updates and cleans some minis.
- The Good News
- You can pick up a toy blimp in the local toy department for less than a dollar, and it is approximately 1/300 scale.
- The Bad News
- It's more toylike that you can tell from the package.
Mattel has brought out the Aerial Attack series for their Hot Wheels line of toy cars. There are four toys in the series, and #4 is the Blimp. This is apparently a re-release of a 1991 model (that's the model's copyright date), possibly with a new paint job.
Peering into the package, you see a swirly-grey colored blimp with psychadelic art titled Hot Air Sky Swami. The blimp's nose is ribbed, and the four-vaned tail is purple plastic. The gondola is chromed, with two thruster bulges at the rear and a "landing flange" around the bottom - but no painted details (no windows!).
The packaging says "Rotating sign!" - and when you get the toy out of the packaging, you find that the backside of the blimp has a rectangular opening. By turning the tail, you can make two messages appear (basically, the swami saying 'yes' or 'no') or you can go for blank space.
Unfortunately, with my sample, when you twist the tail to change the messages, the blimp's hull starts to crack along the seams.
So it's undetailed, it's flimsy, it's toylike - but the gondola measures 7mm tall (about 1/300 scale), and the price at Wal-Mart was only $0.97 USD.