Telex was a prolific Finnish toy manufacturer in the 1950's, with a famous slogan "Telex For Your Kids Too!".
Most of their toys were (most likely unlicensed) copies of designs by British and American manufacturers such as Palitoy, Marx and Renwal, but also of Siku in Germany. Their claim to space toy fame was the clone of the X-300 Space Cruiser by Pyro / Kleeware.
Some time ago I came across this hitherto unknown model by Telex, of the British De Havilland Vampire jet fighter. It is a small plastic airplane of only 9 cm in length and with a wingspan of 11 cm. It came on a foil-coated backing card measuring 15 x 15 cm.
It does not have any maker's mark, only text VAMPIRE on the underside. For such a minute model, it has quite an elaborate retractable landing gear - the fact that is stated as a sales pitch on the backing card. The wheels glow in the dark too (they still do!)
Most of the Telex toys have been traced back to their origins abroad, but this one is still a mystery. Any suggestions welcome!
Arto
Helsinki Base
Thats a totally divine little thing - looks like it is based on the Frog model of the Vampire, judging by its proportions. The landing gear is pretty weird! Bill
ReplyDeletehttps://www.scalemates.com/kits/frog-f217f-havilland-vampire-fb-mk5-or-50--134905
Yes Bill, it is a fragile little thing, a wonder how it has survived loose with its backing card.
ReplyDeleteDo you think/know that the Frog model was as small when completed?
I have the Frog Vampire in the loft somewhere - that sounds a bit like a weird horror film! - It was about 7" long, as I recall. Ill have to fetch out all my old models at some point. I also have the Venom too somewhere!
DeleteAn addendum: Finnish Air Force acquired its first-ever jet fighters in 1953 - a fleet of six De Havilland Vampires. I believe that was the reason for releasing this exact model.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great little model. The glow-in-the-dark wheels are really weird.
ReplyDeleteI do not know if this helps, but the model looks to be based on the very early Vampire F.1 fighter version. This had long-span wings with rounded tips, and square-topped fins. The F.3 had a different tail, with a rounded top. The FB.5 fighter-bomber had the same tail as the F.3, plus clipped wingtips, with square tips. The single-seat Vampires supplied to Finland were an export version of the FB.5, called the FB.52. The Telex toy is therefore not the version used by the Finnish Air Force, but an F.1. Sweden also had the F.1.
The Frog kit of the short wingspan FB.5 is 1/72nd scale, so the wingspan should be 161 mm.
Thanks for your expert information about the different Vampire versions Paul, very interesting!
ReplyDeleteMost of the Telex toys have their logo on the toy, but this one does not. So it may even be that Telex bought a quantity of models made by someone else and only repackaged them.
It may not have been the same version of the Vampire, but close enough for the kids!
Small, but super, representation of an iconic early jet aircraft. That was a great catch Arto.
ReplyDeleteGreat story Arto, well told with a mystery to boot! Brill!
ReplyDelete