your classic toys or not so classic (1 Viewer)

[sammy719]

Hi all,

just wondering who played with what toys growing up??? a few of us mentioned on another forum about some great toys, i.e. the all time classic electronic football game, (my teams were the Baltimore Colts and the evil Steelers) of course the Colts always won^&grin my STP crash up derby cars were always a hit with the dog while he slept in his doggie bed ha!!!!!!!!!!!! yea, I know that's mean!! and you didn't grow up in the late 70's early 80's without an Atarti 2600, who could forget those killer graphics in Pong, the hand held football game was hours of fun, then I had the nerves of steel games like "operation" hearing that buzzer go off pissed me off so bad and "Jaws" where you had to fish out junk in the sharks mouth before it snapped on you, which I sucked at that game, and of course my Holy Grail of all toys my Marx Battleground Playset" which started the ball rollin so many years ago on collecting "toy soldiers" just wish the still came with toy like prices!!!...Sammy

 

[Go for Broke]

I probably talked about this before, but remember cap guns? In Hawaii, we called the ammo paper shot. Well, I had a Mattel Tommy Gun, just like Sgt Saunders in Combat. You would put a whole roll of paper shot in the magazine and you could rat tat tat that gun. I also had a 45-Colt and a grenade that used paper shot. I had a Derringer that had an actual casing you put the paper shot in and fired a plastic bullet, that hurt when it hit you. The good old days.

 

[lancer]

I probably talked about this before, but remember cap guns? In Hawaii, we called the ammo paper shot. Well, I had a Mattel Tommy Gun, just like Sgt Saunders in Combat. You would put a whole roll of paper shot in the magazine and you could rat tat tat that gun. I also had a 45-Colt and a grenade that used paper shot. I had a Derringer that had an actual casing you put the paper shot in and fired a plastic bullet, that hurt when it hit you. The good old days.

Ah, the Mattel tommy gun and Combat!, a can't be beat memory. Couldn't tell you how many of those tommy guns I went through. Also had the grenades and pistols that used those caps. We used to fill those plastic grenades with sand just to give them throwing weight. Got hit by them on many occasions with resultant bruises. But lord help us if we saw anything with swords and shields on TV because it always inspired us. We used to make swords of wood and use trash can lids as shields and then proceed to whup the hedoublehockeysticks out of each other. Combat! was the best. BIG influence on my early years. -- Al

 

[kogu]

Some unknown cheap plastic toy soldiers started my enthusiasm very early, then there came the Timpo Swoppets for many years.
Shoe boxes, Styrofoam pieces were among the favorable elements to create fortifications. After the Timpo Swoppets came an era of Airfix, first 1/72, then some 1/32. I remember the British Commandos and the Australian troops being my favorites.
Beside Toy Soldiers, Lego bricks came in at a close second as most played with Toys.

TV shows were most influential for the outdoor playing, in the garden or in some nearby woods.
There was a "Robin Hood" series going on back then on TV, roughly 30 minutes every Sunday afternoon.
As soon as the show was over, every Sunday, it was playing time outdoors. Some string was found, some wooden branch was cut and a bow was made. Swords were made of wood.
I still remember one Sunday, where the older neighbor boy came out and gave me a shield that he had built for himself years earlier. That was the real deal. It was a round shield, made from wood. The outside was painted in some way that you find as a Vikings motif. and it had a real leather strap for your arm and a sturdy wooden handle for your hand.
Boy, with that shield, I was the undisputed hero in the neighborhood ^&grin
Had that shield next to my bed at nights.

Other TV shows like "Ivanhoe", "Sir Francis Drake" kept up the inspiration for playing for years.

Got in one or the other trouble with Mom, when some blankets, curtains or sheets were used to build a Teepee, since they wouldn't stretch good enough around the poles if you didn't hit a wooden pin through them to fix them to the ground ^&grin

Good times overall, very, very good times :wink2:

Konrad

 

[Panzer ace]

Sammy:

Great post idea!

For me it was my Guns of Navarone set, my toy guns (my dad actually dug me a fox hole in our backyard, complete with wood logs to give it a bunker effect), my nerf basketball set, whiffle ball set and most of all my Britain’s Deetail figures.

