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Hi Charliep,
Those are the ones! Saves me from digging mine out now.
There are some other small publications too.
Tony Martain put one out and so did Charlie Mack and / or Phillip Bowdidge form memory.

Not as good as the ones shown above.

Cheers Steve
Matchboxkiwi

Does anyone have any contact details for Mr. Veitch?

Yes, I have details but from when the publications were issued so they may have changed since then.
I haven't herd from Les for years. Not sure if he is still active in Skybuster circles.

I have the first Skybusters set that the series name was taken from issued in 1972 as part of the Super Action Playsets ( page 10 and 11 of the collectors catalogue for 1972)
It was then dropped for 1973 to allow the series as we know it to take shape. There are pictures of the set in Les's books.

The series itself has always puzzled me. It seems to me, like most collectors here, we do not know of a great following for the series and yet it still exists today!
So why? Many greater collected series have come and gone with only the miniatures or what was the 1-75 series still going.
Is there some sort of secret sect of skybuster collectors we or I in particular do not know about!!

Someone somewhere must collect them as you would assume in this day in age they would have to turn a profit for Mattel to keep them going.

Cheers, Steve
Matchboxkiwi

Thank you all for keeping informing me.
I'm collecting Skybusters, my target is to get at least every number from Lesney.
My first information about this range I got in the eighties. There was the son of a colleague of my mother, who had a Cessna. And it was larger than a superfast aircraft. I got big eyes.
Near 40 years after that I have now 5 Cessna (all different).
I don't have a book about Skybusters, I can only start with the collectors catalogue 1973.
On page 18/ 19 there are 16 skybusters, all are resin prototypes as I can see. Sven

This is a worth a look...https://www.suchoj.com/SkyBusters/index ... home.shtml

Ghosthunter.

GHOSTHUNTER wrote:This is a worth a look...https://www.suchoj.com/SkyBusters/index ... home.shtml

Ghosthunter.

Already done, thx. Ghosty.
S.

Hello,
Just saw this posting.
Les Veitch's current email address is:

av011f5525@blueyonder.co.uk

I am sure Les would be pleased to supply Skybuster and SUTC catalogs to anyone who would want them. From what I remember the cost was not too high.

Les also still issues his "Skybuster News" newsletter every couple of months or so.

I have a large Skybuster collection from Lesney through to the early 2000's and also SUTC models. I stopped when the aircraft transitioned to mostly plastic due to cost-cutting at Mattel. Even so it is still an active range with new models scheduled for 2020.

When my wife and I were in China in 1996 to adopt our daughter Miranda, (who is now 23 !) I discovered SUTC Skybusters in the Friendship Shop (Department store) in China. Matchbox "Skybusters" and SUTC "Skybusters" were mixed up in the same gift sets and I was not at first aware of the differences. Frantic overseas long distance calls to Charlie Mack and Tony Martin during the middle of the night in China caused Charlie to call his contacts in "Matchbox" and he let me know 24 hours later that SUTC products were made in the "Matchbox" factory but under a special arrangement to market these under a different brand name in China only, although the castings were virtually the same with different baseplates. However as awareness grew we found out there were a lot of rare crossover variations both as "SUTC" and "Matchbox" so it was a lot of fun chasing these down.

There are also SUTC brand Battle Kings and Sea Kings which used the 1970's Lesney castings, also made in the same factory where Matchbox was produced in China.

So that is where some of those Lesney toolings ended up.

Bob

Thank you Bob,
In the next few weeks I will try to contact Mr. Veitch.
S.

Due to the great responce of this thread, I have made it 'Sticky' so will always be near the top in the index so it is easy to find.

Ghosthunter.

GHOSTHUNTER wrote:Due to the great responce of this thread, I have made it 'Sticky' so will always be near the top in the index so it is easy to find.

Ghosthunter.

That is nice, Ghosty.
Would be nicer (more nice, I don't know which is correct) to see some Skybuster pics here.
Meanwhile I can add a pic: S.