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| Toy Soldier Collector 072 (2016-10-11), czasopisma |
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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] //-->COLLECTOREditor:Mark AveryChairman:Regis Auckland(reg@regallitho.co.uk)Sales & Marketing Director:Tom Foxon(tom@regallitho.co.ukand t.foxon@sky.com)Tel: 07540 153368Contributors:Mike Blake, PaulStocker, George Phillips, Keith Nairn-Munro, Jon Rooke, James Opie, JohnStaniforth and Chris BartlettSub Editor:Emma WhittakerEditorial Assistant:Gemma AveryDesign:Andy WhittakerPrinting:Regal Litho(www.regallitho.co.uk)Toy Soldier Collector ISSN1745 5804Toy Soldier Collector is publishedbi-monthly by:Guideline PublicationsUnit 3 Enigma Building, BiltonRoad, Denbigh East, Bletchley,Buckinghamshire, MK1 1HWTel:01908 274433Fax:01908 270614Email:guidelines@regallitho.co.ukwww.guidelinepublications.co.ukPlease direct all purchasing,editorial and subscriptionenquiries to our head o ice.Subscription rates:UK £27, Europe £36.50, ROW £40(all prices include shipping andpostage)Front cover:Various sets by Britains.Top image courtesy of VectisAuctions. Bottom image courtesy ofJohn Staniforth)TOY SOLDIERWelcomeSo last issue I pondered what wouldbe happening by the time you werereading that copy of the magazineand well, it turns out the interest rateswere cut, sterling has dropped (that’sthe polite way of putting it) and weseem no clearer on the Brexit issuethan we did straight after the vote. Onthe bright side, and I’m always a glasshalf full man, we’ve inally had somegreat summer days meaning I’ve beenable to get outside with my kids, playsports, go camping and get away frommy computer and the hobby in general.Don’t get me wrong, I love this hobbyand I love writing for this magazine butwhen the sun’s shining it gets me omy behind and out into the world withthe kids, something I love just a little bitmore than toy soldiers.Also, this summer has been great ifyou’re a sports fan. Firstly, there was theEuros (let’s just not talk about England’sawful performance - thankfully I'mhalf Welsh) and then, of course, theOlympics. The Olympics made mewonder if any company has ever reallyportrayed the world famous games.I know plenty of makers have donefootball igures and a few have doneathletes from various sports (boxingimmediately springs to mind) but hasanyone ever fully covered the games?I’m probably going to look daft nowas somebody will write in and tell meBritains did it back in their heyday, andif anyone is going to set me straightit’ll probably be respected Britainsand antique igure expert James Opiewho it just so happens has a newbook out (see page 53). He has alsocontributed a great article on visitingan auction for this issue. As well asJames contributing, we also have somegreat articles from the regular team,including Mike Blake’s irst feature in aseries on wargaming in 1:32 scale andKeith Nairn-Munro’s look at Britains inthe years between WWI and WWII.Enjoy the issue and see you back herein another couple of months for morenews, reviews and features from yourfavourite magazine.All the bestMark AveryEditorIssue 7246CONSUMING ISSUESLET’S GO TO ANAUCTIONJames Opie, well-knownantique igure expert, tellsus why the auction housesstill play a pivotal role42FANTASTIC PLASTICS47PLAYING WITH TOYSOLDIERSMike Blake begins a newseries of articles on 54mmwargaming with a briefhistory of the hobby10NEW RELEASES PART 120CASTING AROUND25ALYMER REBORNGeorge Phillips spoketo Antonio Martí. to hearabout his vision for theAlymer brand53SHOW DATES/BOOK REVIEW56BRITAINS SET 72Life Guards past andpresent, but with a moderntwist!www.toysoldiercollector.comAll rights reserved. Reproduction inwhole or in part is forbidden but may begranted upon application to GuidelinePublications. All submissions to ToySoldier Collector are welcomed and wewill do our best to return these to youfree of charge, however to guaranteereturn please include a stampedaddresses envelope. All submissionsshould be mailed to the main Guidelineo ice address as listed above. Copyrightof published articles will belong toToy Soldier Collector unless a prioragreement is reached. Toy SoldierCollector can accept no responsibility forlost or damaged submissions.31LEIPZIGRoving reporter Jon Rookerecently travelled to Leipzigand was lucky enoughto pay a visit to the city’smonument, museum andtoy soldier collection60CHANGING TIMES FORKING & COUNTRYAn exclusive interviewwith K&C founder, AndyNeilson, about his