#1049 KEES - FIAT PANDA and TY-PHOO JUBILEE TRAM (Around 1985)

Kees is a brand that Steven (from the Motorcade) showed me a couple of years ago, and I have this model thanks to him. He showed me this model in a picture, and was immediately interested, because I thought it was a Fiat Uno from the first generation. Unfortunately, after looking at it from all angles, I think it is most probably a Fiat Panda. The cast is not very good, as you can imagine from my previous comment.

The die-cast model has a plastic base, no interior, a relatively bad paintwork and paper stickers. It is a rather typical novelty toy of the early 90s. And among these, we could consider it a "good" one.

If this is so, its current value can only be explained by their scarcity. On top of that, the car is not marked anyway, so most of these go undetected in the Internet markets, and those who can be identified, are quite pricey. I don't think I will ever have more of these, I won´t pay so much money for such a model and having one piece is enough for me.

Another thing to comment, it that Kees seems to base many of their die-cast on Polistil models from those years, but I guess there is no connection between them.

I have here this nice advertising page presenting the main products that the company was offering in 1985, as well as other useful information for potential clients.

And because we have this advertisement sheet, we know that the following item is also made by Kees. It is a London Tram with Ty-Phoo Tea decals. Ty-Phoo is a British brand of tea, still on the market. I am not quite sure if this jubilee applies to the tea company, to the first service of the tram reproduced (in the back it says it started in 1885, but in the front it says 1905 (so, is it an 80 or 100 years jubilee?) In any case, it is a very nice model, specially in its cardboard packaging. I had to fix it a bit, but it looks nice now for display.

I tend to think it is a promotional item, as Kees is not mentioned in the packaging, and Ty-Phoo logo appears in quite a big size in the package. Antoher clue could be that there are many for sale on eBay and at very low prices, so most likely it was a giveaway from that brand of tea.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: FIAT PANDA and TY-PHOO TEA JUBILEE TRAM
• Scale: Around 1:64 / Around 1:120
• Year: Around 1985
• Company: Kees (Hong-Kong)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#1048 ZYLMEX - FIAT X1/9, DATSUN 260Z and '84 CORVETTE (D63, D75 and D76) (Around 1984)

These are three more models I have got in the last years. New Matchbox or Hot Wheels models are very well done, with great tampographies and can be bought for around 1.5 euros/piece. I think this may be the reason why many cars made in the 80s are increasingly rare to find. I guess many are being thrown away together with older toy cars or mistaken with slightly more modern and cheap Chinese models from the 90s. Why use these old toys, when the new ones are much better and so affordable?

D63 - Fiat X1/9 in Red
A very popular car from the mid 80s, here the cast is very similar to the Corgi Juniors model, although this one is smaller, both in length and in width. It was available in red and had practicable bonnet.
The hardtop is simulated with a black sticker, while other models, such as the mentioned Corgi, had a black plastic piece instead.

D75 Datsun 260Z in Blue
This model has already appeared in the blog (see #332), but this one is in a much better shape. The car seems to be have benn made later in time, as it is already a Made in China product and the base is somewhat different (it does not show the "Z" logo, for example).

D76 '84 Corvette - Silver
I love this model, I think it is inspired in its color and decoration by the Matchbox model, although it is based in a completely different cast. Needless to say that the windshield is ultrafragile, it has miraculously survived until today.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: FIAT X1/9, DATSUN 260Z and '84 CORVETTE (D63, D75 and D76)
• Scale: Around 1:64
• Year: Around 1984
• Company: Zylmex (Hong-Kong/China)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#1047 G.I. JOE – S.L.A.M. (1987)

The black catalogue used in Europe for the G.I. Joes corresponding to the year 1987 in the US (which arrived in Spain around one year later), was a trauma for many children like me, as it depicted many references that were not available in Spain (or in Italy or in both). We could see the pictures, we could read a short description of the vehicle, and at the end of this text, we could read "this item is not available in Spain/Italy". Why didn´t they change the catalogue layout, as they did the next year, is something I never understood.

One of the vehicles that was not available for me was the S.L.A.M. a small tank with capacity for two figures. The tank had some legs to fix itself to the ground and convert into an artillery base. Too much firepower for a small tank! The platform rotates 360 degrees and has four cannons on one side and a lot of red missiles that do not fit very well in their places and usually fall down (the slot is too small). One of the figures look ahead, the other back, so all flanks are covered.

The vehicle itself is not a great thing (there are others which I like better in this same size), but I learnt to love it more, since I had seen it hundreds of times in that catalogue sheet. I also have the original box in great condition, with a very fine artwork.

As I usually do with G.I.Joe vehicles, I will display now some diorama pictures of this vehicle.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: S.L.A.M. (Strategic Long-Range Artillery Machine)
• Toy Line: G.I. Joe (Wave 6)
• Year: 1987
• Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size: Around 20 cm long

#1046 FIGURAS EN ACCIÓN (F.E.A.) Nr. 30

 

The new issue of Figuras En Acción is out and ready to be downloaded, this time we wrote in depth about Power Lords by Revell and Sectaurs by Coleco, two rather obscure toylines worth discovering. 

