Marx #3771 Diner - Silver w/Red Roof

What seems like a very looong time ago I said we would try to feature a diner every Tuesday, and call it Diner Dienstag (Dienstag = 'Tuesday' in German), but I'm afraid that was far too ambitious a project to have started. Quite frankly there isn't enough diner's in the collection to keep it going for that long, but I still have a few to show so what the heck, for right now let's look at this early 1950s Marx plastic diner. 

On Jan 29 we looked at the green and yellow Marx diner, and on May 30 we looked at the red and gray version so today we're taking a quick look at the silver and red version. To the best of my knowledge Marx only made four color variations, the next one being a yellow walled/green roof version. 'Til next time - Enjoy!

Marx 1938 U.S. Army Tank No. 3 Turnover Tank

Here's a real blast from the past, the Marx No. 3 Turnover Tank from 1938. According to "Greenberg's Guide To Marx Toys Volume II" by Maxine A. Pinsky (1990 out of print) these came in at least six major versions. They differ mostly in their lithography patterns and type and placement of external machine guns. What we have for you today is the second version which has a yellow hull, with a lithographed gun and turret in the front with two headlights. On either side are separate metal guns each in its own housing. Below that are the words "TANK CORPS 3" and two headlights. The turnover mechanism works by winding the spring via the built-in key located on the starboard side of the hull. When the tank is released a bar lowers from beneath the tank causing it to flip over. The tank measures 8"L (20.3cm) x 3 5/8"W (9.2cm) x 4 1/4"H (10.8cm). My tank doesn't quite flip all the way over and it's no doubt because of the age and weakness of the spring mechanism, however it is still a really nifty toy from the past - and can you believe these things cost 49cents new - 69cents if you got the deluxe sparkling gun version?!! Enjoy!

Mattel 2004 1/64 Scale #C2707-0714C First Editions Hardnoze Batmobile

Today's Batmobile offering is rather an odd duck, Mattel's Hardnoze Batmobile from 2004. As a toy it really is a cool design with those large flaring front fenders and that gray flame motif and I'll bet this sucker really flies around on the Hot Wheels plastic roadway. Of course, Hot Wheels cars are supposed to do that - that's part of their appeal. But, if someone were to build a full scale working version of this the driver would have one heck of a time driving this thing. Take a look at the very first photo and you'll see what I mean - the cockpit sits so far below those front fenders the driver has no forward visibility at all. Well, it's a good thing this Batmobile is only toolin' around on bedroom or kitchen floors and not the streets!  Enjoy!

Premier Plastics & Knock-off Flash Gordon Space Ships – Pt 16 3" Hard Plastic Dart v.2

Our Premier Plastics Flash Gordon space ship series continues today with this second 3" hard plastic Dart variation.  (Dart is the designation given to this design by me in order to differentiate it from the wider version which I've termed - cleverly enough - the Wide Body). This differs from the version featured last week in that it has six windows behind the cockpit vs. five. This kind of caught me by surprise as normally one would think that enough resources were spent by the company to make a single version without wasting more time and energy to put out a second. After all, these are small, and quite frankly minor, toys. Right now trying to speculate as to the why Premier made the change is pointless. The fact is a change was made and so we'll leave it at that. (Personally I believe both variants were made by Premier Plastics as it wouldn't have been cost effective for another company to make a knock-off of a minor toy in anything other than soft plastic). Here are the particulars for this variant:

3” Darts v.2

- Hard plastic

- Made by Premier Plastics

- 6 windows behind cockpit

- 3 tall struts in place of wheels in tricycle landing gear arrangement

- No number underneath fuselage

- Stiffening ribs between windows

Enjoy!