Finally... Here's another look at the beautiful Gama No. 2000 with original box.
It has a very realistic "Sabena" livery with "Belgian World Airlines" and "00 SAB" prominently featured.
The landing gear is really well done, too.
As far as construction goes, it's actually made of the same gauge tin as other Gama helicopter toys. It is not lightweight in construction like the Arnold toys. The metal ring and line is spring retracted and pulls through the main rotor shaft. When you pull the ring, the main rotor spins.. You then allow the line to retract so it's ready to be pulled again. The main rotors are a fragile silver-painted heavy cardboard. It's hard to imagine these rotors lasting long!
The box has lovely graphics and features the following: "Gama 2000," "Made in Western Germany," and "D.P.a."
There's a faded number stamped on the end of the box bottom that looks like "89/40," but it's not totally clear. I'm not certain what the number might signify. - probably a run number or something. I communicated with the seller of a "Gama Patent Mechanic" color toy catalog from 1956 that features the toy as the "Gama No. 2000," but I don't know if was produced prior this year. The illustration of the helicopter in the catalog is actually metallic-looking and doesn't show the Sabena livery.
Check out a photo of this beautiful survivor... I'll also include the catalog illustration.
Happy New Year to ALL!