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Miniature Thompson


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Can't say for sure about this one, but IIRC, my 1976 JCEarl catalog had a spread on a function-able mini-chopper, it used shortened 25ACP if you wanted the real deal. They were hand made, in any version of TSMG you wanted - 1921-M1A1.

 

And like all JCEarl stuff - priced crazier than an outhouse fly at a Georgia barbeque in August.

 

I have a tiny single-shot paper-cap shooting M1928 from the 60's, has the horiz foregrip - like the one carried by my hero of that period... Sgt Saunders.

 

I also had the green-cammo Marx semi/full paper roll-cap-firing M1928.

 

I also had the battery-powered M14 too, a red plastic "burst" cycled in and out at the end of the barrel when you pulled the trigger.

 

And let's not forget the Man from Uncle AOW's - camera gun and stocked pistol.

 

Or the Remco Monkey Brigade bazooka.

Or their Johhny Reb Civil War cannon complete with ramrod and capable of popping baseball-sided black plastic balls about a whopping 3 ft.

 

We spent many a summer afternoon playing army.

 

Based on my "ultra violent" childhood, I guess I should have been jailed by now for mass murder. Aw, wait, no; that's if you eat twinkies or had MSG in your food.

 

These kidz today and their vidiot games... don't know what they missed.

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Dude, I'm with you on almost everything. WOW, you've got to be a product of the late 50's / early 60's? I had the cannon. Have not EVEN thought of it for ... ever. Did you have the green M1 carbine? Mine fired caps and was wrapped up so much with masking tape cause I can't remember if duct tape even existed then? Playing army... thanks for the memories.
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nafan,

Man did you bring back memories!!! Had them all! God I loved that M14 with that little cycling red tube in the barrel.

The prize of my plastic armory though was a 50 caliber browning air cooled with tripod. It took the roll caps, and you pull back that bolt which wound up like a main spring and let it rip!

Oi, what fun!

Cheers, Zamm

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I was born in Oct 1955 in Pittsburgh, so yes - grew up with Disney, Bonanza, Daniel Boone, Davey Crocket movie, Combat, 12'O Clock High, M-Sqaud, Have Gun Will Travel, 77 Sunset Strip, Man from UNCLE, Rawhide, Rifleman, Branded, Untouchables, Virginian, Studio Wrestling (with Ringside Rosie), Chiller Theater, Naked City, Dr. Kildare, and so many others - Tenderfoot? or Sugarfoot?, some James Garner comedy western about gambling, Johhny Reno? Steve McQueen with the sawed-off Winchester? another one where the character carried a sawed off shotgun?, and a couple others set in WW2, including something about WW2 Commandos or WW2 "spec ops" group?

 

Lots of healthy vibrant working class WW2 and Korean vets raising families, so WW2 shows (and westerns) were hugely popular. Even vaguely remember the air raid drills, the idea of a basement fall-out shelter, Civil Defense shelters, and the mass-community sugar-cube Polio vaccine everyone attended. And street cars.

 

Oh well.

 

Correction to my earlier post.. It was a Mattel M1928, not a Marx!

 

Yep, had the M1 Garand too, IIRC, it was much, MUCH shorter than the toy M14.

 

Also had the Davey Crocket coonskin cap and flintlock, and at least one of the wood/metal bolt action M1903s - recall that the fake bullet was attached to the bolt, so when you pulled it back, there was the bullet?

 

Also had a tripod mounted something, 1919 or M2?? Who can remember them all.

 

And plastic army helmets too of course. Remember that funky Monkey Brigade halmet - looked a bit like today's Kevlar with those side bulges!

Lucky was the boy who had a plastic gray GERMAN helmet! Recall that aside from the toy Lugers and a potato-masher, there weren't many German guns around back then...

 

(I remember finding a folding stock MP40 after I had my son and we were roaming thru a Children's Palace one year in the early 80's - bought it on the spot!! Also bought him the toy AK47, Uzi, and MAC-10.) (It's good to have a young son!!!)

 

I had the toy grenades too, put a cap in it, and if it landed just right - bang.

 

Remember when they introduced the PLASTIC cap? Remember how loud they were (and dependable) compared to the paper stuff?

 

Here's a couple more obscure toy guns from the 60s..

The Luger water pistols and ray-gun water pistols?

The Mattel M16?

That PPSh-looking ratchet trigger noise-maker, with the TSMG/PPSh drum and horiz fore-grip?

The Rifleman Winchester with the big loop?

