4 Sutherland Avenue, London, EC1, UK (earlier)
Reynolds
Works, Farm Lane, Fulham, London, UK (later)
Tel: Cunningham 6867
See
also: HR Products (USA, unrelated), Timpo and Zang
Flourished
1951-1960 (Joplin gives '51-'53 for the hollow-casts, Garratt; "Fl. '55") the plastic discoveries probably
extend the later accepted dates somewhat.
Garratt
originally ascribed several hollow-cast figures around 54mm to this firm, Plastic
Warrior magazine (and its contributors) have since added several
plastic versions of those figures to the oeuvre, along with policemen; possibly
from (or designed to accompany) toy vehicle sets, identified from Norman
Joplin's 'Great Book of Hollow-cast Figures'.
The
company is also now known to have produced a small range of OO-gauge compatible
farm figures and animals for model railway layouts in hard black or brown polystyrene.
The name
comes from Harry Reynolds who - Norman Tooth told Plastic Warrior - inherited
the company from a John Zanger of West London, this was his father; an
immigrant from Europe, whether the company had another name at the beginning/for
a short while is not known.
Were known to have exhibited dolls-house furniture
and 'toys in metal and wood' at the 1947 British
Industries Fair mounted in the Olympia exhibition centre; as H Renolds.
Listing
Novelties (large scale hollow-casts - designed by
Norman Tooth)
- Grouse
-
Pheasant
Raygun Water Pistols (in transparent coloured polystyrene)
- Atomatic Senior
- Atomatic
TV
Related
(hollow-cast, designed by Norman Tooth)
- Bumblies
(x3, after a creation by Michael Bentine)
54mm
Metal Hollow-casts
- Romans
(x2 [known], designed by Norman Tooth)
-
Vikings (x5 designed by Norman Tooth)
-
Knights (x2 [known])
Treasure Island (x5 pirates - designed by Norman Tooth)
- Black Jack
- Captain Hook
- Cutty Carver
- Long John Silver
- Wall Eye Jim
-
Cowboys (? Existed in plastic)
-
Indians (?)
Policemen (Norman Tooth designs)
Mounted Policeman (similar pose to Barrett & Sons example)
Standing - Hands Behind Back (similar to Timpo version)
Standing - Directing Traffic, Standard Uniform (similar to Timpo version)*
Standing - Directing Traffic, Hi-visibility White Coat
Standing - Directing Traffic, Overcoat/Greatcoat
- Divers /Frogmen (x1 [Known])
54mm
Plastics
Super
Box
- Romans
(as metal)
-
Vikings (as metal)
964505/037405
- Cowboys (boxes of 5, at least 4 ex-Crescent
poses)
-
Indians (?)
Divers / Frogmen (as metal?)
Other
- Beat
Policeman (as 3 above, blue/black plastic, possibly vehicle set accessory)
- Traffic
Policeman (as 4/5 above, white or blue/black plastic, possibly vehicle set
accessory)
OO-Gauge
Plastic Farm Sets
Set 1 - B&W
Cow, Brown Cow, Pig, Farm-hand, Milk Maid
Set 2 -
Horses (x2 different), Grey Sheep, Farmer, Farmer's Wife
* Pose
seems to have been copied by Wardie/Mastermodels
in their zinc die-cast OO-gauge compatible civil range and further
copied/passed to Merit (J&L Randall) for their magnetic Driving
School board games in pink, cream or red polystyrene.
Links
Further
Reading
Plastic Warrior magazine, issue 150, pp.17 and
issue 166, pp.13
JG Garratt
'The
World Encyclopedia of Model Soldiers' pp.86
JG Garratt
'Model
Soldiers' pp.238
Norman Joplin
'The
Great Book of Hollow-cast Figures' pp's.132, 133 & 318
Myths
Stands -
Garratt states "...biscuit-coloured
footstands" in his encyclopedia, but green and grey bases are also to
be found within sets of the hollow-casts; mustard and green in the OO range.
Title - Early
references to this company refer to 'HR
Products' a title shared with a far more prolific US whitemetal aftermarket
or garage modelling/war gaming and figure-kit business, however all packaging
found by Plastic Warrior and this author state HR Production for the UK company so I will use the difference, in
the tags, to separate/differentiate between the two, and furnish a
disambiguation for the 'Products' confusion.
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