Action Fleet Substitutes

**matthewilw** · 02-25-2005

Since the action fleet line has been severely neglected over the past few years, I have been forced to find other items to feed my never ending hunger for action fleet. My newest discovery is the Power Rangers Deluxe Time Force megazord. Odd I know. But it fits in perfectly with my AF collection. It contains 5 seperate planes, all of which feature open cockpits and.....EASILY FIT MINI FIGURES!! That's right, they were made to hold 1" figures just like the old action fleets. 3 of the five also feature retractable landing gear. The five jets ca then combine into 2 different robot modes, or combine into a single larger jet. Although the coloring isn't great, I do enjoy this item greatly. It's very sturdy as well. made of very strong plastic and die-cast parts. Hmmm..files too large, here is a link, sorry about the poor lighting, I can take better pictures if anyone wants them.
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...5397&members=1

P.S. I want to see what kinds of things everyone else has found that is in/near AF scale that I can add to my collection.

**JediTricks** · 02-25-2005

It's not odd, in fact I got it and its companion piece, the Time Shadow Megazord (which is 1 ship with a 5-figure cockpit) a while back. One thing I have noticed about my Time Force Megazord though is that over the past year or so on display, the metal parts have tarnished and pitted some.

There have also been other entries, mostly from Bandai, with their Gundam line and their Thunderbirds movie line, their Final Fantasy movie line had 1, and most notablytheir short-lived Xyber 9 line with like 10 different AF-style vehicles.

We actually have a few threads on this issue, I'll try to dig 'em up.

**matthewilw** · 02-25-2005

I saw the Time shadow megazord as well, I just haven't found one at a price I'm willing to pay yet. I know about all the other lines you mentioned, but I was hoping this post could be a place where everyone could post future finds in AF scale. Oh, and you forgot the Armageddon line

**JediTricks** · 02-25-2005

That was Mattel, and I didn't buy any of it, so I didn't put it in my list. That, and I did forget about it.

Future finds? Sounds good.

Oh, that Mattel comment reminds me, they have had a line for a while now, it keeps changing names but it has modular vehicles which you can rebuild into other stuff and mini-figures that interact with them. I have a few of these from a while back, they're AF scale roughly but of course since they're for the kiddies they're less detailed.

**sergiurusu** · 02-28-2005

There are also Star Trek Strike Force and Innerspace series. They are pretty nice, but not as good as AF. The Strike Force ships are the size of AF and the figs are a bit strange (they have movable joints like AF figs, but the eyes are creepy

). The Innerspace ships are a bit small, but some of them are really cool: the Galileo shuttle, the new TNG shuttle and the Apollo modules. The figs are better even if the hands are fixed.

**sicqnus** · 03-01-2005

To me the Maquis fighter was the best Strike Force starship. It looks perfect close to the Playmates Voyager (as in the very first episode of "Voyager"). The size is pretty good as well as the proportions.

You can also think about...
- Bandaï ActionFleet Copperhead from Final Fantasy "The spirits within" (1 vehicle and 4 figures). Unfortunately this is the only vehicle from this movie made into a toy...
- Disney exclusive Action Fleet like Indiana Jones vehicles and figures packs. Two vehicles were made, the "Nazi plane" (a 1944 Arado flying wing prototype) and an old Jordanian Tank from WW1. Both are toys but looks good even if there are no figs to fit inside. The figures are not amazing, there is a Motorcycle pack and another pack of figs (the four packs are still available at DNStoys.com).
- Estes Rockets. A good opportunity to get cool spaceships for cheap. I got the Trade Federation Control ship for $3 on Ebay and the Sith Infiltrator for $13. The Royal Cruiser and Naboo fighters (the bigger ones) are also pretty cool.
- ERTL die-cast Naboo Fighter. A very cool kit with metal parts. Available now for $5 to $14 on Ebay.
- Product Enterprise Space 1999 die-cast Eagles (incredibly well done and priced well at around $65 each). Two new eagles are planned for 2005 and a big 23 inches Eagle will be out this summer. http://www.productenterprise.com/anderson.html
There are also "UFO" diecast vehicles ($48 at DNStoys.com for "UFO saucer and SHADO Interceptor" 2-pack and for "Skydiver with removable Interceptor".
- Product Enterprise StarBug from Red Dwarf (a little bigger than AF but it's a MM like opening playset with figures), unfortunately pretty expensive. http://www.productenterprise.com/reddwarf.html
- The three Collector Fleet starships. Easily found on Ebay. The SSD is alway expensive.
- Of course the JoyRide BattleStar Galactica Colonial Viper and Cylon Raider. I love them, they are AF-like with figures & stand (not too expensive : approx $13 each). A battle damaged Viper will be in Wave 3. JoyRide have the license for Galactica 2003 but they want to know if the Classic TV serie toys do well before thinking about making the new serie vehicles.

