Lone Star Toys
This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2022) |
This article may be written from a fan's point of view, rather than a neutral point of view. (January 2022) |
Lone Star Products Ltd. was the brand name used by the British company Die Cast Machine Tools Ltd (DCMT) for its toy products. DCMT was based in Welham Green, Hertfordshire, north of London.
Company history
Starting as early as 1939, DCMT manufactured
Toy soldiers
Harry Eagles, one of the sons of Henry George Eagles who co-founded
Vehicles
Competition with Dinky and Corgi
Interpreting the base of a Lone Star vehicle can be difficult. Some of Impy Toys read: "Lone Star Road-Master Impy Super Cars".[4]
To keep up with competitors such as Corgi and Dinky, Lone Star began producing Corgi-sized diecast toy vehicles in 1956 with its Road-Master series (later spelled without the hyphen[4][5]). Castings on the earlier vehicles, though handsome, were a bit cruder than the competition. For example, the double-deck bus had its casting line, for its two halves, right down the centre of the roof. Also, most earlier Lone Stars have simpler bumper, grille and body detail than Corgi or Dinky.
The Impy Series
Much changed with the introduction of the Impy line in 1966. Bright new packaging was introduced while the older, larger, Road-Master series was discontinued (though the name "Roadmaster" was still used). The new cars were a smaller three and a half inch size, similar to
It is interesting that Lone Star was the first toy producer to respond to Hot Wheels' hit of low-friction wheels[10] In 1968, less than a year after the introduction of Hot Wheels, Impys were refitted with sporty fast wheels which Lone Star now called its "Flyer" series. The first Flyers' wheels were simple shiny silver wheels with black hubs, rather reminiscent of Corgi's first low-friction gold wheels with red hubs. Eventually cars were given a handsome five-spoke wheel[11] By contrast, Topper's Johnny Lightning and Aurora's Cigarbox cars did not change wheel styles until about 1969, nearly two years after Mattel's premier. Similar to Majorette and others, Lone Star also offered gift sets of cars with trailers into the early 1980s, like the Range Rover pulling a zodiac-style inflatable boat.[12]
Earlier Lone Star packaging was coloured similar to Corgi and especially Dinky, with red and yellow box panels. Later packaging was bright - almost luminescent - and Impy boxes were among the first to feature plastic windows, while Matchbox still had closed boxes.[6]
Tuf Tots
About 1968 or 1969, Lone Star introduced a smaller, approximately two inch long vehicles of varied scales called "Tuf-Tots" that were simply cast vehicles without opening parts similar in concept to the small
Trains
The company started producing (
Legacy
Intellectual property of the 'Lone Star' name is owned by the Heinrich Bauer group and toy guns are still sold under the Sohni-Wicke Armforces und Spielwarenfabrik division of the company.[16]
Notes
- ^ Johnson 1998, p. 117-118.
- ^ Joplin, Norman (1993). The Great Book of Hollow-Cast Figures. New Cavendish Books. p. 258.
- ^ O'Brien, Richard (1997). Collecting Foreign-Made Toy Soldiers. Krause Publications. p. 231.
- ^ a b Ragan 2000, p. 34.
- ^ Johnson 1998, p. 118.
- ^ a b Rixon 2005, p. 39.
- ^ Ragan 2000, p. 35.
- ^ Ragan 2000, p. 48–51.
- ^ Ragan 2000, p. 25, 48.
- ^ Rixon 2005, p. 10.
- ^ Rixon 2005, p. 54.
- ^ Rixon 2005, p. 115.
- ^ "Tuf-Tots Cars". glocalnet.net. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
- ^ "LoneStar Tuf-Tots". 87thscale.info. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
- ^ "The Treble-O-Lectric Main Page". www.irwinsjournal.com. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
- ^ "Heinrich Bauer Group". bauer-spielwaren.de. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
References
- Ambridge, Geoffrey S. (July 2002). The Bumper Book of 'Lone Star' Diecast Models and Toys 1948-88. Nielsen BookNet TeleOrdering Service. ISBN 978-0-9539058-0-5.
- Ambridge, Geoffrey S. (March 2011). Toys that time forgot. Nielsen BookNet TeleOrdering Service. ISBN 978-0-9539058-1-2.
- Hammond, Pat, ed. (2008). Ramsey's British Model Trains (6th ed.). Warners Publications plc.
- Johnson, Dana (1998). Collector's Guide to Diecast Toys and Scale Models (2nd ed.). Collector Books, a Division of Schroeder Publishing.
- Ragan, Mac (2000). Diecast Toys of the 1960s. Osceola, Wisconsin: MBI Publishing Company, Enthusiast Color Series.
- Rixon, Peter (2005). Miller's Collecting Diecast Vehicles. London: Miller's, a division of Mitchell Beazley.