Years ago I posted this page from a 1986 Tai Hing Catalogue.
Spotting this Number 38 Yellow Submarine, posted yesterday, its fairly clear that its the one pictured in the catalogue bottom centre.
The clincher is the TH seal logo.
Not sure if this is bigger but I liked this plastic Yellow Submarine I saw on auction, so I saved the pic.
Not the same as the die-cast we loved as kids, it still has that Fab Four pulling power.
The logo of the seal and umbrella looks familiar, yes, its Tai Hing Chun.
I caught on the tellybox an episode of BBC's The Repair Shop, where this Yellow Submarine was restored to what you see in the picture.
It was of great interest as I both had a Yellow Sub as a kid and I restored one myself in the 1990's, an early and very poor attempt at anything of the sort.
It was a great TV restoration and the craftspeople in the Repair Shop are so skilled it's amazing. I was intrigued as to how the restorer would do it. Bearing in mind that every part of the Yellow Submarine can be bought off the shelf as a repro part nowadays, I knew the restorer would ignore this and do everything from scratch.
Coincidentally the periscopes he made from modelling putty. Years ago when I made my own scopes I used Das Pronto. Mine were terrible. The restorer's were simply brilliant, especially once the paint lady had painted them yellow and red.
With all the mechanisms fixed, a new propeller made from plastic and the periscopes in place, the owner of the special object was thrilled to bits. It all worked and looked fab!
Interestingly the back-story was that this Corgi Submarine was given to the owner's Dad on the night of the Yellow Submarine film premier in the Sixties, whilst attending it!
Have you been given a special toy? Have you restored a die-cast, even a Yellow Sub readers?
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?
