#632 MADELMAN - CAÑÓN MADELMAN (Around 1972)

Madelman is a toy line I like, but it was over years before I got interested in toys. I never had any toys from this line, never played with them, and I have no special affection for them. In addition to this, they are really expensive. Being the first and one of the very few Spanish action figures gives it a cult-status that raises the prices from expensive to impossible.

 

A while ago, I got some Madelman toys from a friend of my father, who had kept them at home for 30 or 35 years. There are mainly accesories and vehicles, an I will be showing them during the next months. It is difficult to find out which sets are included, since the same accesories were often available in more than one set/reference.

 

 

Here's the Artillery Cannon from Madelman. It looks really great and realistic. It came with six bullets and two ammo boxes, I only have the boxes, maybe I can find the bullets (even if they are repro) to complete the set.

 

 

Very interesting is the original box with amazing illustrations. probably made by Luís/Lluis Bargalló, who worked at the time for Exin and made the artwork for Madelman and Scalextric, among others.ç

 

 

Not much information on this entry, but I promise to return to Madelman soon. Last Madelman entry was number #15.

 

 

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: CAÑÓN MADELMAN
• Toy Line: Madelman
• Year: Around 1972
• Company: Madel (Spain)
• Size: Around 30 cm
• Scale: 1:10 (estimation)

#269 MIRA – VESPA 200 DN (ref. 809) (Around 1984)

This is a rare toy made by Mira in the early to mid-80s. I received it as a gift at that time, and I have kept it ever since. There are just a few pictures of it in the internet, but all of them come from auction sites, where by the way, they’re selling quite high. I think it is a nice toy, and since it is a Vespa, I guess many Vespa owners would like to one also one of these.

Although Mira made some motorbike models in a smaller scale, this Vespa is somehow a rare item. To my knowledge, it is the only motorbike in this scale ever made by Mira. The scale should be around 1:12 and 1:20.

It is important to mention, that Vespa (and this model in particular) was a very popular model at the time and many children would recognise it from their families or friends.

This Vespa was made in white, red, blue and yellow, and each model included a driver. I have seen red and yellow drivers that were probably applied randomly to each motorbike. The red driver wears a white helmet, while the yellow one wears a blue one. The overall has some details in the colour of the helmet, like a stripe at each side. I remember I “restored” that line, since the paint was partially worn off.

The motorbike itself was decorated with nice colour stripes, the seat was a black plastic piece, and had some chromed parts. Unfortunately those parts have some playwear and do not shine like they used to… The plates are A-7005-JM, where A is Alicante, the province in which Mira had its factory. The handles were finished with some plastic/gum pieces, that are currently missing, but that can be replaced very easily.

Among the most fragile parts, are the brake bars. In this model one is missing completely, and the other one is broken. The rims and the gum tyres are also very nice details. The gum tyres are necessary because this model is equipped with a pull-back motor.

If you want to know more about the company, check this entry.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: VESPA 200 DN (Ref. 809)
• Scale: Around 1:12
• Year: Around 1984
• Company: Mira (Spain)
• Size: approx. 13 cm

#15 MADELMAN - HELICÓPTERO (1975)

This is with no doubt, one of the best Spanish toys of all times. It’s a helicopter made by Madel and sold from 1975 to 1982. Madelman was the response of the Spanish toy industry (which was very powerful until the early 80s) to American toy lines like G.I. Joe / Action Man, that were available a little bit earlier. Unfortunately, I am not very familiar with this collection, and I do not own any figures to display with the helicopter.

Madel built several versions of this toy:

1975-1982 Helicopter (two versions: yellow or dark green)

1977-1982 Helicopter with missile launcher (dark green).

1977-1982 Rescue helicopter with stretcher (blue and white)

1979-1981 Superman’s helicopter (red and white)

From this 5 versions, the first two (yellow or dark green helicopters) are by far the most common.

What makes this model special is the great care that the manufacturers from Madel put in it, it has so many details, that I don't think I'll get to describe all of them. The helicopter is made in an scale of approximately 1:10, and looks a little like an Agusta Bell 47 "Sioux". I don't know if it represents another real model.

Anyway, notice the big cabin with enough space for two figures, the rotor with 3 blades that move pulling the trigger, the central part, with space for two jerrycans and an engine part at the top, the squids, and the light tail with tail-rotor at the end.




The cockpit deserves to be analyzed very thoroughly. It's equipped with two seats made of cloth, that include their respectives (two-part) seatbelts. The cockpit consists of the central console with a silver sticker, and two steering sticks. It's done in a way, that pulling (or pushing) from one of these sticks, pulls (or pushs) from the other one automatically.
Behind the seats, there's another good point, and it's a "caution" sticker.


The tail of the helicopter is extremely fragile. Many the helicopters I've seen in Ebay or other blogs are missing some part of it.

The central part of the helicopter has a handle with a trigger that activates the rotor. Additionally to the rotor movement, it makes the engine and blades noise by hitting a paper membrane (located behind the seats, see picture above). It's a completely mechanical system (no electronics, or whatever). This is probably the most surprising feature of the whole toy. There is also place in this central part for two removable jerrycans, that are also difficult to find in perfect shape. The black cap of these cans is not removable, and it seems childen broke many of them while playing.


The landing squids are also very fragile. The squids of my helicopter are broken at two different places, but nothing is missing. If you're looking forward to buy one of these, pay special attention to this point. At the vertical bar of the squid, there's a stand to step in the cabin.

The model in the pictures is 100% complete except for two round stickers at the sides of the cabin.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: HELICÓPTERO MADELMAN (Yellow Version)
• Toy Line: Madelman
• Year: 1975
• Company: Madel (Spain)
• Size: 40 cm
• Scale: 1:10 (estimation)