#446 FX SCHMIDT – SUSI & STROLCH and ROBIN HOOD (Nr. 804 and 57821) (Unknown Date)

 

These are two sets of cards based on Walt Disney movies. They are the classic quartett decks with 9 families each.

According to my data source, there are quartetts with these themes and names in 1978 and 1969… but I think the data are wrong. First, the Susi & Strolch (the Lady and the Tramp) movie is from 1955 (German premiere: 1956), and the reference is different… My set has reference number 804, while the version from 1978 has reference number 63420, so this has to be much older. The “800” references seem to indicate a “double” box, although there is no reference about any year of manufacture. The logo gives us some hint, this set is maybe from the late 50s…

The case of Robin Hood is simply a mistake. The deck cannot be from 1969 since the movie was made in 1973 (German premiere: 1974). Other Disney movies with lower reference numbers could actually have been released in 1969, maybe this reference was a replacement for an older model (I don’t think that).

 

The "soap box" from Robin Hood set might not be the original one!

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: SUSI & STROLCH (Nr. 804) and ROBIN HOOD (Nr 57821)
• Year: Late-50s and Mid-60s (any help?)
• Company: FX Schmid (Germany)

#445 REDONDO – NAVES DEL ESPACIO (Around 1981)

Redondo is mostly known for its die-cast cars that were copied from Penny/Politoys. Most of these were formula ones, as explained a while ago (#194).

In that entry, I mentioned some plastic robots, as well as metal casted planes and more space toys. Well, here are some Spaceships or Starfighters from the early 80s. I think these might have been released shortly after the Star Wars movies, when the interest for this kind of toys was at its highest.

These small starships are plastic toys with some metallic parts, for example the wheels. they’re around 6-7 centimeters (3 inches) and decorated with paper stickers, although after so many years, these have moved.

I am showing two different models, although there were probably more than these two. I don’t know exactly how many, and in how many color variations were they available. Note also that some parts are common to all models, like the missiles that can be actually fired. Each wing has a spring loaded missile launcher.

The planes are packed, as you can see, in a big cardboard with a plastic coat over them. This cardboard was hang in the shop (not necessarily a toy shop, maybe a press kiosk, a grocery or a bakery), and the seller cut the cardboard to sell each plane.
One of my planes has been cut off, the other two still remain together.

A close look at the package reveals that the planes were originally intended to be exported, as the card is written in Spanish, English, French, German and Danish. It also indicates an age recommendation and a warning not to shoot other people in their faces.

If the plane was removed from the card it is almost sure that the missiles are missing, since the mechanism to launch them is quite easy and cheap. Just insert the missile and twist it about 90°, so it stays inside. Pull the missile those 90° back, at it will be fired. Cheap and effective, but not durable.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: NAVES DEL ESPACIO / NAVETTE SPATIAL / STARFIGHTER
• Scale: Unknown
• Year: Around 1981
• Company: Redondo (Spain)

#444 BBURAGO – FERRARI 126 C4 TURBO (1987)

Bburago is best known for its big scale cars, although until now I could only show some cars in 1:43 scale. I do not collect cars in such scales because they take a lot of space, but this model came in a lot I bought at the flea market around one and a half years ago. Since the car was complete and represents a Ferrari from the days in which I was a great fan of Formula One, I decided to keep it.

The model represents the 126 C4 model, that took part in all races in 1984 and whose drivers were Michele Alboreto (RN: 27) and René Arnoux (RN: 28). Alboreto finished the championship in 4th position and Arnoux in 6th, but the team was second, only behind the McLaren team (Lauda and Prost).

The curious thing about this model is that the decals tell us that the car is driven by Gerhard Berger with RN 28… this wouldn’t happen until the 1987 season, when Berger ended in the 5th place with 36 points and won two races. The car, of course, was a more modern version, named F1/87. There was another “historically accurate” version with RN 27 and Michele Alboreto stickers.

