The Airfix High Chaparral Set

The High Chaparral was an American Western TV series. It ran for four seasons (1967-71), and 98 episodes.

Big John Cannon has just bought a ranch in Arizona, which his brother Buck (an ex-Confederate soldier) is looking after. He arrives with his wife and son, Blue Boy. His wife just has time to name the ranch the High Chaparral, after a local plant, before being killed in an Apache attack. The Indians also steal all his cattle.

He goes to Mexican rancher Don Sabastian Montoya to buy replacements. Don Sabastian agrees, but only if Big John will marry his daughter Victoria, whom he wants to get rid of, and no one else will marry her (very similar to The Onedin Line, where James could only buy the ship he wanted to start his own shipping line, if he also married an unwanted daughter). Big John needs the cattle, and agrees. Victoria's brother, Manolito, is sent along to keep an eye on things.

The series tended to centre around the mis-adventures of Manolito, Uncle Buck, and Blue Boy. It seemed to do well internationally, and certainly screened in Britain and New Zealand. There was a fair amount of merchandising for the show.

One of these items was a set of small HO & OO, or 1/76th, scale soft plastic figures by Airfix. Actually, this was their existing Cowboys set (S7, with 42 pieces) from 1961, with some of the original figures deleted, and replaced with the five main characters from the TV series.

The title of this set is The High Chaparral, number S38. The box art is very good, and shows John Cannon on horseback, with a rifle. Manolito, also on a horse, is aiming a pistol. Uncle Buck is standing, about to draw his revolver. None of these actually match what is in the box.

The back of the end-opening box does correctly show the figures, and names them. It also says From the BBC:TV series, although this was merely the British TV station that played the series, not the original maker of the show. There is also a copyright notice in the lower right hand corner for Xanadu Production Inc.

The set was first shown in the 7th Edition Airfix Catalogue (1970). The artwork was clearly only a mock-up, as it featured a photograph from the show, not the usual Airfix painting. It was also listed under the number S7, which was the same as the original Cowboys set.

Oddly, the Catalogues always described the set as High Chaparral Cowboys, but the boxes always used the TV series title The High Chaparral.

The 8th Edition Catalogue showed the real box, and the new number S38, which was also used in the 9th Catalogue. The 10th Edition Catalogue (printed January 1973) changed the number yet again, to 01738-1. The set was last shown in the 12th Edition (printed January 1975).

From MOS6510 Models, a look at the 7th Edition Catalogue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5rHlmSFhB0

The set was briefly mentioned in the News From Airfix section of Airfix Magazine, January 1971, which would have been published in late 1970. The retail price of the set on its release was 2/11 (two shillings and eleven pence - I am not sure exactly what that was in New Pence, about 15p ?).

https://archive.org/details/Airfix_Magazine_1971-01/mode/2up

This is not a set I had when I was a boy. In fact, I never saw this set in New Zealand, only in the Airfix Catalogue. I picked this box up, second-hand, in the 1990s, for $2 NZ.

Big John Cannon is holding a rifle, and has his arm around his wife Victoria (he obviously does not want to lose another wife) - this being a double figure; her brother Manolito; John's son Blue Boy; and his brother, known as Uncle Buck. The rest of the figures are generic cowboys and outlaws in various poses, both on foot and mounted.

The boxes say 42 Scale Pieces, which includes human figures, horses, and their bases. My set is moulded in a reddish-brown colour, but it was also made in cream, and a much darker chocolate brown.

Most references refer to early boxes saying 42 pieces, and later boxes saying 41 pieces. Most boxes I found on Worthpoint show 42 Scale Pieces, with the old Airfix banner logo, and the number S38 - this is the box I have. The boxes that have 41 Scale Pieces all seem to have the early Airfix logo on the box top, with the later, circular Airfix logo on the sides and rear, and the number 01738-1.

Plastic Soldier Review is a site devoted to small scale plastic figures, including the Airfix High Chaparral set. Their example is moulded in cream coloured plastic.

http://plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=41

Four photographs, all mine.

Did you like the High Chaparral?

