Kellogg's UK Paper Village Sheet 3 Pt 1 - The Inn

Well, we're on the downswing for the Kellogg's UK Paper Village. Today we start the last sheet. Like the other two before it, the sheet is divided into five pages. This first page contains the roof to 'The Inn'. Once I've posted all these, I'm considering punching the parts out of the background and building them up - however I would hate to do that if I had no decent way of displaying them so I'm still kinda 'on-the-fence' with this. So here goes: The Inn, pt 1.  Enjoy!

Marx Big Inch Pipeline / Construction Camp Quonset Hut

According to Wikipedia: "A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel having a semicircular cross section. The design was based on the Nissen hutdeveloped by the British during World War I. The name comes from their site of first manufacture, Quonset Point, at the Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Centerin Davisville (a village located within the town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island, USA)"

Wikipedia Quonset Hut Reference

In 1963 Marx introduced it's Quonset hut as part of the Big Inch Pipeline construction playset. For those mother's not wanting to buy their children war themed toys, farm and construction playsets offered a a viable alternative. The construction sets had plenty of play value with cranes, bulldozers, earth movers, scrapers and other equipment loaded with working features. Add to that the generous amount of figures in various poses and ancillary tools and equipment and you've got a terrific, fun filled activity for the younguns! While Marx tended to get the most out of their tooling, the Quonset hut only appeared in construction sets and the "I.G.Y." (International Geophysical Year) playset featuring the Arctic Satellite Base. This despite the fact that the military used these extensively and that Marx had always featured military themed playsets as part of its toy line-up. As a result, this tends to be a slightly harder Marx tin building to find and generally commands higher prices than more common pieces. Enjoy!

McDonald's 2011 Young Justice #4 Superman

Today is Sunday Comics Sunday and who personifies that ideal more than Superman - the Granddaddy of 'em all, the very first comic book super hero! What boy growing up in the 1950s DIDN'T read Superman? Even if after awhile one favored other superheroes, Superman was still someone you had to check-in on occasionally. He was part of the fabric of our life growing up in the '50s: comics, toys, and that wonderfully campy TV series "Adventures of Superman'"starring  George Reeves as The Man of Steel and airing from 1952-1958. Through the years The Man of Steel has undergone several metamorphosis', one of the most pronounced being the robust definition of his muscles - in other words he buffed up A LOT!  (Looking at the way super heroes are drawn today, it kinda makes a person wonder how they're even able to move, I mean really, all those muscles have got to restrict range of motion!!! I'll betcha he has a helluva time threading a sewing needle LOL. Okay, okay, I know, they're super heroes and just comic book drawings - just saying.....)

So, today we feature a buff plastic Superman, the fourth in McDonald's Happy Meal 'Young Justice' series. He measures 4" (10.2cm) H from head to feet and when the button on his back is depressed his arms raise up as if to take flight. His head also tilts back independently from the arm-raising action. Enjoy!

AOME LOTR - Attack on Rohan

For the past several weeks on Sci-Fi and Fantasy Saturday we've been looking at Play Along Toys Armies of Middle Earth, Lord of The Rings, Soldiers and Scenes sets. Each set contains three figures following one theme from Peter Jackson's LOTR movies. Up 'til now only one figure per week was featured but I've decided to feature all three figures at once starting today - there's still enough sets to keep me going for about 5 months! Today we feature 'Attack on Rohan' containing: an Orc Whipmaster, Uruk-hai Warrior, and Wildman. Enjoy!

Attack On Rohan:  Orc Whipmaster, Uruk-hai Warrior, Wildman

Wave 7

Issued by: Play Along Toys

Assortment: 48100

Item Number: 48035

Issue Date: 2005

Issue Price: $8.99

Orc Whipmaster

Uruk-hai Warrior

Wildman

Auburn #524 Rescue Vehicle

Well, as luck would have it, I managed to pick up another Auburn Fire and Rescue vehicle for our Fire Engine and Rescue Vehicle Friday, the Auburn #524 Rescue Vehicle. Our vehicle looks like it got a little too close to the flames! It has some silver paint loss, not uncommon for Auburn, and it's a tad dirty, also not uncommon for Auburn but is still a nice addition to the collection. Now, not to blow my own horn or anything but I have several 'collector' books which feature Auburn, and none of them have shown pictures of all the Auburn vehicles featured in this Blog the past couple of months and certainly none of them have featured as many photos of each item!

Now for a little collecting philosophy. Seasoned collector's will tell you to buy your collectibles in the very best condition you can. Buy them in Excellent or Mint and always buy with the original box. Well, that's a wonderful thing if you're independently wealthy - one of the Haves, but what about the rest of us - the Have Not's? I decided a long time ago that sometimes it's not fiscally possible to buy the very best but to go ahead and buy the item in lesser condition for now and upgrade later when funds are available, as long as you don't shell out a ton of money for items in used condition. But BEWARE - there are far too many sellers who think their vintage toy is 'rare and valuable' - BULL! Just because something is old doesn't make it valuable. Even 'rare' doesn't make an item valuable - if there's no demand for an item it doesn't matter how rare it is, it's just old junk. Also, buy what you like without the expectation of making money. If you're able to sell off some of the lesser condition collectibles for a profit that's great, but with the economy being as sour as it is, it may not always be possible. Collecting should be fun and half of the fun is in the hunt. Please don't stress out over money. Sometimes the cheapest way to involve yourself is through reading Internet blogs and websites where you're  at least able to view some of these cool things. Hope you enjoy!