It'll be a whizz!
Friday, 31 December 2021
THE PARTY PICKLE TRAY: WORKIN THE GHERKIN!
When I saw this all my parent's New Year parties came flooding back! Also Christmas, Birthdays, Family and neighbours get-togethers in the Sixties and Seventies, because it was so darn useful!
The ubiquitous metal party tray might have had three types of nibbles on it. Maybe pickled onions and cheese cubes on sticks, maybe some piccalilli and maybe some small gherkins working their tart magic.
A bundle of small cocktail forks would have been alongside, all with coloured plastic handles!
Those were the days. There were parties and get-togethers all the time. My parents were much more sociable than I ever was or am and I'm as old as both of them!
Were your parents party throwers? Are you?
Are you putting out the pickle tray for the end of 2020?
Whatever you do readers have a great New Year!
UFO LUNCHBOX
Some photos of my UFO Lunchbox and flask. Made by King - Seeley Thermos co. in 1973, and licenced by Century 21 Merchandising ltd.
Spinmaster Bat Tech Batcave
While I was on the hunt for Hot Wheels, I came across this intriguing item. The Spinmaster Bat-Tech Batcave. A monster 33 inch tall Batman figure that opens up in to a Batcave playset, with different levels and play areas. It comes with one 4 inch Batman figure, and has lights and sounds. Naturally, all this comes at a price - $299 NZ. Too big and expensive for me, but what a great idea.
Paul Adams from New Zealand
SCOTTY, BEAM US UP!
I got this rather splendid replica of the iconic 'Star Trek' Communicator from the kids for Xmas. It's made by a company called Running Press.
Its smaller than the real thing, although it does feel comfortable in the palm of my hand; reminds me of an old Sony flip phone I used to have.
It has lights and sounds, and comes with a tiny booklet on the history of the original Star Fleet Communicator.
A BIT MORE T IN A CIRCLE AT THE END OF THE YEAR
When I discovered T in a Circle's Project SWORD toys I became hooked on the old Hong Kong brand.
Fast forward many years and I have a lot of T in a Circle in my collection now. They released lots of fine plastic toys in the Sixties and Seventies.
Here are just a few I saw on auction this year so I saved the images.
Are they your cup of T [in a circle] readers?
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The Electric Speedboat
The Computer Car - four of them here!
NASA Space patrol - the later version of this toy, which was a relative of the Project SWORD Moonbus. You can see the sticker sheet that came with this spaceship inside the box. There's a price tag but I can't read it.
Have you got any of these T in a Circle/ Tai Hing toys readers?
SPACE:1999 ON CORRIE
Nice to see The Kabin corner shop in Coronation Street had a Space:1999 colouring book on sale back in the day. I wonder if they had any other collectables tucked away?
For any of our readers from abroad who aren't familiar with Coronation Street, its a dreary soap opera set in the fictional district of Weatherfield, near Manchester, that's been on British TV since 1960. I don't watch it myself, but I imagine this photo would have been a rare high point for me!
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ANIMATED ZERO-X
If you like the Zero-X then you may like this animated launch sequence I found.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JaWIKlpH3Q
What do you think?
MORE STAR TEAM
Some more S.T.A.R. Team action figure photos I took way back in 2017, plus a link to my original post which gives a bit more in depth info on Ideals' Star Wars conquering action figure range!
The link to my original post:
https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2017/02/focus-on-star-team.html?m=0
The Treasure Hunt Batmobile
Hi
Most Hot Wheels models are produced in very large numbers. However, some are made in much smaller quantities (but still in the tens of thousands world-wide), making them harder to find. These are called Treasure Hunt models.
They were introduced in 1995, and initially comprised a separate series within the Mainline, on special cards. They were more elaborately decorated than regular Mainlines. Some collectors specialise in Treasure Hunts.
Later, the idea of having a separate series was dropped, and Treasure Hunts (and even harder to find Super Treasure Hunts) were scattered throughout the Mainline sets. That made completing some sets very difficult, if one of the models was a TH.
Modern TH are harder to identify, but there is usually (not always) a circle printed somewhere on the model itself, containing a Hot Wheels flame. This is also usually printed on the card, but hidden behind the model, making it hard to see.
In the last few days I have found two Treasure Hunts, without even trying. Most unusual.
The 2022 Batman sub-series within the HW Mainline began arriving in the shops in late 2021. The series includes five models, of which the first, numbered 1/5, is The Dark Knight Batmobile, or Tumbler.
This is a TH model, and is gloss dark blue overall. It looks as though it has lighter blue stripes over it, although these could just be thin paint around the panel details. There are matt dark grey 'mud splatters' over the vehicle.
