-5 kit?

To the right are the originals at around 40mm. The guy looking straight-forward has two levers between his legs and another in his right-hand and may be operating plant or a weapons system? He may be the rear-unit steerer/driver for the old atomic cannon model-kit?

Below the whoever (UPC et al.) poses are a few of the others you will find in cheap, mixed lots, all orphans until you see them in the correct vehicle in a carded, boxed or bagged set, after which you can pair them up or at least label them!