Toy of the week 2, Week 78,Radio Controlled Jawa Sandcrawler

[Pomse2001]

Radio Controlled Jawa Sandcrawler:

 

[Pomse2001]

I never saw it for sale in denmark when I was a kid, but I think kenner did a great job with this vehicle

 

[StarWarsFan]

I love the Jawa Sandcrawler it's an ace toy had to travel 140 miles to pick it up. The worst time though as my car had broken down and had just got back in touch with my dad. He had divorced my mum and gone off with another woman I hated so we didn't speak for ten years. Then they got divorced and he went back to live with his parents who I am very close to so we started talking again. Asked if he was free Saturday to drive me there offered petrol money and he agreed and we had a nice day out stopped for lunch went to a little market and he found a book that was missing from his collection so he was pleased as well.

 

[Frunkstar]

I do like the sandcrawler Lars, I suspect like the UK you never got it there, sure it was a stateside issue we never got, I did have one a while back but let it go when I had to downsize & I must admit it's one of the few things I let go I do miss as I had the droids buying scean all set out on a shelf with it, just need to get myself an R1 droid & maybe I will try & get one again, I don't think it needed to be remote control though, a push along version would have been better.

 

[Pomse2001]

I love the Jawa Sandcrawler it's an ace toy had to travel 140 miles to pick it up. The worst time though as my car had broken down and had just got back in touch with my dad. He had divorced my mum and gone off with another woman I hated so we didn't speak for ten years. Then they got divorced and he went back to live with his parents who I am very close to so we started talking again. Asked if he was free Saturday to drive me there offered petrol money and he agreed and we had a nice day out stopped for lunch went to a little market and he found a book that was missing from his collection so he was pleased as well.

Fantastic story and thanks for sharing the story and this beauty of a sandcrawler. I cannot match the story about how you got it. I bought the one I have from a jewish guy in denmark who was selling his collection because he was moving to israel. I remember I told him I wanted to pick it up but he offered me to deliver it to me at my work for free. So he came to my job with it and I paid him in cash. I remember he was so sad about selling it so he had to touch the box one more time and say farewell to it before he left.

 

[Pomse2001]

I do like the sandcrawler Lars, I suspect like the UK you never got it there, sure it was a stateside issue we never got, I did have one a while back but let it go when I had to downsize & I must admit it's one of the few things I let go I do miss as I had the droids buying scean all set out on a shelf with it, just need to get myself an R1 droid & maybe I will try & get one again, I don't think it needed to be remote control though, a push along version would have been better.

Hi Frank, Yes I am pretty sure we never got it in denmark, but I have heard rumors about maybe one or a few small toy stores could have imported it. There is still a lot of reseach to do on this but as I understand it most toy stores and supermarkets in denmark first began to import and sell star wars toy after return of the jedi So we maybe had star wars from 1983 to 1987. I also remember a guy years ago who sold his childhood lot to me, told me that he did remember that it was impossible to find star wars toy in the toy stores in the late 70s and around the empire stries back so some family members from usa bought it for them and mailed the toy to denmark so they could have star wars toy to play with. But then maybe 10 years ago I found a few SW cardbacks with danish price stickers on them this was the first ones I have ever seen or heard about and the name on the stickers was from a toy store that I had never heard about, I learned they had a few toy stores and they was sold to toy store giant in denmark in the early 80s. This Toy store could maybe also have imported a few sandcrawlers since they have had sold SW cardbacks, but I have not found any proof so far.

Sorry to read frank that you miss your old sandcrawler, I hope you get one again soon

 

[Gadders]

Heres mine - in the rarer ESB box:

 

[sith-smith]

Here's mine

 

[Pomse2001]

Heres mine - in the rarer ESB box:

thanks for sharing it, that box looks amazing

 

[Pomse2001]

Here's mine

Thanks for sharing it, I love how you display it

 

[Mini99]

I wish, it's very unlikely I'll own one nowadays at the prices they fetch.

 

[Snaketibe]

I love the Jawa Sandcrawler it's an ace toy had to travel 140 miles to pick it up. The worst time though as my car had broken down and had just got back in touch with my dad. He had divorced my mum and gone off with another woman I hated so we didn't speak for ten years. Then they got divorced and he went back to live with his parents who I am very close to so we started talking again. Asked if he was free Saturday to drive me there offered petrol money and he agreed and we had a nice day out stopped for lunch went to a little market and he found a book that was missing from his collection so he was pleased as well.