-Jason

 

[marco55]

2 things besides toy soldiers stand out.I remember having a Combat board game and Mr. Robot!I loved Mr. Robot.I got him for 2 straight Christmas as I wore out the first one.
Mark

 

[Go for Broke]

I had the Combat game too. I had this game called Grey Ghost, about Mosby Raiders. I also had this game, but I can't remember the name. It had metal Civil War cannons, anti-aircraft guns and jets. I think it had ships too. My favorite game was Stratego.
I never got anything from the Sears wish book. I remember looking at the Christmas catalog every night and drooling and wishing I could get the Marx playsets and they had a toy 30 cal mg. I also recall you could buy real guns and shotguns right out of the catalog!

 

[lancer]

I had the Combat game too. I had this game called Grey Ghost, about Mosby Raiders. I also had this game, but I can't remember the name. It had metal Civil War cannons, anti-aircraft guns and jets. I think it had ships too. My favorite game was Stratego.
I never got anything from the Sears wish book. I remember looking at the Christmas catalog every night and drooling and wishing I could get the Marx playsets and they had a toy 30 cal mg. I also recall you could buy real guns and shotguns right out of the catalog!

The Gray Ghost game was based on the short-lived TV show of the same name. I had a whole series of board games that were made by Milton Bradley in association with American Heritage. One was an ACW game with little plastic soldiers and cannons as game pieces; one was a game about WW1 aviation (my favorite) called Dogfight and it's game pieces were little plastic Spads and Fokker D-7's; one was called Beachhead which was a WW2 Pacific War game; the other one I had was about the naval war of 1812 (can't remember the name) but it had little plastic ships in red and blue that had little white sails you added to them. The number of sails they carried determined their strength, ie., Man-o-war, frigate, sloop, etc., and you got sunk by losing masts/sails in combat. It was a pain to set up as their were a lot of ships and what I remember as dozens of sails that had to be inserted. They were fun games. -- Al

 

[maddadicus]

The Gray Ghost game was based on the short-lived TV show of the same name. I had a whole series of board games that were made by Milton Bradley in association with American Heritage. One was an ACW game with little plastic soldiers and cannons as game pieces; one was a game about WW1 aviation (my favorite) called Dogfight and it's game pieces were little plastic Spads and Fokker D-7's; one was called Beachhead which was a WW2 Pacific War game; the other one I had was about the naval war of 1812 (can't remember the name) but it had little plastic ships in red and blue that had little white sails you added to them. The number of sails they carried determined their strength, ie., Man-o-war, frigate, sloop, etc., and you got sunk by losing masts/sails in combat. It was a pain to set up as their were a lot of ships and what I remember as dozens of sails that had to be inserted. They were fun games. -- Al

My favorite had to be the 1812 War game, followed by the ACW game ( Battle Cry?), Dogfight and Beachead. Classic war games, every one. The reissues over the years had new, improved game pieces. My brothers and I never saw a bow and arrow set that we could not live without. Many a good times were spent trying to shoot each others' eye out. Loved the rat-tat-tat tommy guns, as well as those on the tripods. Was a big Voyage to the Bottom of Sea fan and had the toy sub with crew..Michael

 

[Larry Allen]

Great topic for memories ...

Being my family was (is) NAVY through and through it was no surprise that my toys were ... REMCO Mighty Matilda Aircraft Carrier and the Barracuda Atomic Submarine.

Then add the (Texaco Gas Station toy) that you can buy with a fill up ... The TEXACO TANKER North Dakota.

As Lance mentioned all those fantastic board games by Milton Bradley .. wow. The Naval Game you mentioned was BROADSIDE and I STILL have my original game. I had to buy a coastal defense cannon and two sails from eBay to make it complete but I still play with it every once and a while.

Also the Blue and the Grey as well as Combat playsets were my treasures. Every once in a while I look on eBay but I never pulled the trigger on those toys from my past. Maybe the cost or more likely the memories can't be remade any better.

It is a shame that many of the younger folks need to have video and computers these days to enjoy a good time.

