H-B Productions, Inc - The Flintstones: Fred, Barney, & Dino

Remember last week when I said Wolverine would make an appearance today? I lied! Well, okay, not intentionally but it's just been too busy and I didn't get around to photographing him. I got as far as taking pics of the packaging but then my attention got diverted. Sunday Comics Sunday was always meant to feature toys which had some tie-in to the comics and certainly Super Heroes & Villains fit that bill, but it has sort of become Super Hero Sunday here on Toys & Stuff. So let's take a break from crime fighting and look at some Flintstones toys. The Flintstones started as a television cartoon airing on Prime Time television but it wasn't long before comic books and toys followed. A natural progression for a show which had become so popular. But if you're itching for Super Hero action, don't worry, I've got plenty of Super Hero toys to last us for several months of Sunday's!

When I was hot-&-heavy into collecting all things Flintstones, I happened upon these H-B (Hanna-Barbera) Productions, Inc. figures. They stand approx 4"-5" (10.2cm - 12.7cm) high and although made of a 'soft' vinyl plastic they are still quite solid - you don't want to throw these at the window :-) Having acquired only the four figures shown here, I don't know what other figures are available in the line. The Fred and Dino figures did make an appearance in my "Flintstones on The MaP" video available for viewing here:  Enjoy!

The Flintstones on The MaP

Fred - The Emcee

Hippie Barney

 Dino The Drummer

 Dino The Director

Flintstones, Meet The Flintstones...

 

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of The Flintstones, A Modern Stone Age Family.  50 Years!  Good grief, where has all the time gone?  It seems like only yesterday we were sitting at the TV watching the latest adventures of Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty.  The series ran from September 1960 until 1966.  Flintstones movies followed as did a series showing a teenage Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm.  Here's a link to an interesting website featuring '15 things you didn't know' - or perhaps you did.

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Today's photos feature a simple display I made for Hannah-Barbera's  1/18th scale die-cast Flintmobile.  OK, first, how many of you collector's out there just plop your collectible's on a shelf and call it a day?  Just about everyone I guess, including me.  But every now and then you have to do something to liven up your displays.  This is a very simple diorama that requires no special skill set.  

The base is made from Styrofoam cut into a square using a simple serrated kitchen knife.  Further cutting and forming was made using smaller knives.  The look and feel for the landscape came from spending a nice Saturday afternoon watching Flintstones DVD's and making a few sketches.  First, the car is the showpiece and needs to be up front.  It was placed at a slight angle for a better visual composition.  The road it sits on is slightly peaked for two reasons: it gives a nice up-and- down country road feel; and the peak allows the car to sit on the road without rolling off.  The colors on the base are all basic browns and greens - strong cartoon quality colors.  The perimeter of the base is painted black to better highlight the cartoon color qualities of the rest of the display.  The rocks are small landscape rocks from a neighbor's yard (he had just gotten a whole pile delivered for his landscaping project when I asked if I could have a couple of handfuls - he gave me a funny look like I was crazy!).  The house is one half of a plastic Flintstones house from an original Marx Flintstones playset with a piece of black construction paper taped in the window.  The tree and fern are also from the playset.   The backdrop, which was actually made longer than the base for adequate photography, is just foam core board cut down and painted.  Watching the cartoon gave me a good feel for how the backdrop scenery was executed in the show. 

It was a fun project to build and didn't take that long to accomplish.  It makes a great display for a fun subject.  Hope you enjoyed it!