The next table I stopped at was our very good friend Bob D’Angelo. Bob is a collector of dinosaurs and Disney figures. Laurie hates to go near his stand as she is afraid she will find some dinosaur she has to have. LOL
Bob standing at his stand to left of Bob are some of the Disney figures he had for sale
This year I decided to spotlight Bob’s Miller dinosaurs he had for sale. The figures were very popular in 1950’s. I helped Laurie get many of the Miller dinosaurs she had as a child. Also in the group is a Miller lion from the Jungle series Miller did as well.
Some more of the Miller Dinosaurs Bob had for sale.
A new dealer at the show for us was the RC Tank Command. This company was offer various large scale remote control tanks from various companies
Some of the various remote control tanks that were being sold
Some more examples of the remote control tanks. we were told that Billy Leroy of Baggage Battles television show bought a couple.
Hobby Bunker had a wide array of plastic and metal for sale. They had a number of reissues from Marx and other companies plus new material.
Some of the items Hobby Bunker had for sale
A reissue MPC battle ship with Marx 45mm Sailors
Hobby Bunker was selling Marx Reissue Furniture for a dollar each so you could pick out the items you needed for a set or a display
Toy Soldier Gallery had a nice mix of new and old plastic figures.
George had a number of western buildings from China that are nice to add to your display
George also had a Marx Freight terminal building for sale
Some of the various new items that Toy Soldier Depot had for sale
I got a chance to talk to Bill McMaster of BMC Toys. Bill told me he is working on some projects, but the high quotes are making him hold off for now. What is Bill planning on doing he did not say.
A look at Bill’s table with his products
One of the many tables with plastic
Marx Six inch Egyptians and WWII British
Some Elastolin for sale. There was Starlux and other foreign companies for sale.
Sell Toys had on display both old and new items. One of the new items was a prototype of the new tank that Erwin will be doing.
A close up of the some pirates, Aztecs and Conquistadors that Erwin will be bringing in from Mexico in the near future. In front of those figures were some five inch French troops and Mexicans from Mexican Rebellion also from Mexico and Pvblivs Romans from Russia.
One of the busiest stands at the show was our very good friend Gerry Watts. Gerry sells old plastic and metal. With the help of his friend Chris Lamont, who is another very good friend, they were kept busy on their feet most of the show. Chris also had some action figures for sale.
When Gerry sits down you know the show is starting to slow down
One thing about the show is to see old friends. One of them was Mike Poko. I have known Mike for too many years. Mike told me he has a photo of the two of us when our hair was not gray. Mike told me he has to get a cataract operation in the near future. Another old friend Art Rostel told us he had lost his wife to cancer in May. We were sorry to hear of his lost.
I also saw Francis Turner creator of the Marx Museum. Francis did not set up due to having a pace maker recently. Francis had also had a hernia operation this year. Francis hoped to be back to show as a vendor next year.
Another person we renewed our friendship with is Erwin Sell. We had met Erwin at a previous East Coast Toy Soldier Show a few years ago. Erwin had been a customer in my old list days. We had gotten back to together this year through his finding of the OWN Figures. Laurie and I were happy to help Erwin out.
A new person we met this year was Percy Brown. Percy collects 60mm Ideal soldiers and he has had a hard time finding these figures. I suggested he check out Gerry Watts’ tables where he found some figures including one in his hands.
One of the highlights of the show was meeting again with Billy Leroy from the television show “Baggage Battles”. We had done a photo with Billy last year and I wanted to do another photo for comparison to show my weight change. Billy is a very nice person and very easy to talk to. Billy enjoyed the show as I mention early bought a couple of the remote control tanks. I asked Billy if the show “Baggage Battles” would be back next year. He told us that the show would not be back in the United States, but they may film another season for Europe. An unconfirmed source told us that Billy had called Jordan Hembrough of Toy Hunter to come over. While Jordan did not come over, Steve Savino of Toy Hunter did show up. Steve had been to the Wayne Toy show and decided to come over. Steve and I talked about the Allentown Toy Show and how it change.
The show attendance was very slightly down from last year. Some playsets sold but most of the playsets went back with their vendors. Depending on what you had for sale meant how well you did. We were able to sell some large items, so I was satisfy on how we did.
A bonus for us was to get gas at $2.69 a gallon before heading home.
I had the MPC battleship/destroyer Hobby Bunker had for sale when I was a kid. I got it for my seventh birthday. Got banged up moving around; I think it got lost in a move. Man! I loved that thing.
It came with their 45mm soldiers molded in blue plastic to make them Marines. I still have a couple of those in my misc. old toy soldiers box. Something about those little guys I liked.
