Sunday, September 5, 2010

Dinky Toys: UFO and SPACE: 1999

I never had any of these, although I vaguely remember having or seeing catalogs for them. I suspect that they were a lot more common in the UK than the US.

Great ads, though!

16 comments:

  1. I had the UFO Interceptor,bought back in the 80's from a dealer.It was pretty cool but was painted metallic green for some reason!

    ReplyDelete
  2. When I was a boy in 1975, I was reading a Boys Life magazine in school recess time. I saw the Dinky Toys Eagle Transporter advertisement in the back and ordered it from there U.S. distribution location in Waco TX. I had just began watching SPACE:1999 and instantly loved it. I got the Dinky Toys Eagle it was mainly constructed of metal solid build, great toy. I would later buy Fundimensions Eagle model Kit and of course for Christmas the Mattel Eagle with action figures. P.S. Dinky Toys also made an excvellent THUNDERBIRD 2 with a Thunderbird 4 included.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dinky toys were very popular here in Australia. I still have the Eagle as well as the 'SPV' from Captian Scarlet. Man I must have really loved those toys, because I looked after them really well.
    Stupid me only threw out the boxes 10 years ago or so. Duh!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dinky, how I miss thee.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I had both Eagles, since I had to combine the Transporter Eagle passenger module and the Freighter Eagle framework/engines/cockpit to make one all-white "true" Eagle!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I had the Interceptor as well. It had a pretty strong firing mechanism for the missile launcher, which you could also put a little paper cap into for an extra "bang!" noise. I still remember the blood blister I got when my finger got in the way!

    ReplyDelete
  7. The Dinky Toys were my introduction to Gerry Anderson's work! I still lament never getting the SPV from Captain Scarlet. (I had a Spectrum Patrol Car, but it's just not the same thing.)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I was never able to get the Freighter Eagle when I was little but I definetely had the green Transporter. BrittReids solution for turning your green Eagle to white one is commendable! I never had the UFO Interceptor but man did I ever want one! I'll also wholeheartedly agree that the Dinky Thunderbird 2 was a thing of genius, I had that one and absolutely loved it! So much playability. I've recently got my hands on all the Product Enterprise 12" Eagles and have them up on the wall in a cool little display box, they'er like Dinky's for adults, and really spot on design wise.
    Dusty Abell

    ReplyDelete
  9. Showing my age maybe, but I pretty much had all the Dinky Gerry Anderson diecast toys (bar Lady Penelope's pink RR - hey, I was a 6/7 year old boy!) back in the day. Even as a kid I thought it was strange how they replaced anything white with metallic green but it didn't stop them being great toys. My Thunderbird 2 and Eagle are still in pretty good shape but Captain Scarlet's vehicles and the rest have sure seen better days. I played them into the ground, literally! They bring back great memories, though, when I get them out the drawer every now and again. Maybe I can make the SPV a good restoration project.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dusty Abell is correct. The Product Enterprise 12" EAGLES are the most accurate yet. I bought the Eagle Transporter with Passenger Pod and an Eagle Trandspoter with Laboratory Pod plus removable Booster("Metamorph").
    SG

    ReplyDelete
  11. I had all of the Dinky Anderson toys — save for the FAB-1, which I would kill for now — and of them I would rate the Mobile at the top of the list, followed by the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle. And while I had Thunderbird 2 while I was little, it suffered the inevitable destruction wrought by heavy play, so I eventually replaced it with one of the versions from the 1980's where it was painted blue for reasons that elude me.

    ReplyDelete
  12. When I was a kid i loved these toys, and was obsessedwith UFO and Space 1999, but we were not too well off so it was mainly the small matchbox cars for me. As I got older and 1999 came and when you could imagine my diappointment... The Eagle freighter etc looked at objectively is nearly a viable spaceship (for lunar travel anyway). What I mean is we probably have the technology, not like a lot of spececraft seen in movies.

    Anyway this Xmas my long suffering fiancee purchased both a transporter and freighter for me 1974, both in exceptional condition. I'm a lucky man. Not a collector or anything just getting the toys i really wanted when i was a kid, my advice to everyone, do it, its satisfying.

    ReplyDelete
  13. "Good luck Eagles!"

    Because Moonbase Alpha Mission Control knows that, statistically, those Eagles are probably going to explode like their hulls were made from nitroglycerin.

    Ah, SPACE: 1999. They blew up Eagles real good!

    ReplyDelete
  14. As a "Space:1999" geek, I not only had the Transporter and Freighter as a kid ( I still have my original transporter...more on that later ), but as an adult first finding Ebay and other retailers on the web, I ended up collecting a fleet of Dinky Eagles in marvelous condition. I have many different flavors: The green transporter with the silver rocket nozzles, the green transporter with the red nozzles, the green transporter with red nozzles and rescue decals applied, a white freighter, and the somewhat rarer blue freighter. Did I go a little overboard? Maybe, but I love 'em. I also got a replacement UFO Interceptor and Shado Mobile.

    As to that original transporter I've owned since 1976; she was a bit playworn, and had a few dings on her, but I sent her off to a professional modeller in Canada ( Jim Small, who does a lot of the build ups for the Round 2 model company ) and he took her apart, stripped the old paint off and refinished her in the proper colors with auto paints, and replacement Alpha decals ( in the proper number and proper places ). She now looks the way Dinky should have made her in the first place and is a gorgeous little display piece.

    Dep1701

    ReplyDelete
  15. BTW; Does anyone else think that it looks like the Eagles are flying over Clavius base from "2001: A Space Odyssey", rather than Alpha?

    Dep1701

    ReplyDelete
  16. I special-ordered one of these and then waited literally MONTHS for it to come into a local hobby store. We drove near the store every day and I'd whine to check in once a week at least.

    It was a nifty little item. Well-constructed, reasonably accurate (most of the tie-in toys of the 1970s tended to suck), and fun to play with. I had the cargo version.

    ReplyDelete