Unboxing Box No. 4

 

The YouTube and internet phenomenon that is the unboxing video is still a bit of a puzzle to me.

Different from a finished, made-up kit review or playset review, this is watching someone unpack their latest present or purchase. Unless you want to see what is in a particular box set, it could be pretty dull.

However unpacking a bits box or job lot of Broken Britain’s figures (not just Britain’s but of all makers and scales) is a genuine rummage into the unknown. In the words of Forrest Gump about Life as a box of chocolates, “you never know what you gonna get.”

I received as presents from the family four shoeboxes of toy soldier odds and ends that I had stowed away for Christmas, some old, some new, some red, white and blue (two packs of the BMC Yorktown 54mm figures).

Box number 4? I took a bit of a gamble bidding £30 or so on this small child’s  suitcase of mixed toy figures, having glimpsed one or two interesting figures.

What treasures can you see?

Ebay Screenshot – glimpses of toy town treasure? Some figures clearly broken.

I spotted a  Wendal aluminium Toytown soldier figure or two – including the hobbyhorse for the Toytown Officer but was the Officer included and unbroken?

This could have been a box of brittle decaying plastic tat.

I was pleasantly surprised – this box of surprises formed box number 4  of my Christmas toy soldier presents.

Share with me this owl pellet of figures and toy bits, as I unpack this scrappy bits and bobs and scrapings of someone else’s toy box.

A hollow plastic rhino and damaged metal Bison for repair. 54mm scale.

Great plastic Pterosaur with folded wings and metal 54mm grey gorilla (Charbens or Cherilea?)

One solitary metal penguin …

Plastic 54mm foxhunter and five hounds. Hilco Plastic? Possibly worth the whole bid price?

Small 54mm scale farm animals, mostly lead and some grubby flocked examples of pigs and sheep. Damaged metal Roydon 1950s windmill.

Three beautiful large lead animals, one damaged for repair and a plastic grazing horse

50-54 mm Farm workers, numbers 1 Crescent farmhand  and 3 are metal.  Roydon metal sign post and (Roydon?) well. The other figures  are plastic, the farmer (an unmarked copy of?) an early Britain’s Herald type with moving arm.

Two 54mm Roydon blacksmiths or farriers and anvil.

Small lead or metal trees and bushes.

54mm Metal cowboys needing repair. First two Timpo, last three Britain’s.

54mm metal  cowboy and horse to repair. This lead horse with a broken leg thankfully won’t get shot by me as the Lead Vet of the Remount Department.

More bashed and broken 54mm lead American Indians to repair. First two Johillco. Third from left Reka? Last two Britain’s second grade paint.

A variety of sizes of Cowboys and Indians in colourful plastic, the largest Crescent (left) and Lone Star (right) 54mm.

A metal doghouse, garage, railway and farm bits and bobs.  Mixed  scales, plastic and  metal.

Fences, small scale figures and a little red Charbens  phonebox with opening door and …

… A glimpse of the phone shelf inside the Charbens phone box. This phone box is potentially worth more than the bid price of the box of figures.

I was a bit worried that I had bought an expensive box of broken and brittle plastic tat but this unbroken  little red phone box seems to be worth more (based on other ebay listings) than the suitcase worth.

Plastic green  zoo fencing and metal wagon ends and fences.

Lead (Second figure from the left) and plastic modern or WW2 figures, 54mm to 60mm – stylish and lively poses. Lone Star Harvey no. 1, 5, 6 and the magnificent 7th!

I still find it exciting and interesting to find new figures that I don’t have or have never seen for real.

Before job lots or individual figure sales online, it was difficult to affordably find such figures, locked up in a slightly older generation’s toy boxes and biscuit tins in the loft.

This fascination probably dates back to the mid 1960s when my late Dad bought a box of odds and ends random plastic figures from the family next door for our family toy box, their boys having outgrown them. Some of these were always at odds with our staple Airfix 54mm figures. Many were mysterious because they were no longer in the toy shops. Some of the larger 60mm cowboys and Beton WW2 were an oversized oddity, less used. However the different handfuls of a few 54mm figures by Crescent and a handful (literally) by other manufacturers such as Lone Star  Harvey became some of my elite troops and command figures.

Some of the brittle breaking 1960s plastic 54mm for possible repair? Cherilea.

