I had one of those in the 80's AIRFIX
Who remembers glueing their fingers together trying to put one of these things together? I don't think I ever completed one of these as I just wasn't patient enough! I had a friend who had several aeroplanes that he had completed, and he even painted them. Founded in 1939, Airfix was owned by Humbrol from 1986 until Humbrol's financial collapse on 31 August 2006. As of 2007, Airfix is currently owned by Hornby. Airfix models still seem to be very popular if the Amazon website is anything to go by - click the link below to take a look;
SPACE HOPPER This was more 70s than 80s, but many kids were still using them in the 80s, of course. As with many of the 70s and 80s toys, they're really back in fashion and still available to buy. I bought one for my friend's young boy (Sam) and he adores it! I actually had a yellow kangaroo hopper, but I've never seen them in any toy shops since the 70s, not in the UK anyway. INSTANT CAMERA
The Polaroid instant camera was first launched in the 1960's, but became popular during the 70s and 80s. I always remember the excitement of taking my first polaroid picture and watching it develop before my eyes! Of course, professional photographers wouldn't go near the things as the colour wasn't as "real" as in 35mm pictures, and you didn't get any negatives that could be enlarged. But for everyone else, this magical camera was a dream come true! Sadly, with the rise of the digital camera, the instant camera became redundant and in 2008 Polaroid ceased producing them.
ACTION MAN Many a happy hour was spent in the 70's playing with Action Man! He was actually launched in Britain in 1966 by Palitoy as a licensed copy of Hasbro's American "moveable fighting man" G.I. Joe. Action Man was originally produced and sold in the UK from 1966 until 1984 (Palitoy also offered sub-licenses to various toy manufacturers in various markets). I remember having one of the first models that came with "gripping hands", "eagle eyes" and fuzzy blonde hair. The 1960's and early 70's models had plastic hair and non-moveable eyes and hands. You could also purchase many vehicles and accessories including a tank, jeep, personnel carrier, along with various outfits. I had a diver's outfit with mine! Action Man was re-launched between 1993 and 2006, but without a military theme. DIAL TELEPHONE
A Trim Phone Yes, believe it or not, you had to actually stick your finger in the hole (careful!) and dial each number that you required! There used to be a real little bell inside the phone, rather than a digital beep, or music which you get today when it rings. Push button phones were also becoming more available in the early 80's, but only posh people had these as BT gave you a free dial phone! VIEWMASTER
I actually had one of these in the 70's, but they were still going strong in the 80's, too. The pictures came on a card disc and were rather like the negatives you used to get with your photos using a 35mm camera. The Viewmaster magnified each image and when you looked through the viewer you could see TV-sized images. COR! ANNUAL
The Cor Annual ran from 1972 to 1986. Forget all the other presents, this was what I really wanted! Remember these characters; Gus Gorilla, The Gasworks Gang, Tomboy, Tricky Dicky, Football Madd, Ivor Lott and Tony Broke. To see all of the covers click this link; linkhttp://www.tonystrading.co.uk/galleries/annuals/cor.htm SINCLAIR C5
The ill-conceived C5 was a bit of a disaster for its inventor Sir Clive Sinclair. Launched on January 10th 1985, the battery-powered Sinclair C5 could be driven without a driving licence, as it's top-speed was under 15 mph. Despite being sold for just £399, due to much ridicule by the press only 12,000 vehicles were ever sold.
ETCH-A-SKETCH  This was pretty fascinating to me as a child. Well, for about a week anyway! The idea was that you could draw what you wanted on the "magic" screen using the two white knobs, and then erase it by shaking it up and down. The main drawback was that it was virtually impossible to draw a circle or a curve - they always had a jagged look. The other problem was that your nastly little brother would shake the darn thing before you had finished your masterpiece! 80s MULLET Click here to get that 1980's look! Perhaps the most famous eighties celebrity to wear a mullet was Pat Sharpe, who hosted several kids TV shows. The mullet is a hideous hairstyle that is short at the front, top, and sides, butlong in the back. The hairstyle was popular throughout much of the eighties. Mullets have been worn by both women and men. Don't confuse the mullet with the rat-tail, though, which consists of a long, narrow "tail" of hair growing from the back of the head. You can see some truly hideous mullets at http//www.mulletjunky.com/ DIGITAL WATCHES These were extremely popular in the eighties. If you didn't own a Casio, then you weren't worth knowing! The first watch I had was a Texas Instruments watch (a Christmas present) with a luminous background. It was quite basic compared to the Casio's, but seemed more sturdy. I should have kept it as is was quite unique and would probably be worth a fortune today! in either '83 or '84 I owned a Casio calculator watch. These had only just come on to the market and really seemed amazing at the time! Like today's mobile phones, watches were becoming more and more sophistacted. They were packed with features you didn't actually need - you could actually play space invaders on some models! VIDEO RECORDER (VCR)  Video recorders were just starting to become popular household items in the early 80s. During the late 70s there were two formats battling it out for supremacy - VHS and Betamax. Although the Betamax format was superior to VHS, the limited one hour recording tapes - compared to 4 hours for VHS - probably helped kill off the format. The VHS was crowned the winner and quickly dominated the marketplace. The early VCR's were big and bulky, but pretty solid. Many had big metal switches and wooden fascias. It cost around £600 for a cheap model, and JVC were one of the market leaders. I was at Comprehensive School from 1979 to 1984, and had the pleasure of seeing a whole range of different models being shipped between each classroom for different lessons. We didn't have a video recorder at home until the mid eighties. Our first model was an Amstrad which featured half-speed recording. This effectively turned a 4 hour tape into an 8 hour tape, although the picture quality was reduced. Also, anything taped at half-speed was incompatible with other standard machines. Prices of VCR's quickly dropped throughout the 80s. A new machine could set you back close to £1000 in 1980, but by the end of the decade you could obtain one for less than £300. HAND-HELD SPACE INVADERS There were no Nintendo DS's around in the eighties. The first hand-held games to appear played just one game! That game was Space Invaders. I had avery early model that had only green invaders, although the flying saucer that flew across the top of the screen was red, I think. Some bright-spark at school decided that you could add colour by sticking different coloured sweet-wrappers over the screen - those were the days!
CABBAGE PATCH DOLLS What
ugly things they were! A bit like Marmite, you either loved or
hated'em. What were they? They were incredibly ugly dolls for kids to
play with and each one was, apparantly, unique, with it's own
hairstyle, clothes and facial features. They even came with an adoption
certificate. Over 50 million were sold World-wide. |
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