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, March 28, 2009

T is for Truck Part 1; Overview and Odd Sizes

There are trucks that are lorries, trucks that are vans, trucks that are wagons, trucks that are big cars and trucks that are rigs, there are even trucks that are small wheel assemblies on skateboards, and then there is the US Military 'Deuce-and-a-half' 6x6 two-and-a-half-ton General Service Vehicle...Now that's a TRUCK.

Made by everybody (GMC, Studebaker, Ford, International Harvester, Chevrolet, Mack etc...), they have carried countless body types, taken weapon mounts, towed everything and in so doing - have become an iconic symbol of American military power, as they growl past in a cloud of blue exhaust fumes.

Here are some of mine (one day I'd like a real one, but I'd paint it gloss black, I'm no combat wombat!)

From your 'six' going time-wise; Polistil, Marx, Heller/Airfix, Marx, Airfix 1st version readymade, Hasegawa, Airfix 2nd version readymade, Jonny Lightning, Roco Minitanks, Marx, Comic advertised flat, MPC 'Mini' and Skytrex/Davco (?).

Missing; The T Cohen truck (just colour variants of the Airfix 1st version readymade), the new Pegasus and Academy kits and a bunch of kits from the new Eastern manufacturers. Plus various resin/white-metal efforts.

The Marx trucks, two dime-store quality toys and a Roco piracy made in Hong Kong. The copy is almost identical, but is spoilt by having lose axles, that also - in the case of the front wheels - are far too long.

Here she is next to her originator, clip-together construction meant you could have it open or closed, cab and/or body. There was a tractor version as well, and various body types were issued over the years. As far as I know the Marx copy only came as a GS body.

The rest; The Politoys one is around 1:48, but the crew are 1:76/72, the Johnny Lightning version is a bit long for it's width.

The comic book flat looks more like the front end of a half-track grafted on to a farm trailer! MPC's Mini is a single moulding, while the Skytrex/Davco (I'm not sure which trade mark this is) one has a removable tilt, unusual at this scale (1:300)

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