#707 EIDAI GRIP - MITSUI ZOSEN HOVERCRAFT (Around 1980)

I found this toy hovercraft a few months ago in a flea market. It is not 100% complete, since the big propellers and its fans are broken.

I have found out that Mitsui is a Japanese engineering and shipbuilding company, and Zosen seems to be the Japanese word for Shipbuilding. I do not know who made this toy or if it is actually a toy... maybe it is some promotional ítem? It has a logo on the base that resembles some kind of "G". A reader from this blog gave me the hint and correctly identified the toy to be an Eidai Grip. I will update this entry with some more data soon.

Anyway, a die-cast hovercraft in 3 inches size is something rare. We already saw the two ones made by Matchbox and I am already aware of a vintage model made by Tomica, which is the one that can be found easily in Google when searching "Mitsui Zosen". The Tomica model, however seems to have a plastic base.

Despite intensive search in Google, I couldn't find any pictures of this toy, so I guess it is a very rare one. If you have information about this toy, please leave a comment here. Maybe some Japanese reader can provide some link or hint. Thanks!

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MITSUI ZOSEN HOVERCRAFT
• Scale: 1:210
• Year: Around 1980
• Company: Eidai Grip (Japan)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#706 GUISVAL - CAMIÓN VOLQUETE (Nº49) and CAMIÓN HORMIGONERA (Nº50) (1971)

This entry will show two of the oldest trucks made by Guisval for the Campeon series. This series originally comprised 30 models (in 1967, but was later expanded in 1970 and 1971 to 43 and 50 models respectively). These two trucks have references 49 and 50. One of them (Nr.49) is a simple dumper and the second one (Nr. 50) is a cement mixer. Both are based in the same cast, only the "load" changes.

These models were sold during a long time, and, as we will see later, the cast was modified at least once (I mean the body of the truck, the base was probably changed several times). By 1974 or 1975, they were assigned other reference numbers: 30 for the dumper and 40 for the cement mixer.

The first models were made in the colours you see: green/yellow (the dumper) and yellow/green (the cement mixer). Later issues would also change colours and also wheel types, and the cement mixer would also have the cement drum made of metal or plastic.

1976 - both new "superfast" wheels
Nr.30 green/yellow (same), blue/yellow
Nr.40 yellow/blue (unpainted metallic drum), green/yellow (red metallic drum)

1977
Nr.30 blue/orange
Nr.40 orange/blue (plastic yellow/red drum)

1978-1979
Nr.30 blue/orange
Nr.40 Discontinued in 1978

1979-1981
Nr.30 yellow/blue

1982
Nr.30 discontinued in 1982

The same dump truck was available in this set (#441) I showed a long time ago, in my case, even the colours are the same.

And finally, I wanted to show, that the model was reused some time later (I checked all catalogues in miniaturasenmetal.jimdo.com/ plus more catalogues I own, and I couln't find when and for which series, this model was "resurrected". Note the orange colour, and the different base with the two small rectangulars frames to be attached to a jewel box. Interestingly enough, the cast has been modified. Note the surface in front of the winshield, the old model has some spikes, while the later re-cast doesn't. Also in the front there is a small rectangular hole to attach one part of the base.
In the last picture I compare two models one with the old cast (green/yellow) and one with the new cast (orage). If you can bring some light into this, I would be very grateful.

The jewel box is also interesting because it is one of the very first jewel box models used  (the first one, I think was the one used with the formula ones, and the second one is the one in the pictures. The vehicle is fixed to the box by means of a sellotape, or something similar. There are some "somewhat" rusty rests of it here. A bit later in Guisval history, the models would be attached to he boxes by means of two round pegs, and even later by means of two plastic clips that attach to rectagular frames on the base of the cars (see orange model). Some other day, we could talk further about boxes.

The catalogue from 1971 was still there in the box of the Dump Truck. It is really beautiful.

Sorry for the quality of the pictures, they are a bit blurry, because of a wrong setting in the camera that day.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: CAMIÓN VOLQUETE (Nº49) and CAMIÓN HORMIGONERA (Nº50)
• Scale: Approx. 1:100
• Year: 1971
• Company: Guisval (Spain)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#705 DINO RIDERS FIGURE 2-PACKS from WAVE 1 (II) (1988)

In this entry I will put pictures of each set "loose".