Paul Adams from New Zealand

Cowboy Beans

Over the summer me and Junior cooked outside on a camping stove. 

A simple single ring with a gas canister below. You know the kind, Action Man's Explorer had one! 

We ate beans. Baked beans. I had pepper on mine too. Black pepper.

We had metal plates too like cowboys, scooping up the beans noisily and clattering the spoons down into the empty plates at the end!

All that was missing was steaming black coffee in tin cups from a blue enamelled pot! 

Cooking beans reminded me so much of doing the same as a kid, emulating my cowboy hero shows like Bonanza and High Chaparral.

Did you ever eat cowboy beans from a metal plate or even cold straight from the can?

ED'S DAVY CROCKETT TOYS

Woodsy and Fellow Moonbasers

I was never really into collecting toys by Comansi and this one lone header bag of toys was sold off years ago.

Fortunately, I still have the photos. Fess Parker was awesome as Davy Crockett and I remember watching him on Disney's TV show back in the '50s. Later he would star in the TV show 'Daniel Boone' which I remember as well.

(Do you remember him as the hapless pilot incarcerated at the sanitarium in 'Them'?)

From Fort Las Vegas

Ed

This still photo of Fess Parker was included in Marx (of Miami) 'Alamo' playsets as well as a character pose

Marx (of Miami) 'Alamo' playset all set up

In addition, the BMC #40000 Alamo Action Figures Set included a Davy Crockett figure (2nd row from bottom, 4th figure from the left)

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TERRANOVA47's TV Western Cards

Hello Woodsy

Further to Ed having discovered the TV western 'Trackdown' starring Robert Culp here are scans of my full set of Western Bubble Gum cards from 1958, printed in the UK.

I never saw Trackdown, WANTED: Dead or Alive, Yancy Derringer, The Restless Gun or The Californians as they were not to the best of my memory broadcast in the London Region. A pity about Yancy Derringer as it starred Jock Mahoney an actor that I liked from an earlier western series where he played The Range Rider. Jock Mahoney was a stunt man as well as an actor, as a result he was cast as Tarzan for possibly the worst two Tarzan movies ever.

Boots and Saddles was a fun show, sort of Rin Tin Tin without the dog. For TV cavalry based westerns nothing came close to the best one; F TROOP. A sort of western version of Sgt Bilko from The Phil Silvers Show.

Terranova47

NYC

Brian's TV Western Stars

In going through boxes of 'stuff' at the weekend I came across an envelope of pictures of TV western stars of the 1950's.

Older MC readers may also remember them fondly.

There was a period in the late 50's when Warner Brothers produced a series of one hour westerns which just captured the then need by youth to watch westerns, Cheyenne, Maverick, Bronco Lane, Tenderfoot.

During the lock down of 2020 here in the US I found a cable TV channel rebroadcasting these shows and saw a few episodes of Cheyenne, Maverick, Have Gun Will Travel and Wagon Train all of which surprised me as to the level of scripts and acting which far outpaced the obvious low production costs. Money was spent in the right place, actors and scriptwriters.

So in b/w we have Clint Walker of Cheyenne, James Gardner of Maverick and Richard Boone of Have Gun Will Travel. The first two were with the compliments of A.B.C. TELEVISION, LTD the later from ASSOCIATED REDIFFUSION The broadcasters of the shows in London.

In 1959 my mother and I visited NYC to see relatives and the first thing I did on arrival was mail a letter with I think a dollar bill with a coupon from a comic sending off for '100's of Pictures of TV Stars' or some similar offer title. Six weeks later just before we left for the UK the envelope arrived. Unlike the 3.5"x 4.5" b/w glossy photos for London TV stations they were mostly litho printed on glossy paper, not photographic prints.

I didn't keep many, just Ward Bond and Robert Horton from Wagon Train, Jack Kelly from Maverick where he played brother Bart Maverick. The show was so popular they needed a second lead to produce episodes when James Garner was no longer available they replaced him with Roger Moore as British cousin Beau (Beauregarde).

