Hong Kong Hollow Horses - Pre-Wavy

Looking at possibly my favourite or one of them, primarily because it took me a long time to tie this well done horse into a set of riders, and it was pure luck that I did so, but I'm now over 75/80% confident I've done so, if I wasn't, I wouldn't be posting them.

 

This is basically the old Crescent horse, which as a Hong Kong hollow horse I call 'Wavymane' (because when I was naming them I was a dedicated small-scale collector and wasn't familiar with the Crescent horse), but with the wave removed, or sculpted over, but with no other visible changes, the good musculature of the Wavymane remains, and the quality is high, equal to the early examples of Wavymanes.

 

Colours are mostly realistic, and a wide palette of chestnut, dun, and rowans accompanies the usual black and white horses, and a couple of marbled grey/brown And this is about half the entire sample, which had come-in in ones and twos, usually in larger mixed lots, but one or two on their own, with a bunch of Airfix or Matchbox mixed figures, something like that.

 

They never came with an obvious figure, the kind of large mixed lots (dealers have always throne all these hollow-horses and their associated figures/accessories in a big bag, tray or tin) of small scale junk, are hard to ID things from But were easy to ID once I new what I was looking for, and slowly they built up; during one of the 'Big Sorts', I went through the many thousands of Wavymanes, and found a few more, where some were hiding from before I'd recognised them.

 

There are three marking variations so far identified, and with such a small sample, there may be more one day, but using the lower picture of black horses, we have in the middle (as the rowan) a clear HONG KONG (with a gap) and a bump, forward of the saddle position, on a flat underside, at the bottom, a less clear HONGKONG (no gap, both in a round sans-serif font) on an all flat underside, and a pointed domed cavity with no markings at the top (as the dun).
 

It took maybe 30-odd years to finally 'call' these, when one of the dozens of bags in the last big-sort, proved to be pretty clean,, maybe one or two obvious other-runners or runts, and suddenly I had a half-dozen or so, clean Pre-Wavys with matching riders.

 

Turning to the two bags of still unidentified figures, I found, among the 60-odd figures a dozen or so more, and this is most of them (one of each colour/per pose, I think). Again, there's a couple of thousand waiting sorting from the last few years (I don't buy, or 'hoover up' this stuff like I used to), mostly from the donations of Adrian Little, Chris Smith or Peter Evans, and a few big bags from the Plastic Warrior show, including this year, when I got a big bag of well mixed hollow--horse stuff, so there may be a few more to add by now,, but it may only be another half-dozen, maybe less.

 

The figures are early post-Giant copies of the six (and it's only six) Giant poses along with five (two Indian and three cowboy) of the poses associated first with 'Wavymane', but again, given the small sample, the other seven of that 'set' may turn-up in the future.

 

The obvious identifying features are the bright colours in a quite pastel palette, and the relatively neat, ball-ended locating studs on the riders calves, which while similar to Giant's, lack the cone-like shafts of the Giant versions.

 

The figures are copies/sub-piracies of those associated with Wavymane, and specifically the mini-forts from the small 'pull-bags', with the two holes/release-pin marks missing,, and a Hong Kong mark, and, while again, a small sample, it looks like they are all coloured to match the rider, and more poses are still to be found.

 

I have a feeling though, there may be a bunch more somewhere, which could mean they were bought in by another hollow-horse issuer, or that the foot figure attribution is less solid, maybe 50% or less, only time, and the next Big Sort will tell?

 

It's quite a faint mark, and it was easier to fade out the colour and tone down the contrast to illustrate it. On the Wavymane figures small holes, like golf-holes are found roughly under the feet, here the base is smooth other that the raised mark, and the figures are of a poorer quality than the donors, which were with an early version of Wavymane, and are, obviously, also, copies of the Britains Swoppet 54mm originals.

 

This is the entire sample, and one of the best tests of whether you've ID'd them correctly, is how the various items add up, and here it's about right, with the foot figures being a slightly smaller sample, but there may have been less of them per issue, or they may only have been included in some iterations/sets, or as stated, as a caveat above, they may be interlopers?

 

But compare the bag of foot figures, with the bag of mounted cowboys and there's nothing in it, so I think I've called it right, it's just that I think I may have more foot figures somewhere, and they may be in the unattributed box?

 

Note, each element gets a 4x5½" bag, and all four bags join the horses in a 6x9" bag, they will get three Pelt drawings (with more added if new marking variants turn up), and a large index card stiffens the bag (so it can stand up in the box with the other one-off samples), where all the other notes are to be found, including findings, sample sizes, how many foot and mounted were found together, &etc.

 

My own feeling, given how few turn up, how they turn up in single figures, and the overall better quality of them, is that they may have been Christmas cracker exclusives, or an unremembered comic/cereal/other food premium?

