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Subject: Looking for a toy from the early 70's

Written By: 2manyhounds on 07/28/16 at 10:08 am

Hi All,
I was born in '66 and I remember playing with this when I had to be around 5-9(ish).  I'll try to describe as much as my steel sieve of a memory will allow.

There was a character (man) about 6" tall and had a battery pack on his back that looked like a scuba tank.  Out of the bottom of the tank or his posterior was a gear that was driven by a small motor.  You could sit this guy in various implements and the gear would drive them to do things.  For instance;  You plopped him in the the seat of this construction conveyor belt/hopper system that would pick up plastic "rocks", run them up the conveyor and dump them into a truck.  Them you'd take the guy our of the contraption and put him ion the truck and the gear system would make the truck move and it would also allow the dump bed to operate.  There were other pieces of construction equipment but I'm a little fuzzy there. There were also set ups for the moon (I think) and some other contrivances.  I do remember loving this thing to death and that's probably what happened to it.

Does anyone remember this setup?

Thanks

Subject: Re: Looking for a toy from the early 70's

Written By: dustkee on 08/11/16 at 11:06 am

This sounds like the Tomy Big Loader Construction Set. I don't remember it having the "man", but everything else fits your description. There are several on ebay...have a look and see if this rings any bells:

http://www.ebay.com/dsc/i.html?_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=1&_udlo=&_udhi=&_ftrt=901&_ftrv=1&_sabdlo=&_sabdhi=&_samilow=&_samihi=&_sadis=15&_stpos=82401&_sop=12&_dmd=1&_ipg=200&_nkw=TOMY+BIG+LOADER+CONSTRUCTION+SET&_in_kw=1&_ex_kw=

Subject: Re: Looking for a toy from the early 70's - SOLVED

Written By: 2manyhounds on 11/18/16 at 9:50 am

I finally tracked it down, I'm not sure why I feel so relieved, but I do.  Does anyone remember this guy?  Oh the agony of mom throwing toys out.  The prices on this guy are ridiculous

http://www.robotnut.com/billy/

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/billy-blastoff

Cheers

Subject: Re: Looking for a toy from the early 70's - SOLVED

Written By: Foo Bar on 11/20/16 at 11:32 pm


I finally tracked it down, I'm not sure why I feel so relieved, but I do.  Does anyone remember this guy?  Oh the agony of mom throwing toys out.  The prices on this guy are ridiculous

http://www.robotnut.com/billy/

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/billy-blastoff

Cheers


http://i.imgur.com/m4HqXcP.jpg

Thanks for posting the answer, even if we weren't the ones who helped you crack the case.  (I didn't remember him, but looked for toys I did remember and couldn't find a match.)

For the benefit of future searchers who might land here, Billy Blastoff and Robbie Robot were the answers.  In 2016, they went for $200-300 on eBay.  And in case the links that 2manyhounds posted ever go away, this is what they looked like. 

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