#593 DINO RIDERS - DEINONYCHUS with SKY (1988)

This dinosaur is the American brother of the Velociraptor: slightly bigger, but very similar to the Asian dinosaur, and also a few million of years older, and thus less evolved. The toy however is the most oversized in the whole series: the real dinosaur was 3 meter long, but only around 1 or 1,5 meter high, so the humans/Valorians are (or should be) higher than the dinosaur. If the scale of the figure and the dinosaur were the same, the dinosaur would be around 3 or 4 meters high.

If we ignore this accuracy detail, the toy is great, since the dinosaur can be hold very comfortably from the tail, the head sculpt is great with all those teeth, and its action feature is also great to play with. When pushing the button over the tail, the dinosaur moves its legs as if it was running. The front legs are also articulated.

In the first wave, there were two deynonichus released, one for the valorians, and another one for the rulons. As usual, the Rulon Deinonychus was armoured heavier that the Rulon one, but the dinosuars were identical except for the colour of the plastic/paintwork. The Valorian dinosaur is much darker than the Rulon one.

The Valorian armour comprises a saddle with two side cannons/guns, and that´s it. Although the box was middle-sized, the contents were rather meager. Dinosaur, 1 piece armour, 1 figure and 1 weapons set. The figure is Sky, a character with one of the 2 classic "wave 1" casts: with dark blue trousers with braces, and blue shirt, one of the darkest colour combinations in a Valorian figure ever (they tend to wear light colours, while Rulons usually wear darker outfits). The figure came with a accesory tree "grey 1", as all the other Valorians from wave 1.

The armour is fixed to the body of the dinosaur by means of a flat and broad rubber band that after so many years has disappear. They tend to dry and break, so it has been replaced by a new one.

Check more Dino-Riders entries here: http://toysfromthepast.blogspot.com/search/label/Dino%20Riders

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: DEYNONYCHUS with SKY
• 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

#592 CORGI JUNIORS - CADILLAC ELDORADO (9-B4) and MERCEDES BENZ 280-SL (45-A3) (1970)

 

As we commented in previous entries, Corgi Juniors´ name at the creation of this 1:64 line was Husky. Husky and Corgi are two dog breeds. The logo of Husky was actually the head of one of these dogs. The logo, of course, was changed when Husky changed to Corgi Juniors. You can read more about the history of Corgi toys here.

 

But, focusing now in Corgi Juniors, the first models within this series came in 1970. These two models here are among the first Corgi Juniors models, and were also available as Husky. The thing I wanted to point out of these pictures are the wheels.

As every other die-cast brand manufacturing 1:64 models, Corgi also adapted their low friction "hot wheels". Matchbox had the "Superfast" wheels, and Corgi had the "Whizzwheels". Hot Wheels first introduced this feature in 1968, and was first "copied" by Lone Star in their "Road Masters Impy" Series (1969). Corgi adapted this feature for the first time in 1970, although the design of the wheel was modified later on several times. This first version of the Whizzwheels is maybe not the nicest one, because the design is quite rough. I have to say that Husky versions of these models looked much nicer with rubber wheels and metallic hubcaps.

CADILLAC ELDORADO (9-B4)

MERCEDES BENZ 280.S.L. (45-A3)

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: CADILLAC ELDORADO (9-B4) and MERCEDES BENZ 280-SL (45-A3)
• Scale: 1:64
• Year: 1970
• Company: Corgi Juniors (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#591 MATCHBOX - VARIOUS SUPERFAST MODELS (1970)

A lazy entry with several extremely cool cars from 1970: including real cars, funny cars, prototypes, all mixed up.

N°19e Road Dragster

N°22d Freeman Inter-City Commuter - This car already appeared in this blog HERE.

N°23d Volkswagen Camper

N°29d Racing Mini

N°30d Beach Buggy

N°68c Porsche 910 - In this case, I show the standard versión plus the "Super G.T." based on the same cast. I want to write an entry dealing only with Super G.T.'s so I'll explain more about them some other time. The Super G.T. (number 35/36) is much newer (1985).

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: ROAD DRAGSTER (19e), FREEMAN INTER-CITY COMMUTER (22d), VOLKSWAGEN CAMPER (23d), RACING MINI (29d), BEACH BUGGY (30d) and PORSCHE 910 (68c)
• Scale: Approx. 1:64
• Year: 1970
• Company: Matchbox (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 8 cm

#590 MERCURY – FIAT 125 and 850 (Around 1968)

At this moment, there are 7 entries dealing with Mercury toys. 6 old ones and the present one. It may seem a lot, but there is a trick... The first three dealt with motorbikes in 1:24 scale (although two of them were made by Guiloy, not by Mercury), and the 4th and 5th entries show the same car, a Ferrari 512S. The sixth entry commented the "Speedy Velox" series (1:64 scale).

But until now I had not the chance to show any pictures of more common models in 1:43 scale. The Ferrari 512S is ok, but I cannot really compare how accurate the model is, since I never saw this car in a museum or wherever.

These two models are much more common cars. There used too be a lot of them in the early 80s in Spain, the Fiat 850 was Seat 850 and the Fiat 125 was never available in Spain, but a close "relative", the Seat 124D, similar in appearance except for the head and rearlights.

 

 

Because I have seen many 850s and 124s, I can appretiate how well casted and how accurate the dimensions are. Had Mercury the original blueprints from Fiat? I think it would be possible, or maybe some worker of the company drove these cars and they took the dimensions directly from a real car... which, I think, was not the case in the Ferrari mentioned above.

The Fiat 850 was available from 1964 to 1971 and the Fiat 124 between 1967 and 1972, so I guess these models might have been manufactured by the late 60s: maybe 1968. The 850 comes with rally stickers, and is probably a later version of a car that was also avaible years before in other colours. The 124 was also produced by Mebetoys.

The models 850 and 124 were also available by some Spanish manufacturers like Joal and Guiloy. I wish I had these to be able to compare the casts. Mercury and Guiloy sold the same motorbikes in the early 70s, so it is not crazy to think that they also shared some casts that might be interesting for the Spanish market. Fiat models are on average a few years older than their Seat versions...

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: FIAT 125 and FIAT 850
• Scale: 1:43
• Year: Around 1968
• Company: MERCURY (Italy)
• Size: approx. 9 cm