david_scrivener

I recognised the Tri-ang barn. They did 2 farm building sets, and your barn is the one which came with 'Farm No.1 (Cat.7757)', the smaller set. They also made a ranch set for cowboys. The farms were made 1954-58, the ranch just 1954-56. I have the other three buildings in this small farm set, a bungalow, a cow shed and a hen-house, just missing the fencing. I'd sell them if you like, as I'm stacked out, and need to specialise a bit, and just buy buildings in my favourite series/manufacturers. PM me if you're interested. Nice farmyard, & I've no idea who made it. The pigsty is Elastolin (Germany), probably circa 1960, after they stopped making their really nice old style ones, and before they made plastic versions, which are actually rather nice, as they based their plastic buildings on the older style. I have just one of these plastic buildings, by chance the plastic version of this pig sty. I think Mandy took a photo of it, but as I haven't seen the article yet, I dont know if was in the published article. She took loads of photos.

Oh, that one! Yes I did see it, and can say with certainty it was made by Binbak (Binns & Baker Ltd) Bradford, Yorkshire. I was half thinking of bidding on it, but the price crept up a bit & condition not exactly 1st class. Jack Binns & Bill Baker met when both apprentices with a sign writing firm in the 1930s. The war interrupeted their careers, they were both in the army, so they agreed to set up the wooden toy company in 1946. Jack was the skilled carpenter, and Bill was the artistic painter. They started with garages for Dinky toy cars, and gradually added a range of farms, western forts and castles for boys, and dolls houses and shops (for those miniature packets and tins of foods, soap powders, etc, which some of you may remember seeing) for girls. Plus at least two riding schools, which I guess appealed to both boys (as an add on to their farm) and girls (who are often mad about horses). Bill decided to leave the business in 1972, with Jack continuing on his own on a smaller scale until he died in 1987. His widow continued with her loyal staff for four more years until other family commitments forced her to close it down in 1991. This is a summary of an article by Allen Hickling - the toy castle expert. As they were in business for such a long time, their more popular items come up for sale on Ebay & elsewhere fairly frequently, but as they are so nice they seem to attract a fair bit of interest from collectors. However, some of their items hardly ever appear, and are very rare indeed. There are a few (not farms) I know about from Allen, which I'm looking for. I have:, 1 farm, 1 riding school, 1 castle, 1 western fort which I know are Binbak, & 1 zoo which I think is theirs (unfortunately with all the railings/bars missing). As their products generally didn't come apart for storage, they take up a lot of space, so although I like them, I'm having to be a bit cautious about how many I buy. I still haven't worked out where to keep the riding school. \

Not me who bought it, in fact I don't remember seeing a really good one recently, and I'm constantly looking. If you can find the listing and put up a photo, there is a faint chance I might have an idea of manufacturer, but most of my own collection are 'unknowns'. You'll have to wait for photos as I only have an old fashioned film camera, and it will be 3 weeks before I get the lots I bought at the auction anyway. They say they are way behind on packing and posting as they've had several auctions in quick succession. Also, will someone please tell me how to, if I can, post my own photos here. On most internet forums only photos on public sites like facebook can be posted (something to do with URLs apparently). As only a few members here seem to be interested in these old buildings, I'm happy to send as many photos as you want as attachments to private emails, as I did to Peter (Valtra) some time ago. It is also a lot easier for me (a technophobe) to receive photos that way, as I can print them individually for my ever expanding files (the old fashioned sort, y'know, on paper in lever arch folders) on any toy building I see. Accurate info on who made what in old farm and zoo buildings is very hard to come by, as Mandy should now be aware after her visit. Most of the, ahem, 'companies' who made them were, like 'Dudley Toy Co', garden shed operations, and they don't seem to have produced illustrated catalogues (only Hugar did, pre-war, if you can find any ), and I imagine even any simple price lists have long since been trashed. The old 'Toys & Games' trade magazine had adverts, but I've yet to find any of those either, and only know about a few in Marion Osborne's books (dolls house expert). There was a company called Peacock in London who seem to have made a lot of good ones, but I've no idea of their complete range. And who made 'The Willow Series'? It would be very nice if there was eventually a reference book on old UK made farm, zoo, etc., toy buildings, perhaps including western forts, ranches and western town buildings, although I think toy castles need a book of their own, and Allen Hickling would be the man for that. For these other buildings, such a book would need a group of collectors to get together as (AFAIK) no single person knows enough to do it.

