THE BARBIE STAR TRAVELLER: A REALLY BIG TOY!

I used to love buying and selling Barbie and Sindy stuff. It sort of made up for all the times everyone told me as a kid that I mustn't play with dolls 'cos I was a lad! I was already playing with Action Man, Matt Mason, Tommy Gunn and Captain Laser! They were dolls!

Besides the super exciting episode with the rare dress that I've blogged about before, another favourite find was a complete Barbie Star Traveler Motor Home as pictured. There wasn't a box - but that was OK. All the tables and chairs were there.

As soon as I saw it at the car boot sale I just had to ask 'How Much is the big van?'. The answer was £2 I think and before you could say Lets Go Barbie I was walking off with my own Star Traveler!

Probably more exciting than the purchase itself is getting home and checking stuff over. I love that and this baby took some checking. With the help of the net I was able to check off every part. Aaah. The simple joys of life.

I've heard that Barbie and Ken drove off in their Star Traveler and are somewhere in the Plastic Rockies now! No doubt Big Jim will be along soon to crash the party!

Have you bought anything really big and collectable readers?

Lips Manlis and the Sunny Smile

A recent car booting trip proved fun. I bagged this trio of vintage toys that came back to Moonbase with me.

The two carded figures are the only two carded figures I own and at £15 for the pair I couldn't resist. 

I've been aware of Playmates' Dick Tracy figures for decades, including the fabled Blank and this Lips Manlis is a trip down memory lane.

Captain Power is not a line I know at all really but this carded Chase figure was in such fab condition I got it as well.

The huge green Action Man tank is not the Cherilea original but the later Sunny Smile release, which I think is the same as Strike Force. It just needs a dusting and some of the decals re-glueing before going on maneuvers. A snip at £4 I thought.

Are these toys you know readers?

REMEMBERING MY CHIMERA

A few times selling on Ebay I have hit the jackpot. Well, my jackpot, anything over a tenner! ha ha.

This was one such sale five years ago, the small blue creature in the middle of the shot. Found in a box of tat at a car boot sale and purchased with the other figures for peanuts.

After some research at the time during the pandemic I discovered that the plastic creature was in fact a premium from an obscure line of lucky bags called Horror n Heroes, which have a collectors' cult following. The blue creature was and is a prized collectable for fans! The Chimera. Who knew!

You can read more about Horrors n Heroes here on the sadly now defunct Fantasy Toy Soldiers blog.

I'd never seen a Chimera before and haven't seen one since.

Have you?

SUNDAY SERVING

Feels like ages since we visited a Sunday car boot sale, but today we braved the Autumn cold and headed to Wetherby, where stalls of goodies and a small fry-up awaited.

The breakfast café fry-up was frugal but tasty - me and the Missus are on a diet called 'intermittent fasting' - no food now till this evening!

The stalls were interesting too.

What do you think of my meagre catch readers including some freebies?

LtoR; British Rail book [free], Action Man Jeep £1, BR Diesels book [free], Sculptor photo [free], Photography Year Book 1963 [free]. Torchy The Battery Boy Book £1, brass scope and other optical ring £2 

the free photograph, from a huge pile of free prints, is unusual. It shows a sculptor showing his work to someone, whilst the sitter who is being sculpted sits.

The sculptor has a distinctive 'artists' beatnik-style tash and beard.

The bust appears to be nearly finished.

On the back of the print is this Glasgow address for the photographer, John McLean.

Does it follow that the sculptor was in Glasgow too, maybe in the 1950's or 60's? 

Anyone recognise anything in this picture?

WEDNESDAY WARES

 Further amblings round the Wednesday sale proffered much. In the end I came home with these. See anything you like?

A small medic pack. Action Man?

Airgam Boys Space 3 scooter. I left the jet behind for some reason. Doh!

GoBots Binoculars by Arco

Bought solely for strangeness. Turns out they're called Teutans Heroes from 2014. Those are Mer-Man's legs I'm sure - from the MOTU range! ha ha. They spit balls I think.

Unknown Action Man clone; the kind of figure my Mum would have got me from Zodiac toys back in the Sixties.

Unknown Action Man type air tanks. Soft plastic.

The following four larger plastic vehicles were altogether, one pound the lot! Now that's car boot magic!

International Products London Jeep/ Land Rover

Merit Loco

Unknown blow moulded racer - numbered.... 21!

Friction Mercedes

I picked another battered Amphibious Investigator Car up for a Winter day's messing. The young chap who sold it me had a stall full of vintage toys. We had a chat and it was like talking to my younger self 30 years ago! He told me about the toy fairs he stands at and how excited he is about standing at the NEC in Birmingham soon, one of the biggest in the UK. Interestingly he doesn't bother with Ebay, preferring Vinted and FB Marketplace to sell. He gets his stock from auction houses.

Oh to be young and fit again!

Has anyone any experience of Vinted? I thought it was for selling second hand clothes.

Call the Coastguard!

Spur of the Moment

 Today's modest catch down the boot sale. See anything you like? 

Small celluloid Geisha

Action Force backpack

Unknown metal sailor and Action Jack

An Avon Robot and a modern Smiffys spur because I just liked it! 

Spanish flamenco dancer, Evergreen doll and Thunderbirds Projector slide.

Sunday Sale

 Picked up a few guys n dolls this morning for the various projects I have in mind.