plans toserve the UK market goingforward34WHAT THE DICKENS35BRITAINS THE YEARSBETWEEN THE WARSKeith Nairn-Munrocontinues his series ofarticles looking at thehistory of the Britains toysoldier company63NEW RELEASES PART 270FINAL WORDBritains dalliance withWaterlooTOY SOLDIERCOLLECTOR3Consuming issuesA chance for readers to air their views on the magazine,and the hobby as a wholeThe future of thehobbyI recently bought a back issue(60) of the magazine and wasinterested to see the refer-ence to wartime fire engines.I have long been a studentof wartime fire service his-tory and its equipment and Icontributed a chapter on thevehicles to the masterwork,The Blitz Then and Now,published some years ago byBattle of Britain Publications.Before WWII, there werein Britain over 1000 separatefire brigades varying from thehuge and up to date LondonFire Brigade to small villagefire brigades still using steampumps though by then eithermounted on or towed bytrucks.Two big changes took placejust before the War. Firstly,new legislation led to thereplacement of the smallervillage fire brigades by ruraldistrict brigades. Secondly,as part of the preparation forwar, an Auxiliary Fire Service(AFS) was created using ini-tially volunteers. Equipmentfor the AFS was issued by theGovernment and the pumpswere painted grey.Each civilian fire brigadewas required to train its AFScomponent but the degreeof integration varied widely.It was a mixture of prewarregular firemen and AFSmen which tackled the majorBlitz fires and both were ona steep learning curve sincenot even a regular brigadehad faced fires on that scale4TOY SOLDIER COLLECTORLETTERSin peacetime. The needto send reinforcements toblitzed areas demonstratedthe problems of having somany independent firebrigades. There were nonational standards so oftenhose couplings and hydrantfixings did not match and dif-ferent uniform markings andrank titles caused confusion.This led to more emergencylegislation, creating in August1941 the National Fire Service(NFS) which combined allthe regular brigades and theAFS into one service. Fromits formation the NFS neverhad to endure a blitz on thescale of that in 1940/41 as theLuftwaffe was busy in Russiaand the Mediterranean areas.Later in the War the biggestchallenge was the V1 and V2attacks on, mainly, London.From its beginning the NFSset new standards for ranks,uniforms, hose couplingstraining systems and fire fight-ing drills, etc.New vehicles deliveredafter the change continued tobe in grey but the NFS ruledthat any prewar machinescould remain red but withNFS markings. Already somebrigades had painted some oftheir prewar machines in greyand the Taylor and Barrettmodel shows one of these.Prior to August 1941 somecivilian pattern machineswere delivered as a resultof prewar orders which hadtaken a long time to build.Some of these were still in redand some, such as London’sdual purpose Leylands, werein grey.Shortly after the War, theNFS was still concerned withstandardisation and havingby then a surplus of the stand-ard Austin K2 towing vehicles,it was decided to convert abatch into standard canteenvans to replace a number ofconverted cars and trailerscurrently in use. The K2canteens seem only to havecome into service after theNFS ended in April 1948 andresearchers have so far onlyfound photos of them in ser-vice with the newly formedcounty brigades or with thenew postwar AFS createdin 1948 as a response to theCold War. Remarkably, abouthalf a dozen of these canteenvans survived and some arerallied as NAAFI vans or evenUS Red Cross vans. There isno photographic evidenceso far of them being usedby NAAFI and certainly notin WWII before they wereconverted. Certainly NAAFIhad some military vehiclebased canteens as did othercanteen services run by vari-ous charities and churchesand some of these were onthe larger Austin K3 military 3tonner chassis.I was interested to see Kingand Country’s advert for theBedford fire engine. Assumingthe figures are 54mm the ve-hicle must have been basedon a design in 1:50 scale madeyears ago by Matchbox andreappearing in similar stylein the part work series byDel Prado. The chassis, withsingle rear tyres represents aBedford model K ¾ ton truckinitially appearing about 1939but with twin rear tyres itwould be the Model MS 3 tonchassis in its short wheelbaseoption. There were a few fireengines produced on thischassis, some just before theWar, but evidence so far indi-cates they were open topped.The Matchbox model sadlywas a typical manufacturer’sattempt to get as