£1 Charity Shop Cowboys and Indians Gift

This was a welcome recent gift from a family member, a £1 gift bag picked up from a British Heart Foundation charity shop.

Let’s look at the figures and bits in more detail:

There were some interesting 50mm cowboys that I don’t recognise (top row) , alongside China copies of Airfix cowboys. It was thought by the gift giver that they might possibly convert into Boy Scouts?

I would be curious to know which maker made the two top row cowboy poses.

The Indians or Native Americans appear mostly 50mm versions, possibly based on Airfix or Britain’s Deetail Indian poses.

They make fairly good generic tribesmen with swords, rifles, spears and shields. These weapons could be removed or converted as needed.

A small amount of repair is required in places as these figures are a bit bashed and well playworn.

Interesting as the figures were, the best parts of this pound were the accessories.

These are versatile accessories such as a cooking pot on a tripod over a log fire, an animal leather skin stretched out and the slightly more Native American weapons and shield tripod or wooden frame.

Mixed in were a few common plastic bushes and some interesting plastic trees that look like copies of older metal or lead trees.

The log fires are handy, they could be used in any age (or scout camp).

The third pole with a hole near the top is a bit flimsy or easily breakable but works for the weapons stand or pot hanger. A long thin dowel or cocktail stick could stand in for this flimsy pole to make up the spare accessory tripods.

A good find as buying these accessories new or vintage in metal would be reasonably expensive.

Many of the trees, figures and accessories have flimsy or minimal basing, so could do with a suitable mdf sort of base.

As befits the scraps from someone else’s toybox, there is also a stray fence or gate panel and steering part of a wagon. All useful for the bits box!

So there you are, a pound donated to a worthwhile charity, a welcome gift and some helpful recycling of vintage non-SUP (single use plastic).

Blog posted by Mark Man Of TIN, 27 March 2023

Soldiers of The Combat – Toys for a Pound online

Screenshot of the latest pound store online soldier offerings from Toys for a Pound.

https://toysforapound.com/products/combat-soliders-mini-figure-play-set?_pos=1&_sid=fd3693498&_ss=r

I quite like the oddly phrased Soldiers of the Combat, a slightly weird translation maybe?

Trying to control my plastic mountain, I have simply taken a screenshot of these.

The usual slightly out of scale play set stuff – a small boat, a Jeep, a tank, the usual flag and flag stand, some greenery perhaps and a mixed assortment of copies of Matchbox / various maker’s WW2 figures.

Difficult to work out sizes without actually parting with cash, but they look the smaller 20-30mm size.

Different sets, different colour figures, different countries or armies, even if they do seem to get stuck with the same flag in several sets.

I’m sure as a young lad, I would have thought that these would be (what is now a pound or two) pocket money or holiday money well spent, giving many happy hours gaming, compared to the pocket money alternative of ‘all gone’ 70s favourites of crisps or sweets.

I’m sure these will do very well as party bag or stocking fillers.

Enough screenshot eye candy.

Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN on the Pound Store Plastic Warriors Blog, Longest Day, 21 June 2022.

Previously from Toys for a Pound online, their 2020 and 2021 offers:

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2020/08/16/modern-flats-and-toys-for-a-pound-online-pound-store-soldiers/

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2020/12/29/specia-force-more-christmas-toy-soldiers-from-the-online-pound-store/

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2021/03/20/online-pound-store-plastic-warriors-affordable-joy/

Pound Store Plastic Warriors 5th Blogaversary

Another year of Pound Store Plastic Warriors blog posts have come and gone …

Nothing much new in the pound stores this year. Good to see these still around. Poundland – my Shelfie 2020/21

Thanks to my loyal regular blog readers and new followers who have found my blog over the last year. Your likes and comments are always welcome.

This marks the fifth Blogaversary or anniversary of the first post on my Pound Store Plastic Warriors blog, dedicated to affordable gaming or “Little Wars on a Budget”.

What’s happened since last September and our 4th Blogaversary in 2020?

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2020/09/13/pound-store-plastic-warriors-4th-blogaversary/

Nothing much new in the online Pound stores this year? 2020/21

What with ongoing Covid restrictions I have only been into pound stores a couple of times on the high street only for ‘target: toy section’ for a minute or two.

And visits to charity shops, jumble, steam fairs, junk markets? None.

