The last of the re-designed sets, and the rarest.
Heller (and
General Mills) managed to totally screw-up not necessarily one, but possibly two (?) sets of moulds/mould-tools.
I will deal with all that another day when I some relevant pictures, but [now done, below] suffice to say; A) the only way you can tell which tool your set comes from is to measure the distance between the two locating-holes or spigots in the hull/deck of the canoe and B)
Airfix have reverted to the earlier set of dancing loons for this set which remains in their catalogue and as a favourite for adding to play sets.-
In 1980 they were still referencing the earlier set anyway! Little picture on the back of the 'white boxes' made large and used for the 'long boxes'...arguably one of the best poses from the 1st Sqn. Lionel's Own Right Royal Dancing Loons .
Given their rarity, it's annoying to find you actually have a couple in your bag of loose Australians, even more annoying when it's the 'only 1 per set' pose...so if you have a bag of loose Australians, go and double-check it, I found two, just the other day! Commando's on the left, Digger on the right.
Full runner with sprue-remains (the blob in the middle), can't remember which set this is, but from the availability a few years ago have to assume it's the French issue. Confirmed a few years later - note the gap between the locating studs.
The old, superimposed on the new...er...even older! Those chocolate brown disco clowns are the current production people . . . could make a lesser man cry! You got two boats, which helped build a raiding party more quickly, the
Matchbox lot getting a silly little jolly boat!
Otherwise the pose-count wasn't great with this set - it has to be said. There were the 7 ex-54mm poses, some ladder carriers and climbers who - along with the rowers - mirror the 1st/4th type, the bazooka operator (who is a nice figure), the grapple thrower (similar to the
Matchbox chap), and the radio-operator/signaller we've looked at above.
As with the German Infantry and US Marines, the all new poses are thinner and easy to identify.
Paddling away! Given the risible rubber-boats issued with the
US Marines (both types) and the
Matchbox Commandos, this is quite a nice stab at the boats used for several famous raids during the Second World War such as this one:
Operation Frankton.
The only OBE's I have of these - pretty standard for late 1970's/early 1980's school-boy painting really! Follow the links below for some better painted ones.
Floating . . . it floated a bit better than the boat from the other set, but still low and it did fill with water in the end!
It is stated by some that there were - uncommonly - two tools for the 2nd version Commandos, they have 'both' disappeared but as firstly; neither 'Tailgunner' (Hornby/Margate's preferred propagandist) nor 'JC' (Heller's publicist) have managed to obtain the full story - despite crawling all over the paperwork and secondly; urban myth from well-meaning (?) collectors has been slathered over the debate for over twenty-years, it's a moot point.
Either: the first tool was damaged in the move to France and a duplicate tool produced (to go missing a few years ago), or; the [one] tool was repaired and lost at some point later? The only way to tell the difference between the two tools is in the canoe, where the white/long boxes marked 'Made in England' have a canoe with different-spaced locating studs/holes (between deck & hull pieces) in comparison to the canoe placed in both the boxes marked 'Made in France' and those 'England' boxes with a 'France' sticker over-placed.
My original notes to myself, apologies for spelling, typo's and general scrawl, but it has the necessary measurements for those needing to differentiate between the latter two designs, the earlier/current one is easy, it has the ledges.
Suggesting that as well as a problem with the moulds being damaged in the moves (1980-83'ish), a number of unused boxes were included in the stock moved to Heller.
I suspect there was only ever the one tool, that the canoe cavity was damaged in the move, that the tool was repaired in the canoe area, and that a few years later the tool (still having a 'damaged' mark/s in chalk, marker or wax crayon - which should have been removed after the repair) was sold as scrap/sent to recycling by someone who didn't know it was OK again, during a clear-out? Human error/lack of communication!
The long boxes, a fetching organge for the commandos, where the ones where the 2nd/3rd version were commonly found, also seen in the earlieir 'wgite box' and later 'blue box', which might have had the 54mm+ sculpts for their earliest iteration, but by the time I bought mine (1989) had reverted to the old sculpts, which are 1st/4th in this Blog's blurb.
Artwork was an odd mix of 1st/4th version (grapple and bazooka opperator) and 2nd/3rd (officer) poses, with the canoe being similar for either set!
Links
Airfix Tribute Forum
Earlier/Later Set on this Blog
Plastic Soldier Review 1:72 Scale Blog ![]()
![]()
![]()
