#525 ZYLMEX – MINIBIKES: BRIDGESTONE 10 SPEED (H381) (Around 1981)

This is a rather particular toy, I had seen some of its kind years ago, but this is the only toy/scale bike I own. I bought it recently for very little money.

The bicycle is made by Zylmex, probably by the early 80s, although I must admit, this is not a very educated guess,

The toy itself is a die-cast bicycle, it is made of many different parts, and the assembly must have been laborious, note that the seat, pedals, handlebars, tyres… are separate parts. Some are made of plastic, but they are only a few and do not affect the sturdiness of the bike.

The most impressive detail are of course the operating pedals that move the rear wheel, that means, the bike chain (which is made of rubber) transmits the movement of the pedals to the wheels, and from the wheels to the pedals. The handles of the handlebars are painted black. Also nice are the few stickers (four pieces) that the bike has.

The box looks great, with a nice desing from the late 70s depicting two cyclists. Each box was “customized” with one sticker according to the model inside the box. The bicycle is firmly fixed in the box by means of a plastic inlay.

There were at least one redesign of the box, that could be even older, since some carry the Zee logo.
The available models in the Minibikes Series by Zylmex were:

• H381 Bridgestone 10 Speed
• H382 Huffy Tradewind
• H383 Royce Union
• H384 Motocross

This series seems to be like a “spin-off” of the Motorbikes Series also by Zylmex, which used the same package design, and that also featured famous motorbikes in 1:24 scale, like Guiloy (see #31 and #103) or Mercury (see #2).

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: BRIDGESTONE 10 SPEED (H381)
• Scale: 1:20
• Year: Around 1981
• Company: Zylmex (Hong-Kong)
• Size: approx. 10 cm

#524 COMICS SPAIN – FLASH GORDON and TERMINATOR (1990 and 1992)

The Terminator figure is one of the most interesting figures in the whole Comics Spain catalogue. It does not belong to any series of figures, it is the only figure made from the Terminator movies. The cast is great and represents Arnold Schwarzenegger as seen in the movie Terminator 2: Judgement Day from 1991: black leather outfit, face half human, half machine and shotgun on hand.

The figure is licensed by Carolco, and has a copyright from 1992. It is not very easy to find nowadays. Being a cult carácter from a very famous film, it is very sought-after.

Flash Gordon is another carácter that does not belong to any series in particular, it is again the only figure made of him. It is difficult to identify at first sight, because he seems to be wearing a different outfit, than the one we usually see in the movies or in the comics, maybe the reference was the Revell model from 1965 shown here. The figure carries his helmet on one hand and has a pistol in the other hand.

This figure is copyrighted in 1990 and is licensed by K.F.S. (King Features Syndicate).

More information about Comics Spain/ Comics Figuras is coming to light in the last months. The guys frorm Star Wars Spanish Stuff uploaded this video in February 2014. It explains some facts about the company, shows the facilities located near Barcelona, and also explains how did they build the figures: from casting to painting. In the final part of the video, there is a parade of several figures that were available back in the days.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: FLASH GORDON and TERMINATOR
• Year: 1990 and 1992
• Company: Comics Spain (Spain)
• Size of the figures: Around 7 cm (between  2’’ and 3’’)

#523 JOAL – RENAULT 10 (Ref. 104) (Around 1969)

I always considered the miniatures from Joal to be great reproductions.

In some cases, Joal copied the models from Corgi or other major manufacturers from other countries. I think some are also based in Mercury models. The Italian die-cast manufacturer had many reproductions of Fiat cars, which were, of course, very interesting for Spanish manufacturers, since Seat models were equal to the Fiat models.

In this case, the car is similar to an old Norev model, although I cannot assure it because I cannot compare them. The quality of the Joal model is rather high, considering that it was made in the late 60s by a Spanish company (which had not the latest technology of that time). If you pay enough attention, you'll be able to see some imperfections.

The car is still in its green and white original box, the first model used by Joal. The same car was available at least in white, brown, blue and green. The original car was made from 1965 to 1971 (in Spain it was manufactured from 1966 to 1970).

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: RENAULT 10 (Ref. 104)
• Scale: 1:43 (approx.)
• Year: Around 1969
• Company: Joal (Spain)
• Size: approx. 10 cm

 

#522 DINO RIDERS - PTERODACTYL with LLAHD (1988)

The Pterodactyl is the smallest dinosaur in the first wave of Dino-Riders, it is slightly smaller than the Ankylosaurus, and not articulated, although both boxes were the same size. Maybe intentional, or not, is that the dinosaur comes with a figure that represents a child instead of a man, around one head shorter and with thinner extremities.