This paucity and Covid drought of penny dreadfuls and plastic tat has been relieved partly by some kind donations from blog readers of old unwanted Airfix figures, some great samples of Hing Fat 54mm figures from Peter Evans and also from strategic reserves laid down in the past.

These strategic reserves are laid down according to my Pound Store Plastic Warrior wise hoarding maxims –

1. “Buy them when you see them, they’re sometimes only around for a short while”

2. “They’re only a pound”.

3. “You may not need them now, but in the future …”

2020/21 saw a couple of games using Pound Store plastics ranging from snowballing fights of Yukigassen in August …

To an RLS “Land of Counterpane” game in April on an old squared blanket …

Some mistakes – octagonal ‘hexes’ in this budget reconstruction of Games Workshop Lost Patrol for Pound Store space marines … the well known eight sided hexagon, that one …

Some curious Pound Store conversions, padding out the more expensive Chintoys plastics or old lead …

October 2020 onwards: My Arma-Dad’s Army Elizabethan muster or militia Home Guard 1588 1595 slowly builds using Pound Store knights

This of course having Spanish Fury Conquistadors and Armada troops means Aztec types are a natural match or extension (Peter Laing style ‘dual use figures’ )

With found cheap scenery from scrap … inscribed stones, temple steps, obelisks …

The Super Cheap Wargaming group on Facebook has been good for such affordable scrap terrain ideas as well.

Sometimes my Pound Store Plastic Warriors posts crossposted material or projects from my Man of TIN blog (main blog) or linked to these including:

Fembraury – The new BMC Plastic Army Women becoming Women’s Revolutionary Army of Parazuellia, part of the 1960s Morecambe and Wise comedy film The Magnificent Two whose other government and rebel troops will be padded out with Pound Store GI copies …

January 2021 – Scrap modelling Edwardian style with E Nesbit’s Wings and the Child on the building of Magic Cities

and January also involved archive history research to identify more about H.G. Wells’ connections, family and friends involved in playing his Floor Games and Little Wars c. 1911-13. Well our Pound Store Plastic Warriors strapline is “Little Wars on A Budget”.

Who knows where 2021 and 2022 will lead us?

Thanks for reading and following.

Blog posted on my Fifth Blogaversary 13 September 2021

A Well Spent Pound?

Slightly smaller scale figures and vehicles – Airfix Centurion tank copies

Popped in with my Christmas parcel from our upcountry family in 2019 was this lovely £1 bag of plastic soldiers and tanks.

They are the remnants of a playset style bag from a charity shop, picked up pre-Lockdown in late 2019. They were popped in alongside our Christmas presents as padding or packing in the Christmas parcel before posting. Who needs bubble wrap?

Please note: These were photographed in the poor light of Winter 2019 / 2020. I don’t think I posted these then for some reason.

One or two figures had the CE mark on the base.

Larger copies of familiar Airfix figures in two colours

Figures seen here in size order compared to the size of an original 54mm Airfix WW2 British Infantryman.

Again the slight size difference in the same bag of the same poses is interesting … two different factories? Two different mould tools?

Arriving without a header card, a bit of web research and toyshop browsing reveals that these Airfix figure and tank copies are HTI figures, made in China.

Similar bags are still available July 2020 in toy shops, post offices and seaside stores or from online suppliers such as here at Amazon, including with good copies of the Airfix pre-assembled OOHO Centurion tank.

Age range for kids toys stops at 12+, no categories for men ‘of a certain age’ 46-55, 55- 65, 65

I think that’s enough publicity for buying these here from Amazon (July 2020) for one post.

Buy them where you see them and certainly support your local toy shop.

Just seeing the wonky mixed scale content of these playsets so attractively photographed gives me simple childhood joy.

How have sizes changed from the Airfix originals?

I posted some comparison shots here:

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2017/06/13/more-combat-mission-80-pound-store-plastic-soldiers-part-2/

Airfix original 54mm figure getting smaller and stranger with each generation of copies

I really like the running infantryman figure, it originated as the advancing Airfix German infantry man with rifle but in the process of copying over forty to fifty years has become more generic, simpler and smaller. It now has more of a traditional toy soldier look, especailly if painted up in gloss toy soldier paint style.

I can never have enough of these running plastic toy soldier figures!

That red coat ‘Toy Soldier’ look

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2017/11/10/pound-store-42mm-infantry-army-red-army-blue/

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2017/06/13/more-combat-mission-80-pound-store-plastic-soldiers-part-2/

How do they measure up as they get smaller?

