Some hard to find Dinky helicopters

[grwebster]

There were some 'Big Plane' toys, one issued just before Dinky Toy's was production halted by bankruptcy, that are not well known by collectors, and very hard to find. There was the Space Shuttle, as discussed earlier, and these two helicopters, sold only in gift sets in Army colors. Both are hard to find, either individually or complete in the set.


The Bell 47 in Army in olive drab was an attractive variant of the common one, but was only issued the No. 303 Commando Squad set, 1979. A M.A.S.H. variant in the same color was considered, but not issued officially. IMO this is the best and most realistic variant of the toy.


This Army Sea King helicopter in an attractive olive drab finish was included in set No. 618 1976-79 with an Army AEC truck, flat bed trailer and a camo/cargo net. This was the only Army Sea King version produced and it was not sold individually.

[Tomtom]

Finally bought the Commando Squad with the OD Bell 47. Funny what a nice color scheme can do,as even though its the same model as the Bell 47 with the orange the all OD model looks so much better.
Definitely worth acquiring
Tom

[grwebster]

Tom, great buy, I looked for years for my sole example and agree it is a very nice toy/model in Army green.
Even then I made the mistake of buying it with an internet bid a week before the auction from a small auction house in the UK. I put a large bid in thinking that like eBay they would keep adding to the other bids until I won it or my bid price was exceeded.
No so. They used my very high bid as the opening bid and for sure there were not any others. I don't place advance bids anymore on these auctions, but live biding seems safe. Inspite of ebay's unpopular reputation, they don't pull stunts like that.
So a word of caution when placing advance bids with small auction houses you do not know. Check how they handle internet bids.

[hovermd]

Tom, great buy, I looked for years for my sole example and agree it is a very nice toy/model in Army green.
Even then I made the mistake of buying it with an internet bid a week before the auction from a small auction house in the UK. I put a large bid in thinking that like eBay they would keep adding to the other bids until I won it or my bid price was exceeded.
No so. They used my very high bid as the opening bid and for sure there were not any others. I don't place advance bids anymore on these auctions, but live biding seems safe. Inspite of ebay's unpopular reputation, they don't pull stunts like that.
So a word of caution when placing advance bids with small auction houses you do not know. Check how they handle internet bids.

I experienced the same thing recently with an auction house in the UK... The company jacked up the price despite not having any other bids on the item. Not cool! To add insult to injury, the shipping/handling costs were outrageous. I'd probably be lucky to break even on the item if I were to sell it... GR's advice is spot on!

[aliflore]

My models: