Steam Fair Haul 2019

Part of a £5 bag of plastic, a mixture of Hong Kong / China and the odd Britain’s Farm or Zoo Animal like the Eagle – very Wild West.

I like a nice steam fair, not just for the shiny, steamy and clanky vintage transport, but also for the stalls and auto jumble.

This year at long last I saw a steam waggon amongst the usual and commoner traction engines and steam rollers. This was of great personal interest as my Great Uncle, killed in France as an 18 year old in the last months of the Great War, was in civilian life back in Home Front Britain a steam waggon stoker. Now at last I have seen up close the sort of conditions where he would have worked.

This machine was a 1921 Foden steam lorry – 25 mile range, one and a half hours to steam up, top speed 14mph. Loads of many tons could be carried by this wonder

Several times over the last few years  I have taken a gamble over a tightly packed bag of vintage plastic glimpsed amid the jumble of a steam fair stall that you couldn’t quite make out what was inside. Another vintage plastic owl pellet …

These 30 – 40 mm policemen were part of what sold me the £5 bag. A similar scale but portly road construction figure.

I spotted amongst the plastic farm animals some interesting 30 to 40mm old policemen. These were made by Lledo for their ‘Days Gone By’ vintage vehicle Range. http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ShowFeature.aspx?id=5Plastic 

Plastic Soldier Review Lledo Page: How “The Usual Suspects” line up for size.

There were some useful Hong Kong made plastic civilian farm worker copies of Herald (or tiny Lilliput) figures.

Farmers and farm workers big (40 – 45mm) and small (20 – 25mm) in  the £5 bag.

Amongst a jumble of bashed toy cars in a bucket on a charity stall, I spotted the plump form of Sir Topham Hatt The Fat Controller (70mm) from Thomas the Tank Engine – Mine for one pound. He will make a suitable civic dignitary to rescue. He has a slightly Churchill look or a mini Mussolini.

Later on in a craft tent I spotted this new large 95mm Guards Officer made by GG. I think he might be painted resin – only £2. Other similar ceremonial figures were for sale.

A resident VIP Sir Topham Hatt The Fat Controller and his GG Guard Of Honour

The first thing I spotted was a tiny selection of not so common Britain’s  Deetail figures. Afrika Korps. French Foreign Legion. Waterloo French. Complete ones were £1.50, armless ones for repair 50p. I did not have either of these two Afrika Korps figures which are well animated.

Broken Rifles can be repaired …

Oddly the French Foreign Legion, Sons Of the Desert, get grass green bases. The Afrika Korps get sandy ones – why?

Two broken Deetail French infantry only 50p each. I’m sure I have some spare arms around.

The very last thing I bought was a £1 bag of 50 figures of flimsy and thin plastic.

Henbrandt plastic skeletal thin copies of the Matchbox 54mm Americans shown. Airfix 54mm Russian Officer for comparison.

Cheap Modern American and Matchbox copies of British 8th Army, again very thin and distorted compared to the 54mm fully round Airfix and Matchbox figures.

Unusual thin and fragile plastic lying down firing figures. Should be more rugged mounted on card.

These Henbrandt figures (£1 a bag for 50 figures) are generally pretty poor quality. They are remarkably thin, almost semi-flat. I did not examine them well on the stall, buying them at the end of my steam fair trip. If I had, I would probably have bought the other few bags as there were a few interesting poses amongst them. These standing guardsmen for one, shown next to 54mm Airfix and Matchbox originals.

Three thin guards

My favourite figures were these thin spacemarine type figures and their officer figure, that you may recognise big and small from my other pound store purchases. This set have the head turned to the side.

Airfix 54mm fully rounded Russian Officer next to these curious flat figures.

Seen in black and white, these thin cheap  plastic figures could  be good quality metal flats.

The header card for those who like this sort of thing. Henbrandt UK 2012 Made in China.

I’m sure that they were there last year, so they may be there at next year’s steam fair!

So another successful haul of cheap convertible plastic and some happy stall holders.

Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN, 22 August 2019

Previous Posts

Back in 2018 my steam fair haul was just skeletons https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2018/09/08/pound-bag-skeleton-warriors-1-a-bag/