Hasbro 3.75" Vehicles

[Jesse James]

I've got very little hope of Hasbro doing working treads on any tank they make.  Even on GI Joe stuff it was only ever on motorized ones.  Disappointing to me too, but I don't count on it either.  It's way cheaper not to do it as the complexity of working treads is pretty hefty on the 1:18 tanks I collect...  And they're not even elaborate.  You should see the 1:16 RC tanks out there with the treads that actually rest on the wheels and things.  They make the 1:18 ones look cheap by comparison with individual linked tracks and stuff, so yeah I totally see Hasbro never even attempting a working tread for us.

[efranks]

Found something interesting at my WM today.  Over the last couple of weeks I noticed that on some shelf tags, when things were sold out,  little note cards were showing up saying when the tag was scanned and when new items were expected in and how many would be in the order.

Today I found the shelf tag for the $20 Indy vehicle line had one of the cards on it and that they were scanned last week but not due in till 5/24.  I think the card said 6 items.  Anyone know how many are in a case?  Two?  Three?  Without looking it up I'm guessing 2 or 3 cases are due in.

They also haven't restocked the 3.75" figures since 5/1 but they aren't sold out.  The Deluxe figs have been sold out since the 1st but no cards on those pegs.

Target, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any of the Crystal Skull figures on 5/1 but have added some since then.  They also restocked the Deluxe at least once and today there were new vehicles, it appears, but there was only 1 truck left when I was there.  If they'd had the troop car I probably would have picked it up.

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[Diddly]

I think I'm going to go back soon and pick up the Raiders truck and German 4WD to recreate the chase scene from the movie. I didn't know they were so rare or I would have snagged them when I saw them. But, not only am I trying to keep from splurging on Indy toys, I needed the $20 to pay for the ridiculously priced movie tickets.

[Reid]

Picked up the Cargo Truck at TRU. Great vehicle, accurate to the movie, and fairly accurate to real life. My only complaint is that the canopy be a bit taller, my German is essentially lying down on the seat. The drivers seat could stand to be a bit bigger too, it's kind of cramped in there. The little details like the whip and break away grill are neat, and it's very appreciated to see no twist ties at all. All in all, an awesome vehicle.

[Nicklab]

I still have not seen a single IJ vehicle at retail.  Very odd.  But if they're all selling out, it's a good thing.

[Jesse James]

I think the cab's perfect personally...  You can fit the larger 1:18 figures in it with no problems.  What I've found is annoying is the gaping leg stance of Indy makes it harder to seat him, not to mention his oversized holster for his oversized pistol (If I've got one complaint that truly annoys me on any level, it's that his pistol is too big, and thus his holster's larger than necessary).  The Germans though, and 1:18 military figures fit in there perfect, and they're quite significantly larger.

Dude on Ebay's auctioning an outstanding D-Day-era paintjob on the truck with wooden side mounts and some other added details (I think he's selling a bike too), and they're outstanding.  The $20 vehicles for IJ have been homeruns.  I'm not sure they'll ever be able to do any other vehicle as great as they've done these two, but that's ok...  The tank and flying wing are just too large to do this accurate (for Hasbro anyway).  If they'd bump them to a higher pricepoint though, I totally could see a great WW1 tank made for the Last Crusade, and really the flying Wing isn't a massive item either...  Watching Raiders again tonight, I still don't know how they planned to get the Ark in a plane that had no real cargo space to it.

[speedermike]

I think that the Tank and the Flying wing would both be great 40.00 vehicles.  But after seeing KOTCS, I really want a few ducks.  But I'm sure Hasbro thinks they're too small for the 20.00 price point, so they won't be able to figure out how to "fit them into the line..."

[efranks]

Maybe Jesse can chime in here, he's more up on his WWII-ish vehicles.  But the DUKW is about 30 feet long so it ought to actually be bigger than the 4WD Troop Car they already did.

But my question is, and this is where Jesse might help, were the vehicles in KotCS actually DUKW or were they something else, but similar? 

I wasn't really paying that close attention to what all the vehicles were during the jungle chase.  Spalko, at one point, is in a car and Indy and crew are in what appears to be an amphibious car but it's about the same size as Spalko's vehicle.  But the one Marion is driving, I think that's bigger and that might be the DUKW.