The flying sauria is made of the same plastic as other dinosaurs, but being so thin in the wingsm, neck, paws and so on, the plastic is a bit flexible. This flexibility is lost with the time if the dinosaur was conserved in harsh conditions of heat or light exposure. In many cases, the Pterodactyl is missing one of its paws or some of its legs. They were simply broken while playing, maybe many children thought the plastic was momre flexible than it actually was.

The harness is quite simple: it consists of a delta wing harness fit to the dinosaur with a peg that had to be inserted in the dinosaur´s belly. The peg is also fragile and could be broken in used toys. But even more fragile are the two tiny missiles that attach to the harness tubes and that, in some cases are "stretched" and their handle do not fit any more the tubes very well, making the missiles somehow "loose".  In other cases, the missiles are simply lost. So easily lost and fragile, are quite difficult to find, maybe one of the most difficult parts to find in the entire first wave.

The harness do not attach very firmly to the dinosaur, maybe that´s why Tyco decided to include a smaller, lighter figure instead of the ordinary, big ones. Interesting, however is that the two handles to fit the figure to the handle bar are designed to be used by a big figure.

There is a variant of this toy in which the figure included is not the child-Llahd, but an adult-Llahd, a figure with a different cast, but similar colours. The adult-Llahd version is considered to be rarer than the child-Llahd version. I have both, os you can compare both in the next pictures.

We have unintendedly used the word dinosaur for the Pterodactyl, but technically it is no dinosaur, but a flying sauria. I always like to make this clear when I write about "dinosaurs" that are not "real dinosaurs".

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: PTERODACTYL with LLADH
• Toy Line: Dino Riders (Wave 1)
• Year: 1988
• Company: Tyco (U.S.A.)
• Scale of the dinosaur: 1:24
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm

#521 FX SCHMID – PIPPI LANGSTRUMPF and PIPPI LANGSTRUMPF IM TAKA-TUKA-LAND (nr. 609 20 and 608 20) (1971)

I once showed a deck of cards made by Naipes Comas from Spain that had Pippi Longstocking as the main character/theme. That deck of card was actually a reissue of an original German deck of cards that I want to show today.

There is no doubt, that Pippi is a fascinating character for children all over the world. Even today, you can notice this if you visit Astrid Lindgren´s World in Vimmerby, Sweden. There, the actress playing Pippi has to walk from one side to other (without stopping) not to be obstacled/surrounded/grabbed by very small children chasing her and shouting "Pippi, Pippi". This image was very surprising to me, I found it almost scary.

No matter what, Pippi had a first real action TV series shot in 1969 that was translated to many languages and became very popular everywhere where it was shown. The main character was played by Inger Nilsson. Some movies were made after and before the series, and, of course,there were many books written with her adventures. I guess this may vary from one country to another, but being Pippi a character intended for rather small children, the TV series and movies have had more success than the books.

This is an example of merchandising and licensed items. In this case it´s two decks of cards made in Germany (where Pippi was also extremely popular) that sold very well durign the 70s. Probably, two of the best selling decks by FX Schmid.

The first deck is simply Pippi Langstrumpf, and the next one is Pippi Langstrumpf in Taka-Tuka-Land, where Pippi travels to a pirate island and gets back a treasure stolen by pirates. Both are based on the movies with the same names (1969 and 1970).

Both decks were reedited a few years later, and in the case of Pippi and the Pirates, I own two versions. They are actually the same except for the cover card, that has a more modern (70s!) design, and the back of the cards are printed in another shade of blue. The color of the pictures in the cards are also a bit different, but this may also vary among decks in the same issue.

 And to finish this article, all cards from the second set plus "Facts and Figures"

FACTS AND FIGURES:
 •Name: PIPPI LANGSTRUMPF and PIPPI LANGSTRUMPF IM TAKA-TUKA-LAND (nr. 609 20 and 608 20)
•Year: 1971 (plus reedition from the late 70s)
•Company: FX Schmid (Germany)

#520 EFSI - MERCEDES 250 SE COUPE and CITROEN DYANE (Nrs. 406 and 410) (Around 1972)

 

These are two very old EFSI models I own. The Mercedes was also available under the BestBox brand, although that older model had practicable doors. As you can see in the base plate, the Efsi brand has been placed over some deleted part, where previously the BestBox logo was. The black wheels were also used by the latest BestBox, but are best known for being the classic design of a big part of EFSI models.

The first model is a Citroen Dyane in yellow, very well casted and with great details. The most impresive one is the practicable sunroof made of thin plastic.

 

 

The second model, also in yellow, is a Mercedes 250 SE Coupé decorated with race number 10, and a black base. It is not so detailed as the previous model, but still a rare model.

 

 

None is in their best conditions, but still have collector value.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: CITROEN DYANE and MERCEDES 250 SE COUPE (Nrs. 406 and 410)
• Scale: 1:60
• Year: Around 1972
• Company: EFSI Holland (Netherlands)
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm