Linemar Toys "Elegant Miniatures" No.18 Helicopter, 1959 Marx Toys Made In Japan Miniature Diecast

Finally!

Wanted one of these from the instant first encountered & pounced on a chance to have one with original matched box. Which has seen combat in the trenches but intact enough for my meager needs. 

Chopper rotor and wheels are a tad loose but the thing is what, 62 years old? Hope I look as good.

Reminds me of a Sikorsky H-34 but compressed.

Only realized when examining the pix that there does seem to be lettering on the tail. Will effort a decypherment.

One rotor blade folds over to aid in storage.

If memory serves the metal is a tin/antimony mix and safe when in solid form. But kids shouldn't handle and is best kept on a display setting in touch-me-not conditions. My toys stay boxed up until its time to make pix then go right back in. Nobody will be licking the metal or filing off bits to inhale.

Right front wheel bears evidence of a hard landing or two.

Here compared with a very similar looking take on a Piasecki HUP packaged by an entity using the name "Bag of Best Toy" and often mistakenly described by online vendors as a Linemar. 

Red plastic chopper an unknown, but retains the title of the smallest toy helicopter in my stash.

Not quite the same front end ...

:D

Now we know how much they sold for at retail.

Matchbox striker tab? Old man Marx was having one on at Lesney UK's expense maybe.

"Four Super Men Conquer The Moon" Carded Spaceman Set, Early/Mid 1960s? Bizarre Upsized 54mm MPC Spacemen

Hell yeah. Took a couple years but bingo: Got one.

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YAY!!!!

Those graphics say 1962-1965 to my eyes.

Held in place by nigh but staples. Since when??

Figures based on four of the classic MPC 1/32 scale spacemen. Or maybe those were based on the larger ones? Chicken/egg thing going on here. My intuition suggests the larger more detailed figures may have come first. Certainly designed by the same artist who submitted his results to two different companies. The MPC figures resonated better with the buying public and the larger ones disappeared. Cease & Desist from Miner Industries? Or did they just flop, in part because they were poorly balanced, tip over all the time, and kids hate stuff like that. In any event far fewer were made whereas the 1/32 scale versions captured the popular imagination & were in production until at least 1984. Guess which ones are easier to find some sixty years down the road.

My crew of loose figures scored on a lucky afternoon a couple years back.

The loose figures are all marked Hong Kong on their base undersides.

The packaged sets have the same Hong Kong font but add a number, presumably a mold position. So, my loose figures may not have been "Four Super Men Conquer The Moon" dudes.

Not My Collection - An alternate packaging scheme, year and maker also kept secret. I have also seen the figures pressed in red and a gold/green color. Not making any of this up.

Dolls faces inside of the helmet behind the concave visor produces a bizarre optical effect which would have given me nightmares as a kid. Now it excites my geek center.

Other than the helmets the sculpting of the upsizes is dead on perfect with slightly sharper details.

Space Rifle Guy doesn't need no oxygen tanks. Just holds his breath between shots.

Nearly comical lean to the left is real. All but the Geiger Counter Guy are top heavy and fall over without the use of sticky putty on their feet, or a slanted table top.

Subject on the left altered with Golden's light interference acrylic paints. Very pleased with his base of moon terrain.

Further conjectural non-evidence that the large figures first surfaced in the early 1960s. The other spacemen they remind me of most are Marx Toys' four inch Rex Mars figures from 1958 (?). The Four Supermen were responses, including being armed to the teeth and on a less than peaceful mission.

Family Snapshot