The car is anyway more than 20 years old and it looks quite different from the cars we can see nowadays: too high, too wide on the back, the spoiler is too big…

As usual in Bburago cars at this scale, the front wheels can be turned in one direction on the other with the steering wheel, which is something I always found fascinating.

The car looks great with those stickers, chromed parts, and so on, but it was still a rather affordable toy. A closer look reveals some not-so-nice details, like a chassis made of plastic or wheels also made of hard plastic. Other higher quality models made by Bburago had much more decorated chassis and also rubber-like tyres.

The cars were assemblied by hand and finally closed with a screw.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: FERRARI 126 C4 TURBO “BERGER” (Cod. 6111)
• Scale: 1:24
• Year: 1987
• Company: Bburago (Italy)
• Size: approx. 13 cm

#443 YOLANDA – G.I. JOE (1991)

 One of the few complete series by Yolanda I have is this set of four G.I.Joe figures from 1991. As a G.I.Joe fan, I guess this was a must for me. Yolanda usually reproduced the most popular figures of its time, whether they were from TV series, toylines, movies or whatever.

In this case, G.I.Joe was the most popular toyline in 1991 in Spain, no doubt about that, so Yolanda simply got a Hasbro license and reproduced 4 characters from the 8th American wave (released 1989), and made them in plastic. It is maybe important to mention that the 8th American wave arrived at least two or three years later in Spain. I got most of my figures from that series in 1992.

The four figures are: Alley Viper, Countdown, Dee-Jay and Scoop.
In Spanish: Vibora de Callejón, Countdown, Deejay and Scoop.

ALLEY VIPER / VIBORA DE CALLEJÓN

COUNTDOWN

DEE-JAY

SCOOP

In previous entries, I showed Hasbro's Countdown #415 and Scoop #416 mint on Spanish card.

All figures include a small ring in their heads, maybe intended to make keyrings out of them. They are all marked: “1991 Hasbro Yolanda CE”

It is very interesting to see how the figures are perfectly decorated with their original weapons and accessories and the real colors. Even the different gestures and postures are quite loyal to the original Hasbro characters.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: ALLEY VIPER, COUNTDOWN, DEE-JAY and SCOOP
• Toy Line: G.I.Joe (A Real American Hero)
• Year: 1991
• Company: Yolanda (Spain)
• Size of the figure: Around 8 cm.

#442 I.M.U. – OPEL GT (Around 1985)

The Acronym I.M.U. means Interspeed Modellauto Ülsmann. This company was based in Berlin, and offered some models in 1:87 and  1:160 scales. There is not much information about it on the internet, I could only find some German texts explaining some facts about the company. What it seems clear is that nobody seems to be very keen on this small cars.

There are metal and plastic cars. Apparently first they were made of metal, but at some point they changed to plastic and they kept using plastic until the end of the company in 1991.

It is also known, that other brands made models for I.M.U., that is, I.M.U. simply repackaged and distributed other brand models as their own. Miniatur precision models from the Czech Republic or Stettnisch Modell GmbH from Germany produced models for I.M.U.

This second company would keep all I.M.U. casts when the company closed in 1991. Jörg Stettnisch was trying to settle a new company for the manufacture of small models. He would fpund after a few years Euro Model. The problem with I.M.U. models is that some are marked on its base while other aren’t, and later models from Stettnisch are also marked, although they shouldn’t.

From this brand I only know my own car (an Opel GT) plus other models I have seen in pictures. For me, they have a good (above the average) quality, and are nice models. The Opel GT is not only nice, but rare, since it hasn’t been manufactured in small scale by any other toy company.

The company would produce a few Wiking replicas of trucks during its last years of existence. These seem to be used by collectors to “repair” genuine Wiking models. These trucks are the Magirus S3500 and the Mercedes L5000. There is also a Porsche 356.

A list of all I.M.U. models can be found here: http://www.87thscale.info/imu.htm

 

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: OPEL GT
• Scale: 1:87
• Year: Around 1985
• Company: I.M.U. (West Germany)
• Size: approx. 4 cm