COR! ARTO'S ALFA ROMEO CARABO RERUN

Here are photos of my wooden and motorized model of the 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo concept car.

 Made by an unknown but obviously quite skilful Finnish model maker, it measures an admirable 37 cm.

 There are two electric motors inside, and it had some kind of remote control, now sadly lost.

Arto

Helsinki Base

BIRTHDAY SPECIAL: DISNEYKINS SO WHITE - THE FINNISH VISKO DETERGENT PREMIUMS OF THE 1960'S BY ARTO

Last year I came across this intriguing 36 mm all-white hard plastic Mickey Mouse figure, still sealed in a plastic bag. On the bag it said "VISKO-GIFT - Collect All 13 Fairytale Figures".

(Photo 1. Bagged Mickey Mouse)

Visko was a Finnish detergent brand in the 1950's and 1960's, and in 1964 they advertised a "New Visko" packaging which had a free gift inside.

(Photo 2. Visko package front)

The full set included 13 different figures: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Huey, Goofy, Pluto, plus Snow White and the seven dwarfs Doc, Sneezy, Bashful, Sleepy, Happy, Grumpy and Dopey.

(Photo 3. Visko package back)

Later I have been able to bag also loose figures of Goofy, Pluto, Donald Duck, Snow White, and Doc the dwarf.

(Photo 4. Visko Disneykins)

My good friend Woodsy noticed the similarity of the postures to those of Marx Disneykins, which were produced from 1961 to 1973.

(Photo 5. Full set of painted Disneykins - Photo courtesy of Back to the Past Collectibles)

They even have a website dedicated to them http://www.disneykins.com/.

The original Disneykins were always painted. However, there was a Coca-Cola promotion in Mexico showcasing a large variety of all-white Disney figures of similar postures. The date of the promotion is unknown.

(Photo 6. Disneykins Coca-Cola Promotion - Photo courtesy of WorthPoint)

Mexico being situated on the other side of the world, it is difficult to find a connection between these two promotions.

But wait!... Who is that little party crasher on the right?

(Photo 7. Visko Disneykins with Pinocchio)

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Thanks to Woodsy for contributing to this post.

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Arto

Helsinki Base

Lipton's Lame Wolf

 Arto picked this Italian puffy sticker up.

The Lame Wolf.

It's Italian.

For Lipton, presumably the tea brand.

Anyone come across these before?

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Message From Looey:

Hi Woodsy, 

I fed your Lipton Lame Wolf into Google Lens and it spat out this reply with no references.

I'd almost forgotten puffy stickers!

Back to scanning puppet faces!

 Looey,

Oz

Arto's Knock-Offs Galore!

Woodsy

Attached please find a couple of interesting HK knock-offs I came across at the Nostalgia Fair held in Karkkila this weekend.

First up is the Space Wars Sparking Machine Gun on a 53 x 17 cm backing card, featuring an Imperial Trooper and Chewbacca in a gunfight.

Followed by a bagged Secret Agent 008 Automatic Cap Firing Pistol with a silencer. There is a "winged W" logo on the header card.

And lastly an interesting motorcycling Batman figure in orange, measuring 7 cm. It would be nice to find out which Batcycle it belongs to.

Arto

Helsinki Base

Arto's Mickey Mouse Stationery

Just to show you the 1930's Mickey Mouse stationery published by Kuvataide. 

I wonder why the title is left in English?

There are five different illustrations on the 16 sheets. Small blank envelopes are also included in the set. Single sheets have been known to exist, but I haven't found a full set mentioned in databases or elsewhere (which does not mean there would not be one somewhere).

Arto

Helsinki Base

Anyone else got anything like this?

Arto on Display! Time Travel Odyssey 1950

Museo Leikki toy museum in Espoo, Finland, has just opened a new special exhibition Time Travel Odyssey 1950 – Childhood and youth of the past, present and future

https://museoleikki.fi/en/time-travel-odyssey-1950/

Displayed in one of the cabinets are some of my space toys which were either manufactured or sold in Finland in the Fifties. 

Many of them are copies of British toys of the era. 

How many can you spot? The exhibition will run until March, 2028.

Arto

Helsinki Base

Arto's Muovo Traffic Game

Hello Woodsy

As a quick response to your Exitoy Moto Cross post, here's something I acquired just a few weeks ago, an early 1960's remote control Traffic Game by plastics manufacturer Muovo. 

The player steers the minute cars and cyclists with a joystick which moves the magnet under the board, which depicts the Helsinki city center. One of the finest Finnish games in my collection.

Arto

Helsinki Base

Arto's Batman Swim Ring

Here we have Arto's fabulous new 1967 Batman Swimming Ring by Ideal Toy Corp. Japan.

