Plastic Figure Showcase American Figures this time we will be looking at American figures especially Timmee. We will also look at Lido and others. It is interesting how molds from here surfaced in other parts of the world.
Plastic Figure Showcase American Figures Timmee
The first item I am showing is the Timmee seated sailor with antiaircraft gun. The seat figure and the anti aircraft gun are hard to find seperate, but together almost impossible. But that is what happen to me more so it was at a flea market with collectors and pickers. They are out with flashlights at 4 AM. I got it later in the day. Laurie and I got there mid morning when I spotted the piece. It has been a proud piece in our collection.
The Timmee Mounted Cavalry according to Kent Sprecher were made in response to the Rin Tin Tin show. It is odd that they did not do any foot figures. I do not remember seeing them as a child. This one is Mounted cavlary with sword and binoculars, The hose is missing his separate saddle. There were four different mounted poses. Interestly Rin Tin Tin was very popular in Spain and South America.
Plastic Figure Showcase American Figures Lido
The Lido space men were made for the Captain Video show that was popular in the 1950’s. I recently found on on a space web site that the molds showed up in Spain and France. In Spain they were done by Reamsa and because the Captain Video show was not know they were called Patrol of Saturn In France they were know Martians against Terrians. In France they were used as giveaways by various companies. Also they were in Argentina sold by a company called Tovar.
Another company called Heudebert copied the Lido space figures and added new poses. These can be told as they have base with the name Heudebert. you can see photos of the Heudebert at Mokarex.com
One other Lido item is their knights. I am sure most of us had these figures. At one time I was think have thirty or more of the charging figures with lances in a line. I never got enough so I gave up on it. I have not heard of them be made in another country. I am sure when I post this I will
Plastic Figure Showcase American Figures Thomas Toy
Finally we have the Thomas Toy Mexican rider for the burro. He is really their motorcycle driver with a sombero. I sent the photo to Paul Morehead of Plastic Warrior and he said had the figure as well. I forgot many of the American toy companies had arrangements that they shipped their molds to Europe especially England. As I reported years ago I saw and got the Renwal caisson figures in brown instead of white. It show how the mold got around.
“Interestingly Rin Tin Tin was very popular in Spain and South America”, this is true, at least in Brazil, I can not say anything about Spain or the other countries in South America, but in the 70’s I stopped what I was doing to sit in front of the television and watch the program Rin Tin TIn and all the characters like Corporal Rusty, Lieutenant Rip Master and Sergeant O’Hara. It was because of this show that the companies Casablanca and later Gulliver, created a set “Fort Apache”, and was a huge sales success. It is currently difficult to find anyone in their 40s, 50s or more, who has not played with a “Fort Apache” or who has not seen the adventures of Rin Tin Tin. It was a phenomenon in my country. I watched the fight scenes, because with certainty I would try to reproduce them with my “Fort Apache” and my little soldiers, indianas and cowboys.
I have gained many, many soldiers and over the years have lost (or destroyed) most of them. Today I think that if I had knowledge at the time, I would have asked my father to buy my toys always double, one to play with and another to keep, but this type of intelligence did not exist for me with 4, 5, 6 years of age.
Well, you can certainly find many Rin Tin Tin Fort Apaches at any show here in the US. I have quite a few myself along with the character figures you mention. I think Marx made more variations of Fort Apache than any other set they may have made.
I have seen Rin Tin Tin figures from Spain and South America but not from anywhere else except the United States. The Rin Tin Tin has been redit here in states due to some negative attitude toward Indians. I saw one of these edited shows where they changed and redubbed lines. The person that played Rusty Lee Aaker according to Playset Magazine will not discuss the show. Most of the stars of these shows were not aware of the merchandise that was done aboard.
I always liked the Lido knights. They had some cool poses. One thing that I could never figure out was why were the horses in hard plastic while the figures were in soft plastic?
The horses are almost always broken when you find them today.
I would love to see an in depth article on TimMee cowboys and Indians. There is so much material there. It would be great if someone put it all together.
The Knights were made in England by Tudor Rose, with slight mould variations.
Originally they were produced in hard plastic (Styrene) then later soft polythene.
The hard plastic versions had a metallic sheen and came in Silver, Black and Green (?)
The soft plastic versions cam in black, silver and white. Horses were Black, White or Silver.
I also have two of the foot knights with ‘Hong Kong’ stamped on the leg.
I so not remeber seeing any of the Tudor Rose knights in my travel to the UK. It will be something else to look for.
Peter, I am still interested in hearing why the Starlux Nap band is hard to find.
Can you give some background?
I will talk to some French plastic collectors on this matter today.
A Spaniard company did a rare set of 12 knights mounted and foot ,all same 2d type as Lido and exact scale ,I have then(some of ..) will supply pictures in few days, they are complete new poses and very nice. Knights are very hard to get even in Spain as company last only 4 years in market because of fire in its small factory destroy all.
