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Saturday, May 31, 2014

Tootsie Toy 1937 Buck Rogers Battlecruiser #TSDM 3030

One of the coolest facets of vintage space, whether it be toys, stories, comics, movies, etc., is spaceship design and between Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon there was a seemingly endless array of ships. It's so sad that only a relatively few designs made their way  into the marketplace. Tootsie Toy was a popular brand of diecast toys back in the day and in 1937 they introduced a set of four Buck Rogers toys, three were spaceships and one was the U.S.S. Los Angeles dirigible and all four were also available as separate sale items. The three spaceships were:  the Blast and Attack Ship, Venus Duo Destroyer, and the Battlecruiser (all one word as seen on the toy itself). We posted a Venus Duo Destroyer back on Apr 6, 2013 but to-date have not yet acquired the Blast & Attack Ship nor dirigible. 

The example shown here today looks as if some youngster personalized it way back when by painting vertical red stripes on the hull giving it a very patriotic red, white, & blue theme. To the best of my knowledge, the hulls were painted a solid color (white, yellow, blue, etc) while the fins were another but there didn't appear to be any striped versions. I kind of like these treatments by former owners because there is a more immediate attachment to the past. Each of the four toys in the set had two rollers through which one ran a string, the string then being attached at either end to whatever was handy. by either pushing the toy back and forth on the string or raising and lowering the string the ships had the appearance of flying.Everybody Enjoy!
 Bettina & Fritz Berg :)


Notice 'BATTLECRUISER' is all one word. Most of the time it's spelled 'Battle Cruiser'



















Having a little fun with Photoshop. The hapless Earthling airliner is in for a rude surprise!


Friday, May 30, 2014

Hawthorne Village 'General's Flatcar' Set 1/48 Scale

Hawthorne Village is a company which sells trains by subscription. Using Bachmann mechanisms and other parts, they feature distinct themes and beautiful artwork. Hawthorne Village trains are generally On30 which means the have O-scale bodies set on HO scale trucks and running mechanisms and are thus able to run on HO scale track. One of their themes is the American Civil War and while a full train is available, the pieces you see here today came from their 'General's Flatcar' set which included the mounted figures of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, an unknown unmounted figure, a cannon, and a flatcar all in 1/48 scale. The scale is not unusual for electric trains but 1/48 scale is highly unusual for Civil War figures and accessories. Actually, the stone bridge by Safari Ltd may actually be quite a good fit should anyone find more ACW figures in this scale. The photos you see here were taken so that I could sell the set so this is all the photo history I have of them but thought it would be interesting to post yet one more scale in our continuing coverage of ACW figures.Everybody Enjoy! Bettina & Fritz Berg :)

I had two slightly different cannon but apparently the set originally would have had only one cannon



General Robert E. Lee


General 'Stonewall' Jackson


Unknown figure - servant???



Thursday, May 29, 2014

Cape Canaveral Rocket

I need a break from the Civil War so here's a quick post of a real nifty find, the Cape Canaveral Rocket on bubble card. The maker is unknown as there's is no markers on the packaging. The back of the card is blank and I can't see any markings on the toy itself, but it does have the 'feel' of a 1960s ('70s ?) era toy, but I could be wrong. While I have no problems opening up bubble cards wherein the plastic 'bubble' is attached by staples and can be re-attached, this one here is glued on and so will remain in its packaging. I sure would like to get a loose version of this one day. As a collectible it can appeal to a variety of collectors like space, Cold War, Air Force or airport enthusiasts and more. Enjoy!



Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Las Vegas NV ,28 May 2014 Beautiful Grackle

Hi Everybody! This Grackle was very close by and it was Windy a little and he was holding on .Sometimes the Picture dont turn out but they did and my Husband and Me Like it allot. Hope You Like the Pictures as well .Everybody Enjoy it The Grackle From The Berg's 28 May 2014 :) Las Vegas NV :)