Playart - 1/64 Scale Diecast

1/64 Scale Diecast

Playart 1/64 scale diecast had an extensive numbering system. Numbers can be found on Playart display posters, blister-paks and, infrequently, on the vehicle base, which also carries the name of the vehicle. The existence of 48 vehicles have been confirmed from the above sources and examination of the bases of the earliest editions (see Appendix 1 below). These 48 were the original line-up.

All of these vehicles can be found with one or both types of the "hub-cap" style wheel. Later models/numbers do not have the 'hub-cap' style wheels, rather, most commonly, an over-sized one piece wheel with five silver triangular 'spokes'. A couple of other wheel styles were wheels with a thin, ridged, one-piece design with five trapezoids outlined in silver or a one-piece form with two concentric circles outlined in silver. These were designs for cars, but wheels on trucks and other vehicles often unique. The five spoke wheel can be seen in the VW PORSCHE 914 photo. Most of the models in Appendix 2 are number above 7147 and can be found with the 5 spoke wheel.

Despite the cleverness of model selection, many if not most Playart small scale cars seem to have been casting seconds from previous toy lines. For example, the Thunderbird, Barracuda, and AMX are very similar to earlier Mattel Hot Wheels offerings. The Porsche 910, Man from Uncle Oldsmobile, Carabo and Alfa P33 are nearly identical to Husky/Corgi Jr. dies or to larger-scale Corgi castings, as are the later Chevrolet Caprice and Opel Senator. The Jensen FF appears to be a scaled down version of the larger Dinky model, as is the Cadillac Eldorado. Many of the Japanese vehicles appear to have once been Tomicas and some Playart models are copies of Matchboxes (specifically the bulldozer with cab, and the Estate Wagon which is similar to the Matchbox Mercury station wagon). A few others were apparently Yatmings or Zylmexes, while others were modeled on plastic kits. One of these, the Mazda Rotary Coupe was initially identified on its base as Yamada Super Discmatic Rotary Coupe - the same name as the model kit series - apparently copying the brand name from the Yamada box instead of the Mazda name. Conversely, it appears the Singapore firm Mandarin may have used some Playart dies for some of its truck models.