 

And a really obscure one;

A Winchester rifle with a horizontal drum mounted underneath the rifle; held a diaphragm that when you pulled the trigger, it made a decently LOUD (but twangy) bang - without having to use caps!

 

Today's kids don't know what they missed.

 

We honed our "tac ops" and "small unit" skills in yards and woods and empty lots.

 

We didn't know if we were in a defillade, but that's a cool word that we could have used back then! We just knew a pillbox was beyond the next tree..

 

Played until the parents yelled from the porch to get us in for dinner, hid the nasty veggies in the pockets so we could "eat" quick and get back outside, then back in again when the street lights came on.

Shared the tub with the little brother, the bathwater was so dirty it looked like a creek.

Next day, do it all over again!

If it rained, on the porch with Marx's Blue and Gray set!

Went on family vacations in 1964 in a 57 Chevy stationwagon - you didn't have to be ashamed to have an older car back then. Our second car was a 55 Rambler stationwagon.

My best friend's dad had a Buick with air holes on the sides, the neighborhood rich kid - his dads' Caddy had huge fins.

Watched the kids we played with grow up around us, they dropped their guns and model cars to hang over the fenders of that 55 or 57 they bought for $50.00. Couldn't understand why they lost the passion for "a car".

 

A ride thru the old neighborhood the other day shows that the houses are more run down, the yards so much smaller than I remember, the kids - didn't see any. All inside air-conditioned homes, glued to TV or PCs.

 

Youth is indeed wasted on the young.

 

 

 

 

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nfafan,

 

"Tenderfoot? Or Sugarfoot? some James Garner comedy western about gambling, Johnny Reno? Steve McQueen with the sawed-off Winchester? Another one where the character carried a sawed off shotgun? and a couple others set in WW2, including something about WW2 Commandos or WW2 "spec ops" group?"

 

James Garner in "Maverick"

Steve McQueen in "Wanted: Dead Or Alive" with "Mare's Leg" (45-70 sawed-off Winchester 92)

Nick Adams in "The Rebel" with sawed scattergun

WWII Allied Troubleshooters is "Jericho", which replaced "Combat".

 

Let's not forget: original "The Outer Limits", "Secret Agent", "The Avengers", "Voyage To The Bottom of The Sea", "Sea Hunt", "Mission Impossible", "The Saint", "The Champions", "Honey West", "The Wild Wild West", and the short-lived "The Bearcats" (mercenaries operating in the southwest driving Stutz Bearcat, circa 1914)

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A few months ago I asked a question about these Mini Thompsons. Apparently some of this sort were made in Russia. I finally managed to track down the addresses for the companies to see if they still made them but got no response. You can see examples at http://miniguns.com/index.htm. They are supposed strip and function like a full sized weapon and come in various scales but most usually seem to be in 1/3 or 1/4 I think. They also come with accessories such as drum mags and dummy cartridges.

 

“MiniArt”

Address: Russia, Moscow, Dubki st., 12.

Tel.: (007 095) 2843122, (007 095) 4515633, (007 095) 9769813.

 

“Central Scientific-Research Institute of Precision Manufacturing”

Address: Russia, Moscow region, Klimovsk, Zavodskaiy st., 2

Tel.: (007 095) 546-8885, (007 095) 546-6497, (007 095) 546-59-09.

Fax: (007 095) 546-59-10

 

I still have an 1977 magazine article on 1/2 scale Thompsons being made by Eddy de la Garrique of Dallas. He made firing and non-firing versions.

 

 

 

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Yeah but did any of you have a Gattling gun? Mine had a crank and fired plastic bullets across the living room from a 20 round magazine. Also had a Marx roll cap camo Thompson that had a scope on it (wonder who dreamed that one up) Havent seen one pictured in any of Nick's books
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I had bags of those green MPC soldiers with their silver helmets. The unlucky ones got melted down, by lighting one end and let them drip fire on the rest. By the way, remember those green stick'um caps and the realistic detective revolvers? Also, any of you ever fill balloons with carbide gas and light them? I had lots of fun back then-- didn't even know what a liberal was!
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Ah the Halcyon days of youth, I was too late for the WWII shows everything was Vientnam when I was growing up. I got an M-16 Automatic Rifle, made by "Empire" also marked " patent pending". This bantam wieght terror is 26" long and still works. My Dad gave me the Sweet 16 army pamphlet and another army manul to go with my toy rifle. Between the eight shot cap ring revolver on my hip and this rifle that never ran out of ammo and the overgrown weeds in the back of an abandoned house me and my young friends never lost a firefight.

 

BB

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