AOME LOTR Army of The Dead Pt 2 King of The Dead

Today on Sci-Fi and Fantasy Saturday we continue our look at Play Along Toys Armies of Middle Earth Soldiers and Scenes series with The Army of The Dead, King of The Dead. You know the old saying, "I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley."? Well Aragon, Legolas, Gimli and company picked one heck of dark alley to wander down during this particular adventure and this is the leader of the gang they met up with! Enjoy!

Army Of The Dead: King Of The Dead, Dead Swordsman, Dead Shieldsman

Wave 5

Issued by: Art Asylum / Play Along Toys

Assortment: 48100

Item Number: 48031

Issue Date: Aug 2004

Issue Price: $8.99

Auburn #502 Hose Truck

Today on Fire Engine and Emergency Vehicle Friday, let's continue our look at the Auburn Rubber Company's line of nifty rubber and vinyl vehicles. Today's featured toy: the Auburn #502 Hose Truck. You'll notice the 'sway back' body of this truck which is a fairly common deformity, but as my particular toy looks to be fairly new and un-played with, it's hard to say whether the sway back was a result of factory processes or improper storage of the toy. The silver detailing is in real good shape on this toy and highlights the details quite well. Enjoy!

Kellogg's UK Paper Village Pt 3 - Village Church

We're continuing our coverage of the Kellogg's UK Paper Village. This was a cereal premium, available to Kellogg's customers in the UK, which one had to send in for, however I have no particulars as to the original price. The Village consisted of three sheets of heavy cardstock on which were printed nine buildings. Each  sheet folded out into five 'pages' and all the building parts were die-punched so all one needed to do was carefully separate the building from the surround and assemble. As my set is still original and un-punched on the sheets, I'll be presenting the first, then second, and finally the third sheet working my way from the far left page to the far right page on each sheet. Today is sheet 1 page 3 and begins the artwork for the Church. The previous two blog entries featured the artwork for JS Winch and Sons Filling Station. As the artwork for these buildings is spread out over several pages JS Winch and Sons, featured in the previous two entries, will be continued in the next installments. Everybody Enjoy it The Berg's :)

Marx #T1-14 U.S. Armed Forces Training Center HQ

Way back on Oct 13, 2010 we featured the Marx #T1-12 downsized U.S. Armed Forces Training Center. I had meant to feature it's larger brother, the #T1-14 cabin sooner but just never got around to it. Well, today is the day.  The larger cabin, which measures 11" x 6" x 6" (27.94cm x 15.24cm x 15.24cm), is referred to as "the large cabin without floor" meaning the cabin does not sit on a tin-litho base as does the earlier #T3-21 cabin.  Our featured cabin, released in the mid-1950s, has no back or floor, and the windows and doors were all lithographed vs. the cut-out doors and windows of the #T3-21 cabin. Enjoy!

Left Wall

Front Wall

Right Wall

Wall Details

AOME LOTR Army of The Dead Pt 1 Army of The Dead Swordsman & Flintstones on The MaP Update

Before we start with our featured toy I have a small update to make. If you remember a couple of weeks ago I was working on a Flintstones Bedrock display for my layout, The Marxville & Plateau. I had made a video of it which included original Flintstones music but the Y'allTube Music Gestapo blocked it. Next, I took out the Flintstones music, replaced it with some Golden Oldies and the music Nazi's muted that! The third attempt simply failed. The Internet was so slow and it took so long to upload the attempt aborted. Well, FINALLY on the fourth attempt the doggone thing got uploaded and can be seen here:

The Flintstones on The MaP

It's a watered down version with no music but just watching the town of Bedrock come to life in toy form is kinda neat. Hope ya like.

Now, on to Sci-Fi and Fantasy Saturday's featured toy. You'll remember that last week we finished up Play Along Toys Armies of Middle Earth 'Warriors and Battle Beasts' series. Today we start on the 'Soldiers and Scenes' series. Each package in this series features three figures and I will be presenting one figure per week - hey, makes the blog last a little longer (I may have been born at night but not LAST night!). Our first set will be the Armies of The Dead. The manufacturer portrayed these three ghostly figures using a translucent green plastic. Really awesome. The only problem is with my own photography. Ya know, I realize I'm not the Universe's gift to the world of photography but I try and photographing these was tricky for me. First, they were photographed against a white background but the pics turned out way to light. The only other background I had available at the time was black and they turned out somewhat better. The black does help the details to show through much better. Also, for this series I'm going to present the box first so as to show people what three figures were included in each package.

Our first figure is called 'Army of The Dead Swordsman' and after looking at the photos he kinda reminds me of one of those sword-bedecked Ninja's one sees on TV all the time! A cool figure nonetheless. Enjoy!

Army Of The Dead: Swordsman, King Of The Dead, Shieldsman

Wave 5

Issued by: Art Asylum / Play Along Toys

Assortment: 48100

Item Number: 48031

Issue Date: Aug 2004

Issue Price: $8.99

Auburn Fire Chief's Car - Green

Today on Fire Truck and Emergency Vehicle Friday we continue our look at Auburn Rubber Company's line of rubber/vinyl vehicles. We looked at the blue version of the Fire Chief's car a couple of weeks ago and today we'll look at the green version.  Like other toy companies, Auburn would make a particular toy in multiple colors and so it is with their cars (BUT as far as the fire trucks are concerned I haven't noticed anything but red trucks in their line).  The silver detailing has been worn off of this particular toy and it does show a pretty fair amount of play wear. In the last photo a Marx 35mm Fire Chief has been posed next to the car to give you a size comparison.  Enjoy!

Kellogg's UK Paper Village - J.S Winch and Sons Filling Station Pt 2

Picking up our series of the Kellogg's UK Paper Village we bring the second portion of J.S Winch and Sons Filling Station. The station parts are spread out over several portions of one sheet and the last portion won't be featured for a couple more weeks. I am presenting these drawings as they are printed on the large fold-out cardboard sheets starting from left and working my way right. Enjoy!

Marx Roy Rogers Mineral City Streetfront

Growing up in the '50s meant being inundated with Westerns, television was simply awash in them. It's hard to adequately express other than to try and compare the cowboy and western culture of the 1950s to the reality show culture of today - they're on nearly every station but back then you only had three networks (four if you count the now defunct Dumont network. Some locales may have had a UHF station and then there was the Public Broadcasting Station, which, in my imperfect memory, didn't serve up Westerns. Yet, even with only a few channels to choose from a person couldn't help but bump into a western TV show when channel surfin'.

At the top of the heap was Roy Rogers. He was amongst my favorite Western heroes growing up and he had a lot of air time on Saturday's and Sunday's. Sometimes it was the hour-and-half movies which regularly featured Gabby Hayes, Frog Millhouse, or The Sons of The Pioneers Cowboy Band. Sometimes it was the half hour TV show with Dale Evans and Pat Brady and Nelly Belle the Jeep. It didn't matter - I loved 'em all. Roy Rogers was probably the most successful of the screen cowboys when it came to marketing himself and one could find Roy Rogers toys, apparel, and miscellaneous stuff all over. Heck - I had a Roy Rogers blanket and curtains in my room along with holsters and six-shooter cap pistols, and many other toys. Some years ago I started collecting Roy Rogers toys and ended up with some cool items before my schizophrenic buying habits turned to other things. Some day I'll feature these on my blog. 

Today's featured Marx tin is the Mineral City Streetfront and was released in 1952 coming in the Marx #4258 'Roy Rogers Western Town' playset. It's a terrific Hunk O' Tin with gorgeous lithography and will fill up a lot of display shelf real estate. Enjoy From The Berg's :)