The only colour pictures were Clint Walker and Richard Boone.

Other than these western stars I also saved a publicity photo of Donald Campbell with a printed signature from before his untimely demise.

Have you anything like these?

Brian B

NYC

USA

F A L L O U T

I'm not a video gamer and never have been but greatly enjoyed the current TV series FALLOUT being aired in full on Prime.

I understand its based on a game. I'm impressed!

I found the sunny Fifites Hollywood/ post-nuclear apocalypse story totally compelling and the imagery was just stunning. The whole thing really benefits from an outstanding performance from actor Walton Goggins as the Ghoul. His mesmeric 1950's smile somehow harks back to the golden days of Hollywood and I was equally hooked by his alter-ego, the loathsome ghoulish gunslinger.

For me merging future steampunky tech in a Fifties America made for compulsive viewing.

I wonder what it was like playing the actual video game, which is now thirty years old I think!

A rip-roaring TV start, I really hope there's a Season 2 of Fallout.

Are you watching? Have you played it?

BRINGING BACK SOME TRIK-TRAK

 The Missus and me have been on our first post-Easter rummage ramble today.

There were some highs and some lows.

The lows were waiting an hour for our ordered lunch in a cafe, after which we cancelled and left; the cost of parking going up to 90p for two hours and some stuff in one antiques joint way overpriced, namely a Galaxy Warriors Lion figure at £40 loose and 2 loose Tonka Supernaturals with a pile of accessories at £30. No chance.

The highs: we got the last 60p car parking slot and picked up a few nice bits, namely some cute vintage matchboxes [still full of matches!] and a tin the Missus loved for £4 the lot.

Some cheapo Timpo-style Western figs and a couple of dinos for a Squid.

4 loose Hot wheels for £2 at a craft/ second hand market; pink Double Demon 1988, yellow Megadestroyer 1982, 2002 Super Chromes Dodge Van reissue and to make up the 4, Wild Thing 2002.

Catch of the day had to be this 1960's Triang/ Transogram Dare Devil Trik-Trak boxed set for £8. It looks complete and the box is huge. Maybe a few rips, scuffs and biffs to the box and parts but it looks great. To be road tested later this week. Is this a toy you had readers?

I did walk past life-size kids' 2003 Jakks WWF Wrestling belts in a charity shop, two of them for £4. Maybe I should have got them. Oh, and I passed a huge black RC Dodge Charger monster car from Fast and Furious [no remote] at £3.

All in all, a decent West Yorkshire stroll.

Have you picked up anything of late? Pictures welcomed!

Paint-by-Number Kits - Pyro Cowboys by Paul Adams

The last of the Pyro Paint-by-Number sets of the 1960s were three Cowboy kits - together with the Indian figures these formed the Western Figure Series. All the kits dated back to the late 1950s.

It is my guess that the Cowboy kits were introduced after the American Indian Series, as the Indian boxes only show the Indian kits, while the Cowboys show both Cowboys and Indians.

Most sources date both ranges to 1958, and the Cowboys were shown in the 1958 Pyro catalogue as new items. All were linked to various TV Westerns of the day. Both the Cowboys and Indians were listed under the heading American Western Series in the 1959 catalogue. The tie-in had been dropped by the time the Paint-by-Number versions were released in 1965, probably because only one of the three shows was still on the air.

276 TV's Rawhide - Western Cowpuncher - Eric Fleming as Gil Favor

277 TV's Restless Gun - Deputy Sheriff - John Payne as Vint Bonner

278 Hugh O'Brian TV's Wyatt Earp - U.S. Marshal

The first time I saw the Restless Gun - Deputy Sheriff figure I thought it was Gary Cooper in the film High Noon (1952). The look and stance just scream Gary Cooper, although the clothing is a little different.

Hugh O'Brian was the only actor to have his name ahead of the series title. The sides of the boxes, and the instruction sheets, show all three Cowboy and all three Indian figures, so both ranges were available at the same time.

