Paul's Hot Wheels Yellow Submarine reminded me of a beat-up toy I found in a junk shop in the early Nineties, just like the mint one I had as a kid in the Sixties.
The beat-up Sub looked a a bit like the one pictured, courtesy of 2H Media online, though mine didn't have any periscopes or figures.
Overreaching myself completely I set about restoring my knackered Sub find.
I remember discovering Steve Flowers' Repro Parts Mail Order for the first time, buying the two sets of Beatles busts in plain metal for the two hatches. All I had to do was glue them in and paint them! I bought a metal propeller off Steve too and bobbed that on.
For some odd reason I decided to make my own periscopes and chose Fimo to do them in. Duly fashioned I then painted them yellow with a red peep holes. I have to say, despite being great fun they were a complete dog's dinner!
Probably my best discovery was repro'ing new coloured ports from paper. I did this by colouring in different patches of colour on some A4 paper and then hole-punching the ports I needed. Then I simply glued them on. It worked a treat!
I have no idea what happened to that Sub. All that's left is one chubby fimo periscope somewhere in a box forlornly looking at the dust gathering round it. I imagine I flogged the Sub like everything I had back then in the Nineties through my Mail Order service or at a Toy Fair.
For a while I did live with that Yellow Submarine and Liverpool's Fab Four.
Have you got one or spruced one up readers?
I think I posted a piece on how I customised a reissue to give it two red propellors instead of the measly single black one!
ReplyDeleteYou did Looey, many moons ago. In fact your tinplate Yellow Sub may have been on of your first contributions to MC.
DeleteI do have one of the re-issues that Corgi has done. Most of my Yellow Submarines are the smaller Hot Wheels version, which does have two red propellers.
ReplyDeleteAn icon of the Sixties and like me many boomers will have had a Corgi Yellow Sub gracing their toy shelf alongside Popeye's Paddlewagon and Cap Scarlet's SPV! Thise were the days, maybe the best toys ever!
DeleteI had the (reissue) MPC Yellow Submarine model kit for years, but ended up taking it to Goodwill, because I dreaded that tricky paint job! SFZ
ReplyDeleteIt will have made someone's day at Goodwill SFZ! Always a nice feeling to come across an icon like this.
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