Along with the playset we looked at the
other day, Mr. Clausey also sent me a couple of shots of what is best described
as a bloody-great behemoth of a thing! Clarence has been picking these up off
eBay when he sees them and has a battery of five now!
Described by Clarence as an Arco cap-firing tank, I started to dig-around
Google and see if I could find out more about it, in fact I couldn't find anything,
until I added 'Combat Force' to the
mix, whereupon I found the item currently listed on evilBay for 50-odd dollars,
but credited to DSI (Diversified Specialists Inc.) Toys [or DSIT], so I pulled the post and frantically emailed Clarence to
double-check the Arco connection.
The enemy appears to have got round behind
the battery (of guns) to interdict the [battery] power source!
As Arco
were themselves absorbed by their then parent Mattel in 1997, having been bought by them in 1986, and with the DSI version being boxed in 1991, they
were clearly marketed by Arco, with Mattel's permission, probably sourced
from an anonymous OEM in China and shipped through 4th or 5th parties to DSI . . . such is the modern toy
industry, and with everyone in the chain wanting a percentage or two of profit . . .
. . . but enough of the boring bit! This
thing automatically fires 8-shot cap drums, while driving about! It's like a
self-propelled Lone Star six-shooter!
Well . . . eight-shooter. Compatible with standard 3¼"
(90-odd millimetres) action figures popularised in the 1980's following Mattel's famous Star Wars franchise figures from the late 1970's, it has three
dedicated stations for them, two cupolas 'up front' with hatches and a seat
'up-top' for the gunner.
The mechanism is similar to that in a
cap-gun but a one-way, inner, toothed-gear wheel - set onto the same face that
receives the ammunition 'magazine' - is operated by battery-powered electric
signal, to trigger firing, rather than a manual mechanism.
The same power-pack provides movement
forwards and in reverse and all in all the DSI,
Arco or 'and' Arco-Mattel rendition of the Remote Control Combat Force Ring-cap Firing
Mobile Attack Cannon [Battery Operated] is a beast!
Under all the weaponry is a basic M1
Abrahms chassis, but the beast reminds me more of some of the experimental
1950's Russian SPG's which turned-up in ex-Soviet museums after The Wall came
down! Really it's a 'Space Tank'!
Thanks for sharing it with us Clarence
06th-Feb - Late Addition - Arco on Nu-Earth!
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