The TH circle is printed on the roof in silver. just ahead of the tail, offset to the left. While the model itself is dark blue, the vehicle on the card looks closer to purple.
From the Hot Wheels Wiki site, is this history of the TH line.
Paul Adams from New Zealand
SPANISH ANDERSONALIA TO CLOSE THE YEAR
New Years Eve 2020 has opened its eyes here in the UK. For some of you it will be nearly over.
Here's a few old toys I saw on Spain's main auction site, all having a nice Andersonesque vibe.
Paya 's large remote controlled Moon Buggy
Lovely little ATV by unknown maker
Thunderbirds plastic toys by Comansi
Do you like them?
Thursday, 30 December 2021
TERRANOVA47'S HALLMARK ROCKET SANTA
Hello Woodsy,
You asked after the Santa in your birthday greetings.
Here is the 21 year old in his rocket/sleigh.
Stay well,
Terranova47
USA
Britains Star System Redux
Well its the tail end of the year and I thought I would post something I have been sitting on for a while, Britains Star System toys. I have posted about them before, but I recently bought a few spare parts, so I got the box out to check if I was missing anything.
I bought all the original range as they were released and only stopped when momentum slowed and they began to re-issue the same toys in different colours. The basic idea is a modular system which can be joined together in many different configurations, so to a degree, any part should fit with any other, due to a combination of connection points - one about 5mm and another at 10mm. Using both connectors on one joint ensured some of the heavier die cast elements were well supported.
The system worked extremely well, until the last release of the yellow/green range added two odd figures - the Cybertron and Muteron. Whilst both fitted stylistically into the range, the figures with each set were more akin to the Mini-Set scale at around 1:32. The dinosaur and vehicle are both modular and interchangeable, but for reasons best known to themselves, Britains made all the connections smaller too, meaning there is no interchangeability with the main line!
When I first got the main vehicles, I thought that they would benefit from a few black accents on the vehicles, so out came the shaky hand and the Humbrol Matt Black.
The space buggy suffered at my overenthusiastic touch with the black, but is a nice model which can be opened up and the red seat removed and the wheels re-attached to make a small run around.
My knock-down drag-out favourite have to be the green alien ships, the colour combination and saucer design are what convinced me to buy into the range.
Like the main starship, the saucer has a rotating globe inside, with a tread around the circumference and a self righting, weighted cockpit inside.
The later iterations of the line went from yellow and green to a more sedate white and silver base. To differentiate between the two sides, red and blue accents were used. A similar rotating cockpit dome and an enterprise like saucer were the highlights of the range, both of which had rotating action.
One of the smaller crawler vehicles seems to reflect the Matt Mason line, with the Space Crawler and the Bubble and the little scout vehicle has more than a nod to SWORD.
The space Mutant line which were produced to add another alien style, used the same base plastic body, but added rubbery head and tentacle parts. Once more, the Humbrol paints came out, but as the material was flexible, the paint didn't take well. The Mutants line were for me the weakest element, as they rely on one of my pet hates - anthropomorphism of animals. Dr Who is famous for doing this, putting animal or insect heads on human bodies and Britains did the same thing, with a snake, triceratops, bat, fly and something like a Stingray Terrorfish on the lithe human figures. With years of play and bad storage, the connectors for the heads and chest and back packs have severed in some cases, so the heads tend to pop off!
To compliment the Mutants and presumably to assist the Stargard spacemen, a range of Cyborg figures were produced, using the same rubberised head and tentacle arrangement, but to much better effect.
It looks like these poor chaps have had a brush with the paint too, although I was quite impressed with their design at the time. Loose heads and limbs are a problem here too.
Towards the end of the line, six Terror Raider figures appeared, which hit the alien invader style figure perfectly. While they retained the diecast base, the figures were hard plastic, with some articulation of the limbs.
My original Cybertron has suffered problems with the fragile plastic, but I picked up a second boxed version on ebay. The box is double sided and seems to show some cost cutting measures by Britains.
Again, notice the tiny, simple figure and the seemingly similar connectors, which are at least 2mm different!
The Muteron is one of my favourite designs, reminding me of the old zoo line. Besides the original piece, I have since found three loose models on ebay again, which appear to show a colour variation with later models receiving a yellow paint cover on the back and tail.
I was really quite sad to see the company go to the wall some time after the space line finished, as I was always a fan of the toys generally. Whilst searching online in preparation for the article, I found an ended auction at Sothebys which included a lot of factory materials from Britains, one of which caught my eye. The prototype model and pre-production art shows a large truck like vehicle, with the marking F.A.S. It does not have the same connection standard as the old system, so I wonder if this was a precursor to the Space line, or its successor. It seems to have more in common with contemporary space toys like Fisher Price Construx or Tonka Legions of Power. What might have been...