Lone Star Toys by Alwyn Brice

One of the great British manufacturers, Lone*Star initially made models for Crescent. Before it assumed the well-known cowboy-related name, the company began life as Die Casting Machine Tools, or DCMT. That was just post-war, in 1949.

Over the following decades Lone*Star was to produce a huge variety of toys for both girls and boys. Its earliest models included the Modern Army Series of vehicles (from around 1957): this grew to be an extensive range and linked well to the Harvey plastic figures that Lone*Star also marketed.

Not to be outdone by the likes of Corgi and Dinky, Lone*Star also manufactured large scale (about 1:50) diecast cars and pick-ups under the Roadmaster banner in 1969; these were duly supplemented by lorries and heavier vehicles all the way up to the 1980s.

Like Lesney and Husky, the company also got in on the small scale diecast scene with its range of Tuf Tots and Impy Flyers. In fact, there was little that the company didn’t make when it came to vehicles: sports cars, estates, army transport, heavy trucks and articulated lorries, farmyard tractors and accessories, petrol tankers and buses were all produced at one time or another.

Lone*Star’s plastic figure output was prodigious, too. Polythene and vinyl were the up and coming replacements for lead and here the company merely had to ape what other figure producers were moulding: manufacture began in 1957. Hence the collector can choose from cowboys and Indians (always a safe bet), medieval period knights, natives, Arabs and the French Foreign Legion, the American Civil War, frogmen and the Second World War; even cartoon characters were marketed and all were available from the 1950s or 1960s. Boxed sets, artillery and vacuum formed castles and forts could also be purchased to complement the above.

But it didn’t end there. Lone*Star is almost synonymous with 000 gauge railways and its pushalong diecast Treble-0 range, which dates from 1957, is still admired half a century on. This locomotive system eventually caught up with modern times (and tastes) and went electric in 1970. By then a host of accessories and rolling stock was available.

The other famous toys for which Lone*Star was legendary were the pistol and rifle. Unusual would have been the child who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s who didn’t possess one or the other embossed with the Lone*Star logo. The sheer variety and model range was enormous: apart from single items there were boxed sets that contained guns and other accoutrements. In terms of pistols alone, the company made in excess of 170, including paint versions. There was something from every period: buccaneers, Wild West, secret agent, the second world war and science fiction. Without doubt, the company had the firearms market sewn up and these models are still enjoyed today.

For collectors of Lone*Star, the difficulty lies in choosing what to focus on!