Evel Knievel Diecast Miniatures by Ideal Toys

Mike Pigott looks at this legendary range of diecast models made by Ideal Toys in the 1970s, based on the King of the Stuntmen: Evel Knievel.Legendary stuntman Evel Knievel was one of the most famous figures of the 1970s, and Ideal’s range of toys based on his exploits are among the most widely sought-after collectibles of the era. However, while the Evel Knievel action figures and powered motorcycles are widely remembered today, a related range of diecast vehicles from Ideal Toys is perhaps not as well-known, despite being excellent miniatures. Ideal produced a range of 13 different Evel-related vehicles, some of which are scarce and valuable today.

UFO Commander 7 by Shinsei

Mike Pigott looks at this high-quality but bizarre range from Japan that consisted of futuristic construction vehicles, flying saucers and robots!An extremely popular entertainment types in Japan is ‘Mecha’, a science fiction genre involving giant robots, and thousands of comics, TV shows and films have been based on their adventures. Many toy companies produced licensed versions of these robots, which were massively popular in Japan during the 1970s and ’80s. Shinsei, a hobby company best known for diecast construction vehicles, jumped on the bandwagon with a line of diecast robots and futuristic construction vehicles that looked like they were based on a licensed property – but weren’t!

Batman by Tomica

Mike Pigott looks at the models based on Batman feature films made by the famous Japanese manufacturer Tomica.Tomica is a long-running range of Hot Wheels-sized model cars made by Takara-Tomy of Japan. Tomica first produced a range of five Batman vehicles in 2012, and later added a number of Bat-vehicles to its ‘Dream Tomica’ line of fictitious cars. As with other Japanese manufacturers, Tomica only did models of Batmobiles seen in feature films, and did not bother with vehicles from TV or comic books.

Small Soldiers by Hasbro

Mike Pigott looks at a little-known series of diecast vehicles based on the popular film Small Soldiers from 1998.Small Soldiers may seem an unlikely movie to spawn a line of diecast vehicles, given that it was about a group of action figures gone bad. However, Hasbro, the makers of the action figures, also produced a small diecast range.

Hot Wheels US Postage Stamps

Mike Pigott looks at a fascinating series of American postage stamps that feature classic Hot Wheels cars.

To tie in with the 50th Anniversary of the Hot Wheels range, in 2018 the United States Postal Service issued a set of ten Hot Wheels-themed stamps with pictures of classic models. Each stamp showed a popular car from Hot Wheels’ 50-year history. They were photographed on a strip of orange Hot Wheels track.

Jurassic Park III by Hasbro

Mike Pigott returns to Jurassic Park, as he looks at the models made by Hasbro to tie in with the third film in the series, Jurassic Park III.

The third instalment in the Jurassic Park franchise was Jurassic Park III, released in 2001, this time directed by Joe Johnston and based on an original screenplay. It involved the return of Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neill), who is engaged by wealthy couple Paul and Amanda Kirby (William H. Macy and Tea Leone) to give them a personal aerial tour to see the dinosaurs of Isla Sorna. Unfortunately, Grant is duped; the Kirbys are not rich tourists and intend to land on the island to search for their teenage son who was lost there after a paragliding mishap. The plane is wrecked, and Grant has to lead the party through the dinosaur-overrun island. Although they find the boy, several of the party are killed by a particularly nasty sail-backed predator called Spinosaurus.

Classic Streetcars from Reader’s Digest

Mike Pigott looks at a set of classic American trams which was a premium offered with a book subscription.

Most people would be familiar with Reader’s Digest, a long-running pocket-sized magazine containing a wide range of stories and features. In addition to its monthly flagship title, Reader’s Digest also publishes a large number of books; these can be one-off publications such as atlases or instructional handbooks, or serial publication like encyclopaedias or ‘condensed books’ (volumes containing a number of abridged novels). Most of its products are sold via mail-order, and to entice customers to buy new titles – or continue subscribing to existing ones – free gifts have often been offered. These are often cheap items such as pens or clocks, but at times there have been diecast models. Sets of eight models were sent out with issues of ongoing publications; these have included fire engines, vintage cars, classic American cars and trains. At other times, boxed sets of two or four models have been included with large books such as DIY manuals or gardening handbooks. These have included vintage cars, classic vans, WW1 aircraft and the subject of this post…streetcars.

Batman by Bandai

Mike Pigott continues looking at superhero vehicles, as he examines some high quality diecast models made by Japanese company Bandai based on the 1989 Batman film.

Over the years, there have been a huge number of diecast models based on Batman and his various vehicles from films, TV shows, cartoons and comic books. Most notable among these would be products from Corgi, Hot Wheels and Johnny Lightning. However, less well-known are the models from Japanese companies, such as Bandai and Tomica, which are usually only distributed in Japan and neighbouring countries in the Far East. In fact there have been a number of miniature Bat-vehicles produced by Japanese manufacturers, and to a very high quality. For some reason, the Japanese companies only seem to be interested in Batmobiles from feature films, and don’t bother with those from other media. Bandai only made one diecast Batman product, a four-piece set based on the 1989 film Batman, released in 2004.

Ertl Tractors: National Farm Toy Show Models

Mike Pigott looks at Ertl’s 1/43 model tractors made exclusively for the National Farm Toy Show in Iowa.During the 1980s, the Ertl company produced a range of classic 1/43 tractors as part of its constant-scale ‘Vintage Vehicles’ range. However, Ertl also produced a number of 1/43 scale tractors exclusively for the annual National Farm Toy Show in Iowa between 1984 and 1998. While some of these releases duplicated items in the retail range, others were completely new models.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park by Matchbox

Mike Pigott looks at the toy dinosaurs and vehicles produced by Matchbox to tie in with the second film in the Jurassic Park franchise, The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

To tie in with the first Jurassic Park film, toy company Kenner released a range of collectible miniature dinosaur figures. The license for the second film went to Matchbox, which also produced some well-made dinosaur models, accompanied by some very dubious diecast cars.