 

If you pay attention to the figures and you are familiar with the other figures that were sold together with each dinosaur, you´ll recognise, that all these 16 figures are repaints of already existing figures (Rulons from wave 1 are in fact, all the same, only with one out of three different heads).

 

 

Each pack included one Valorian and one Rulon figure. 13 of them are new characters, only Krulos, Questar and Mind-Zei could be considered as a "v2", that is, the original characters where included with the T-Rex and Diplodocus respectively. So if you bought these packs, you may had two Questars and two Mind-Zeis or two Krulos. The same will happen in the second wave of double pack figures, as we will explain some day.

 

Maybe this is intended, being the T-Rex and the Diplodocus expensive toys, children could still enjoy the most important characters without having to buy the big boxes, but if I were the designer, I would have packed Questar and Krulos with middle-size dinosaurs, as M.A.S.K. for example (to take a similar scale reference) did with Matt Trakker in the Thunderbird. They didn´t pack Matt Trakker with Boulder Hill, otherwise, very few children would have had this figure in wave 1.

 

All figures from the blister packs have either silver colours (for the Valorians) or golden colours (for the Rulons), and this paint is quite fragile. Only MOC samples are still really bright and good-looking. From many action figures toylines, we know that these two colours in particular suffer paint loss and decoloration over time. Maybe they are sensible to hand sweat, or maybe they are damaged easily by sunlight, the fact is that silver and gold are often gone. Gold, by the way, turns into a a more solid brown, and then to a greenish brown. Be careful when buying these figures loose!

  

Questar + Krulos (I have the mask of Krulos, but I got it recently, after I took theh pictures)

 

 

Mind Zei + Fire

 

Proto + Rattlar

 

Orion + Six-Gill

 

Nova + Demon

 

Mercury + Fang

 

Quark + Finn

 

Boldar + Termite

 

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: QUESTAR and KRULOS, MIND-ZEI and FIRE, PROTO and RATTLAR, ORION and SIX-GILL, BOLDAR and TERMITE, NOVA and DEMON, MERCURY and FANG and QUARK and FINN
• Toy Line: Dino-Riders (Wave 1)
• Year: 1988
• Company: Tyco (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm

#704 DINO RIDERS FIGURE 2-PACKS from WAVE 1 (I) (1988)

The main product Tyco wanted to sell from the Dino Riders toyline were of course the dinosaurs with their armour, accesories and so on, but these were complemented with a series of small blisters with one or two figures in them each.

Today (and tomorow) I will present the first eight 2-figure packs (16 figures) released in the first wave (1988).

For the second wave, Tyco released again 8 double packs (16 figures more), but also 6 different packs available with one figure and several accesories each. These are known as "Commandos" and are very hard to find nowadays. The third wave brought no new double packs, the same blisterpacks from wave 2 were sold during this short wave, but for the third wave (the wave with "Ice Age" references), 6 new double packs were released, 4 of which included 1 cavemen and 1 Rulon, the other two 1 Valorian and 1 Rulon. These will be discussed some other time. I want to let some time pass, because I do not have many of them, and meanwhile I may buy or find more.

So, back to the first wave of figure blisterpacks, there were 8 sets available. They were available in different regional versions: Tyco, Comansi (for Spain), Siso (for Germany)... but all of them had the same impressive T-Rex artwork. The Siso card is the same one from Tyco (in English) but with Siso stickers applied over the Tyco logo. In the backcard, where the collectable proof of purchase was, Siso put a sticker with the legal stuff: "Ages 5 and up", the CE stamp, importer data...

Comansi instead made cards in Spanish, translating every text in the front and back cards, but removed the proof of purchase.