 

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But is it Giant
 

No, easier for unscrupulous dealers or ignorant sellers to claim so, do to the quality of the horses, and the similarity of some of the mounted figures, but they are not Giant, they are a minor group, possibly used as premiums of some kind, cracker toys or gum-ball capsule machine prizes?

Lew Prokofijew's Stab at a Hollow Horse

Ticking off another of the non-Hong Kong horses - links are now being added to the Horse Page, which is less of a temporary page, and more of an overview/introduction now, more content will be added there from time to time - and we're looking at a pocket-money, kiosk (set, from Poland, which isn't an Airfix/Esci/Atlantic knock-off, but a piracy of Hong Kong piracies, some divine justice in there, I feel!

 

Probably also issued by Spojnia and Universal, this is the Lew Prokofiev (to anglicise the surname) packaging, and while I don't recognise the artwork, it's probably taken from a movie poster, lobby card, comic or illustrated story-book, maybe a Polish one?

 

Copying the six original (and it's only six) Giant poses, but umteenth-generation copies, with little detail, lots of flash and short-shotting of the extremities, and I don't know what's happened to the rifleman,, but he's going head-over-his-horses-rump if he fires that!

 

The set has six paired horses/riders, with two-each of black, white and marbled greys, the two marbled figures above, suggest a brownish/white horse may be out there somewhere? It seems to be a copy of the horse I call 'Pre-Wavey', and which I will post next, above, above this post ("Newer Post").

 

The body cavity is half-filled with solid polymer, as compared with the 'emptier' or more domed-hollow of the donor horse varients, and is also flashy, but as with the figures, no worse than most of the stuff which came out of Hong Kong, or Poland, they were cheap, ephemeral novelties, after all's been said and done.

 

The family group shot!

 

I think this was part of a larger purchase of Polish small scale sets for Chris Smith, who's helped tremendously with the Home Blog, and many thanks are extended to him for everything he contributes to the Small Scale World.

 

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But is it Giant
 

If you asked, you're being silly.

Hong Kong Hollow Horses - Saw-toothed Mane - Gordy International & Generic

Another of the easy ones! It's not through cowardice that I'm picking off the easy ones, slowly  . . very slowly! It's because further work is needed on some, while others can only be blurbed-up with the stuff in front of me, like the four types (so far!) of Christmas Cracker farm-cart, where I have all the shots and most of the collages, but they mean nothing after a few years in Picasa, if I'm not tuning them in my hands and comparing them to each other!

 

A generic version, we will look at the forts another day, but - corner lookout posts excepted - this one is easier to ID as the walls are longer/wider and higher than the standard 'Giant' fort.

 

The Gordy International one, an inveterate jobber, or importer of the very finest knock-off polymer crud from the Crown Colony of Hong Kong! This is their stab at small scale, hollow-horsed Wild West.

Another generic exists, sometimes over-printed to Woolbro (above, top left set), but this has a different horse, and the smaller ex-Giant fort design, however, because it was one of the first sets I obtained, possibly in the big purchase from the famed James Opie, all the loose foot figures are with it, as while the horse and fort don't match, it does have the same foot figures as the other generic/Gordy sets, so some relationship there, if only on some of the contents of these sets?

 

But this is a horse post, and we're looking at the one I call Saw-toothed Mane, because, with the lack of imagination running through the naming of Hong Kong hollow-horses, in the Small Scale World stash, it has a mane with saw-teeth!

 

You can see how the mane has been re-done, on a late-generation post Giant 'Smoothie', by attackking the tool with a mini-drill cutting wheel, the sort of thing you find on a Dremel, or a Handee portable power-tool! This has left little parallel spikes, which could probably be used to saw through a piece of paper!

The under-mark is a quite large, neat and clear HONG KONG in a slightly condensed sans-serif font, but not as condensed as the one I've just used! You will also notice that while some are quite smooth, some have a fine sandblasted finish,, the left hand brown one and the blac in the close up.

 

We haven't looked at the riders, as my sample of loose items isn't big enough to have 'made the call' yet, or shoot them, and I'm not opening two mint sets just to do so!

 

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But is it Giant
 

Nope! Aping the old Giant fort, and copying some of the elements - hollow horses, mounted figures - but all not Giant.

Crusaders

Another actual Giant set, and probably among the last; a bottle-bag with card header, rather than a carded blister, the late version black and silver medievals, and a high set number, all point to the back end of the Rosenberg's Giant phase!

 

Seemingly the same contents as one of the Multiple Toymaker sets by MPC, this is one of the better sets from Giant, despite the poor quality of the sub-HO figures. Coming with a standard fort, two catapults, a siege-engine/assault tower and the hard to find 'extra' building, a keep/barracks building, in two parts.
 

