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Can you identify this casting?

PostPosted: Sat Nov 15, 2014 3:59 am
by Tone
The die cast plane seen in the link below does not look like a Sky-Buster, Maisto or Majorette A-300. It looks more like an A-300 than a 767. It is certainly a toy, not a collector model - check out that nose wheel. And I have never seen a Saudia die cast toy.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/14847509@ ... 2067856995

Re: Can you identify this casting?

PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 3:15 am
by MichaelB
It looks like one of the HomeCo. toy airliners: Sky Wings, Sky Hogs, Smart Choice. They had a pretty good A300 and I think I saw a listing for a Saudia plane. I don't have a good list of these things; they are on my other computer!
More info in Richardson under HomeCo.
It should have an 800 number cast in - that would be the clincher. I wish his photographs weren't as dark as they are.
I'll pull that box again some day.
Michael

Re: Can you identify this casting?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 24, 2014 6:40 pm
by MichaelB
I had posted a comment on the photo on Flickr and asked the poster to see if the castings had the "F8xxx" number. He came back confirming that it was, indeed, the HomeCo A300 piece.
I have added the Saudi livery to my list for that line.
Most of MAC reader's probably don't know of, or collect, these little planes and I can understand why. As insignificant as they were they were a good line with good marks and were commonly available. They were yet another example of the power of China's control of the "little toy" market.
Time did catch up with them and before they vanished from the supermarket isles they had converted to using fake airline names, undoubtedly to avoid paying license fees. Now - and for almost a decade - they are simply gone from the toy racks. It's a sad thing to see such a genre gone, no matter the crass quality of same. Today we suffer either the high end of the market with high quality, well done "toys" or are content with Maisto or Hot Wheels when we can find them. Few "dollar" toys feature airliners much less using "real" airline names! Even Matchbox has stopped doing that!
Michael