An attractive small red metal canoe with 30mm plastic Indians

The scrapings of someone else’s toy box? Metal Buffer, plastic pen topper, pilot or driver figure etc. I vaguely recall having such a pilot / driver but can’t think for what toy.

 

There was a Toytown  Officer and his horse in aluminium by Wendal and the rifleman (with bayonet intact) to join two bashed others in my collection.

The two Toytown figures again, if bought separately online, are worth more than I bid for the suitcase of figures. The child’s small suitcase that it all came in is useful for storage.

I hope you enjoyed sharing with me the joy of discovery. There are  some useful figures and bits and bobs for the gaming table along with some more interesting figures for rotating into my few wall mounted display cabinets. Figures off such  ‘parade’ duty go back into those stout plastic Really Useful boxes for a rest.

Hope you enjoyed this Pound Store Plastic Warriors blog unboxing blogpost.

Posted by Mark Man of TIN blog on Pound Store Plastic Warriors, March 2019.

My Plastic Warrior Show in a box!

 

Plastic Warrior flyer leaflet tucked in the box of 130 odd plastic figures to repair

I haven’t made  it to the Plastic Warrior Show in London yet (the next one is Saturday 11th May 2019).  I hope all those who travel to this annual event have a great social time and a good rummage through the boxes and trays of plastic figures. http://plasticwarrioreditor.blogspot.com

Speedwell WW2 German Afrika Korps figures

Instead I have been rummaging through a fabulous box of 130 broken or damaged plastic figures bought from Barrie (“Redhalliwell” on eBay)  for £3 to £4. Strangely no one else bid. That’s about 3p a figure – sent straight to my door!

Barrie mentioned interestingly that 2019 “is our 32nd Show. When we first started it was mainly collectors who came but now we get a lot of 1/32nd war gamers coming as there are cheap figures to be had.” (2019 Show details at end of post).

Some interesting hat conversions to Kepis or cap comforters. UNA (left) Herald copy (right)

Another view of these interesting cap conversions – Korean War? American Civil War? 

These playworn battle scarred veterans deserve some care and attention. Some Plastic figures from the 1950s and 1960s are now more brittle than others and these clearly have seen better days. My Broken Britain’s metal hollowcast figures in some ways will outlive these.

Starlux standard bearer

A dance troupe or 60mm 7th or Union Cavalry? (6 C20 figures, one C21) Crescent figures

Crescent knights and a fine unmarked  Robin Hood figure. Two Crescent M6 M2 (right)

Crescent knights  (far left and right), Britain’s Deetail 2 and 3, Timpo fourth.

Three unmarked but fine tricorne redcoats

A slinky Hong Kong copy of a Herald hula dancer?

Airfix Waterloo figures and a fine ‘premuim type’ musketeer who would make a fine female pirate! 

Timpo and other fallen  desert warriors.

Mechanics, milkmaid and a ‘golden balls’ footballer

Unmarked Beefeater /  Yeoman of the Guard

Oversize 60mm Crescent Indians 1 and 3, and a Lone Star 54mm Indian for scale.

Three Crescent C2 lasso cowboys and a Kellogg’s conversion, looking almost pirate like. Lone Star (fifth along)

Attack of the 60mm Tall Mexican! Crescent C25  Mexican and Britain’s Herald (left) and Lone Star (right)

A few hours later the harsh sunlight was fading and photography was easier.

Lone Star Harvey Paratroops and Infantry except for  a larger Crescent P6 figure running (back right) and Crescent K2 flame thrower  (front right)

A fine Lone Star Harvey Series paratroop Officer with pistol, who could be a great space police figure too.

Bashed and battered Britains and Herald American Indians

Three fine charging Confederate butternuts to repaired. No maker’s name shown.

A mixed and bashed band to paint and repair. Lone Star Harvey Series and Kellogg’s

Some figures were more bashed than others but still useful figures for repair. Headless Lone Star guardsman next to Herald Scotsman (right)

Mostly Britain’s Herald Life Guard and Household Cavalry

Damaged Herald British Infantry and Hong Kong copies.

More damaged Herald British infantry and copy (fourth) with damaged Bullpup rifles

More damaged 1950s and 1960s khaki infantry, one Crescent figure with a melted base and a Crescent mortar man.