Clearly marked wall sections, 'MADE IN HONG KONG     GIANT ⓟ' the corner towers/turrets having no mark, and I will look at all the forts in greater detail in future posts. All three sections also carry the figure '2', which is probably coincidence, there being multiple cavities, dropped into a larger holder for picking, and it just happened that the picker chose three 2's?

 

 The same mark is found on the gate section, which has a green ramp/door.

The green carries over to the turret pennants, while the roofs are orange.

 

 The 'Keep', comes in yellow and a reddish-brown, with the same marks.

 

Unusually for Giant, there has been colour-bleed from the darker plastic to the lighter polymer, and while it might be both way traffic, it's never going to be as obvious the other way! You often find this bleeding with really 'cheap and nasty' rack toy stuff, but I don't expect it from Giant?

The front and back catwalk/galleries of the lower story will take two or three figures, but the ends are a bit too narrow to take figures, while the upper story will take a 'last stand' of about six figures, at a push, with overlapping bases!

 

Copies of the Marx catapult,, and given dates, probably taken from the Miniature Masterpiece versions. The two in this set have become brittle, and most of the 'rocks' have broken off, over the years of handling, the set's been subjected to.

 

And for that reason, I wouldn't try to replace the perished elastic-bands, to fire it, the strains would cause the whole thing to break-up! Marked 'GIANT ⓟ MADE IN HONG KONG' along the top of a frame edge.

 

The two-tier assault tower, seems to be based on the MPC one, which in 50mm-odd, is one of the ugliest things you ever saw, but reduced to small-scale, doesn't look quite so bad, or unbelievable! As MPC carried some of the Giant stuff, there may have been a relationship between them beyond middle-man/buyer, but I suspect not, and this, like everything else copied, was done so as pure piracy.

 

A simpler 'GIANT ⓟ HONG KONG' on the underside is the marking here, with room for a few figures on the rear and top platforms, the middle one, it seems is just for show!

 

Another reason for saying the set is a late one, is that earlier sets were always careful to match horses to riders, and/or divide 'sides' equally, yet here we have a spare horse, and a dearth of silver knights or too many black ones? However, because of similar imbalance with the foot figures, it rather dictates Black are the attackers, outside the fort, Silver inside, defending!

 

This made sense when I was doing it, but looked very odd when I came back to it (shots taken in 2021), but it seems I was trying to do one of each pose on the left, black, then silver, with spares on the right, and silver poses for which there isn't a black one, in the centre, which I phuqed-up, by not noticing the first one (top centre), should be down the bottom left

 

But anyhow, you get the picture, the foot figures are pretty random, with neither side having all the poses, and Silver outnumbering black, almost two to one, so they should be the attacking force, but without the cavalry, it's easier to leave them in a position of strength, within the fort!

 

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But is it Giant
 

Absofreakinglutely! Literally a mint set, which I carefully removed the staples from, with a fine blade to open them, and which were then carefully replaced again, lining up the eight holes for each staple, after the photo-shoot.

Not Hong Kong! Montaplex

What I've called Euro-Horse 1, suggesting I have a Euro-Horse II or subsequent somewhere, but not on the Laptop, in the lever-arch files, maybe, which are currently buried in a shipping container!

 

 

Although not specifically a Hong Kong horse - the Montaplex tooling was all on the Internet a few years ago (when one holder passed away, and a blogger was allowed to watch and photograph the transfer), and bags of this stuff, enough to fill a box-bodied truck, were also found - there is nevertheless a clear relationship between this horse and both the Hong Kong horse I've called 'Flicktail' and the 'Jogging', although they both have reversed leg positions, from the Montaplex horse.

 

However, it looks as if it was Montaplex who were the leg-switching copier, as the accompanying figures are taken from Hong Kong, being the six, and it's only six, mounted poses associated with Giant, but also used by other people, and you can tell from the little barbell locating studs on the calves, they were taken from Giant or early generation Giant-copy riders, badly.

 

And, I've remembered, Euro II is a horse with a single slot, on one flank, rather than a hole for locating studs on both flanks, and seems to go with a Manurba style wagon I haven't tracked down yet, but it might have been a cake decoration wagon?

 

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But is it Giant
 

Nope! A few poses poorly pirated, that's it!

Hong Kong Hollow Horses - Longmane

Having seen them briefly in a previous post, let's look at one of the - probably - post 'Smoothie' horses, the one I call 'Longmane', simply because, as with all the others, the most obvious difference from other horses tends to be how they got their name, and no, you don't have to use the same names, call them what you want, this blog is about identifying them, and the differences between them, so we can stop calling the 99% which aren't Giant, "Giant"!

