Toys from the Past

Sunday, April 21, 2013

#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

Thursday, April 18, 2013

#271 LONE STAR – ROUTEMASTER BUS (LONDON DOUBLE DECK BUS) (1972)

Lone Star is the trademark used by the toy division of Die Cast Machine Tools (DCMT), a british company based in London.

This company was founded in 1939. Among their first products, there are many guns and rifles, which were very popular at the time because of the many films about Indians and Cowboys. It is said, that the name of the toys comes from these products. They also manufactured hand-painted toy soldiers, first in lead, later in plastic. These were mostly soldiers, indian and cowboys although they also had licenses for popular characters like Popeye, el Zorro or James Bond’s Thunderball.

Their most successful products were vehicles, and there were vehicles in several scales made… starting with the classic 1/43 (similar to Corgi’s cars), 1/64 under the Impy series, and also in 1/85 with the Tuf Tots.

The Tuft-Tots were already introduced in this blog in entry #219, this time we will focus on the larger scale models (1:43 for cars, other scales for other vehicles), made to compete against Corgi and Dinky, but also against Matchbox and other companies.

The first cars in this scale were manufactured as early as 1956, in a series called “Road-Master” (also “Road Master”). The first castings, for example the bus in the pictures, were not very well done. The castings are not very detailed. Note that this bus is made in two halves fit together.

The production of Lone Star Road Master series was improved in the following years, with details like plastic windshields, hand-painted head- and taillights.

Not everything improved. The nice aluminium hubcaps with white plastic tyres were by the mid-60s replaced by one-part plastic tyres (those in the pictures).

This bus sold massively, since many tourist that visited London bought it as a souvenir. There were also a London Taxi available in this size. Because of its popularity, this bus was manufactured during decades. This model seems to be made by the early 80s, but I cannot give a precise year, so I will label it as early 60s, when the first bus was released.

The same model was available in 1977 chromed, as a souvenir of the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II (1952-1977), and also with different stickers.

This model is one of the oldest toys I can remember, and was probably bought by some relative on a trip to London.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

Name: ROUTEMASTER BUS (#1259)
Scale: Around 1:120 (?)
Year: ~~Around 1960~~ 1972
Company: Lone Star (Great Britain)
Size: approx. 4,5’’ or 11 cm

Monday, April 15, 2013

#270 M.A.S.K. – BUZZARD with MILES and MAXIMUS MAYHEM (1987)

This boxed vehicle will introduce an entry dealing with M.A.S.K. packages and box artwork. As said in previous M.A.S.K. entries, we have to distinguish between vehicles and figures/ action packs.

Vehicles, like this one were available in red boxes. These had many different sizes, from the tiny boxes of the small motorbikes or small playsets to huge boxes from the biggest vehicles or the “Boulder Hill”. Buzzard comes in a small/middle-sized box.

The boxes were decorated with great artwork in the front, depinting the vehicle or playset “in action”, plus a small picture of the driver (or drivers) included on the box. The design of the box, with the white letters, logo, red background remained almost unchanged though the years, so a M.A.S.K. box is completely recognizable.

There are slightly differences between American and European boxes, although both use the same artwork. The most interesting difference is that US boxes include in the back a picture of the actual toy with all features explained, while in European boxes, and due to the different countries in which the toys were distributed: the back of the box is identical to the front of the box only in other languages. One side includes the descriptions in English, French and Dutch, while the other side is in German and Italian.

The sides of the box were used to explain more in detail the action features of the toy, this time with a picture of the actual toy. In this case there are three pictures at each side: complete car, splitted car and action feature of the middle part of the car (jet).

Figures were available without vehicle in double-packs, or in single packs with some accessories (similarly to what later happened with Dino Riders). In this case, both double packs and accessory packs were available carded in blisters. The only exception to this rule was T-Bob with Scott Tracker, that was available in the U.S. in a blister card, but in a box in Europe. This was the smallest box in the whole collection.

And now let’s check the contents of the box. Each box was packed in a different way, but in general lines we always find a folded cardboard that keeps the biggest parts of the vehicle apart from each other. All parts are packed in with-scotch-tape sealed plastic bags, and the figures are packed apart in sealed plastic bags together with their masks, but in two different “compartments”.

Vehicles came with a sheet of stickers, plus instructions. Also included is a poster-catalogue with nice dioramas showing the toys available in each wave.

FACTS and FIGURES:

Name: BUZZARD with MILES MAYHEM/ FLEXOR and MAXIMUS MAYHEM/ DEEP FREEZE (Ref. 37340)
Toy Line: M.A.S.K. (Wave 3)
Year: 1987
Company: Kenner (U.S.A.)
Size of the vehicle: 9’’ or 23 cm
Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm

Friday, April 12, 2013

#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

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

#268 MATCHBOX - HYDRAULIC EXCAVATOR and SCAMMEL CONTRACTOR (K1 and K10) (1969 and 1968)

This will be a short entry showing two more King Size / Super Kings models.

The interesting fact about them is that they were released in 1968 and 1969, as the series was still called “King Size”, and discontinued years later after being part of the “Super Kings” series for a few years. The rename of the big scale Matchbox series took place in 1971, probably to unify names after the deployment of the first “Superfast” cars (1:64 scale) in 1970. So if the 1:64 cars were “Superfast”, “King Size” should be renamed “Super Kings”.

The most important change was naturally the wheels. Older models typically have the two-part wheels with black plastic tyres and red rims, while “Super Kings” have the classic Superfast wheels, just in bigger scale. The older wheel type fits and looks better in most models, so “King Size” are usually most “wanted” than their newer versions.

Naturally, the packages of the toys were changed accordingly.

Scammel Contractor (K-19) from 1968: the K-19 was first released in 1968, but re-released in 1972 with superfast wheels. New models seem to be painted in a slightly darker red, but I cannot compare the colours, since this one is my only model.

Hydraulic Excavator (also O & K Excavator) (K-1) from 1969: Similarly to K-19, with the Hydraulic Excavator K-1, which was released in 1969 and changed to superfast wheels in 1971.

And now, I include pictures of several old Matchbox catalogues depicting these two models. There are great dioramas and more information in the pictures.