3660x Kaufmannszug
This is a famous set, much desired by many collectors (judging by the eBay prices for some of its component parts!). Its from the Color* range, most of the parts being pure white.
* If you don’t know about Color sets (the modern ones are a rather pale imitation of the classic Color sets of the 1980s), most of the parts were made from white plastic and the owner had to colour the parts themselves, using felt-tipped pens supplied or available separately. This was to encourage creativity, but people who owned such sets comment that the results were frustratingly poor and not a patch on the results shown on the box art!
What is a Kaufmannszug?‘Kaufmannszug’ translates as ‘Merchants’ train’ or ‘Merchants’ procession’ or possibly ‘Merchants’ convoy.’
In the Middle Ages, groups of merchants with their horse-drawn wagons travelled across Germany. This was dangerous, as the rich merchants were an attractive target for highwaymen and ‘robber barons.’ A letter (perhaps in the form of a scroll) would be presented by the merchants to local leaders as proof of entitlement to an armed escort, which was then provided for a fee. The merchants may also have employed soldiers themselves to provide protection. It is not clear how often such journeys took place; for example Frankfurt held fairs twice a year and merchant trains travelled there from both Nuernberg and Ausberg. But the custom seems to have extended from about 1200 to 1803.
Nuernberg (the home of Playmobil) was an important starting point for such merchant trains. In 1910, a mural by Georg Kellner was erected on the facade of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Nuernberg, depicting a 16th century merchant train.
Nuremberg was a major centre of manufacture during the middle ages. There was a saying "Nürnberger tand geht in alle land". Nuremberg merchandise goes to all lands.
There's a mural painted (originally?) in 1910 with this phrase on the commerce building in Nuremberg.
Some people believe this mural was the inspiration for set 3660x.
In modern day Germany, groups of enthusiasts reenact these processions. See
hereSee also this recent post in ‘Playmobil in the News’
Building up the setThe central part of this set is the wagon and horses which I bought on eBay in the UK a couple of years ago. I only paid £10! Here is what I bought, before cleaning and removal of ink:
Some problems I encountered when trying to complete this set included
1. It’s hard to decide exactly what the set contains.
a. There seems to be just one version of the main box picture (above), which is perhaps the most authoritative source for the set contents (apart from opening an MISB set). The frying pan clipped to the side of the wagon gives a clue that other items on the sprue from which it came were also included (the sprue in question has 11 parts: frying pan, deep pot, shallower pot, 4 plates, jug, spatula, spoon and knife). Other parts which are sometimes included but are not visible on the box picture include a white wooden bucket with black handle, a white “Jug (straight), ladle, 5 mugs” [on sprue], 2 candlesticks (white or chrome) and a pair of white slippers.
b. I found three pictures showing the set still in the original box, covered in transparent plastic, but these pictures are of limited use as the plastic is crinkled and so the contents are hard to make out.
c. A couple of pictures I found online of the set contents laid out were not totally consistent with the box picture, or with one another. Likewise Mundobil’s inventory is incomplete and has discrepancies with the box picture. PlaymoDB has only 5 parts listed.
d. Pictures showing the contents set up as a diorama are also of limited use and there is no guarantee they show the original contents. Here is an ‘official’ picture from Playmobil.de Archiv, It is not very easy to see much detail on this image, but it does show the wooden bucket with handle, not shown on the box picture:
e. There is often inconsistency between what different collectors believe the set contains. I have illustrated below what I believe was included in the set. Only the documented opening of an MISB set would give some certainty about the contents and few if any owners of a set as rare as this still sealed in its original packaging would be willing to open it up.
2. Different copies of the set certainly had different contents. Some sets had chrome parts such as weapons, in others they may have been white (although it may only be in the box picture that they are white). The canopy of the wagon was light brown in some sets, white in others.
3. Some of the parts are extremely hard to get hold of (i.e. expensive), especially the white ‘Scholar’s’ hats as they were only ever produced for this set and one other.
Playmoebius has 3D printed versions of this hat for sale. I got four of these hats from there. They needed spraying white.
For my pictures of this set, I made the decision to replace parts I don’t have with similar non-white parts and spray them white.
Here are the parts I sprayed white (all these except the hat on the extreme right are spray-painted).
Top left: 4 Boot cuffs (original yellow); Bottom left: Hat, high dome, erect brim, 1 hole (original red), Bottom, 2nd from left; Fur collar (original brown)
On the right: six Hats, scholar's, round, flat, central button; 1 painted white (original black), 4 in the centre are from Playmoebius painted white (originals off-white), 1 on the extreme right white, unpainted.
Here are all the parts in the set, laid out. This is my best guess at what the original set contained. I have included (at the bottom left) the ‘Jug (straight), ladle, 5 mugs’ but I have no evidence these were actually included.
Here is a link to an Excel spreadsheet showing the inventory for this set:
3660xParts which may be different in different versions of the set
The “flag with clips, elongated point at top,” of which there are two, either has 2 holes, or (possibly in later versions) no holes.
Several parts may be either white or chrome. The halberds, swords and spears with barbed heads are shown as white on the box picture, but I have never seen one of these in white (either in a set or ‘loose’), so I believe they were chrome. Conversely the flagpoles are always white in sets I have seen, but chrome ones (which are found in several other sets) may have been used in some versions of 3660.
The wagon canvas cover can be white or light brown (a light brown example is shown on Klickypedia).
Parts sometimes omitted from set contents‘Jacket fronts.’ (2 shown on box picture- figures 1 and 3)
Parts not visible on the box picture• 0 or 2 candlesticks, white or chrome? (White ones shown on some laid-out sets- not visible on box)
• 0 or 2 white slippers (None visible on the box, maybe the nobleman (figure 4) has 2 to wear when he dismounts from his horse?)
• 0 or 1 set of Jug (straight), ladle, 5 mugs [on sprue] (appears on some photos of set contents, I included)
• 3 or 5 swords. (figures 7 and 9 have a halberd in their right hands but their left hands are not visible, so perhaps they have swords like figures 8, 10 and 12)
• 1 or 2 lanterns (the figures by the wagon on the box picture both have ‘boot cuffs,’ similar hats and white shirt fronts, so I believe they are both lantern-bearers, although only one lantern is clearly visible on the box.
Parts where quantities differ in some sourcesboot cuffs. (4 shown on box picture- figures 1 and 3)
1 or 2 drumsticks (The drummer has only one free hand, but 2 could have been included, two possibly visible in set contents at klickypedia)
2 rectangular baskets (see image of set contents at Klickywelt)
2 boxes with lids (see image of set contents at Klickywelt)