If it was just one Kelly's Directory I would, but they came out +/- annually, so what's really needed is to start with the 1960 edition, and work backwards and forwards to discover how long The Dudley Toy Co. existed. Who knows how many issues I'd need to check? And I might find something which leads me on to something else unexpected, such as a particular local newspaper. For those who don't know, Kelly's Directories were the equivalent then of local Thompson Directories and/or Yellow Pages today, but were very detailed, street by street. Towns were smaller then, and no internet of course, so they could afford to be thorough, as they had no competition and everyone relied on them. BTW, I did buy one lot as a telephone bidder at the Vectis auction - as much as I could afford. Lot 4371: 4 of the 1960-62 buildings, 500F Garage, 2 x 503F Thatched Barn, 504F Thatched Farm House. The two barns are slightly different paint versions, so I think one is actuallly a 503F, and the other is earlier, possibly very briefly sold by Britains (440F to 448F?) or sold directly to toy retailers by Dudley Toy Co/Hugh Gardener/whoever? circa 1958-59?

Regarding who made the post-war Britains buildings, I think I might have a lead, possibly 'The Dudley Toy Co., Dudley Road, Eastbourne, E. Sussex. Dudley Road is a street of mostly terraced houses, but this doesn't rule them out as I've been told it was garden shed operation, and Hugh Gardener of Hugar continued doing deals after he had semi retired to the south coast. Apparently he still owned his factory building at Epsom, but just used it as a warehouse. Another interesting little fact turned up at the recent Vectis auction. The had two boxed 503F thatched cottages, BUT one of them had a box label '449F'! Which leads me to wonder if Hugh Gardener was trying to set up a deal for Britains to sell Dudley buildings in between the 158F - 170F (1959) and 500F - 505F (June 1960 - end 1962) batches. And were any of the other similar style buildings, some in this thread, also in this batch? 449F seems an odd number, so perhaps there was at least 10, say (440 or 441) to (449 or 450)? I've discovered there is an Eastbourne local history group, and have sent them an email in the hope they'll be willing and able to do a little searching about the Dudley Toy Co.. Otherwise, anyone here live near Eastbourne willing to check out the old Kelly's Directorys in Eastbourne Library? It's a bloody long trek for me from Shepton Mallet.

I have all three of Barney's books, the farm, zoo and garden ones, and yes, they are very useful. I understand there are plans for him to get together with some of the guys from 'Plastic Warrior' to produce a similar book on Britains/Herald 'odds 'n' sods', such as the dancers, polar explorers, Robin Hood, Trojans, racing cyclists, etc. Then there were the very early composition figures (most often seen in the walking pilot), but as they seem to have been a joint effort between Myer Zang and Ally Gee, I'm never quite sure whether we should regard them as part of Britains or Timpo history, or perhaps both?