many differ-ent items out of one castingas possible, a sound businessploy but not good for collec-tors of accurate models. Thebody is mainly an Americanstyle pumper though theyhad a pump face on eachside rather than two on thesame side. The open well atthe rear is where an Ameri-can pumper carried lengthsof flaked hose. In Britain wemainly used hose rolled inseparate lengths and the rollswere stowed in enclosedlockers or at least open binsto prevent them falling off themachine when in motion.The high rear bar on thevehicle was the hand hold forthe American crewmen whotravelled on the back step.Although the model in redwith NFS markings is authen-tic, the body style is totallywrong. The vehicle shouldalso have headlamp masksfor wartime use but oftenthere was a black masking onthe right hand lamp showingclear or in yellow the letter Ffor fire. This was to identifythe vehicle in the blackout forpolice or other civil defenceworkers.The figures of men holdingthe ‘branch’, the brass part onthe end of the hose, have thetypical model makers error ofgripping the hose like a thingarden hose. Firemen aretaught to place their wholeleft arm around the hose andthe right hand flat on the topto counter the upward kickof a charged hose with waterat high pressure trying totravel in a straight line. Thisupward pressure could breakor sprain a thumb. If a hosewas dropped it would thrashabout like a wild animal andthe brass branch could breaka limb.The dividing line betweentoys and models is an increas-NEWSsubject is great! I wish we hadknown of you before we madethe model.At the time, we did the best wecould with the limited info thatwe could find and source.In future, should we ever doanother wartime fire appli-ance/engine, I would like tobe able to contact you for ad-ditional help, knowledge andassistance in making a betterand more authentic model.Please send us your contactdetails privately.Thanks in advance andpersonal best wishes.Andy C. Neilson.Co Founder & Creative DirectorKing & Country HKingly grey area but if modelsare advertised as such withclaims to historical accuracythen they ought to be ac-curate. I hope these observa-tions will not give offenceas they are intended to beinformative and helpful.RegardsBrian Baxter,TechnicalHistorianVia emailAndy Neilson of King &Country replies:Thankyou for taking the timeand effort to 'critique' our Bed-ford Fire Engine Brian. Yourknowledge and expertise of theWrite in!To have your say on any toy soldier related subject pleasesend all letters marked for the attention of the Editorto: Toy Soldier Collector, Guideline Publications, Unit 3Enigma Building, Bilton Road, Denbigh East, Bletchley,Buckinghamshire, MK1 1HW. Alternatively if you’d preferto email in your views please send them to:tsceditor@darkmedialtd.com.Plastics newsfrom Mike BlakePlastic Warrior‘Publishing For Plastics’I like to mention PW now and again. It isn’t the latest issuehere in front of me, issue 158, but its contents are typicalof the enjoyment to be got from the magazine: News andViews and Other Stuff, What’s In Your Fishtank, Star WarsCommand, Popular plastics Fort, Converter’s Corner, Thirtyyears On, Elastolin At 40 – part 4, Green Army men, What-ever Happened To…?, ABC, plus reader’s Letter and What’sNew?What’s In Your Fishtank by Brian Carrick is all aboutchecking out finding 54mm scale buildings and structuresin the aquarium and aquatics section of garden centres andpet stores. This is one after my own heart – I never miss anopportunity and have had some excellent finds. Brian pre-sents some of his but shows how, with some nicely paintedfigures they can be transformed into marvellous dioramas.Master modeller Les White has two articles in this issue;the Star Wars one, which is an extensive collector’s guide,and the Converter’s Corner which shows how he madesome ‘London Policemen’ from various unsuspectingArmies In Plastic figures. The illustrations show where thevarious parts for the Late Victorian/Edwardian era policefigures ‘Armed to fight Anarchists/Communists and were-wolves!’ come from and the finished result, all in Les’ ultra-neat style.There were tears in my eyes when I read ‘Thirty years On’.Peter Cole, Peter Evans, Paul Morehead, Barrie Blood andBrian Carrick swing the lamp (reminisce) about their yearsas plastic figure collectors – Britains ECW mounted figuresfor 15p!Every issue is packed with interesting reading – find outmore at www.plasticwarrior.com.TOY SOLDIERCOLLECTOR5 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |