EXETER TOY FAIR VISIT
A member of my family was visiting Exeter and kindly offered to provide a brief excursion to the September Exeter Toy Fair. I popped along with the intension of clearing some unwanted figures, and perhaps pick up a few that I did. Well, the traders seemed a little sombre, and I fear the public turnout might have been a bit modest?
Anyhow, I swapped thirty figures, and purchased some scenic items at a very fair price. To encourage a deal I was happy to exchange on a five to one. To be honest, the Eyes-right bagpipers, yellow-coated marching bandsmen, and also a few WW1 Lead figures were totally unwanted. So exchanging them for six Deetail or DSG French Foreign Legion was perfectly acceptable to me. They even had their bayonets and backpacks. I have always wanted some of these since my childhood, now I'm thinking about increasing them to a full battalion of twelve.
So my day trip cost £12 plus £3.50 entrance fee. I was only in Exeter for less than two hours so I must apologise for the rushed photos.
The £1 bridge shown above had clearly been in the wars. Part of the walkway was broken, and the handrails were well warped. Having sorted out the rails, I decided to glue some sandpaper to the underneath of the bridge, and then applied some Milliput.
The original paintwork was dark brown, with the stonework given a simple dry-brush in mid green. As mine was now a repaired toy I allowed myself a repaint. I adopted sand-grey stonework, with mid-green pointing to represent moss. A lighter brown was used for the walkway, and a dark green was used to bring out the moulded grass along the base.
Finally. I gave it a gloss varnish spray, and then cut some groves from one of my old river sections to permanently fix the bridge. I very much enjoyed this simple restoration.
GARDEN PLANTS
A small box recently arrived from Graham Apperley (Tales from the Toy Room Blog). He has recently been reorganising his wargame buildings and terrain, including garden plants. The box contained two spare lead garden pieces to link with my wooden Edwardian houses. They really do look superb, and my home-constructed alternatives are boring in comparison to these beautiful lead items....... I must get some more..... it's a new sub-hobby. Thanks again, Graham, really lovely additions to my miniature world.
SOME RESEARCH ON THAT LEAD TREE just acquired.
The large £1 tree is rather interesting. I will have to keep an eye out for the appropriate gate but I'm still very pleased with it. It was commissioned by W. Britains, and possibly made in both the UK and France. The code number was 7F. I initially thought it was missing its foliage, but apparently not. I include a photo of a 'complete' boxed model for purposes of education. (The toy reminded me of a Saturday morning kid's television series 1971-73 called Follyfoot, with their theme song 'Lightning Tree'.)
Great purchases MGB - the bridge looks fantastic after your intervention.
ReplyDeleteLove the stall with the trains!
Cheers MJT. My funds are a bit tighter than usual, so picking up the bridge for £1 was very acceptable, and it will certainly enhance my river landscape.
DeleteMichael
Some goodies gleaned there the fair, some interesting bits and pieces, the bridge really looks great after that bit of TLC, good work on it. Citizen Smith, that's a real blast from the past, I loved it when it was on, real good show. Another cracking post, full off interest.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie. As a collector of 1970s British television DVDs, it's amazing what can be found in charity shops. I just don't like the idea of relying on streaming services, prefer to also have my own resource. My 60s-70s is divided into Comedy, Drama & History, and Scifi & Horror. Yes, the bridge is looking nice, and certain to add to the wargame terrain.
DeleteMichael
An excellent swap Michael, especially with backpacks and bayonets intact! You see a lot of the FFL buglers and officers, but the troopers are getting harder to come by! Wonderful job on the bridge it looks great! Thanks for the lesson on the Japanese flags, I was unaware of most of them! And you did an excellent job shrinking them down to tabletop size! I look forward to seeing your tree and gate after you have worked your magic! Thanks for another excellent and informative post!
ReplyDeleteCheers Brad. I've occasionally seen Deetail FFL for sale, but the price is often difficult to justify. Having now picked up six in good condition I think it will be easier to finance the other half of the battalion, and three will be the staff figures you mentioned.... they must have a flag, lol. Concerning the Japanese flags, I was keen to have some that were more than the usual sun disc, even if the vast majority of surviving flags are of the latter type. I believe the sun flag with rays is a genuine regimental infantry flag, not too many of these still survive.
