Posted 5 years ago
Toyrebel
(215 items)
Just picked up another childhood fave. It's a Remco Mighty Matilda aircraft carrier like the one I got for Christmas in '62. I think they came out the Christmas before. It's about 33" with forward and aft hangars below the flight deck. Both elevators move up and down(the forward one is sluggish) when you have elevator power on or move the switch to Nuclear Power Drive-On and Matida will "waltz" forward at steady noisy clip with the radar turning. It's got an alarm bell for general quarters also. The catapult will launch the planes a fair distance. It's in pretty decent shape except for some sticker fading. It's missing the #93 sticker on the front but I ordered a repro replacement sticker and a copy of the instructions. It's missing some planes, but I picked up a group of planes and sailors separately so I've got 8 fighters, 6 bombers and one helicopter. You can find planes every once in a while so hopefully I can eventually bring the squadrons up to full original strength. That's one thingI liked about this as a kid, the planes are F8-u Crusaders fighters and A3 Skywarriors, actual carrier aircraft instead just some fanciful planes. I was stickler for details and I had built models of both. The chopper is like the Sea King ancestor type that picked up some of the astronaits, I might be wrong with the name, but the ones with the little out rigger floats with stubby retractable landing gear. It originally came with a little tractor plane puller that's also missing. The planes are probably a little small for the carrier scale, but not too bad. However the sailors are the ones made for Remco's Baracuda Submarine and are waaaay too big, I'm guessing they would be about 70 feet tall in the carrier scale! I just put them by the carrier, they look ridiculous on the ship by the planes at their knees. I'm relatively sure I have the full crew compliment plus some. It also has a missile launcher on port side aft. I loved carriers as a kid(I still do) and I had a lot of fun launching planes on sorties and then recovering them. It was a pretty rugged toy(I liked Remco products) and captures the Nuke Carrier look nicely with neat colors. I'll play with it for a while, then check out the front elevator and give her a tune up. Then she'll be yar mate, arrrgh.
Thanks,
Bill
That is an awesome toy. The 60s had the best toys. Hadn't seen this one before.
Thanks Apache, that was the best toy era ever. Getting these big toys at Christmas was a moment you'll never forget in life. It was a cool toy, I loved playing wirh it. I've got it apart found what was wrong with the front elevator(cracked/broke top helix screw mount), it's got a tough transmission gear train and strong magnets on a pretty powerful motor. This was a well built toy. I've got to fab a mount, do a little soldering and hopefully she'll run smoother.
Great Toy! I work with a bunch of ex-Navy Nuclear powered sub and surface guys. The surface guys would love this!
Toys from the 60s were the best. Kids actually used their imaginations. Now days electronic games create imaginations for them.....kinda' sad.
Oh, this is GREAT!! I can only imagine waking up on Christmas morning, as a little boy, and finding this under the tree. I totally agree with fortapache. The best toys came out in the '60's and early '70's.
Thanks Bucket, I worked with a bunch of old tars and airdales at TI. Great friends all. Remco made a "Nuclear Fleet" they had the Barracuda Sub that would launch missles individually as it rolled along.
Thanks Jscott, those truly were wonderful days of the golden era of boomer toys. That '62 Christmas especially, I hit the jackpot and got a King Zor, Gaylord(the walking dog, I didn't ask for it but my mother thought it was cute), a replacement Robot Commando(another toy I had I want) for my worn out 2 y/o Commando, a cool Marx Battery Operated M-14(one of my favorite toy guns!), etc. I wish I could go back, it was a blast!