Band of Bruders

As a follow on from the earlier post about Bruder Astro toys, here are some of my collection. Generally speaking, there are eight distinct vehicles, all about 2" long. These were generally sold in clear plastic countertop boxes. They would often appear with farm vehicles, boats or planes, or less often with trains.

The colour scheme is almost always a combination of blue/white and silver, mixed up throughout the models, but the larger vehicles also come in a green/purple/orange mix.

Where the story becomes a little cloudy is the addition of cake topper versions of the toys, which appear to be copies of the West German toys, using slightly simpler mouldings and slightly inferior quality plastic.

Alongside these appear yet another range of smaller versions, again unbranded, which echo their larger siblings.

To confuse things even further, an extended range of models appeared in Kinder Eggs in the 90's made by Giodi, the company responsible for some of the better miniature models. These tended to be on the same scale as the smaller copies.

Bruder models are always well made and quite durable little miniatures, not very realistic, but neat little novelties.

Recently, I was given a bagged set of Bruder Astro copies with the 'Tennison Trading' label on and a Hong Kong address. 

Finally, Woodsy found me a bagged set of the small ones in bright colours as party favours in Germany too.