Wyatt Earp was on US TV 1955-61, and Restless Gun 1957-59, but Rawhide did not air until January 1959, running until 1966. A 1958 release date for this kit would have meant it was in the shops before the series even aired in the US, so was it a 1958 or 1959 release ?

There is a tiny copyright notice on the front of the boxes, which in the case of the Rawhide and Restless Gun kits is 1958. I could not find a clear enough photograph of the Wyatt Earp box to read what it says beyond Wyatt Earp Enterprises Inc.

The 1959 catalogue does not mention any TV tie-in, and the figures are referred to only as the Western Cowpuncher, Deputy Sheriff, and U.S. Marshal. The Restless Gun instruction sheet lists the three figures on the back, but only mentions the U.S. Marshall as being linked to the Wyatt Earp TV series. My guess is that the Cowboy figures had already been planned as a follow up to the American Indian Series, and that the TV tie-ins were a last minute addition to increase sales.

Pyro 1958 Catalog for Plastic Models | #519964316 (worthpoint.com)

VINTAGE 1959 PYRO MODEL KIT CATALOG | #127337122 (worthpoint.com)

The 1958 catalogue shows all three Cowboy figures, but only two boxes. They are described as The Western Plastic Hobby Kit Series. The main artwork for the boxes shown is the same as on the released kits, but the small photograph of the actor playing the main role is slightly different. The Rawhide box is not shown - this was the show that did not air until January 1959.

As released, the box art was in colour, with a small black and white photo of the actor from the show added to the boxes in one corner, and on the instruction sheets.

Unlike the Indians, the Cowboys were moulded in different colours: brown for the Rawhide figure; Yellow for the Restless Gun; and light grey for Wyatt Earp. Early advertising lists all the figures as 10 inches tall, the same as the Indian figures.

The figures were rather more animated than the Indians had been. The Western Cowpuncher is carrying a saddle and smoking a cigarette; the Deputy Sheriff is about to draw his pistol; and the U.S. Marshall is resting one foot on a tree stump while holding a rifle. All the kits included a small base, in the same colour plastic as the rest of the kit.

The Paint-by-Number versions came out in 1965, with the Cowboys and Indians all being part of a single line, the Western Figure Series. All were re-numbered, and the Western Cowpuncher was re-named, becoming the Texas Cowboy. Oddly, the Cowboys were now all described as being only 9 inches tall, while the Indians were still listed at 10 inches.

C284-100 Texas Cowboy

C285-100 Deputy Sheriff

C286-100 U.S. Marshal

All the Cowboys were moulded in the same light brown plastic as the Indians. The same palette of five generic paint colours: black, white, red, yellow, and blue, was included in each kit, along with a brush. The paints were now of a water soluble type (non-toxic...non-staining according to the box side), although they still came in solid cake form. The use of these new paints being emphasised on the box sides, and in the dealer catalogues.

The background to the full colour box top paintings had disappeared, leaving just the figures on a white box. All reference to any TV tie-in had also been dropped. The back of the instruction sheet showed the full range of Paint-by-Number kits, including the Birds.

In Britain, Kleeware had released the Pyro Indian figures, but I could not find any reference to the Cowboys being issued.

Once again, this seems to have been the last time any of these kits were released. Life-Like re-issued the Birds as normal kits in the 1970s, but not the Cowboys or Indians.

This Facebook post from Atlantis Toy and Hobby, dated 2020, states that they have the moulds for the three Indians, the Cowboy and the Marshal (no mention of the Deputy Sheriff).

(20+) Facebook

The 2022/23 Atlantis catalogue lists, but does not illustrate, a 1/8th scale Wyatt Earp figure. The catalogue number is P278, the same number as the original Pyro Wyatt Earp kit. I checked with Atlantis, and they have confirmed that this is indeed the old Pyro kit. A P-prefix to the number means that the mould is ex-Pyro. No release date yet, but this means that we will again have the chance to build a model of Wyatt Earp. Something I am really looking forward to.

Copy of Atlantis 22_23CatalogRevCoverProof.pdf - Google Drive

12 photographs from Worthpoint.

Anyone had any of these kits?

Paul Adams from New Zealand