We also have a short article dealing with the trading cards made by Lázaro Totem depicting all kinds of monsters that can be collected in an album. The name of this collection is Monstruos Alucinantes. We already interviewed him (in the issue n. 27) and talked about a previous work of this type called Cromotropia.

And finally, another article dealing with Praise Unlimited and Rainfall, the two american toy companies specialized in christian toys. It was a challenge to find the very few bits of information on the web and putting them all together, not sure if many people will be interested in this one!

The magazine has 113 pages. Past issues were longer and included more articles, but this time we had some issues and had to leave some material for the nr. 31, which will be available next December.

You can find the download link in the official blog: 

https://figurasenaccion.blogspot.com/2024/05/revista-numero-30-mayo-2024.html

Enjoy!

#1045 FX SCHMID – GRAND PRIX, PS AUF SCHIENEN and BUSSE (1984 and 1985)

This entry will be a lazy one, as I will only be presenting three new mini decks of cards made by FX Schmid, similar to other I have shown in the past and which have the checkered flag pattern in the cover card. The “Minis” in this entry are slightly more modern (see #857 and #858, which includes a more modern version of Grand Prix), and I also showed some big decks with the checkered pattern before (see #736).

As usual in the mini quartet decks, there are only 6 families instead of 8, and that makes 24 cards plus the cover card.

The first two were released in 1984, the last on in 1985. I like them all a lot, especially the one with buses, which is a not so common theme for a quartett game.

GRAND PRIX (No. 56510.0) from 1984

PS AUF SCHIENEN (No. 56510.0) from 1984

BUSSE (No. 50044.6) from 1985

This cover card has the copyright in it, not the other two.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: GRAND PRIX, PS AUF SCHIENEN and BUSSE (No. 56510.0, 56510.0 and 50044.6)
• Year: 1984, 1984 and 1985
• Company: FX Schmid (West Germany)

#1044 ALME - WESTERN PLAY INDIANER (Ref. 1700) (Around 1984)

I sometimes complain about the lack of information regarding some Spanish toy manufacturer on the Internet but it is also the case of Italian, Greek or Hongkongese toymakers. But this also applies now to the German manufacturer ALME, from the DDR (Democratic Republic of Germany). They were producers of plastic cowboys and Indians, of that kind that can be combined by using several pieces that connect to each other (so-called Steckfiguren), similar to those made by Timpo or Manurba.

But it is not the case of this toy I found in a second hand shop. It is still in its original blister, so I decided to buy it. Otherwise I would have probably not buy it. It is an indian child, similar to or inspired by the character from the comic books and also the TV series Yakari, which was a Sioux boy capable of communicating with animals.

The figure is made of plastic and is poseable (thanks to a kind of cable skeleton). This type of toy is called Biegefigur in German and bendable in English. It comes with a couple of nice accessories: an axe and a shield. The second accesory is still attached to the plastic tree. It was sold under the “Western Play” with the reference No. 1700. I have been searching the Internet, and there are a few of this, but it does seem to be a single figure, there are no other characters in this series.

As said before, there is no information at all about ALME. The company logo carries the word "economical" and "quality", which maybe suggest, that their toys were not the top of the row, maybe limited to popular events, small shops and rare to find in big toy shops. At the time in which it was made (I guess it was in the mid-80s, as the TV series Yakari was aired between 1983 and 1986 for the first time), the quality of budget toys was much higher than it was in the 90s or the 2000s… so, it is a good toy overall.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: INDIANER
• Toy Line: Western Play
• Year: Around 1984
• Company: Alme (Democratic Republic of Germany)
• Size of the figures: Around 8 cm tall

#1043 YATMING – WRECK TRUCK and HEAVY DUTY TIPPER TRUCK (Around 1975 and 1990)

Yatming has a series of trucks with different loads attached to it. Some people say, they are based on the Ford F600 Cab, while other people think it resembles more an Isuzu cab from the late 70s. Honestly, I think it is the second one, as the two rectangles on the front of the cab are typical of the Japanese company, but I am not an expert in trucks and even less in Japanese trucks. Maybe the next picture helps with the identification...

These models were released in the mid-80s and carried reference numbers ranging from 1351 to 1359. There were, of course, other truck models but these were the oldest. As it is usual in this die-cast manufacturer, the models were available during a long period of time, many years, in fact, so you can find them Made in Hong Kong or Made in China, with metal or plastic bases and also with different colour variants.

I only have these two:
 
1352 Wreck Truck (Made in Hong-Kong) still has its hook and is in a very good shape. With metallic base. The hook oscillates back and forth, but the black base is firmly attached to the cab. It can carry one car, but not every car, as the hook is too high for most models and, as a results, the truck drags whatever load it is.

1358 Heavy Duty Tipper Truck (Made in China), with plastic base. Interestingly, both share the same wheels, even though there are, at least, 10 years between one and the other. The bed is practicable.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: WRECK TRUCK and HEAVY DUTY TIPPER TRUCK (No. 1352 and 1358)
• Scale: Around 1:100
• Year: Around 1975 and 1990
• Company: YatMing (Hong-Kong/China)
• Size: approx. 7 cm