Fort Shambles : Auburn, MPC, Gulliver

The other day I posted the Auburn hard plastic log cabin. That cabin was a part of the set pictured here, basically a job lot or put-together fort from various manufacturers. The only reason I bought this was that I had recognized the Auburn cabin and wanted it for the collection, but once the lot found its way out to The Cave, and despite the condition issues of the fort, I really liked the set. The fort gate and walls are probably MPC knock-offs vs. original MPC, and the figures are all 'Gulliver' - a company I'm totally unfamiliar with. As stated, there are condition issues with the wall pieces and the gate doors are broken off of their thin plastic hinges, but with a little work the whole thing assembles into a nice little outpost. The walls are 6 1/2" W x 3 1/2"H and the figures are all 65mm - perfect for the Auburn cabin. The lot included:

-7 Cavalrymen (2 mounted)

-5 Indians (2 mounted)

-one extra horse 

-7 wall pieces

-1 gate

-1 barricade

-1 cabin

There was no insert for the fort name above the gate so I have no clue as to how it was sold or who made or sold it, but I'm calling it 'FORT SHAMBLES" due to its condition! :-) 

The Cave has been too warm to do much of anything in it, and this photo shoot was kind of quick and dirty. Hopefully I can put this all together on one of my scenicked bases soon and provide some better photos. Until then - Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Size Matters - A Look At Some Of Those Small Toys We Had As Kids

They were cheap. They were everywhere.And they were fun. I've featured toys made by Giant Plastics Corp (aka Giant of Hong Kong) before but let's look at a few pieces from other comapnies that just sort found their way to the house :-) These may have been Giant clones or totally different sculpts but back in the day they could be found in grocery stores, drug stores, 5-&-Dime stores - you name it. They were cheap rack toys out of Hong Kong and even kids whose parents didn't have a lot of disposable income had a chance to get some of these. Of course, here we are some 50+ years later and prices have gone through the roof for some of these while others are still reasonably priced.

Westerns! I loved watching Westerns on TV as a kid so it's no wonder I had a lot of Old West themed toys. Okay, that being said I didn't actually have any of these pictured here today but they still bring back the memories and flavor of a time gone by. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Frontier Coach and Wagon (Hong Kong)

This bag with Stagecoach stapled to card appears to be a clone of a Giant Plastics product

These would be 1/72 scale NOT HO scale which is 1/87 and much smaller!

Hong Kong Frontier Set with Fort Cheyenne

The name 'Fort Cheyenne' was used on numerous Western fort toys and playsets back in the day. This is among the smaller versions

(These would be 1/72 scale NOT HO scale which is 1/87 and much smaller!)

Lucky Clover Toys Set No. 6648H Fort Frontier Assault

yet another Fort Cheyenne

(These would be 1/72 scale NOT HO scale which is 1/87 and much smaller!)

Here's a lot of loose Lido wagons I picked up some months back

This picture of Lido's western style wagons courtesy of Kent Owen Sprecher on his excellent website Toy Soldier HQ (see sidebar on right)

Here's a larger soft-shell carry-all I featured in the early days of the blog. Just another example of a Fort Cheyenne toy