Have you any TV related swimming merchandise? 

Stationary Space Station

This Eight in One Pencil box shaped like a Pyroesque rocket is so fab I had to grab the shot from the auction. 

It's got everything; compass, calculator, kitchen sink!

From the atomic age of design, Do you like it?

Anyone got any space stationary?

Arto's Action Man Lenticular

Arto kindly sent me this image of his latest find, a neat lenticular postcard featuring none other than our friend..... Action Man! 

It's fantastic and all new to me.

What do you think readers? 

Cosmic Candy: Arto's Space Sweets Tube

Here's a brand new addition to Helsinki Base collection, a candy container tube from the 1950's adorned with space graphics. 

By rotating the tube, statistics of different planets in our solar system will appear in the line of slots.

Who said that Pluto is not a planet! (for me it will always be)

The tube measures 28 cm.

Have you anything like it?

Arto

Helsinki Base

Arto's Sears Super Sonic Jetliner

Re. your blog post on the subject, I sent you these photos of my orange Sears Super Sonic Jetliner back in 2022. 

It came up here in Finland, in great working condition and with a survivor original box. It is an imposing, sizeable toy in its 62 cm long box.

Sad news, the Suomenlinna Toy Museum which featured my space toy exhibition back in 2017 has closed down after 40 years. Still reeling from the shock.

https://www.hs.fi/helsinki/art-2000011053511.html

Arto

Helsinki Base

ARTO'S RECENT FUN FINDS

The best find was the no feet "regular" Pez from the 1960's. In regulars, there is no head other than a simple mechanism to eject the candy. These are very desirable in good condition.

Have you anything like this?

I also found a stack of unused colouring books from the U.S. Wondering how they ended up here, the answer was simple: they were all printed in Finland! Must be samples preserved by some printing house. 

I picked up this Fun Time Coloring Book for its marvellous cover illustration, which reminds me of Maurice Sendak's wonderful children's book Where the Wild Things Are.

Arto

Helsinki Base

To LP or not to LP? That is the Motorcycle

Hi,

I picked up the the LP Space Motorcycle this new year. It is a wondrous beauty! 

The motorcycle itself is in mint condition, with handle bar still in a separate plastic bag (will I ever be able to open it, just to see the motorcycle complete - wouldn't bet on it). The box is wonderfully in shape, but has some slight water damage on one end and one picture panel. Still, the box displays nicely too

Only when I received the item, I noticed that there are two different box versions! Just compare the photos attached. My example has the LP logo and item number, #106, printed on the picture panel. while the Alphadrome example has none [below left]. 

I wonder which came first, and why there are two editions of this elusive space toy? The colour of the motorcycle dashboard is also different between the toys themselves.

Anyone else got one?

Arto

Helsinki Base

image: Alphadrome: LP and Spanish versions

Arto's Miniature TVs

Here's a small selection of miniature televisions in my collection. 

The flicker Mickey and the 1980's bank promotional flicker robots are sharpeners, the taller Mickey television has a rollable paper strip with various images.

The rest are View-Master type see-thru viewers.

Arto

Helsinki Base

Saved! Arto's Fosta & Tudor Rose Rocket Banks

As an addendum to my comment on Ed's fab October post about the Fosta Grant Rocket Bank, here's a snapshot of my Fosta bank along with two Tudor Rose variants (and friends). The red rocket bank is the one pictured in the seminal book on plastic space toys, Blast-Off! Have you got one readers?

Arto

Helsinki Base

BLOGGIVERSARY PARTY PIECE : ARTO'S FANTASTIC LP SPACE EXPLORING BOX SET #234

The otherwise dry summer of toy scouting saved the best for last. The Juthbacka mega fair which attracts more than 400 sellers from Finland and Sweden provided this rare Space Exploring set by LP, or Lik Be Plastic and Metal Factory of Hong Kong. A photo of its contents can be found in Hong Kong Toys '72 magazine (photo courtesy of Paul V's Triang Spacex Toys website).

With an item number 234, this beautiful space diorama includes a LP 104 Space Rocket with a chromed double-disc nose antenna and spaceman, white/orange moon base station, red Mercury capsule (missing hatch), two moon rocks and four golden astronauts. A bit odd an addition is the miniature army jeep (or "moon buggy") with a mounted gun. The box measures 23 x 10 x 10 cm.

What’s new about the box are the small promotional pictures of boxes of other LP space toys, namely LP 102 Moon-Explorer Car with a missile launcher (item number unknown for this variant), LP 103 Space Explorer, and LP 104 Space Rocket included in this very set.

Arto

Helsinki Base