- Die-cast Johnny Lightning Lost In Space Jupiter 2 (from classic TV serie) a pretty coll item for the fans of the real LIS. Sample here : http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...515182112&rd=1

I'm sure I forgot something.

**JediTricks** · 03-02-2005

Originally Posted by sicqnus

To me the Maquis fighter was the best Strike Force starship. It looks perfect close to the Playmates Voyager (as in the very first episode of "Voyager"). The size is pretty good as well as the proportions.

Except for the fact that the wings are totally floppy, I definitely agree with you about this one, it was the best of the series for all those reasons (except for the Playmates Voyager, as I have never put the 2 together and I no longer know where my Maquis Raider is).

There's also the Lost in Space movie (roughly) AF-scale vehicles w/ minifigs from Trendmasters. There's also a few different Trendmasters Voltron lions robots that had separately-purchased AF-style minifigs, and Trendmasters did a few AF-scale vehicles w/ minifigs for Independence Day (aka "ID4").

**SWAFMAN** · 03-04-2005

Originally Posted by sicqnus

...Product Enterprise Space 1999 die-cast Eagles (incredibly well done and priced well at around $65 each). Two new eagles are planned for 2005 and a big 23 inches Eagle will be out this summer. http://www.productenterprise.com/anderson.html
There are also "UFO" diecast vehicles ($48 at DNStoys.com for "UFO saucer and SHADO Interceptor" 2-pack and for "Skydiver with removable Interceptor".
- Of course the JoyRide BattleStar Galactica Colonial Viper and Cylon Raider. I love them, they are AF-like with figures & stand (not too expensive : approx $13 each). A battle damaged Viper will be in Wave 3. JoyRide have the license for Galactica 2003 but they want to know if the Classic TV serie toys do well before thinking about making the new serie vehicles.

sicqnus - do you have the Space 1999 Eagle or the UFO ships? Not counting scale or removeable panels, how do you rate the detail and craftsmanship of Product Enterprise's ships to the stuff Code3 does? Are you familiar with the collector line of Matchbox die-casts, specifically their big twin-rotor (Sikorski??) helicopter? If so, how do the current Eagles compare, size-wise?

Re: the JoyRide BSG ships, are these available retail anywhere, or only direct mail/e-tail?

**matthewilw** · 03-04-2005

Originally Posted by SWAFMAN

Re: the JoyRide BSG ships, are these available retail anywhere, or only direct mail/e-tail?

I haven't seen the ships themselves, but I have seen several of the Cylon Centurian action figures at places like suncoast. So I know they are out there, they just seem to be pretty popular. That's good news though, hopefully we'll be seeing more from this line and *crosses fingers* maybe they'll even implement this ship scale to their Halo line.

**sicqnus** · 03-05-2005

I have the first two Eagle and I'm waiting for the two others. And maybe the big one, I may have an opportunity to acquire the 23 inches Eagle for a descent price.
The scale is good, close to 1/72e I think. They are made of die-cast metal and plastic (the tubes skelton is made of hard plastic). They are approx 12-13 inches long and painted with great detail (the paintjob is very good, you can see the tiny Moonbase Alpha blue logos on the nose and on the passenger pod).

I haven't seen the dc helicopters maybe Adkins collectibles http://www.adkinsstore.com/ or WaW http://www.wingsandwheel.com/ will have them.
BadCatAviation is the best store for diecasts and huge 1/18e planes (for 3,3/4" figures). Rob is a great guy and I've received from them two F-4U Corsairs (a Papy Boyington Corsair and a chekerboarder Corsair now converted to a "Baa Baa Black Sheep" TV serie Corsair paint scheme. Both have a 28 inches wingspan) and also a HaleaKala II P-38 Lightning. The Lightning is huuuuge (34 inches !!!). They have a lot of diecast planes and helicopters : http://www.badcataviation.com/badcat...adcatnews.html

The JoyRide Galacticas are doing pretty well and almost sold out everywher for the moment. Good news, it means we will surely see the BSG 2003 ships next year ! The official JoyRide store is www.diecastexpress.com but they are also available at EE, not yet at DNStoys.com. I send several mails to KillerToys but never had anything back... except their newsletter

As Matthewilw said, I know they will be available in lots of toystores around the US, keep your eyes open !