Just when I thought it was safe to go back in the water up pop a whole flottila of fab toys new to the blog and all JR21! First up is a humdinger and completely new to me until WOTAN spotted it on Ebay a week ago - the magnificent X-90 FLYING SAUCER CAR. Described as 'Friction Drive, Lifting canopy/ fly the "saucer" with attached mechanism. Length 21cm. No.241 Made in Hong Kong'. Wonderful! In light of this discovery and the X-80 Space Capsule, which surfaced in Hong Kong earlier in the year, the X-series checklist of JR21 toys is due an overhaul. More to follow on this.
Next up is also a new discovery but not in the X-series rather the more general range of JR21 plastic toys like the Bedford Van I posted this month - a COMICARS car. Found loitering on Ebay US it was described as '5" long, plastic, circa 1960s, strong friction, Made in Hong Kong, #315, Porky Pig?" I'm expecting this odd little chappie to arrive any day after negotiating one Icelandic Volcanic Ash cloud en-route to Albion. The box art depicts a completely different car with what looks like a doggie driver, so I expect further sightings of Comicars. More to follow on Porky.
Third in this quartet of new Rosenthals is wishful thinking on my part really. As part of a recent haul of vintage plastic at the local Boot Sale - Jimson, Lucky - I also picked up this lovely orange VW Pick Up, Now there is no JR diamond monogram but there is the number 313, just two below one 'Porky Pig' Comicar! Can anyone confirm the VW's make?
Finally and equally as speculative as the VW above is this gorgeous SPACE SAUCER seen below in both blue and red colour variations. I spotted this recently during one my regular trawls of the fantastic ALPHADROME database. The entry doesn't really offer any clues as to the make but various features lead to consider that it might be JR21: the look of the plastic, the Union Jack, the Space Saucer lettering and most significantly the similarity of the box art to that of the JR21 NEW FLYING SAUCER. The New Flying Saucer was copied by many other toy companies such as T in a Circle and Bohm, so it may be that the Space Saucer is also a copy. Can anyone put me out of my JR misery and confirm one way or another?
Copyright Alphadrome
One last thing. Should Bank Holiday Monday be a real scorcher (yeah, right) then I have just the thing to cool you down JR21 style! Watch this space!
Edit: WOTAN butts in - seeing the X-90 for the first time I was immediately reminded of the Scalecraft Aerocar I featured on the blog some months ago - the X-90 clearly predates this and the toy one shown below. The toy version on the right favours the vertical alignment of the rotor on the X-90 to0!
Those Comi Cars look a bit like the ones I got with my Trik Trak, what a disappointment that Christmas gift was! I wanted scaletrix/hotwheels, but not that year, Santa's sack was too small!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.samstoybox.com/toys/TrikTrak.html
my mate had the red flying saucer loose, years ago - but its come and gone now, so i cant recall or check it for id! Perhaps this was the 'flying saucer' which predated the 'new' flying saucer ?
ReplyDeleteMy immediate reaction was that the X90 was a copy of the Scalecraft aerocar. WOTAN, can you tell me why you think it's the other way round? Thanks,
ReplyDeleteSean
id say the x-90 predates the aerocar as the box art and general build of toy looks much less sophisticated than the scalecraft version. i got the toy aerocar around 1969/70 too as a substitute for the more expensive probe force 2!
ReplyDeleteWOTAN, the Scalecraft was issued in 1966.
ReplyDeleteSean
the toy i have was a later copy of the scalecraft model. i still think the x-90 is early, possibly 1965+ the x-80 shows early sixties capsule designs, so its not a great leap of faith to assume the x-90 followed shortly after. the box art is very reminiscent of contemporary sixties space art, with a very naive look to it.
ReplyDeleteI suppose there's no reason why it might be Scalecraft that copied the X-90; copying was rife in both the UK and Hong Kong toy industries.
ReplyDeleteI like that idea WOTE, the 'Space Saucer' leading to the 'New Flying Saucer'. For some reason that strange font on the Space Saucer box side, sort of heraldic, makes me think of Merit Toys?
ReplyDelete