--- Larry

 

[Warrior]

Battle Cry was my favorite as a kid, followed by Tank Battle and Feudal, Feudal had great ho/oo scale knights and foot soldiers. I liked Battleship too, plus the electric football game, my teams were the Patriots and the Browns, that QB with arm you'd bend back and the foot you'd kick PAT's and FG's with was comical; you'd line up all the figures, turn the game on and they'd all spin in a circle for ten minutes.

I also had the coolest toy soldier set as a kid; it came with metal molds and wires shaped as a person spread eagle; you'd lay the wire into the mold and layer in this green stuff that would get hard and out popped a flexible toy soldier, had molds for helmets, ammo belts and weapons. I forget the name of it, but it was awesome.

Also road king mountain mining and a couple of hot wheel and Johnny lightening race track games, also had one of the electric race car games, had loads of fun with that one.

FUN was the name of the game as a kid........................

 

[Go for Broke]

I had the Feudal game and gave it to my nephew a couple of years ago. I also had the Texaco tanker and the large fire engine. In college, we drank beer and played Risk. What was really fun was setting up soldiers, trench works and bunkers, then playing sniper with a scoped pellet gun.

 

[hotel3alpha]

Gents,

This is what i remember playing with as a kid (in memory order):

The Detroit years...

-GI JOE with a tent, gear and a fire pit. He had the beard and crew cut.
-6 million dollar man...Steve Austin. You could look through his bionic eye.
-Evil Knievel... You ripped his bike with plastic toothed zip line and he made the jump!

The Colorado years...

-The 12 inch Darth Vader...i still have him!
-The millennium falcon.
-red Ryder BB gun
-sgt rock figures and comics


That's all i can remember.

John

 

[bromhead]

the first marx playsets

 

[Panzer ace]

Gents,

This is what i remember playing with as a kid (in memory order):

The Detroit years...

-GI JOE with a tent, gear and a fire pit. He had the beard and crew cut.
-6 million dollar man...Steve Austin. You could look through his bionic eye.
-Evil Knievel... You ripped his bike with plastic toothed zip line and he made the jump!

The Colorado years...

-The 12 inch Darth Vader...i still have him!
-The millennium falcon.
-red Ryder BB gun
-sgt rock figures and comics


That's all i can remember.

John

Sgt. Rock comics. That brings back some memories.

 

[lancer]

Oh yeah! All those war comics, Sgt. Rock, The Haunted Tank, Enemy Ace, Johnny Cloud, and lots of others I can't bring to mind. Those things used to cost 10c, then went to 12c, and then to an outrageous 15c. Terrific entertainment at a great price. -- Al

 

[Go for Broke]

Who couldn't love the Haunted Tank blowing the turrets off those Tiger tanks?{sm2} I used to like the soldiers vs dinosaur comics. For our Aussie Forum members, I liked the Iron Corporal comic. Conan comics were fun too.

 

[pugio]

Two of my favorites.... The Remco Bulldog Tank.... Would set up forts with American Bricks and Marx 60mm G.I.'s... Firing from afar, the shell were powerful with the brass casing falling out of the tank, and then run the tank thru the forts. The second one... The Ideal Phantom Raider.... Battery operated freighter with wave action, hit the switch and it expanded with torpedoes, rockets, depth chargers etc... all the action with simple gears.

 

[lancer]

Two of my favorites.... The Remco Bulldog Tank.... Would set up forts with American Bricks and Marx 60mm G.I.'s... Firing from afar, the shell were powerful with the brass casing falling out of the tank, and then run the tank thru the forts. The second one... The Ideal Phantom Raider.... Battery operated freighter with wave action, hit the switch and it expanded with torpedoes, rockets, depth chargers etc... all the action with simple gears.

That Bulldog tank was a great toy. It was tough, too. Took a beating and would keep running. ^&grin -- Al

 

[Panzer ace]

Two of my favorites.... The Remco Bulldog Tank.... Would set up forts with American Bricks and Marx 60mm G.I.'s... Firing from afar, the shell were powerful with the brass casing falling out of the tank, and then run the tank thru the forts. The second one... The Ideal Phantom Raider.... Battery operated freighter with wave action, hit the switch and it expanded with torpedoes, rockets, depth chargers etc... all the action with simple gears.

I don't know what the Remco Bulldog tank is but I want one.