Nice stuff! Thanks for the story and the terrific photos. I love that your Sandcrawler houses so many jawas!

Thanks for sharing.

Jeremy

 

[Snaketibe]

Heres mine - in the rarer ESB box:
View attachment 202225

Fantastic! The Kenner Canada ESB box is something special!

Many thanks for sharing

Jeremy

 

[Snaketibe]

Here's mine

View attachment 202227

Another super arrangement showing off the toy to its best potential! Wonderful!

Thanks for sharing

Jeremy

 

[Snaketibe]

The rather grandly named 'Radio Controlled Jawa Sandcrawler'. Not a toy we got here in the UK of course, and for that reason for many years I never even knew it existed! Let's be brutally honest here, the toy is woefully undersized and a little underwhelming. However, the sculpt is a good one, and I am still surprised to this day that Kenner even made one. It's testament to Star Wars' popularity that Kenner felt they could not only flog kids a Sandcrawler (which let's face it, didn't do a huge amount in the film), but an expensive radio controlled one at that!

I'm very glad that Kenner did make one though, as it makes for a relatively unusual and different addition to any collection. It's also noteworthy that the Sandcrawler, along with the Imperial Troop Transporter, are the only Star Wars logo-ed toy boxes NOT to have a double racetrack around the perimeter of the box front. Instead they reduced it down to just the single track we subsequently got for Empire and Jedi packaging.

Anyway, here's mine. Not the best example out there, but I'm still happy to have it:

 

[Frunkstar]

Hi Frank, Yes I am pretty sure we never got it in denmark, but I have heard rumors about maybe one or a few small toy stores could have imported it. There is still a lot of reseach to do on this but as I understand it most toy stores and supermarkets in denmark first began to import and sell star wars toy after return of the jedi So we maybe had star wars from 1983 to 1987. I also remember a guy years ago who sold his childhood lot to me, told me that he did remember that it was impossible to find star wars toy in the toy stores in the late 70s and around the empire stries back so some family members from usa bought it for them and mailed the toy to denmark so they could have star wars toy to play with. But then maybe 10 years ago I found a few SW cardbacks with danish price stickers on them this was the first ones I have ever seen or heard about and the name on the stickers was from a toy store that I had never heard about, I learned they had a few toy stores and they was sold to toy store giant in denmark in the early 80s. This Toy store could maybe also have imported a few sandcrawlers since they have had sold SW cardbacks, but I have not found any proof so far.

Sorry to read frank that you miss your old sandcrawler, I hope you get one again soon

It was not quite the same in Germany, but I do vividly remember it not being half as big a thing as it was in the UK, ou really did have to hunt out toy stores that stocked the figures, well that is my memory of the situation in Hamburg where I used to spend my summers, I also strongly remember them not being able to get standard stormtroopers for love nor money for some reason, most of the kids had hoth troopers as they could not get hold of the standard ones, this I remember very well as my friends there would always ask me to bring them stormtroopers on my visits, always seemed very odd considering, it seemed the same story where I lived in the UK in Leicester for power droids, I could not get one here for the love of trying, very odd considering the palitoy factory was only 1 town over & only about 15 miles away, I ended up having to get mine in Germany, it's likey why I ended up going with it as my focus figure as an adult collector.

 

[Pomse2001]

The rather grandly named 'Radio Controlled Jawa Sandcrawler'. Not a toy we got here in the UK of course, and for that reason for many years I never even knew it existed! Let's be brutally honest here, the toy is woefully undersized and a little underwhelming. However, the sculpt is a good one, and I am still surprised to this day that Kenner even made one. It's testament to Star Wars' popularity that Kenner felt they could not only flog kids a Sandcrawler (which let's face it, didn't do a huge amount in the film), but an expensive radio controlled one at that!

I'm very glad that Kenner did make one though, as it makes for a relatively unusual and different addition to any collection. It's also noteworthy that the Sandcrawler, along with the Imperial Troop Transporter, are the only Star Wars logo-ed toy boxes NOT to have a double racetrack around the perimeter of the box front. Instead they reduced it down to just the single track we subsequently got for Empire and Jedi packaging.

