LBZ MYSTERY- HELP!

I need a bit of help. Despite trying I just cannot find out anything about my LBZ space spinning top - pictured below. I think its from the late 60's or early 70's. Inside is a silver Thunderbird 2 and a moon landscape.

I posted lots of pics of it last year (more here) and since then I've had an occasional search for any details about it but to no avail. The top was made by LBZ (Lorenz Bolz of Zirndorf), a German manufacturer famous for tinplate and plastic tops. LBZ made plain tops and very ornate ones like mine. Other ornate examples include trains, fairy tales and planes. They were very often boxed as in the example below and more here.

You can clearly see the initials LBZ, together with the name of the toy and its number, in this case 36. I would be really chuffed if anyone, who has links to the German toy scene or knows about tops, could maybe point me in the right direction to finding out the name, number and box art for my own space top. Thanks for listening!

Strange, A Tractor

Anyone who collects Spacex, Apollo Moon Exploring or LP space toys will be familiar with the small range of space tractors shown here. They turn up in a multitude of sets, on card, boxed, in blister packs and in the larger gift packs. I first came across these vehicles in the mid sixties in the individual card boxes. The orange body shown on the second photo is all that remains of this first encounter. Recently, I found the yellow version on ebay US advertised as a 'snow tractor', and have previously managed to buy the green set of three vehicles on ebay too. The crane body is a sixties original from the second series, which included a tipper body and a bulldozer version of the bubble canopied tractor.

Apart from their attraction as interesting space vehicles on their own, these little vehicles which were made by Hong Kong based company LP, also have an interesting heritage. The crane and the rocket launcher also found their way onto an LP Rocket Base, but the rocket launcher itself is lifted directly from a contemporary die-cast toy by Lone Star, the Modern Army series of vehicles. This series of trailer based weapons also included a twin machine gun, mortar cannon and radar dish, which were in turn plagiarised for the Hong Kong plastic soldier market.

Continuing the army theme, the tracks on all of the LP tractors are copied from the Roco Minitanks Panzer IV series of models. Shown here is a dilapidated Pz IV Whirlwind anti-aircraft tank. The last photograph shows the catalogue pages for the PzIv and Wirbelwind variants. Its plain to see where the designers at LP got their inspiration from!

Joe 90 Explosives Truck kits by Tamiya

A picture is definitely worth a thousand words here, as this fabulous shot comes from a japanese fan site and english translation is not readily available. Coolhunter Terry came across this little gem recently and it has lots of info and pictures of the U59 and u87 kits by Tamiya. Just wish i could read it, but wish even more so for these awesome toys!

Have a look here - WILDCAT.

SWORD TRUCK

SWORD truck pictured in the 1969 SWORD Annual.

More insights here.

TARHEEL QUALITY INSPECTION SLIP

Recently on Ebay US appeared a TARHEEL Talking Rabbit Hunt set - see the Tarheel Checklist link in the side-bar. Despite not being able to read the model number the set does reveal the only non toy specific 'paperwork' I've seen by Tarheel (there are of course instruction sheets with some Tarheel SWORD toys). Its a factory quality inspection slip - pictured above - sorry about the quality of the picture! On closer 'inspection' it doesn't actually have any reference to Tarheel on it and could be for any toy I suppose.So all in all not that significant. It's closest relative is the EMPIRE pre-production label posted previously on the blog. Empire was the successor to Tarheel in Tarboro, NC, USA.

TARHEEL TALKING RABBIT HUNT SET

Tarheel are more well known to us for making the US version of PROJECT SWORD toys. This was seen on Ebay US January 2010. This is the first time I have ever seen any Tarheel paperwork - check out the factory quality slip in the box. The classic 'T with kids' logo appears on the side of the box. Unfortunately I can't make out the model number on the left hand top corner of the 2nd picture down. I've seen a Marx version of the rabbit and also the rabbit described as an Easter toy made by Johnny Tarheel of Japan.

TARHEEL TALKING RABBIT HUNT SET

Tarheel are more well known to us for making the US version of PROJECT SWORD toys. This was seen on Ebay US January 2010. This is the first time I have ever seen any Tarheel paperwork - check out the factory quality slip in the box. The classic 'T with kids' logo appears on the side of the box. Unfortunately I can't make out the model number on the left hand top corner of the 2nd picture down. I've seen a Marx version of the rabbit and also the rabbit described as an Easter toy made by Johnny Tarheel of Japan.

SPACE CAR ARGENTINA

I do like these Space Cars from Argentina - its funny how many space toys reflect a yearning for construction sites in space. I'm sure I've had one in the past as part of a job lot of toys I got. It's the distinctuive egg-shape that is familiar. The header card is really appealing, moreso than the toys - I've seen the jetpacking spaceman somewhere else but where? Buck Rogers I think like this? But which toy?

Pictures Ebay

Looking again I can't help thinking of Weebles driving them! You know, 'Weebles wobble but they don't fall down'. I always think of Peter Griffin when I see a weeble - its the hair! hee hee! Sweet!

I'm pretty sure that Weebles never made it into space did they?