Another company CRADECO made similar knights(2D) ,romans and cartaginians in 40 mm scale ,I got some included war elephant .(please not confuse with “Rojas Y Malaret”) that I have the two playsets too as well and are 60 mm scale in real 3D format style and made the Punic nice playset in 1961/62 .
I also have several of HK copies ,they are a bit smaller (52 mm scale) than original and infact base in the varied version(UK) of armor as Peter indicate. There two molds .US and UK made ,they have slight mold armor variation as well indicated.
What I don’t have is any Horse from UK or HK and wonder if differed or not too !!??
Best
The Spanish company sounds interesting that they different poses.
I had forgot about the Hong Kong figures. I saw them as a child when my father and I went to visit a friend. We stopped at a Five and Dime before going to see the friend. Isaw them there.
I forgot mention in this pose….
Another copier of some knights poses and horses from LIDO was Transogarm.
So far I know of 6 poses made by TRANSOGRAM in mid/late 50s least .They are not cloned and poses plus armor detail varied much more than the HK poses copied. I had then ,will dig then with others I mention soon for pictures.
I believe they were sold with some type small castle too as far I recall seen one years ago at eBay listed but I may be wrong.
Best
Some other company that’s name escapes me at the moment did a beach toy for building sand castles and they used some semi-cloned version of the Lido knights. I believe I saw this on Kent’s site some time ago. Funny thing is someone brought this up at the Lafayette show, that they had one MIB, I don’t think they brought it to the show though, if they did I didn’t see it. I think Kent may still have pictures of it on his site.
I have also remembered that I had a set, given to me by my cousin. His dad, my uncle, worked on the Queen Mary Ship and often brought him back toys from the US.
These were jousting knights. It was the figure with the lance in silver and black with black horses that had a wheel attachment under them with an elastic band.
You pulled the horse back, let go and it shot forward to knock you opponent off his horse. Hours of innocent fun !
I still have one of the horses somewhere.
I think this was a Lido toy – not Tudor Rose
F.W. Woolworth’s 5&10 cent store used to carry tons of these kinds of figures – I remember spring loaded jousting knights and a spring loaded rodeo set where the mounted cowboy chased down the calf. I also recall similar items as cereal premiums to mail away for. I also recall the sand toy with knights and molds that came on a big card from which you could form castle parts. This would have been 1950s in Bridgeport, CT, a great city to have grown up in that now is in ruins.
Ha Ha, Andy! Bridgeport sounds like Detroit.
For sure. Really a shame. “The Park City” was glorious when I was a kid in the ’50s and ’60s. People used to retire to homes near Long Island Sound near Seaside Park where P.T. Barnum owned quite a bit of property. Now, I would NOT go down there without a firearm.
Transogram was the name of the company that made the sand castle set with semi cloned Lido knights.
I had the spring loaded jousters, I have another one that is not functional that I picked up in a lot of figures, no lance doesn’t wind up, but was the same type as the one I had in the 60’s.
At the Lafayette show Joe Saine had a large bag of the cleanest Lido knights I have seen since buying them from the store myself, with tons of accessories. He must have had 150 to 200 of them all pristine. He also had the Rev War, Civil War and FFL figures in the same condition in equally large amounts. I was going to buy a whole bag, but he’d only sell them individually at $1.50 a pop. That didn’t leave room for a lot of profit so I passed.
You’d think Saine would have been happy to unload them?? Oh, well…..
That’s what I would have thought too, but he said by piece only . He probably changed his mind later, but I never went back. I heard he offered someone else a whole bag of one type, but of course that wasn’t confirmed with Joe. I found it odd as he usually wnts to sell me things enmasse.
They were also ceral giveaways by Kellogg’s Corn Flakes Here is a link to the ad
http://www.theimaginaryworld.com/pax113.jpg
I had a buddy that got them through that promotion, but I got mine off a rack or out of a bin. A few years later of course.
Many of the premiums were offered latter on the regular market. Sometimes the premiums would be sold to jobbers who would repackage them. I found many years ago Howdy Doody string puppets in a Drug store. They were made a rack toy.
Wow! GREAT memories. Kent also has pics of the bulldogging game and the wind up knights on his site under Cereal Premiums midway down:
http://www.angelfire.com/biz/toysoldierhq/Premiums.html
Does anyone remember a space shot game? You ran a string through a rocket ship with stages that pressed together and shot by a spring trigger up the string to where it was tied on a door knob. The nose cone caught into a sleeve piece at the top and the rest of the rocket slid back down the string dropping a tiny pilot out of the ship and onto a map of planets in orbit with different point values for where he landed. I remember it was red with a black string and came in the mail after sending away a few months earlier. Junky little thing, but clever design. I would guess about 1958 from a cereal company.
I have that set from my dad.
Will do pic later .
.
Nice set and fun. ..