Anyway, here's mine. Not the best example out there, but I'm still happy to have it:

Thanks for sharing the sandcrawler from your collection. I looks great

 

[Pomse2001]

It was not quite the same in Germany, but I do vividly remember it not being half as big a thing as it was in the UK, ou really did have to hunt out toy stores that stocked the figures, well that is my memory of the situation in Hamburg where I used to spend my summers, I also strongly remember them not being able to get standard stormtroopers for love nor money for some reason, most of the kids had hoth troopers as they could not get hold of the standard ones, this I remember very well as my friends there would always ask me to bring them stormtroopers on my visits, always seemed very odd considering, it seemed the same story where I lived in the UK in Leicester for power droids, I could not get one here for the love of trying, very odd considering the palitoy factory was only 1 town over & only about 15 miles away, I ended up having to get mine in Germany, it's likey why I ended up going with it as my focus figure as an adult collector.

I am shocked that the stormie was so hard to get in Hamburg, I can understand the power droid in Leicester unless the toy stores bought from the factory and not from a dealer that had a contract with palitoy for selling the toy to toy stores.

I remember the first R2-D2 and C-3PO was very hard to find in denmark. I remember from my childhood I once saw the first R2-D2 on a ESB card but I did not get it. I have also not ever found them in any childhood lots in denmark that I have bought except from the lot I bought from the guy I told you about where they got it all mailed from family in usa. Also Boba Fett was very hard to find in the stores I got star wars toy, but I have found plenty of them in danish childhood lots so I guess it was just in my area it was hard to get.

Great that you could make the other kids happy when you you took your stormies with you on vacation

Sounds like a good reason why the power droid are your focus.

 

[Beeper383]

The Sandcrawler photos look great. It's still on my wish list, and this thread is inspiring me!

I've focused more on the figures in recent years, probably due to size/storage considerations. However, as a child and then as a teenage collector I valued the vehicles. I recall buying the Tomart's guide, and the Sandcrawler, Imperial Shuttle and A-wing fighter stood out for me, probably because no one I knew had one.

 

[R.P.D.]

Heres mine - in the rarer ESB box:
View attachment 202225

Wow never knew there was an Empire Box

 

[Capetown]

Here's mine:

 

[Capetown]

Some more pics:

 

[Capetown]

And here's the Sandcrawler box I thought was 'mint' when I bought it on ebay as a beginning collector.

 

[Snaketibe]

Some more pics:

View attachment 202298View attachment 202299View attachment 202300View attachment 202301View attachment 202302View attachment 202303View attachment 202304

What a beautiful example! Many thanks for sharing it

Jeremy

 

[sith-smith]

Of all the vehicles/playsets/figures I newly discovered when I first looked through one of Sansweet's collectors books, the RC sandcrawler was easily my favourite and one that shocked me the most.

Probably a very close favourite vehicle along with the Shuttle.

So much so, that in my early collecting days, I got a little carried away

 

[Pomse2001]

Here's mine:

Thanks emiel for sharing this beautiful sandcrawler, it looks fantastic

 

[Pomse2001]

And here's the Sandcrawler box I thought was 'mint' when I bought it on ebay as a beginning collector.

I guess you replaced it for a mint one later ? or is it the same in the first post that you have repaired ?

 

[Pomse2001]

Of all the vehicles/playsets/figures I newly discovered when I first looked through one of Sansweet's collectors books, the RC sandcrawler was easily my favourite and one that shocked me the most.

Probably a very close favourite vehicle along with the Shuttle.

So much so, that in my early collecting days, I got a little carried away

View attachment 202344

Wow you have an army of sandcrawlers, they look awesome together. Thanks for sharing them What was it that shocked you with the sandcrawler ?

 

[Capetown]

And here's the Sandcrawler box I thought was 'mint' when I bought it on ebay as a beginning collector.

I guess you replaced it for a mint one later ? or is it the same in the first post that you have repaired ?

No, I sent it back. There's a post somewhere on the forum regarding my misadventures with the eBay seller in question. One of my first posts on here I think.

 

[Pomse2001]

No, I sent it back. There's a post somewhere on the forum regarding my misadventures with the eBay seller in question. One of my first posts on here I think.

I am glad you send it back to seller. Did he sell it as mint ?