Wish the mould for the Ideal Anzio Invader Landing craft would re-surface somewhere,when you see the prices it goes for on Ebay if a Company could bring that back for $30-$40 a boat they would be whistling all the way to the bank.PS Stad Focus!!LOL.
Totally agree, that was one I missed though a couple of my friends had them over the years. Would love to get my hands on one, but current ebay prices are budget busters for me.
Think I would be happy with a $100 a pop re-pro and it wouldn’t need to have the tank,troops or helo come with it,I’d even be happy with a “Soft plastic” version,LOL.
Brian by looking today ‘s recast production, cost in limited run and machines; more close retail/sale price on that ship/landing craft will be more higher. Tanks as well vehicles and specially ships that required multiple parts mold are more costly to run than regular figures sets. So if it were to appear I doubt will be that price… The only way they could come with a low price is if the demand per production run is over 10000 units per line. And in this hobby that is a risk unless the one spending have money to spend for fun without worry in recovery it in a short time. My opinion is based on the cost production and machinery mold making knowledge.
DO you have a website ?
Glad to see the weight loss, you look to be in much better health. I am about to turn 63 and now appreciate my moms advice that she gave me years ago “getting old is not for sissies”. Recently on a facebook page members were excitingly talking about the Marx playsets they got as kids in the mid to late 1970s. The very same sets that get dismissed by the older playset crowd were being praised. Most of the guys must have been born in the 196-70 range. I was in turn both glad to know younger collectors were entering our fraternity and yet at the same time feeling quite old……
@Kent; I’m one of them and follower of old generation…fighting to keep the tradition always!!. A pleasure to do all time. I was introduced to do it by my father and now felt proud of it.
Kent
I am happy to see any young people to carry on our hobby. Too many hobbies are compose old men. I did a train show today and they had train races to get the young people in.
My oldest daughter was born in 1978, I am old and it’s not for sissies for sure.
Hi Paul
Thanks for your review.
Can you please connect me with the guy selling the Starlux & Elastolin figures.
Thanks
Michael
Michael
Sorry I do not have the name of the dealer.
Hi Paul
Thanks for checking on the Starlux & Elastolin figures.
Michael
Heck I would be like a kid in a Christmas store, lol. Thanks for the show report Paul.
Didn’t Timmee do a landing craft as well ? If so you could probably get it a lot cheaper than the Ideal one. Which I don’t remember. It was before my time evidently.
Also I never heard of baggage battles Paul ? What is that about, and did Billy say why they weren’t doing/running it here again Paul. Thye have numerous BBC channels on cable now. He should also get you as a host for the show Paul. You could have special guests etc, that would be cool.
Ed C
Baggage Battles is a reality show that was on the Travel Channel. Each week the show would go to a different location and have various teams bid on the various items to see who would made the most money.
Billy was one of the teams and was sort the bad guy. The show lasted three years. The show was likely discontinued due to ratings or the network decided to go in a different direction. My one complaint was the show would have one of the teams find in a lock chest or piece of luggage a rare item. No auctioneer worth their salt would not check a box or piece of luggage.
I have no idea about the Timmee landing craft, I know of Eldon.
I forgot to mention this as well. There are numerous casting techniques listed on you tube, some with very useful information. Another way to get air out of molds is simply by tapping the mold, you can also stir the mix before the pour. Which helps reduce the air bubbles. If you have a vacuum pump in addition, so much the better.
I reviewed one setup on casting metal soldiers, the guy had his local auto/metal shop make a metal drum/wheel for him, and he attached a pulley, and a motor to it. He was cranking out the figures. Very low cost, and effective. I have reviewed at least a 100 different setups, his was one of the best. I also reviewed jewelry molds, and casting as well, since both are similar in many ways. Also one of the best plastics to use in my opinion, is dental plastic, check it out.
Ed’s comment about getting rid of bubbles reminds me that in the old form of diabetic insulin vials, sometimes air bubbles would develop in the liquid insulin, which would mean you weren’t getting your full dose of insulin. The accepted way of getting rid of the air bubbles was to tap on the vial, which would then cause the air bubbles to rise to the top and pop out. Maybe, Paul, if you or someone else has contact with John Stengle Jr. you can pass this along to him. Anything is worth a try, if he’s having problems with air hole bubbles.
As an additional thought, maybe, since John Stengle Jr. is such a talented, imaginative sculptor who is planning on continuing this new line of figures, he needs to just do what Peter Cole has done, which is acquire a small injection molding machine, which Cole uses to run his pretty good Replicant figures. Of course, I realize this is easy for me to suggest, since I have no idea what even a small injection molding machine costs.
But I do notice that TSSD’s website now moves the projected availability date of the Vietnam figures back from “early November” to “late November”.