About Me

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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.

Saturday, September 16, 2017

G is for Guiterman

This toy was issued by Lucky as the Beford Fire Engine, but as with yesterday's - both the base-plate and the box, fail to match that antecedence! Around 1:48th scale it was also copied in smaller scale for the Fire Station (12 pieces) set we looked at back in April/May.

Hinged, extending ladder and chrome-plated parts, siren and 'fast friction motor' are the main selling points, but really; it's a bright-red, fire engine and cheaper than Dinky; that's what mattered on a damp, grey Saturday in September, back in the day!

The two little mounting holes at the back of the base-plate are a bit of a mystery, but may well be for another motor housing, they tended to be manufactured by third parties and do differ from batch-to-batch or brand-to-brand (or: branding-to-branding is more accurate!), even companies like Japan's Marusan apparently moving away from branded toys to the supply of sub-assemblies.

Box branded to Guiterman, another of the old-school importers ('well-old' in this case!) like Fairylite, like Clifford, while the base-plate is branded to NFIC, who are better known for smaller-scale copies of Dinky including the London Taxi, Daimler Ambulance, Quad tractor and a range of different bodied Humber 1-ton trucks.

You may have noticed (I forgot to mention!) the difference between Brian's Canadian and the earlier - posted - Telsalda buses motor-housings; the axles, wheels and tyres were the same, but the housings were quite different with the Ottawa one having rounded ends, the Telsalda more box-like, although both fitting the same tab-slots.

Previously seen, for the hell of it and with a couple of comparisons; these are the 'war games' size from NFIC and I cropped the Marx gun out as it would be its third outing here and I try to keep duplication to a minimum.

Don't forget - it's Potter's Sandown Park Toy Fair today!

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