LtoR: Modern Action Man, tall unknown figure, modern Ken or Paul, JLS member, modern Barbie, Barbie cheapo clone, 2 bent knee wrestlers, 2 finger fight wrestlers, unknown soldier

Any good?

Slim Pickens Haul

Slim Pickens down the boot sale. 

LtoR: budgie CD (free), Mike England plastic head, Don McLean cassette, 2 Sindy jigsaws, a MASK figure, Palitoy PIPPA plates carded, MAROC 7 paperback, Zor El figure, Action man colt 45.

Anything you like? 

BUYS 'N' DOLLS

Slim Pickens down the local boot sale last week but as always highly enjoyable.

Largely an old doll haul - three for a pound, who can resist! -  see what you think, from L to R:

Vietnamese [I think] 18 inch doll, 

Top row: cute tiny Sixties dolly [ID?], cheap Barbie clone, Spanish Flamenco dancer [My Mum loved these!]

Next: Ammonite, Britains Deetail Horse

Next row: plastic bazooka [for a future project]

Bottom: rubbery plastic Action Man pouches [from what?], cast Indian Chief, cast School sign, old 1935 penny, small weight, pendant, metal ball on a rod [glued onto my diver now!] and a VR Trooper.

Re. the tall doll, its a long time since I've found an 18 inch figure. The last time was Farah Fawcett Majors, who was married to Bionic Man Lee Majors, and who I always get mixed up with Jamie Summers, the actual Bionic Woman [played by Lindsey Wagner], the TV wife of the Bionic Man Steve Austin [played by Lee Majors]. See what I mean! My confusion isn't unique. If you read my original post Don't Fawcett about finding the 18 incher you'll see the seller was mixed up too!

Did you get confused between Farah and Lindsey?

My Mountie and Today's Catch

 My car boot catch today. All cheap as chips.

My favourite item was this plastic copy of a Matchbox SuperKings fire tender.

My Mountie is progressing too.

He has spiffing new Jodpurs.

His hat's in the paint shop too.

And the car boot provided the perfect idea for my next Action Man mockery!

MEAGRE MORSELS

 Meagre morsels again this boot sale, just a handful of cheap and cheerful chattels. £2.50 the lot.

MASK figure

Corgi SHELL Bedford for sprucing up.

Plastic 'inflammable' tanker trailer

ARAL tanker trailer, Super Kings, for cleaning up.

Small plastic red trailer for possible extra for my JR21 Land Rover.

What do you think?

Have you got anything interesting of late?

How Very Porsche!

 I cleaned up my recent car boot purchase, this nice Super Kings Formula 1 Porsche trailer. It came up well.

I've added a cab you may recognise!

I just need some racing cars now! 

KRIS AND THE FLARES

 At the house clearance table I rummaged over a lot at yesterday's boot I saw few other things that caught my eye, which I left because I'm saving up....

...... A Midland Bank elephant money box like this online - the one at the sale was chipped and cracked. 25p but I passed. Does anyone collect these?

A large die-cast Zeroid from Terrahawks made by Bandai [or is it Popy?] as seen here in Wotan's collection. It was too dear for me at £5.

A large food bag of small plastic toys, about 100 I would say: small figures, tiny novelties and about 6 Action Man Flare guns like this online. Again, at £5 it was too dear. Could the flares have been knockoffs I wonder too? I wish I'd have got that bag now! ha ha. The booter's curse!

A small Malay souvenir Kris paper knife like this on the net. I recognised this immediately from my teenage years obsessing about martial arts and ancient weapons around the world. I owned several kukris and a katana back then. I still have the katana, a cheapo copy my Mum got me from Kay's catalogue circa 1972, but I loved it then and still do. Seeing a Kris again was a real joy.

Anything you would have got readers?

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Postscript:

I also passed on this little plastic chunky car, a Burger King AERO Record Breaker from 1989. Very cool design. 25p. I could kick myself! [picture from the net]

WEDNESDAY WARES

 The Missus and me stood at the local car boot this morning. Up at 5am and floggin' till noon. We wuz cream crackered [knackered for non-rhymers] and have slept afterwards like we've been abducted by Mysterons! Hard to believe, we had four cups of coffee at the sale to keep us going!

Sales were mediocre but we got rid of quite a bit of stuff hoggin' the shed. Lots of Grandkids' old toys thrown out by their Mom [noooooo, I hear you shout!], a few ornaments and pictures.

In between selling both of us had a mosey round the site. I didn't get far because near us was a huge house clearance stand with a very very affable seller. Among his wares were boxes of old tat, four items for a pound. Boy, did I rummage, my favourite activity!

Here's the small haul.

the two die-casts were £1 each and after a clean and spruce-up should look OK. I just need a cab for the Porsche trailer.

... but the old Super 8 reels were 4 for a pound! The small one drew me in with its label name, Mountain. On the back are listed loads of titles including Supercar. On the mystery film itself is scratched the title The Big Splash. I've no idea what that is.

The figures I've yet to ID, but they were a snip at 25p each.

The View-Master was a bit dearer at £2 with the bundle of discs, which include one Masters of the Universe!

Waddaya reckon?

Sunday Pickins

Slim pickins down the boot sale today. The Missus had more luck getting outdoor toys for the Juniors this summer. Here's my meagre haul for £2.

The car is an Airfix E Type I think. The two Star Trekkers are from 2009. Chewwy is a bootleg. Anything you like?