Its Throwback Thursday and although I have posted this before, many moons ago, I am hankering for some space toy action on the blog, so here goes. Lima Toys, probably more famous for their oo/ho train models, produced a really odd set of toys in the 1980s. Known variously as 'Convertors' or later as 'Connectors', there were several sets of modular vehicles.
I first came across a loose set from the space series, which includes elements to make a rather Eagle Transporter like model, a Molab type vehicle and a smaller shuttle. The strange thing about them is that they use elements which can be used to make terrestrial transport too, like high speed trains and buses.
The other sets have parts to make futuristic airplanes and boats. The construction of the parts is excellent on the whole, with clean mouldings and great adaptability.
Ive also managed to find another partial set, with the plane and train parts and a losse box from the later, non-motorised Connectors set, which are moulded in yellow, with much simpler build quality and slightly inferior plastic.
I have bought these sets for my Space Toys collection a couple of years ago: they are FANTASTIC, IMO! Had I had them as a child, I think I would have played with them till they would have been consumed... :-D
ReplyDeleteWhat great toys, again something I have never heard of before, although I did have a normal Lima train set in the 1980s. Lima was an Italian company making model trains, I had no idea they also made toys.
ReplyDeleteI dont think they made many toys, possibly just a brief foray into other realms. Fleischmann, another train maker produced some interesting toys briefly, too.
ReplyDeleteThose are great! I checked the bay and there's several sets. A little pricey but shipping is the big ouch, essentially doubling the price but they'd be coming from Italy or Greece.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm still a bit peeved about the $33 in postage I paid for my GI Joe Mobile Support Vehicle from the UK. Granted I only paid 99 cents for it lol...
These remind me of the Battlestar Galactica toys that had types of connecting parts, a viper could add a storage pod or additional engines and such like - MJ Southcoast Base
ReplyDeleteYes Mark - they are great toy, the Landram is the one to hve as it only really got limited release in Canada, before the line was pulled, due to the death of a child after swallowing a missile.
ReplyDeleteThese are really interesting modules, and the flexibility of design from spaceship to bus is surprisingly wide. Recently somebody asked about another toy that allowed one to fashion multiple vehicles from a basic set of parts, but the one I found only did airplanes. There are definitely some neat ideas here for making a kind of kitbash set.
ReplyDelete