Size Matters - A Look At Some Of Those Small Toys We Had As Kids

They were cheap. They were everywhere.And they were fun. I've featured toys made by Giant Plastics Corp (aka Giant of Hong Kong) before but let's look at a few pieces from other comapnies that just sort found their way to the house :-) These may have been Giant clones or totally different sculpts but back in the day they could be found in grocery stores, drug stores, 5-&-Dime stores - you name it. They were cheap rack toys out of Hong Kong and even kids whose parents didn't have a lot of disposable income had a chance to get some of these. Of course, here we are some 50+ years later and prices have gone through the roof for some of these while others are still reasonably priced.

Westerns! I loved watching Westerns on TV as a kid so it's no wonder I had a lot of Old West themed toys. Okay, that being said I didn't actually have any of these pictured here today but they still bring back the memories and flavor of a time gone by. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Frontier Coach and Wagon (Hong Kong)

This bag with Stagecoach stapled to card appears to be a clone of a Giant Plastics product

These would be 1/72 scale NOT HO scale which is 1/87 and much smaller!

Hong Kong Frontier Set with Fort Cheyenne

The name 'Fort Cheyenne' was used on numerous Western fort toys and playsets back in the day. This is among the smaller versions

(These would be 1/72 scale NOT HO scale which is 1/87 and much smaller!)

Lucky Clover Toys Set No. 6648H Fort Frontier Assault

yet another Fort Cheyenne

(These would be 1/72 scale NOT HO scale which is 1/87 and much smaller!)

Here's a lot of loose Lido wagons I picked up some months back

This picture of Lido's western style wagons courtesy of Kent Owen Sprecher on his excellent website Toy Soldier HQ (see sidebar on right)

Here's a larger soft-shell carry-all I featured in the early days of the blog. Just another example of a Fort Cheyenne toy

Ideal Fort Cheyenne Carry-All Playset

In our on again-off again coverage of Western or Old West style toys be bring this Ideal Fort Cheyenne Carry-All Playset. When I started collecting playsets it was kind of a hit-&-miss proposition. I'd buy something, like it and decide to further the collection OR buy something, not like it and never continue. So it was with these soft vinyl carry-all playsets. Overall I just don't like them even though the artwork is really nice and the interior quite colorful and this set has a nifty fort with integral guard towers when opened up. After buying a couple of different soft case sets they simply didn't have any real appeal to me and as you can see by the photos, some of these playsets have vacu-formed inserts which separate easily from the vinyl case, making it even less desirable. These photos were taken in 2009 - a year before the blog was started - and were meant to sell the item on eBay. The figures shown in the last photo had come with the playset but I have no clue if they were original to the set. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

The vacu-formed insert has separated from the base and is quite flimsy

This integral; fort is nice but those soft, wavy vinyl ramparts make it difficult to stand figures on

Original to the the set or...?