DynaFlites

[angelreader]

This is getting interesting,when Doug Mc Hard commenced his employment at Meccano he was given permission to take into his possession all of the old Meccano museum contents as the museum was not rally serving any purpose any more,this included lots of aeroplanes mostly in boxed sets,there were masses of old photographs of times gone at the factory including pictures of diecasting machinery and prototypes,Frank Hornby figured a lot in those pictures,the huge desk that Frank had in his office realised mega money,it went to a Meccano enthusiast in South Africa I think his name was Matthews ? Doug also had prototypes such as a fibreglass Junkers 87,these were all in that sale.
After his passing these was a massive auction,the collection was dispersed,did you purchase any of these GR ? he went under the name of Somerville his company that produced limited runs of vehicles in miniature,he was a crafstman supreme,Somerville were sold and became part of another company,all history now but all part of the historical equation.
If you had not saved those items GR then they would probably have been scrapped,sometimes interests overlap,a worthy custodian indeed.
Barry.

[MichaelB]

Gentlemen...I think we should move Dinky, Frankovia and other such discussions over to the appropriate forums...some may be confused by the topic title here of "DynaFlites" and be missing some of the discussion, if that's not their collecting area...

[angelreader]

You are right Michael sometimes these things get overlaps and we can get side tracked during the interesting discussions that can shoot us off at a tangent ! the Dynaflite discussion has brought with it some interesting material,back to Dynaflite then ?
Barry.

[MichaelB]

Yep...as I had mentioned before I'm going to start annotating the entire line, now that we have pretty much covered the first in the series: A100, the S-55.
The oldest copyright I have is 1972 and it's not shown. It does appear in what is labeled as the 1974 catalog, but is gone by the 1975 version. Ah, to have those earlier catalogs!
As far as I can reckon there were 35 planes in the initial batch, including all props, jets, airliners and helos.
I'm still trying to get a handle on the Modern Toy issues; it seems they were in the stores in the Far East until the late '80s.
A larger evolution shows in the catalogs, as it was initially ZEE Toys in Hong Kong. By 1981 ZEE is a "subsidiary of Intex Corp". By 1993 we're back to the ZEE logo, but not ZEE Toys - it's ZYLL Enterprise Ltd....along with the Zlymex name. Intex isn't mentioned. The first card back with Intex mentioned has a 1982 copyright date. But there is a change from being in Gardena, CA to Long Beach, CA that occurs between 1975 and 1976 - the same year they picked up the MASH license.
Unlike many toy companies ZEE never issued any licensed products, except for MASH. They did include some "space ships" in the line, even including them in some of the DynaFlite photos, but never bought into any of the Star Wars or Star Trek bit. I was told that such licensing killed Galoob toys in 1999 - expensive licenses!
After an injection of new metal after 1993, and more aggressive marketing, they were out of business by 1996. RedBox toys would buy the assets and continue selling the name and product after that.
I really don't want to go beyond the RedBox take over...it's just too heart breaking!
Anyway...back to scanning and photographing...later..
Michael

[angelreader]

Michael you have identified the important slot for Zylmex,that is all that matters as nothing will go on forever let alone toys,so go and photograph everything and deal with it piecemeal up to the period that Red Box took over,that way forms an excellent basis for discussion,who would have thought that a basically simple line like this would have such complex history to it ? you are the man to do it,probably the worlds expert on Zee,what do I mean probably ? you are !
Barry.

[MichaelB]

There are a few other collectors out there - I'm just one interested party. I have now found an incorporation date for ZEE in the US in 1966. As I stated before, 35 or 36 airplanes were the initial offerings. I also suspect that Zylmex was a name for export purposes. I betcha the "guy" that started the whole thing was a Hong Kong resident whose family name started with a "Z"...just like Lintoy was named by a Mr. Lin!
Barry, to back up to your Super Wings card, here are two of my Super Wings - this is the card style I was expecting from you! I'm still trying to sort out the names they used!
This is why yours was so unusual...always something new!
Michael

[grwebster]

I moved some of my comments over to the vintage forum.
As happens when we all get enthusiastically involved in a topic, it drifts off topic. We do not generally police or moderate discussions unless they violate forum rules. We leave it to the good judgment of our members and moderators.
But for the interest of vintage die cast followers, parts were reposted on vintage and this discussion was linked.

[angelreader]

Michael I am keeping an eye open for the unusual on these Zylmex items that surface like this,anything new or different will be posted here no worry.
I like the simplicity of those card bubble packs,simple fun drawings to go with the models.
Barry.

[MichaelB]

Indeed! The early cards look like some real home-brew things, and as such look like many of the other brands from the time. ZEE would later get more sophisticated in their appearance, if I can say such a thing. Look at these two cards for comparison.
All their later cards would be similar to the one on the right.
Pardon the crude scans...it's easier that way...

[angelreader]

Toy outlet on the left with more sophisticated header card on the right,the later one would be more appropiate for model shop outlets etc,perhaps extending their retail options ? packaging is clever if done right and the expert merchandisers know this.
Barry.