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[speedermike]

I was just looking at the "Making of Indiana Jones " book, and yeah, the Russian amphibious car is actually quite long.  Mayabe it would work at 20.00.

[Jesse James]

THe amphibious cars in KotCS are neat, but I don't think they're "Ducks", as most know them, from World War 2.  In Pittsburgh there is a tour you can take that goes on land and river by actually riding in vintage World War 2 Ducks restored and used as tour buses basically.

It literally drives from downtown streets right into the Monongehela River.  Neat thing to do in Pittsburgh I suppose but I've never done it myself.  I'd like to but don't have time it seems.

Here is a converted Duck for touring London:


As you can see, it's REALLY huge by comparison to the amphibious car in KotCS, at least by my recollection of the vehicle.  I could be off as I don't have it here to freeze-frame, but it really wasn't much larger than the Jeep-like car that the Erena/Irena (whatever) and her Russian Driver were in beside the amphibious car.

Here's a World War 2 Duck converted by Russia, probably as part of the lend-lease program.  Russia got lots of Ford, Chevy, and other U.S. manufacturerd vehicles for use in their war effort. 



As you can see, there's no way this is the "Duck" we see in KotCS, even though this is a Soviet converted Duck.  The U.S. actually didn't appreciate the amphibious vehicles like the Russians did.  Russians faced a greater obstacle in rivers than the western allies faced.  Rivers were a problem for the U.S./British/Canadians of course, but the Russians truly faced a myriad of water obstacles from large rivers to small streams, on an almost daily basis of their offensives, so they actually utilized amphibious vehicles extensively, and improved on existing U.S. designs, to suit their needs.

This is a German Schwimmwagen, or essentially an amphibious version of the Kubelwagen which was a mainstay vehicle used by the Germans.



It's much more the size of the amphibious vehicles in KotCS, I think anyway from what I remember of them anyway, but they're not the same shape, and not exactly the same size.

Ultimately, on the Soviet vehicles in the movie, there's a 50/50 chance if they really exist.  It's not a design I immediately recognized, but it's definitely smaller than a "Duck" (which I did hear Jones call it that too).  Russians had a few amphibious vehicles of various sizes, some they made based on US designs and others I think they whipped up themselves.  The vehicle in the movie, if it's real, likely was leftover WW2 stock though.  I'd say the same about the cargo trucks and the "4WD" vehicle that Irena was in at the start of the chase. 

The tree chopper thing was 100% ficitonal, though very neat I think, and it looked believable the way it was designed.

[David]

I saw the movie again today then I went to TRU and bought a Jungle Cutter. Outstanding vehicle.

[speedermike]

Yeah, I picked up the Cutter on Friday.  In a way, the only thing that disapointed me about the film, was that I assumed that the Jungle Cutter would be the focus of the big chase.  I imagined a fierce fight on, and around it, with the blades spinning near Indy and chopping through other vehicles and stuff.  I was shocked to see that it was only in 2 or three shots!

[efranks]

Thanks for the info, Jesse.

As far as the toy line goes I think that either the car Irena is driving or the amphibious vehicle Indy and Mutt were in could be made in the $20 line.  Either by playing with the scale a little (up or down scaling as needed) or including some extra accesory pieces like they did with the 4WD Raiders car that's out.

I finally saw the Jungle Cutter at TRU yesterday and while it does look like a decent toy, I don't think I'll pick it up.  I was looking for the car and found one at WM but the box was thrashed and I didn't want to take a chance that the toy was damaged so I passed.  Hopefully my Target will get some restock on these soon.

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[Darby]

I hope they make the Duck, because that was by far my favorite vehicle in the movie.   

[Paul]

I heard "Duck" too and laughed a bit...

Maybe it is like how every small "SUV" was called a Jeep during this era...

perhaps they are based on the SEEP (yes, they did exist, seaborn jeep)



Or the Russian GAZ 46 Amphibian more likely.



Either way, I want one or two.  I want some of the Harley's Mutt was on too for my Dreadnoks..

The cargo plane seemed small enough it could make the $29 vehicle range...

The Larger Trucks that they had in the Jungle would be larger than the "Raiders" truck though and I would want it to be different.

I'd also think it cool if we got an "American Grafitti" T-Bucket and the M37's and Deuce and Halfs from the opening sequence (even though they were Vietnam and later era trucks).