#810 PANINI - BA-146-100 AIR FRANCE from JET AIRLINERS (2004)

I was talking to a toy expert recently who showed me these planes in the Micromachines scale. There is no doubt about them, because they are still wrapped in its original bag (and comes with its original papersheet). They belong to a series of 48 planes that could be bought together with Panini stickers for the collection: "Jet Airliners" from 2004, which apparently had only 82 stickers.

Although the planes are relatively new, I decided to write an entry about this plane (I have only one), just for comparison purposes. I have written two other entries with Panini stickers from two different collections (published long ago).

The collection of 48 planes consisted of 24 different models, each of them in two decorations, that is, with two different sets of stickers, belonging to two different airlines, for example. Iberia and Alitalia, or Air France and British Airways.

What the expert also told me is that the other collection of military planes in the micromachines scale and that I showed a very long time ago in my blog is also from Panini. Please return to entry number #273.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: JET AIRLINERS (BA-146-100 AIR FRANCE)
• Scale: unknown scale.
• Year: 2004
• Company: Panini (Italy) / Unknown Toymaker (China)
• Size: approx. 3 cm

#273 PANINI – MILITARY JETS (DIE-CAST MICRO MACHINES KNOCK-OFFs) (2000)

  

Similar to the die-cast planes we saw two days ago, and considering that these are commonly mistaken, I present today my small collection of die-cast, micro machines knock-off planes.

They’re almost identical to the planes that were sold in Panini bags, but these are marked China plus a number (instead of the name of the plane) The number ranges from 101 to (at least) 140, so we have again 40 different models. In this article I am showing 20 different.

I suspect, both Panini planes and these ones are actually made by the same company. The wheels are identical, and some of the models I own are the same casts shown in the back cover of the album. The only difference are the colours and that in this collection there seems to be no older planes, like the Zero or the P-51D.

But, which collection was first? Panini’s or those? We will probably never know. If my theory is right, most probably Panini hired this company to produce some models for their sticker bags.

 

Numbers in this picture are mistaken... I'll correct it asap.

UPDATE: I found on eBay two collections of war planes made by an unknown toymaker from China. I suspect some of the planes might be identical to these planes or the ones shown in the previous entry. These two sets are however much more modern (2000s). They also include an "Airbase Layout", just like the previous collection of micro planes.

UPDATE: I have new models...

UPDATE2 (Feb/2017):

I justfound out these planes are also from a stickers collection by Panini. Unlike the collection from the previous entry, this time the stickers dealt only with military planes, and it was called Militär Flugzeuge, or also Wings of Fire. It was published in 2000 and republished again later. I got confirmation by a guy who knows a lot about stickers in general and Panini in particular and I cecked it on the internet. The guy sold me one piece with the original paper that has a listing of all available models. Note that the 40 models are different.

UPDATE3 (Dec/2018): A few more models, this time with reference numbers...

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: PLANES (SEVERAL MODELS)
• Scale: 1:150 aprox.
• Year: 2000
• Company: Panini (Italy) / Unknown Toymaker (China)
• Size: approx. 3 cm

#272 PANINI – PLANES (DIE-CAST MICRO MACHINES KNOCK-OFFs) (1993)

In the year 1993, Panini, the well known Italian sticker maker, launched a sticker collection dealing with planes. The album included the history of aviation, from the very beginning to modern prototypes. In each page there were pictures (stickers) of many different plane models. Stickers are out of the scope of this blog, but since sticker collections are sometimes related to other toys, they might appear from time to time. Today it’s the first time this happens. Why?

The reason for this is that the sticker packs could be bought either like in every other collection, or in a special bag containing a few packets (maybe 4 or 5, I can’t remember) and a die-cast plane model in the typical Micro Machine scale. These miniatures were very well done. All of them were marked with the name of the plane plus “China”.

Additionally, included in the sticker album, there was the model of an airport you could make out of some cardboard sheets that you had to remove and fold yourself. This airport was depicted on the back cover of the album. I remember I mounted it a long time ago, so I don’t have it anymore. However, the picture gives us a nice idea of how it was.

 

More interesting than that are the models in that same picture. This is the only source of information we have: there were 40 different models, although those 40 might include some repainted models.

We don’t know which company made these die-cast planes, and we will probably never know, so I will label them as Panini.

In Mai 2013, I acquired a few more models from this collection, so I will now attach some more pictures to this article as an "update".

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: PLANES (BOEING 747, ZERO, P-51D, F-14 and more)
• Alternate Names: FLUGZEUGE (German), LES AVIONS (French), AVIONES (Spanish), AEREI (Italian) and VLIEGTUIGEN (Dutch).
• Scale: 1:150 aprox.
• Year: 1993
• Company: Panini (Italy) / Unknown Toymaker (China)
• Size: approx. 3 cm