The smaller running rifleman or standing rifleman is just under 38-40mm from base to the top of his helmet (or if you measure to the eyes about 35-36mm)

The larger running rifleman is about 42mm from base to top of helmet, 38mm to the eyeliner, which is the usual size that I have encountered these before on these smaller figures. Quite a size drop from the 54mm Airfix originals.

This brings these broadly into line with 40mm Prince August figures for example.

Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN, January / July 2020.

Thinking outside the PostModern Paintbox?

 

Turning cheap plastic modern toy soldiers back to Steampunk 19th Century Infantry?

Turning khaki grunge back to stylish redcoats?

What have my oddly painted Pound Store Plastic Warriors got to do with YouTube music sensation Scott Bradlee and his band Postmodern Jukebox?

Could it be that perennial chore of all gamers – “all about that base, about that base”? – to misquote Meghan Trainor?

Lots of different variations on the same cheap pound store penny dreadful figure.

Desert warriors from modern infantry … 

Cheap penny dreadful figures into something more expensive looking? 

So what is the connection between my paint converted penny dreadful plastic toy soldiers and throwaway hiphop or dance music tracks? Postmodern Jukebox (or in toy soldier modelling terms, should that be Postmodern Toolbox or Postmodern Paintbox?)

Take a toy soldier or music track – strip it down, look at it afresh, re-present it in a different way or time period. That is kind of the Pound Store Plastic Warrior blog philosophy and much the same with Postmodern Jukebox.

  I have just finished reading Scott Bradlee’s ‘band’ autobiography

Is the connection – Taking one cheap throwaway thing like a modern pop song or a pound store plastic toy soldier and turning them (back in time) to something else more interesting with a bit of hard craft?

Cheap plastic 32mm modern soldier into 1930s Flash Gordon space warriors …

Talented American piano player Scott Bradlee has teamed up with a range of jazz musicians and vocalists to take modern pop songs from the 1980s classics onwards to today’s chart  hits – and take them back in time. Stylish and spirited “Period covers of Pop Songs”.

What would 90s Canadian grungy punk band Nickelback sound like as Motown?

What would modern pop classics like Myley Cyrus’s We Can’t Stop sound like as a 50s doo-wop number?

What would Carly Rae Jepsen’s modern pop hit Call Me Maybe sound like as a 1920s ragtime flapper number?

That is the musical joy that is Postmodern Jukebox … everything I  have been doing with cheap toy plastic soldiers in musical form!

It’s also what I often listen to whilst painting, if not listening to period specific music to match the figures on the painting table.

There are now several years worth of free PMJ YouTube videos and plenty of albums to enjoy at http://postmodernjukebox.com/home/

Don’t just take my word for it. I’m not the only  Toy Soldier and game blogger to like this stuff. The Duke of Tradgardland himself no doubt employs them as Court Musicians. https://tradgardland.blogspot.com

Postmodern Jukebox PMJ  – court musicians to the Duchy of Tradgardland.

Outside the Jukebox, Scott Bradlee’s autobiography, is an interesting and easy read about being a modern basement creative in the internet and social media age. It reads as an honest mistakes and failure through to success and attendant pitfalls story.

Well worth a listen … anyway, back to Bass-ics? Enjoy.

 

You might also find other YouTube groups like the Gardiner Sisters stripping back to acoustic and slowing down fast modern pop songs into more interesting versions:

Blog posted by Mark, Man of TIN on 15 March 2019.

 

30 percent less troops at Poundland?

Whilst picking up The Unincredibles ‘bootlego’ superheroes in Poundland this weekend, I spotted a sight for sore eyes.

A lone tub of the 32mm-ish Penny Dreadful figures (as I call them after Ross Macfarlane said about them).

Ross MacFarlane of Battle Game of The Month blog described these cheerfully as “some of the crudest cheap plastic toy soldiers that I’ve ever seen but you have managed to rescue them and transform them into brave warriors!” 

As you can see converted here  https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2017/11/26/pound-store-plastic-colonial-infantry-on-the-painting-table/

I had not seen these tubs in the pound store for months.

Forlornly, it was one stray tub of these Soldiers that must have been lurking at the back of a shelf, and sadly with a quarter less contents. When I first bought these it was 100 soldiers for £1. Now it is 70 soldiers for £1.

As somebody wisely commented on my blog, these are now not quite so Epic Battles. 30% less Epic.

