Lancer Caps Everywhere

I'm seeing whAt I think are Lancer's caps everywhere now I've got one!

Here's one on eBay without it's insignia but no mention is made of the cap in the listing, so is it a Lancer's?

 It's worn by a non-Action Man on an Action Man motorbike, which itself is rather nice.

In another shot the cap is placed with an incomplete Action Man and a uniform.

The Man is armless, the description is capless.

"POLICE MOTORCYCLE & DEAD ARMLESS ACTION MAN 1964 by PALITOY embossed (out of action ie dead ideal for diorama piece) & Action man Cavalry HORSE & unbranded SCOUT CAR & 21st Century American AIRBORNE Paratrooper action figure complete all limbs attached and robust & A small arms kit (MNIB) to construct a machine gun."

A Lancer's cap?

*

By way of a postscript, I found a cheapo Action Man clone in a drawer and he kindly modelled my new Lancer's/ Officers cap for me!

Looey's Visit to Tin Monkey

Hello there, Moonbasers!

Our slow ramble through blog worthy Antique shops continues...

This time we're visiting the recently opened Tin Monkey in Blaxland.

They have a range of reasonably priced industrial and Academic furniture pieces. I picked up a large Japanese enamelled sign, which is something I've long lusted after.

Of more interest is the small collection of vintage die cast toys, including these post war cars.

I still have my example of this Matchbox Rolls Royce from back in the day! The Matchbox toys are about £7.50, is that OK from where you come from? A lot of Australian prices are quite a bit higher. The Dinkys are a bit pricier...

The movie poster was probably about £12.50.

It's in pretty good condition, but is being featured here for one reason only.

That pink car in the dead center of the composition. Does it remind you of anything? How about if it was painted black?

Hopefully a better range with my future shop visits...

Keep window shopping, friends...

Looey

OZ

Candy Lost?

We're back in gorgeous Hornsea by the sea and I was faced once again with Candy.

Candy is the name I've given to a large shop display doll in the window of a charity shop. I blogged about her last September and yep, she's still there in the same chair. This time I even asked if she was for sale but no chance.

I call her Candy because she looks a lot like the girl doll of the same name from the obscure Gerry Anderson comic and book line, Candy and Andy.

Here's the Anderson Candy stood next to a lake in one of the Sixties comics.

Spookily we're sat in a very similar spot, on Hornsea Mere,  as I write! All I need is the doll from the shop and I could recreate the scene!

The question still remains, what happened to the actual Candy and Andy dolls? Are they lost?

The answer is no. At least they weren't around 1994. The then owner Roger Perry, erstwhile Century 21 editor, had them sold as he explains on the Bear Alley website in 2016:

https://bearalley.blogspot.com/2016/05/perrys-picture-post-part-5.html?m=1

"Candy, Andy and the two Bearandas be sent off for auction. By now, the rubberised “flesh” had become noticeably perished (the soft wire that ran through the fingers thus allowing items to be held began poking through the rubber) and some of the welded joints on the skeletal armature – particularly on the two bears – were sadly in need of attention. I believe the dolls were eventually bought by someone for an absolute pittance somewhere around 1994."

So there we have it. Candy et al were sold. But to whom I wonder?

I can't find any reference to that auction in 1994.

Bill's Action Buddy

 As this round of our MoonBase International custom toys slowly comes to a close, our latest reincarnation is this 1960's Action Man knockoff.

This was Bill's childhood buddy and along with some of the original kit he totally deserves a new lease of life. The buddy that is, not Bill! 

With a good scrub-up and freshly cleaned clothes, Bill's buddy, via the Quartermasters Store, has been sent on one last mission before hanging up his dog tags:

To secure the back garden for the summer!

Mission Status: SNAFU!

After debriefing, The next step in buddy's reinstatement and immediate de-mobbing will be new retirement package, which is currently in pre-production.

In the meantime our plastic chum is off down the NAAFI for some well-earned tiffin.

To Cap it All

 That Palitoy Action Man Lancers cap I found yesterday ( thanks for ID 'ing it Paul) .....

 reminded me of an officer I once found at a German flea market and blogged about 13 years ago.

The new cap would have sat well on this fellow, albeit a cheapo I think. The uniform was by Schildkrot.

The officer has flown along with his She-Ras.

Looking up Schildkrot Action Team I thought my old man was this from their Soldiers of the World range. It looks like the Lancers cap I got yesterday but the uniform is different to the above. 

Is this Schildkrot figure a Lancer?

As it turns out my old officer should have had a cap more like the Foreign Legion.

Oddly enough, all the Schildkrot figures I've seen online  today have the same cheapo looking doll so maybe my original assessment was wrong.

He's Schildkrot too!

What do you think? Have you any Action Team? Is their figure a Lancer? What did I get 13 years ago?

Harvest Home

Sometimes things come to those that .....

Camp!

We've gone camping again in our cute two-person tent. We like to travel light!

The weather's warm and the site in Hornsea is brilliant. A flock of geese are camping next to us!

Whilst admiring the facilities - pool table, showers, phone chargers - I perused the exchanging bookcase and lo and behold there's a paperback I've been looking for for ten years, one Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon.

Written by US actor and author Tryon, the book, as I've found out online, was a New York Times bestseller in 1973. A folk horror set in rural Connecticut, the plot, centered on a remote community following the old ways, is slightly reminiscent of the Wicker Man. 

Stephen King didn't rate it, a contemporary of his novel Salem's Lot. 

Nevertheless, Harvest Home went on to become a popular spooky US TV film as well back in the mid-Seventies. I've never seen it.

Tryon wrote The Other too, again, an American paperback I've never seen in the wild here in Blighty. 

Have you read or seen Harvest Home readers? 

Tiny SpaceX Diesel Wannabees

 Blimey, I thought these were SpaceX toys at first glance on the net! 

It's those shiny metallics and big 'wheels'.

These Valentine diesel engines are miniscule! 

They look great though!

What do you think?

More of Ed's Cool Pyro Space Toys

Woodsy,

These are the only other Pyro space toys in the collection. Prices for early Pyro have become so outrageous it's beyond belief having seen single toys selling for over $700!

From Vegas Base

Ed