SHEPTON MALLET TOY FAIR

                             A FESTIVE OUTING TO SOMERSET

On December 14 Chris and I went on a day out to Shepton Mallet Toy Fair, which is held at the Royal Bath & Somerset Grounds. It has a reputation for being the largest in the Southwest, and that three hundred traders might attend. I can't say whether it was the Christmas festivities but in my opinion it was not that much larger than the Exeter event. And, the typical pricing of items was possibly higher. I'm inclined to suggest the railway and toy soldier traders were low in number, or making up a smaller proportion of what was largely sci-fi and lego stands. So was it worthwhile?

This was a successful day out because we had agreed to meet family members, George and Lianne. We later drove on to Frome where we had a splendid roast dinner. Concerning the fair, well, I did pick up some useful additions to my collection, but that is as far as I'm willing to go.

And here are the new acquisitions. I rather like this metal French(?) Napoleonic staff officer. Will restore the original high quality paintwork. It cost £5. In height it is similar to Airfix.

Any help in identifying the manufacturer or retailer would be appreciated. The base is tin? With clipped corners.

I will always accept a Cherilea archer, it will join my French unit made up of the same. It cost £2 which is a bit high, but the bow is still intact.

Probably paid too much for this Deetail Confederate too, £3...... it was an early purchase!

Towards the end of our visit I discovered a bag of naval figures........ I need some more open-handed to man my gunboats. The trader charged £2 each, which is fine.

This Crescent figure has a shorter outfit, distinct from the British uniform. I find them very useful.

But this figure will be serving with the Royal Navy gunboats.

Now this is rather interesting. It is a plastic Royal Navy officer made by GE-MODELS. The scale is 51mm, which is fine with my gunboats. I include a file photo showing the full range, which included sea cadets. I paid £1, which I like!

My figure is on the far right.https://www.bonhams.com/auction/19297/lot/1338/gemodels-plastic-royal-navy-15/

With another trader George spotted this figure. I paid out heavily, £8. But I have always wanted a W. Britains Admiral. I will paint strip this figure, it deserves a smart uniform!

And finally, a WW1 lead figure with gas mask.......... hope it proves useful, Graham!

MGB

RAILWAY BUFFERS

Have been viewing this O Gauge Hornby Hydraulic Buffers No.2A for several weeks in the Collectables shop. After exchanging Christmas cards with the shop owner, I took the plunge. He kindly allowed a discount and I purchased it for £7. I will give it a light clean but unsure whether to restore the paintwork, no plans to paint strip this pre1930s model, but I might increase and polish the brass-work for aesthetic appeal.

I was also able to pick up a W. Britains Royal Artillery pack gun crewman for £2. It will probably have a head swap and end up with the Hessian artillery battery.

THOSE NEW ADDITIONS PAINTED AND BASED

Here are the figures picked up at the Shepton Mallet fair.

SOME CHARITY SHOP FINDS

On December 20 I popped into a local charity shop. They've had a box of badly damaged toy cars for several weeks, charging £1 each. To my surprise I found three items of definite interest.

 I picked up a Lone Star jeep. Now I already have one of these fully restored. They are a bit small for 54mm but some of my WW2 Americans are closer to 50mm.

Here it is repainted for service with my Seabees unit. Have added some perspex to the windscreen. The US Navy occasionally painted their jeeps in shades of grey or grey-blue.

I have no problem adding a WW1 Crescent 18pdr gun. A bit scratched but otherwise all in working order, including its toe hitch. It has now been lightly restored, removing any chips in the paintwork.

This is a W.Britains Triumph Thunderbird police motorbike no.9697, missing its megaphone, handlebars, and petrol cap. But for £1 I'll take the gamble and consider my options how to use it. One idea is to keep it as a police bike, with black paintwork. Some constabularies did this. These bikes were used by British police in the 1950s-70s. 

And here it is stripped, repaired, painted and varnished.

No plans to recreate a miniature of Marlon Brando in the movie The Wild One (1953). But the Thunderbird used in the film was actually his, having purchased it in 1950! A rather 'cool' fellow, and a great actor, he is superb in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962). To my total surprise, I had assumed he was of Italian ancestry (blame the Godfather movie). But he was actually of German, Dutch, English and Irish stock.

And on another visit I picked up this Corgi tractor, just £1. Now this model design was produced in the 1950s but with a slight liberty it will pass muster as a WW2 Massey-Harris model 101, used by US Forces. It still had its steering wheel, just needed paint stripping and repainting. Here it is completely restored. I will attach it to my Seabees runway construction unit.

GONE FISHING!

On December 31, I spotted this fishing boat in a local charity store. I still had to pay £5 for it, but the potential for an attractive maritime addition was high. It certainly would need a good clean, and I would have to clear some of the deck clutter for a suitable crew.

Having got home, could not resist starting work on the boat. First job was to go outside and use a make-up brush to remove the accumulated dust and fluff. Some of the deck woodwork had no value to the model and was removed. Any dangling ties were also cut away. I then sanded any rough areas, and tidied up the paintwork. A coat of varnish spray completed this two hour project. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

MGB

Postscript. Photos for Donnie. Still to decide about the tin base, looks like it was only painted in a gold paint over the blue?

An original in good condition.

January 3. Primed the base, and three coats of gold acrylic.......

EXETER TOY FAIR and More

                                                          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.

Another stall holder had a box of broken lead castings at £1 each. Now I really liked this, and I spent £12. Here are the goodies, just wish my funds allowed the purchasing of some more. (Plus a cavalryman.)

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 Box..... let me through, please.

And this one is for Roger....

WORKING ON THE BRIDGE

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.

When painted dark grey the stiff sandpaper is barely discernible.

lightly sanded.

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'.)

Looking at my tree above, tempted to paint the ground and fencepost, but just varnish the tree..... it looks suitably dead!

Follyfoot theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqwJoEGyGMY&list=RDCqwJoEGyGMY&start_radio=1

                                                               1970s COMEDY SHOW

A few months back I picked up a three disc dvd set of a fairly well known comedy show. It only cost £1 in a charity shop. Not quite a classic, but still worth watching for an occasional scene, or just pure nostalgia, CITIZEN SMITH was broadcast in 1977 and stars a very young Robert Lindsay, and not forgetting the wonderful and much missed Peter Vaughan. They both worked together again during the 1990s in the absolutely superb Hornblower series. 

And the connection? In episode three the Lindsay character cannot move into the spare room as Vaughan's character is planning to convert it into his battlefield room....... his character's daughter went on to explain 'he refights battles using toy soldiers, he always wins, and wants to recreate the Battle of Alamein'. Well, it certainly made me smile!

                                           SOME FLAGS FOR THE JAPANESE and others

Lost my internet connection for over a week, and I don't own a television! Decided to use a few evenings painting up some wargame flags. I was particularly keen all my Japanese WW2 units should have distinct colours.  

JAPANESE WW2 FLAGS, uploaded for purposes of education.

MGB