 

A nice sample of the horses and the colours they can be found in, I have a reasonable sized sample of these, from many sources, so this while not necessarily definitive, is a good primer. Colours are reasonably realistic horse colours, with a pinkish tinge to some, which might better be found on some deer!

 

Riders are non-Giant, with the exceptions of the rifle-shooting cowboy, and the fourth Indian down with tomahawk and shield, so when sorting you need to be careful, but their leg-studs are completely different to Giant's, and usually with a bigger bag of mixed stuff, the colours of the figures will help differentiate.

 

And, no, I don't know why the first few rows are the same poses, then the order breaks-down, lower down, but there would have been some reason when I originally did it? They are taken from Britains Soppets and so far all six cowboy sculpts and five of the Indians have turned-up, with the colour range growing slowly with the pink and semi-transparent dark jade-green examples.

 

This sample was very brittle and adding nothing to the knowledge, by way of poses or plastic colours, went in the recycling bin with the milk-bottles! Note, the red cowboy on the far right, a blobby, flashy one who could easily be mistaken for another maker's figure in a mixed lot, but this was a clean, if brittle batch! 

 

Also, while the horses are quite good, quality-control wise, the figure samples are all poorly moulded with lots of short-shots or miss moulds, most weapons tend to be missing or partial, especially with the Native Americans.

 

The horse, from my original handwritten notes of 25-years ago, when I started to cover these in One Inch Warrior magazine - similar to Giant's 'Smoothie', particularly the saddle and rump, but with a deep striated mane and very bushy tail, it has large hooves and is of high production quality, marked Hong Kong in quite large, slightly uneven letters.

 

That marking, the two words are quite close together, but there is a discernable breath or punctuation gap, unlike some Hong Kong marks where the two become a continuous word!

Having said the horse are of better quality than the figures, I do have some poor horses as well, and it's short-shotting which is the problem. But the horse has been re-cut by the maker, and tends to a good quality with sharp detail, while the figures are sub-piracies of earlier production from other sources, and it shows!

 

The pelt! I haven't yet found a full bag, or obvious set for these, beyond the four in the HG Toys wagon set, but the numbers they're found in, suggests they did have a rack-toy issue of the more common type - lots of mounted figures in a bag!?

 

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But is it Giant
 

Definitely not, but they have been associated with the HG Toys wagon sets, so could have been in a Lido set at some point?

'Lido' wagons, by Herett Gilmar Toys

Like an idiot, while I took lots of images of the wagons, including some distance shots of multiples in their blister, I forgot to shoot the whole card, which is now in storage, where it has been since 2021, it literally came-in, got shot on the bedspread, and went off with all the carded Hong Kong small-scale.

 

Because it needs re-shooting properly, I'll just shove the images up here with the odd caption, and we'll look at it again another day! It seems to have been called 'Wild West' and was marked with the carousel HG [over] Toys logo in the left corner, H-G Toys in the right corner and a full-title consumer panel in the middle, all along the bottom edge of the blister card, which was heat-welded, not stapled.

 

Hard-bodied shop-wagon, or jail?

 

Two-wheeled buggy / cart, or horse-carriage.

 

Stagecoach.

 

Covered Wagon.

 

Similar to the early Giant 'stepped' wagons, but actually a heavier sculpt added to the bog-standard Crescent-copy wagon of most Hong Kong small scale output. What sets these apart from most other Hong Kong wagons, including Giant, is the diminutive drivers, with their Airfix or Moorstone-style sculpting (both probably the work of Nibblet, originally), and the slightly more diligent attempt at the draw-bars / horse-furniture.

 

Buckboard / Open wagon

 

The horse is 'Lido' in my horse ID listing, it's also Moorstone-esque.

 

However, a set of four horses which I call 'Longmane' are included, with four riders, all non-Giant sculpts of Indians, all taken from Britains. A quite distinctive Hong Kong horse with a wide (deep?) sculpted mane of long parallel striations, with a small dip where the headstall strap / crown piece (? Googling wildly!) goes through it. Probably using the old Giant 'Smoothie' as a base, it's easy to tell them apart.

Taken from an old evilBay sale, back in 2012, these have painted manes, so could be Lido or another branding, there's a painted-mane one on Kent Sprecher's Lido page, but it's a loose one, while his carded set is such a small thumbnail you can't tell if they are painted or not, but if both HG and Lido carried them, I dare say someone else did too!

The 'Lido' horse is unmarked, the 'Longmane's are marked Hong Kong, along the flat top of the body cavity, in quite crude, but readable lettering, reading from head to tail, the wagon mark is self-explanatory in the above shot! And I'll try to get the 'Longmane' article up next.

 

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But is it Giant
 

Nope! In fact, I suspect most of the time, it's not even Lido!