Peeking in Wintry Shop Windows

 We've just spent a few lovely days in the snowy Peak District.

We finished with a trip to beautiful Buxton.

The town's charity shops were festively full of goodies.

There were carded Dr.Who action figures.

A metal Revell Corvette 1992.

A plush Alien. Yuk!

An action figure gun ship. I thought it was GI Joe but it turned out to be Tesco.

I loved this old Quality Street tin, which brought back sweet memories.

As did this vintage telephone intercom set. I had something similar as a kid.

This green army man statue was in a posh decor shop. Who would have thunk it. From Marx to Art!

The elves were sat on Joe 90's settee! Well in my mind they were!

USS Voyager graced this oddly shaped mug.

I'm unsure what this was.

This MDF desk reminded me of school days, especially the pen groove at the top. Did you have a desk like this?

Lots of old paperbacks on the shelves.

Piles of DVDs, which can't be shifted. This contained Drag Me to Hell, Sam Raimi's homage to the brilliant Night of the Demon.

Fancy Pooh and Tigger on the tree?

Or a direct feed camera to the North Pole.

We were bid farewell by this Flamenco doll

Before retiring to the pub's wood burner and a glass of Bradfield ale.

See anything you like readers?

The Stalls Of Barchester Hooded Monk Figurine

I reckon you can get any figure you want as a carded figure these days. Specialist toy makers are seeing to it!

Here's an obscure character for you! The hooded monk from MR James' creepy tale The Stalls of Barchester. Now that's random!

Its blister carded and stands 10cm tall.

In saw this one on Etsy.

What do you think? A Santa special?

By the way, for readers in the UK there's a new Christmas Ghost Story on the telly on the night of the 23rd December.

SIXTEEN 12 RETRO SWIFT

The long awaited Sixteen 12 Swift die-cast mode has now been shipped  following relaxations of Covid restrictions in China , and is now due to arrive here in the UK sometime in February, 

Sixteen 12 were kind enough to let me photograph their pre-production model, which I thought looked very impressive. 

Unsurprisingly, one or two  people were quick to point out what they saw as inaccuracies which is fair enough. Whatever, I 'm happy that Sixteen 12 are still prepared to produce a commercially available  model, that, as far as I'm aware is currently only available as unlicensed resin kits. 

Moving on, Sixteen 12 have released several 'retro' die-casts in the past, taking inspiration from the oddly painted  Dinky toys from the seventies.  They tend to fall into the love it or hate it category.

 When Sixteen 12 decided to release a retro Eagle Transporter, and in spite of  some very mixed reviews and limited to just 500 units it was a sell-out. The following release of the retro Eagle Freighter was increased to 1000 units, and is still available.

Now, Sixteen 12 have now come up with a retro 'Swift', and have released some photos of it. Looking at it I'd love the opportunity to take a few photos of it myself.

Retro Swift Photos: Sixteen 12

I think it's fair to say that the bold colouring takes some getting used to, and although it's already met with some less than complimentary reviews, ( including a whinge about the year on the box!) I certainly don't dismiss it out of hand. In those colours it reminds me of some of the Treen spacecraft seen in the 50's Dan Dare  Eagle comic strip.

JAPAN'S INFLATABLE VINYL TOY MOON BUS AND FRIENDS

These are new to the blog, Inflatable Vinyl Toys by AM from Japan.

There were three to choose from:

The wonderful Moon Bus.

The Navy plane.

and the puppy car.

I still don't know what a tab toy is. Do you?

here are some modern inflatable bullet trains by Bandai. How cool are those?

Spacex Re-imagined

MOBILE LAUNCH PAD

Following the show of Kevin Davies Spacex Cards, here are the actual models - plus a couple of other custom creations, in full colour!

NUCLEAR PULSE (BLUE VERSION)

PROJECT SWORD HOVERTANK (SPECIAL COMMISSION)

LP ROCKET (SPECIAL COMMISSION)

 

MOON PROSPECTOR

ROCKET NOVA 1

THE MAESTRO AT WORK

FORKLIFT 7

SPACE PATROL 1

HELICOPTER P3

SCALE COMPARISON 

PLEASURE CRUISER 1

RECONNAISSANCE 2

MOBILE HEADQUARTERS

TRACTOR T5

BASE PATROL CRICKET

MEV 2

ROCKET SHIP HAWK

SUPPLY FORCE MERCURY

NUCLEAR FREIGHTER NFII

NEEDLE PROBE

2001: A FELINE ODYSSEY

George the cat enjoying the Kubrick classic!

Novelty Torch and Radios

Here is a You Tube video featuring some novelty merchandise. 

A beer bottle that is actually a torch; a Heinz Tomato Ketchup bottle that is actually an AM radio; then a pair of model cars, a Cadillac convertible and a Ford Mustang, that are also radios.

Novelty Radios and a Schlitz Light - YouTube

Do you or did you have a novelty radio?

Does anyone get a radio for Christmas still?

Paul Adams from New Zealand