I've just bought on Ebay (only paid for them a few minutes ago, so certianly not arrived yet) a bunch of plastic farm figures circa 1958-60. They included a black & a white britains 'plastic from lead mould' lamb (already had them, but they were going cheap), a light buff/tan (i.e. not pink) early Herald piglet, the 'head up' one, I already have some of the 'head down' one, and some other stuff, but most interesting (to me at least) were two items I never knew existed: 1) A sitting calf (plastic from lead mould) made of WHITE plastic, but sprayed (looks like original Britains style spraying in the photo) as a JERSEY! This item was moulded in white plastic and painted with black (Friesian) or brown (Ayrshire) spots for one year only, 1958, then this moulding was used as a Jersey calf, with the Herald sitting calf (probably designed by Kay Fido) then used for the Friesians/Ayrshires. The early (1959 on) Jersey calves were moulded in cream/sandy-yellow plastic, with orangy-chestnut paint sprayed over (as this one is sprayed). I think (hope!) this one is from a very short period, say Dec 1958/Jan 1959, when surplus white plastic calves were used up by Britains to sell them off. 2) A plastic version of the previous lead Britains 'Exmoor Ram in full fleece', cat #597. The Ebay description says it has 'England' moulded underneath, so I won't know until I get it, if it is in a typeface used by Britains on their other plastic from lead mould farm animals (especially the other sheep & pigs), which would suggest I've hit the jackpot - finding a previously unknown Britains figure, or if in a different typeface, it might point me in the right direction to discover who did make it. As we know, everyone copied everyone else back then, and there are several 'likely suspects' of companies of that period who might have made plastic copies of old Britains lead figures. I would, of course, be very interested to hear from anyone here who has seen these animals before, or who has some definite info about them.

I had a look around the net. I can't add much, except there was a horse & cart as well. This opens up a whole new, previously unknown to (almost?) all of us, range of items to collect. I wonder what else they made? Who knows, some of our 'unknowns' might be GLYNTOYS as well? Are those cows hollow cast or solid?

From 'News Biscuit', their spoof of the recent loans insurance compensation story: http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2011/06/13/mafia-to-pay-compensation-to-protection-racket-victims/

I'm missing any catalogues from 1986 to 1993 as well, but can give a few dates to start you off, with some help from Peter Cole's book. 19731st Deetail Knights & Turks Some deletions & changes in plastic colour, but some of these, & 1978 figures, survived right through the whole period. 1978 more added, including the archer. 1984 'Banner Knights' (with large shields)(moveable/changable at waist, an attempt to revive swoppet knights perhaps) 1985 catalogue just calls them 'Knights & Turks' (i.e. not 'Knights of the Sword') 1986-93 Another short lived group of 6 knights on foot, all rather stocky figures. 1990 Dragon added. 1993 'Knights of the Sword Champions' added , 5 on foot, 3 mounted Hope this helps.

All the other manufacturers' ranges were rather limited compared to Britains. They were toys after all, and all the manufacturers were aware that their customers, kids, made larger collections by buying figures from all manufacturers. Plus, remember Britains early farm range was somewhat duplicated by internal rivalry between 'old Britains' and 'Herald' employees, and of course Britains remained in business after their UK competitors had closed down, so there were three 'generations' of Britains plastic farm figures. The Crescent range was small but nice too. I also have some nice old plastic figures, circa 1958-60, from an unknown manufacturer, although I think they were Paramount, a very small operation started by Mr Lucas after he closed down his lead figure company 'Sacul' (Lucas spelt backwards). There was also a small, and rather crude farm figure set made by the intertwined Speedwell/UNA/VP group of companies.

Here is a link to a web page by Robert Newson about the old vehicles, including many horse drawn, the costermonger carts, etc. http://www.charbens.info/Charbens-5.html I wonder what happened within Charbens in the years of change from lead to plastic, as many of their lead figures were rather nice, but their plastic figures are almost all crude and horrible.

Here is a link to a German site (English version) about TIMPO solid plastic figures (i.e. not their swoppet type figues). http://www.timpo-solids.com/E_index.htm At the home page, click on 'Series of TIMPO solids' to see the ranges they made, farm, zoo, police, mechanics as well as soldiers, cowboys/indians, etc. In the farm range, the drover figure was available in several paint versions, and some of the animals were made in different colour plastics (e.g. brown or black horses, sheep dog, hens), so complete collection would be more than just one of each. They are very compatible with Britains plastic figues. There were also some (not very good, but still very sought after by collectors) clip together plastic farm buildings. Some of their plastic figures were as previous lead figures.