I bought the tub anyway, for old times sake, as they will always come in useful.

Some of the more immediately useful figures …

The proportions of figures in each tub seems to vary quite widely too  – this one seemed to have a high proportion of bazookas and machine gunners.

They could become great little figures with a bit of work.

Blogposted by Mark, easily pleased  Man of TIN, on Pound Store Plastic Warriors, 12 February 2019.

 

 

 

What’s in this tin of Plastic pound store Warriors?

 

But what other interesting figures are mixed up with the usual green and tan army men?

A few EBay screen shots with tantalising glimpses of unusual figures …

I spent far too much time (and sometimes money) happily looking through the cheap job lots of plastic and lead toy soldiers on EBay. Looking at toy soldiers makes me happy. Discovering new and interesting ones also makes me happy.

It’s not a very useful social skill but childhood years of intense looking at Airfix figures and many others has helped me  build up a rough working knowledge of many different makes of plastic soldiers makers, much in the same way birders and twitchers can pick out the “jizz” of different and often similar looking birds by their shape and movements.

So among the flock of ordinary everyday ‘birds’ you might spot the odd rarity or some new or unusual figures.

Spotted on an Air Ambulance EBay shop, I saw a useful tin of the usual dull coloured green and tan army soldiers but mixed in were a few colourful flashes. Based on aglimpses in the photos, I took a punt or gamble on bidding, as nobody had yet bid on this job lot tin.

In return for what is effectively a small donation of under a tenner to the Air Ambulance that might fund a few vital seconds of lifesaving flight, a tin arrived by post a few days later.

A good deal – I get all the interest of my hobby, whilst a worthwhile charity gets a small donation without me having to climb mountains, run marathons or walk the Great  Wall of China. Happy result!

I couldn’t wait to open it and see if what I had glimpsed was worth the money. I shall share the joy with you now,  share my virtual jumble sale rummage joy.

The first odd ones I spotted amongst the green and tan army figures were these peculiar pirates with very oddly moulded pistols.

Stand and Deliver! Your money or your life? Some well muscled kneeling pirates with an eye patch flank a strange almost Marlburian officer, intended maybe as a  pirate or highwayman. Roughly 42mm in height. ‘China’ marked on the base.

A host of useful bicorne era figures emerged, mostly around 45mm. I often spot figures like these on US EBay, Etsy or Amazon but they are not usually available in the UK. Regional plastic  ‘tat’ envy.

These seventeen American War of Independence era figures are in patriotic red white and blue (Union Jack or Stars And Stripes?), roughly 42 to 45mm.

Unsure of maker (they have no makers marks) these bicorne figures are about 42-45mm tall.

I had not seen these tricorne figures before, they alone were worth the price of the whole tin. Maybe one of my blog readers recognises the make?

.

These are worth painting up for some French-Indian Wars and ‘Close Wars’ type skirmishes in the forest against similar smallish 42mm pound store plastic Indians or natives. I use the ‘Close Wars’ two page rules in the appendix to Donald Featherstone’s War Games (1962, recently reprinted). https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2016/06/09/close-little-wars-featherstones-simplest-rules/

Christmas bought me some 54mm BMC plastic figures from the same bicorne / tricorne period from a UK online supplier Drum and Flag who happened to have a few bags in stock.

Again worth the money are these 19 Matchbox US Infantry 54mm copies and a useful Jeep. Modern copies of these figures are still around at about 30 for £6 to £7.

Matchbox US Infantry copies

The useful scrapings of someone else’s toy box, a few sci-fi bits and bobs, plastic rocks and 25mm-ish spacemen.

A useful rest of tin of green and tan army figures for conversion …

Overall a happy rummage through this tin. I hope you enjoyed it too!

Simple retro paint conversions of these Green and Tan army men (2016)

Posted by Mark Man of TIN on Pound Store Plastic Warriors, 8 February 2019.

More Washing of The Spears

A right colourful bath tub mix up of 40 to 54mm figures …

Over the last few weeks I have been spending a bit of Christmas money on eBay, picking up the kind of cheap plastic figures you don’t normally see in UK toy stores. A few pounds here and there.

Being either new-ish secondhand or sometimes a whole  chocolate tin of mixed figures, the scrapings of someone else’s toy box with some tantalising glimpses of unusual figures, they all need a good wash before painting. It should remove any grime and mould release chemicals.

