Wagon Train in 20mm from 1960. BUDGIE brand by Morestone

Tying up the last few odds and ends that I came across at the London Toy Soldier show last month, among which were this rather dinky plastic Wagon Train set tied in to the Universal TV show which ran from 1957 to 1965.

Helpfully the backing card carries the copyright date of 1960, which can be seen in the bottom right hand corner.  It amused me that the manufacturer used such a large package to emphasise the media tie in for three such tiny little wagons.

This close up of one of the wagons also catches the manufacturer Morestone's (Morris and Stone) brand mark BUDGIE.  Morestone's were the firm that employed Roy Selwyn-Smith and Charlie Biggs to make the moulds for the old Timpo hollowcast figures, Selwyn-Smith was the sculptor and Biggs engraved the detail into the brass moulds.  Later they both went off to work for ZANG on the Herald range and when that company was bought out by Britains they both ended up as Directors of the company.  I vaguely recall that Morestone's made quite a range of diecast vehicles back in the day.

Niblett Vintage 20mm - so small and just exquisite

I went along to the London Toy Soldier Show on Saturday and among the sights were these rather lovely 20mm masterpieces by John Niblett, they really are hard to find and in fact these are the first I have ever seen in the flesh.........so to speak.

John Niblett is probably best known for his work on the Airfix HO/OO figures but apart from his own 20mm range shown here he also sculpted 54mm figures for Malleable Mouldings and a range of historical figures in armour under his Modelmakers brand which were sold through the Tower of London. 

Malleable Mouldings are best known for their early plastic figures made from designs by Holger Eriksson at the Treeforest Mouldings works in Wales around 1946 but when this didn't take off they moved to Deal in Kent where they started making metal figures for the collectors market, still using Eriksson designs but now also some by Niblett who was based just up the road in Sidcup.  Their catalogue boasted that they could make figures of any regiment to order and the Christmas 1952 edition of the Illustrated London News carried a full colour article showing 25 of their figures depicting the evolution of the Coldstream Guards from 1650 to 1950.  In 1957 they were still on sale at Hamleys, the famous London toy store, alongside collectors models by Carman, Argosy (whoever they were) and Greenwood.

Niblett was still advertising his design and casting services (now moved to Herne Bay) in Military Modelling magazine up to the end of 1978, there is a picture of the figure of Robert the Bruce that he produced through Modelmakers on my old website (now dormant) HERE

A selection of 20mm Romans, Normans and Medievals, at top right is a 30mm figure (also by Niblett) of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, the bodyguards to the British Monarch.

The picture belies the fact that the foot figures are little bigger than the size of my thumbnail and given that they were originally sold through Hummels of Burlington Arcade (where you can buy all kinds of stuff you never knew you needed at prices that will have you clutching at your chest and gasping for breath), alongside Courtneys and Pings, it does make me wonder if they were ever actually meant to be wargaming figures?   Well Niblett also sold them unpainted and after he died in 1980 they continued to be sold under the Tribute Figures brand, for more detail about Niblett visit the Vintage 20Mil website

The figures were on the table of dealer Adrian Little who trades as Mercator Trading priced at £10 foot and £25 mounted.  Adrian told me that he usually takes Nibletts to the shows in the US, where there is a healthy appetite for them, because they give a good return relative to the weight and room they take up.  A bit like smuggling diamonds then.

In hindsight I should have bought some, well one at least.  Maybe I will, next time. Perhaps.

New book - The One Inch Army II by Victor Rudik

As I looked around the hall at the recent Plastic Warrior Show my eye settled on a young couple struggling to get through the doors with two of the biggest suitcases on wheels I have ever seen, they were Victor Rudik with his sister Patte Rosebank from Canada and the suitcases contained copies of his new book. 

I recall meeting Vic about ten years ago when he came to the PW Show with his first book, my impression of him was a young man who positively boiled over with enthusiasm for HO scale figures, he's put on a bit of weight since then but little else has changed.  His book has put on a bit of weight too, it's 600% bigger than the first volume.

The One Inch Army II - The definitive guide to small scale plastic soldiers and accessories.

ISBN 978-0-9730517-1-1  Author Victor Rudik, published by 2206209 Ontario Incorporated.

To say there is a lot of information in this book is a bit of an understatement, it weighs in at two kilogrammes and with 850 pages there is an awful lot in there. Set out in similar format to Richard O'Brien's books it lists manufacturers alphabetically, gives a brief company history where known and then lists the figures they made. There are numerous black and white pictures on nearly every page and a colour section in the middle.  Small scale figures are very much the domain of the wargamer, many of whom I suspect are also becoming collectors, consciously or otherwise.  After all collecting, converting and wargaming are the Holy Trinity of the toy soldier experience irrespective of the size you prefer.

Let me state for the record that I do not collect small scale plastic figures (of course I have some, but I don't seek them out) so what possessed me to shell out £35 for this book? Well in part it was the sales pitch from Patte who appealed to the miser in me by pointing out that if I wanted to buy it later the shipping cost from Canada would be an extra £32, you can't argue with logic like that!  The main reason is that there's so much information here you simply have to have it, it's a great book to just dip into then you just keep looking at more and more and more.....................