To make things easier to find as this section (I hope) develops, I suggest the first few contributors start threads as they arise for each manufacturer, plus of course a thread for 'unknowns', this one perhaps adopting the title used for the similar page in Plastic Warrior magazine, "What the !&*$?"

Some old toy/model farm buildings had a material like two sheets of plastic sheet with fine metal mesh sandwiched between for use as windows (the mesh representing old fashioned 'leaded lights' type windows), and the same material was also sometimes used for the fencing of hen runs etc. I have a few old buildings in need of sympathetic restoration, so would like to get some of this stuff. Anyone know if it is still made, and where I could get some? And what is it actually called?

I think you two are getting your metaphorical wires crossed between Action man and Bayko.

RE the funeral: He might have been an atheist, which is not unusual at all nowadays. I've stated in my will that it is to be completely non-religious, as I'm not just atheist, but positively VERY anti ALL religions! The local Jehovah's Witnesses don't knock on my door any more.

I bought a very nice wooden stable building, made by the same unknown people who made the farm buildings for Britains in 1959 & 1960-2 at the antique fair @ the B&W showground this weekend for only £20. Got it from a general antiques stand, and luckily the specialist toy dealer in the stand opposite hadn't spotted it! Hugh Gardener of Hugar had a hand in it somewhere, but had closed down his factory @ Epsom by then, used it just as a warehouse, and was by then continuing in business by using sub-contractor manufacturers for his farm and model railway buildings. I've been trying to discover who actually made these buildings for several decades now, but after all this time can only say I'm pretty sure that whoever they were, they were based near the south coast in Kent or Sussex.

I imagine contracts vary a great deal according to how desirable 'the image' is. So to make a model of something for which there is likely to be little demand, either from rival model making companies or the retail buying public, a contract might cover all scales, for models to be sold anywhere in the world. Probably very different for say, classic or sports cars, where each model making company will have to settle for a thin slice of the metaphorical pie in terms of scales each is allowed to make, and where they're allowed to sell them.

Like others here, difficult for me to choose one favourite, but suffice it to say that all the front runners are Britains/Hugar and similar old wooden farm & zoo buildings.

Racing cyclists, 1962-65 (Rare now, set of 4 figures, all in various colours. Would be stupidly expensive to try to get all 4 in all colours.) Hospital series, 1984-86. Autoway series, from 1984, deletions 1986, 1988 & 1991.

They're very thin on the ground indeed. I don't have the lying mechanic, and I've been looking for one for ages.

A short lived set, from early 1964 to the end of 1968. There were four figures, the two pictured, the lying mechanic and a girl filling fuel. She came with a pump nozzle & hose, which came with the other end of the hose plugged into the base, but was intended to be plugged into one of the four petrol pumps issued at the time when being played with. The girl in the picture was holding a sponge, cleaning windescreens, for the use of. There was also a stand to fit three petrol pumps on, including a display cabinet ofr cans of oil (suitably printed paper fitted inside, which concealed a battery to light the three pumps ,which fitted over stands, each with a little light bulb. There weren't many vehicles made by Britains at the time, the motorbikes, a few tractors, eventually a couple of Landrovers, one to go with a horse trailer & the riding/show jumping figures, an army Landrover and an army Austin Champ. They are nice figures, and its a pity they didn't survive long enough for the number of Britains vehicles to increase enough for them to have enough customers.

Yes it is the same scale as their soldiers, and the same scale as many, although not all, French and German toy soldier/figure manufacturers, and the same scale as guage 1 trains, all as applicable in the 1890s. Britains started their farm range in 1922 and their zoo & garden ranges in 1930, but there had been some similar ranges, plus Noah's Arks ('Sunday toys') imported before then.

It's even worse for toy/model zoo collectors, unless the toy manufacturers have discovered species of giant penguins and/or dwarf elephants which are unknown to real zoologists. The old lead JoHillCo range was especially silly in this regard, but then, hey they were toys, and made to a limited range of prices per item.