With so many figures,  the sink wasn’t an option so the bath tub stood in this time.

Here was the washing up bowl  ‘spa treatment’  I did last time, back in June 2016:

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2016/06/17/spa-treatments-for-toy-soldiers/

Drip drying en masse in an old beach or bath toy net …

To dry so many, I rigged up an old beach toy net (commonly used for storing bath toys) and they  all drip dried pretty quickly.

Next job is sorting them all out … an exciting mixture of modern plastic 40 to 54mm soldiers, pirates, redcoats, ninjas, fantasy figures male and female  – and skeletons which sank.

I shall post photos of each group in the next few posts.

Blogposted by Mark Man of TIN on 2 February 2018.

 

RIP Stan Lee and Farewell from the Pound Store Superheroes

 

Oh no! We’re immobilised in plastic! Will our cut-price super powers save us now?

The same scene cartooned in Clip2Comic app as a tribute to comic artist Stan Lee 2018 RIP.

As my belated tribute to the late cartoon superhero creator and artist Stan Lee, I’m pleased to have finally tracked down a couple of sets of Poundland’s finest Superheroes.

Oh no! We’re trapped inside a box now. Is there no escape?

Free at last! Free at last!

I missed buying these figures a year or so back and have kept an eye out in Poundland ever since. Today they were back in store at £1 a box so I bought a couple of packs as an investment.

To escape paying franchise fees to DC Marvel and Avengers, Poundland have invented some new cut-price super hero figures of their own.

They come in four different main colours – red, blue, yellow and green.

Red Rage – all Red muscly bodysuit and face mask

Arrowhead – in Blue and red with and an arrow design on his face mask

Centrum – in Yellow bodysuit with worrying target on his front for villains to aim at.

Green Force – Green and red body suit and green face mask.

Thankfully although the Poundland Superheroes (designed by the Anker Group KFIG-PL)  are nominally named, they leave their individual superpowers to your imagination.

Centrum sounds like he should be part of some disappointing and dull global or privatised utility company who fails to turn up on time and doesn’t complete the job to your satisfaction. His secret base has no answerphone service or point of contact.

Maybe Green Force is a gardening or lawn repair service superhero, able to restore your patchy lawn in return for cash?

The Incredibles cartoon movies 1 and 2 have a list of short lived, aspiring or underperforming List of Known Superheroes or Supers killed off or briefly glimpsed in the movie https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Incredibles_characters

Failing that, you can use a fantasy name generator on its superhero or super villain setting https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/hero_names.php

What are the Poundland superhero figures like?

I quite like the range of expression from smiley face to angry or aghast. You can of course swop heads, legs and bodies around.

Quick conversion ideas. A few quick head swaps with female hair, a Lego cloak and Lego head and hat. Name these yourself.

Good to see some multiracial block figures as well. A couple of female figures might have been good – unless Red Arrowhead with the painted cinched in narrow waist Is supposed to be female?

Some female block hair might do a conversion job but they do have very odd block heads, unlike the Lego stud attached hair.

Lego heads swap onto the Poundland neck stud quite well and the hands carry Lego style accessories, tools or weapons well. They also stand up on Lego studs well enough.

Other cut price Superheroes are available …

I would have loved this varied set of figures as a 70s child … almost worth box framing. Lego hardly had any mini figures then  and all were bright Simpsons smiley yellow.

Worth pointing out for pound store balance that UK high street budget retailer Wilko or Wilkinsoalso does their own “bootleggo” range called Blox with some attractive bulk packs of civilian and  military figures, compatible with but a fraction of the price of Lego figures. There is a fun superhero girl or superhero fan with a Boom! t-shirt in the Wilko Blox set.

Some attractive Blox figures from the 50 figure set including a golden knight / robot  and superhero (fan) or Cosplay girl.

Compatible with other leading brick brands, these Poundland figures are four superheroes for a £1, compared to £2 to £3 for the average Lego superhero mini figure blind bag.

At 25p each, there are no accessories, but you can easily  make your own superhero capes out of paper from a Lego template using fabric or paper and a hole punch for the head hole.

25p Man anyone?

Blogposted by Mark, Man of TIN (no comment on his cut-price super powers either a softer metal version of the Man of Steel) on 17 November 2018.

And finally here is an interesting YouTube compilation of the many graphic novel picture  tributes drawn as farewells to the much missed Stan Lee (1922-2018)