Die Cast Series III

The diecast line wound down to its conclusion with Series III, comprised entirely of vehicles from The Empire Strikes Back.

First up we have the Twin-Pod Cloud Car. Not sure exactly why this was chosen to be immortalized in the diecast range, as it barely appeared in the movie... but of course this was a mini-action-figure scale vehicle as well, so who knows...

Make sure that your loose Cloud Car has glass in the canopies!

It's relatively easy to find Cloud Cars in nice condition, as many were barely played with! The movable feature on the vehicle, of course, is the landing gear that manually extends and retracts from the fuselage.

Copyright info is on the underside of the central spar.

Slave I was also part of Series III. Unusually, there's no graphics or colour on the hull - just plain metal. You can just see Boba Fett in the cockpit in this shot.

There he is!

Action features on Slave I are the rotating wings and cannons.

Copyright info (as well as kind of an ugly scar) on hull bottom.

Lastly, here's the Snowspeeder, showing a bit of play wear. This seems typical for this ship and I think it demonstrates the love that kids showed them back in the day.

Like the X-Wing, the Snowspeeder features (two!) non-removable pilots, molded in orange plastic.

Harpoon launcher is present on the rear of the fuselage, but no harpoon or string, of course.

Cannons have gotten a bit warped over the years but the ship still looks good.

Copyright info on the wing bottom. Landing skid retracts into the fuselage.

So that's the diecast range - all three Series.A very fun and mostly economical run to collect (except for the TIE Bomber of course) and they look good on display too. If you're not into boxed or carded stuff they're even more appealing.

Anyway, I hope this tour through the world of vintage diecast has been amusing and informative!