Wednesday, March 22, 2006
TOYWAY ?
I have seen these items talked about on the 1/144 Mini Armour Forum http://p208.ezboard.com/b144miniarmour
There is a company that sells small scale METAL aircraft for £1.50 (2 or 3 USD?)
I think that "TOYWAY" is not the manufactuere but the UK importer, i would think these items maybe sold around the world with different brand names?
I have now found some, there are not perfect scale models and I imagine them to be sold in small shops as "pocket money" toys for children.
TOYWAY like FURUTA and MICROMACHINES (and arguably some of the cheaper CORGI ranges) vary the scale of the item to "fit" the packaging. Looking at the the range of TOYWAY I would say this is the same! There is one size package from Ho229 to B-52!! I think that meand the b-52 etc maybe heading towards 1/700?? (to be honest this is just a guess based upon TAKARA packets and ranges)
When I saw the Me262 had a look and put it back, but when i saw the Horten I bought both after all, I nearly bought a Russian Yak (The aircraft - not the moose!) but I thought I would check the scale and quality when I got home.
The Horten is a little too small for 1/144 and its wings are slightly elongated compared to the 1/144 POPY Horten 229. You could maybe argue they are not meant to be quite the same item in which case the longer thiner wings and the slightly shorter fuselage is Ok? If it is meant to be the same models it probably equated to the TOYWAY being 1/150? - I would need to verify the measurements and convert to scale the various original Horten aircraft dimensions.
The Me262 is again a bit too big all over, by about 5mm here and there which begin to add up, maybe it is @1/130?
The quality isnt that bad considering how cheap these items are, would they make an acceptable "collection" maybe... the paint work is fine, the cockpit/canopies are "blacked out" the molding that is there is clean although one or two obviousl joins, the landing gear is the worst part and looks like "MICROMACHINES" bulky struts.
The hardcore purist would say no and certainly they would look the poor realtion in a CORGI aircreaft collection, but as one of two pieces to fill a hole in your TAKARA, BANDAI, FTOYS collection then yes, if you collect FURUTA then this is a good match and if you collect MICROMACHINES imagine you would be very happy with these items.
In summary, i think the best match is a metal version of FURUTA?
1/144 TAKARA Me262 and 1/144 POPY Ho229 used for comparisons!
Toyway are to be congratulated,on bringing this series within reach of collectors,notables as regards types are the Boeing B-47 Stratojet and the Fieseler Storch observation aircraft,the first time to my knowledge that this has been attempted as a diecast,the undercarriage is a bit clumsy but would present real problems to such a tiny scale if reproduced faithfully,personally I am just grateful for a Storch as a small diecast aeroplane.
ReplyDeleteBuy these while you can as even in the UK they are not that plentiful so dont pass them by otherwise you may just regret it !
It took me a while to source the B-47 and the Storch amongst the usual more popular aircraft such as he Spitfires and Messerschmitts.
For the price they represent exceptional value for money.
barry
ReplyDeletei got mine down the raod at the RAF Museum in Cosford!
I Was tempted with the storch and bf109 they do, but have plenty of these via Takara & Bandai, some of the other look "close" to 1/144 but am less fussed.
I think they could make them to have finer details but then you get get into the region of defects and rework, and I suspect higher prices!
considering these are sold for less than pint of beer you cnat complain too much!
Thanks for droppin by!
cheers
bd99