Interestingly, some international blistercards are actually tyco blistercards with a sticker of the local toy distributor over the Tyco logo. The names of the figures are printed on stickers that are attached to the blister. Curiously, character names in these stickers differ from one country to the other, so I will use the original English names for all figures. Note also that many Valorian names are based on astronomy (planet, stars) and atomic (particles) concepts, while Rulon names somehow refer to the character race: Snakemen are called Rattlar and Fang, Sharkmen are called Six-Gill and Finn and one of the Antmen is called Termite (the other two are Fire and Demon, somehow two "subterranean" concepts).

Questar + Krulos

Mind Zei + Fire

Proto + Rattlar

Orion + Six-Gill

Boldar + Termite

Nova + Demon

Mercury + Fang

Quark + Finn

I have a few of these blisters still MOC in their Comansi versions, plus one in Tyco card (see above), and one Siso card, but since this collection is almost impossible to be completed MISB and MOC for a rational amount of money, I do not seek or try to get MISB or MOC items, I am only interested in loose items unless there is a great opportunity to get something for very little money.

These figures were advertised in the comic book together with the dinosaurs (in really small size), and also in the backcard of each blisterpack.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: QUESTAR and KRULOS, MIND-ZEI and FIRE, PROTO and RATTLAR, ORION and SIX-GILL, BOLDAR and TERMITE, NOVA and DEMON, MERCURY and FANG and QUARK and FINN
• Toy Line: Dino-Riders (Wave 1)
• Year: 1988
• Company: Tyco (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm

#703 KATALOG SPIELZEUG AUS DEM ÜEI (FANTASIA VERLAG)

 
This is the second catalogue for Kinder Surprise Toys I buy. I already presented one in entry #181, but since I have a few friends interested in these small toys, I bought a second one and I will buy more, when I find them for 1 or 2 Euros at a flea market. I don't care if its 10 or more years old.

In this case it is a compact edition, small, with thin paper (almost 1300 pages) and listings of more than 15.500 toys. These are sorted by type (Figures, Puzzles, Cars...) and then within in each categorie, by year. Unfortunately, this book does only include Ferrero's Kinder Surprise toys, while the previous guide I owned also included other brands like Nestlé, Bo Frost and more.

Something new about this guide is that it includes a chapter on fake toys. As you know some of these toys are very expensive, so after so many years of collecting, fake pieces have appeared here and there, but in this guide you will find some guidelines to prove the authenticity of the toys yourself. Another good point is that the guide is edited in German, English, French and Italian, so more people have access to the text which is written on it. A last thing I'd like to point out, is that comparing this guide to the other one from the year 2000, I have noticed severe price fluctuations. I don't know what can be the cause of this, but prices may vary from 50% less to 100% more.

#702 TOMICA – OHARA SNOW TIGER, CITROEN H TRUCK and LOTUS 79 FORD (Nr. 84, F17 and F36) (1978 and 1979)

I am running out of Tomica models to show, the next three do not have anything in common, they are three completely different vehicles: A snow vehicle, a transport van and a Formula 1.

They date from more or less the same age, I got them when I was maybe 6, and I have kept ever since. The Snow Tiger caterpillars have sadly dried and are broke, an as far as I know, there are no replacement for that. I loved it as a kid, it looks great in red, I wish I had seen a real one in the snow at least once.

Ohara Snow Tiger SM30 Nr. 84, Scale 1:78 © 1978

This Citroen van is quite an icon of the French carmaker and also an icon of France itself. I love this truck, that has not been made in this scale by any other toy manufacturer I know of (at least on the old days). It is made in a bright blue colour. It has practicable doors on the rear part.

Citroën H Truck Nr. F17 Scale 1:71 © 1979

And the third model today is a great formula one from the latest 70s. The black "John Player Special" decoration is really impressive, and the car driven by Mario Andretti from the U.S. (with race number 5) was also World Champion in 1978. That´s why the car became so famous that year. The year after that, the car was not so competitive.

Lotus 79 Ford F36 Scale 1:59 © 1978

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: OHARA SNOW TIGER, CITROEN H TRUCK and LOTUS 79 FORD
• Scale: 1:78, 1:71 and 1:59 respectively
• Year: 1978, 1979 and 1978, respectively
• Company: Tomica (Japan)
• Size: approx. 5-6 cm