jon attwood

Now I know who outbid me! If you hear of any more for sale please let me know, they are the biggest gap in my collection. Jon

The 3.5 mm figures by Authenticast mentioned earlier were a sub brand of Comet, and were manufactured in Ireland for a short time until the factory was destroyed by fire. They are hollow cast, two are almost identical to the Hornby Dublo figures apart from not having HD on the base, and could be mistaken for piracies. the others are in a noticeably different style, designed by Holgar Eriksson and with his initials on the bases. As far as I know this picture shows the whole HO range, hopefully useful for identifying some of the Craigshire residents.

Thanks for your replies, great info to get my collection in shape. I followed up the Mainline/Palitoy/Replica references and have found pics of those in loco accessory packs so that's a confirmed identification. I also noticed that I had the two seated drivers already fitted in a Mainline warship, I should have noticed them before and made the connection! Not yet sure which locos the standing fireman appeared with though. The Matchbox figures are 00, I'll post up some comparison shots of them stood by Merit figures after my next mini photo session. The Fire engine was issued several times in slightly different sizes, the 1/64 version is the more usually seen version. Those blue plastic Hong Kong figures are new to me, and I have so far been unable to find any further information, I'll keep looking. Any chance of a pic of the bases so the mark can be compared please? BernardTPM, I have spares of the Merit coalman with sack and the Hornby Dublo shoveller with intact shovel if you are still looking for them, PM me an address and I'll pop them in the post.

One of the Triang model - land sets illustrated on the first page of this thread was also available in the Minic Motorways range, RML74 with the workmen in blue was issued as MM70 with the workers in white, I havent managed to find a set for my collection yet, so no illustration, can anyone put up a pic of these? There were a few figures in 00 from Matchbox, firemen with the early yesteryear Shand Mason fire engine, A hunter and dog with an estate car (no 42 in the range), river police with a police launch and a sailor and waterskier with a speedboat. The commer ice cream van also had a figure, but he is moulded in and not easily removable for use elsewhere on the layout. And a couple of unidentified figures to round off my posting for today, in blue plastic, these do seem to turn up fairly regularly, but I have yet to attribute them to a particular manufacturer, any ideas?

A pic attached of the Irish HO range, these are diecast, so not directly relevant to this thread, but as they have been referred to it might be useful to illustate them, they were made from around 1948 to 1950 when the factory was destroyed by fire. note the variations within the set, one with no base, some with thin metal bases marked HE (Holger Erriksson) and two with round bases that appear identical to earlir Hornby Dublos, but hollowcast instead of solid.

Wardie - Mastermodels This range, manufactured by Kemlows were usually metal, but there was some late production in plastic, notably their station staff and crew unloading trucks sets. I have attached pics of the Britains for Trix and Wardie Diecasts, as well as the plastic Tiny Trojans for comparison, as many appear very similar. The porter leaning on a churn from the Wardie plastic set is unique to that company. I have not got the crew unloading trucks set in plastic, but it is illustrated in the Kemlows book by Paul Brookes, along with some misidentified Tiny Trojans and Merits. Jon

More Merit figures. The remote control driving test game, introduced in 1955 contained plastic figures, Identical to some Wardie diecasts, It is likely that these were actually manufactured by Kemlows as an outside contract, but I cannot provide evidence for this. my pic shows a comparison with the Wardie diecasts, other pics pinched off the web of a box and contents. There are packaging variations for this set, some in a box with a london bus on the front, and more modern 'retro' reissues with the figures in blue plastic. Jon

A few models from my collection which may be relevant to this thread, Crescent plastic figures, moulded in blue with England 001 - 004 cast under the base. These were as far as I know only in set 2135. There is a full boxed set on the Brighton toy museum website. My figures are loose, and the only full set I know of outside the museum, does anyone have any more? And secondly, Tiny Trojan, these plastic figures appear identical to the Britains for Trix or early Wardie diecasts, but in a different material and paint finish. These were reviewed in Railway Modeller in 1958. They do appear to be rare, but might well exist misidentified in collections. I have never seen a set in its original packaging. There is a second set (which I haven't yet got), of passengers, again based on Britains/Trix models There are other British plastics from this era which I intend to post soon. Jon

although the interfrigo van is H0 it doesn't look that out of place next to 00 stock, as the prototype was built to a slightly larger loading gauge, I have built a couple of them and can confirm that the kit goes together nicely, the transfers supplied with the kit did wrinkle somewhat when applied, but maybe that was just because my kits were old ones that had been in storage for a few years. As for the Hornby ferryvan, this is of a very numerous prototype that was in use for decades, from the 60s onwards I believe, there may even be a few still in departmental service today. There are a few easy ways to improve this model......the large circular moulding in the middle of the roof is unprototypical (some sort of moulding feed?), removing it makes a big difference to the appearance of the vehicle. The opening doors have resulted in overscale door runners, so if you dont need them to open a bit of work with plasticard and strip can make the model much finer, and the chassis has the usual Hornby swinging axles that were used on the older long wheelbase models, if you don't need it to go round first radius curves then it is worth glueing up the pivots and removing the springy plastic tails and their retaining loops, this will not only improve the appearance of the model but also make it a much more stable runner. Theres loads more that can be done but those are the main bits that spring to mind. hope this helps Jon