DeleteMichael
Some very nice pick ups there Michael. The tree is a favourite of mine and I have acquired 2 or 3 in similar condition but have yet to renovate them. I have hit a short period where family and other life issues are preventing me spending much time on the hobby bench but things should improve in the next week or so. By the way there is a nice plywood 'halloween' house in the Works for £5. I have not purchased one as I am struggling with storage for buildings but they were very promising. Really glad you like the flower beds. Your flags are superb...I really need to do some myself.........
ReplyDeleteHello Graham. I'm having issues here. Chris is recovering, but it is a very slow process. The house market is dead, and this means much of my hobby stuff is packed away in boxes. I recently found a sheet of excellent card, have been working with it today, constructing a farm cottage. Always a morale boost to convert rubbish into a table piece. Might I ask what periods could use some flags? The least I could do in return for your help is furnish some colours!!!!!
DeleteMichael
Hi Michael. Sorry to hear Chris isn't fighting fit yet and your house woes. I am sure things will work out, just takes time unfortunately. Flag wise I am short on medieval flags, English, French, Fictional...whatever .....and my Victorian era Germans need a colour or two. I do not expect you to make them for me however! I just don't seem to get around to flags lol!
ReplyDeleteGraham, I'm sure to have some spare banners for the Medieval period, they come with a sheath for slipping over any spear or lance. They can serve until others can be sorted out. Keep or dispose, I won't be offended!
DeleteMichael
Great blogpost Michael!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a great toy fair!
Thanks for sharing the photo of the old trains! It looks liek there are many'classics' on that table.
Based on your photos it looks like it was an interesting toy fair with a good selection og military miniatures too. We used to have one annual toy fair in Norway earlier, and they used to have stalls for all kind of old toys. It was an interesting show, but too bad the organizers closed it a few years back. No one seems to continue it or any similar fairs at the moment.
Therefore we usually go abroad to have a look at model shows, not only model railways, but for different models in general. I've recently come back from a big Model show in Milan Italy which I went with my friends from our Model Railway. I'm currently working on a blogpost from it.
Great finds you got from the show Michael! In Milan I saw similar Britains FFL, but they seemed to be made of of another kind of (softer and lighter) plastic. They were not cheap; €50 for five miniatures.
How exciting, Roger, travelling to Italy for your hobby, I get concerned if I leave the West Country! I think the Exeter show will survive, the railway fraternity is very large in my region, so there is still money to be made by the traders. Toy soldier collecting is less numerous, but many in the West Country collect farming miniatures, including old lead. Unfortunately, those into wargames and Warhammer are very strongly tied to 28mm and prefer to have their own conventions in Exeter. Britains FFL are very collectable in the UK, not too sure why they are in such demand but the market place will have its way!
DeleteMichael
Some real bargains there, the Deetail FFL didn't sell well when they came out so are a bit less common and this increases their desireability with collectors today. Love the flags, didn't realise the Japanese had so many other designs.
ReplyDeleteHello Brian. I do still wonder if it is toy soldier collectors or 54mm wargamers that have made them peculiarly valued? I do also wonder what 'range' of Deetail figures are considered the most valued, I'm tempted to suggest FFL, or perhaps Japanese(WW2)? Both ranges seem to hold some real value.
DeleteMichael
I'm not sure the FFL are particularly sought after by 54mm wargamers but the most valued Deetail range with collectors seems to be the Mexicans, especially the mounted. The Japanese were the last Deetail set and Britains felt that the concept had come to the end of it's product cycle with them.
ReplyDeleteWow, Brian, you really have surprised me with that reply, no way was I thinking the Mexican range might hold the primary position. Having posted the 'question', it later occurred to me that I had forgotten Napoleonic cavalry, which are also rather expensive in auctions. But mounted Mexicans! That really does knock me out, perhaps those in the know are seeking some special/rare painted varieties? I will make a point of keeping an eye out for them, just to see what they go for..... but I have no plans to recruit any. Thanks for the info!
DeleteMichael