Airfix British Eighth Army and left unmarked “desert rat”

Feisty Timpo swoppet style figures. The damaged Digger in bush hat has a very old Donald Featherstone look to his face.

Battle scarred veteran Airfix US Infantry to repair.

Airfix and other random WW2 Infantry – large Crescent K32 radioman

A fine horse with a broken  back leg to repair.

These should be 130 useful figures for the conversion and repair box.

Interestingly my usual repair glue – fast setting standard Superglue  cyanoacrylate –  does not seem to work on these plastics. Any better ideas?

I know there is a special Plastics Superglue with an activator.

——————

From a previous post comment  by snaves?
Reminder: the PLASTIC WARRIOR figure show
Saturday 11 May 2019
The Harlequin Suite
The Winning Post Inn
Chertsey Road
Whitton
TW2 6LS

60+ tables packed with figures, mainly reasonably priced and LOTS of “junk” boxes
Further details tel: 01483 722 778

Blogposted by Mark Man of TIN on Pound Store Plastic Warriors, 30 March 2019.

More Dumb Soldiers in the Garden – The Clean Up Operation Begins

I have been busy this week working on some wounded lead soldiers and horses.  Whilst waiting for recast arms and heads to arrive, I spotted this pile of metal detecting finds on sale online.

A couple of pounds later,  a tiny parcel arrived and as I cleaned them up, I posted the online auction picture to see what  battered lost treasures and delights my blog readers could spot in the pile.

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/06/more-dumb-soldiers-missing-in-action/

Some of my blog readers were pretty accurate in their view of what was in this earthy pile of broken lead. They variously identified:  a bronco cowboy, an old toy racing car, a weird gnome, highlanders in kilts and guardsman. Well spotted!

The toy soldier and sailor figures before clean up. Fragments of red coats of old enamel paint have survived on some. Possibly a section of a Johillco pilot (bottom right) and Crescent airman or Marine Officer with swagger stick (top right) 

The animals from Cococubs to cowboys  and a beautiful fox.  An imp, a broken  Native American Indian and part of a petrol pump add to the strange mix. Many of these smaller objects will be put into a display box frame. 

The strangest of the lot was a metal dwarf or garden gnome figure. It might even be Father Christmas with the red paint?

A strange gnome type figure, an old toy racing car and an ornate broken thing … this is a job for Bagpuss! 

As I cleaned the dry earth from inside and out, I recognised some broken bits as fragments of old lead toy soldier figures that I have in my collection by Britain’s and other makers.

Where I could, I checked them against my originals.

Battered but common Britain’s Greandier Guardsmen firing (set 34) late 1930s to mid 1960s and marching (second grade fixed arm New Crown range figure No. 41P) 

The bashed remains of two Britain’s sailors, with traces of blue paint, compared with my intact Royal Navy Blue Jackets No49N (second grade paint) based on the fixed arm Royal Naval Reserve figure (1907 – 1940). On the right, a Crescent airman with swagger stick. 

Colonial and Khaki Highlanders – John Hill / Johillco (centre) and Britain’s (right) Khaki Highlander 34N second garden finish (with surviving traces of Khaki paint) compared with complete examples in my collection. 

I use Gloss Acrylic paints and will eventually varnish the figures to get that old toy soldier look.

As I began to clean ready for undercoat and painting, I started on some simple traditional repairs using glue, wire and matchsticks.

Britain’s Guardsmen and sailors get an undercoat along with  the wood and wire start of new rifles and legs. 

Highlanders and unknown Guardsman torso get their new legs. 

New bases from Fimo, ready to paint sap green and mount on tupenny (2p) pieces for a bit of weight in the base. Two Britain’s Guardsman from the metal detectorists collection,  alongside two Broken Britain’s figures given to me by  John Forman. 

Repairs may not be pretty but they are designed to be robust, using what materials I have to hand, and aiming to get these lovely figures fighting on the tabletop or in the garden again soon.

Another order of recast heads from Dorset Soldiers will be required soon to finish these figures.

I shall post pictures of the completed figures, like RLS’ poem The Dumb Soldier,  back from the earth when suitable new recast heads arrive.

A very satisfying few days of tinkering and mancrafting.

Blogposted by Mark, Man of TIN, Bank Holiday weekend May 5 / 6 2018.