Mr Palitoy's Cardback Guide |

Small metal versions of the larger plastic vehicles and spaceships known as diecasts were released on a Star Wars cardback by Palitoy. The first 4 diecasts were released on these larger cards and are known as Series I. The cardbacks are the same aspect ratio as the cards used with the action figures, but about 20% bigger in size. The front of the card has the a picture of the diecast and it's name, with the diecast attached to the card using a custom sized bubble. To the right of the bubble are two pictures showing the special features of the diecast with the palitoy logo below that. Above the bubble is a yellow starred circle with the words DIE CAST METAL and HIGH IMPACT PLASTIC, indicating that the diecasts are made partially of metal and partially of a tougher plastic. These diecasts have greater durability than the larger plastic versions. The back of the card featured the first 12 available action figures, notably Jawa has a vinyl cape rather than cloth cape in the picture. Below this are 3 pictures of the larger plastic vehicles and spaceships designed to fit the action figures. Below this are 3 pictures of hand held weapons, the laser pistol, laser rifle and inflatable light saber that were also available from Palitoy with the Star Wars range. To the right of these pictures is the Palitoy logo again with Made in Hong Kong underneath it. This indicates that these were manufactured in the Hong Kong factory by Palitoy (Far East) Company Limited and then imported to the UK. The same factory made Kenner versions of these diecasts.

There were 4 diecasts that were available in the initial Series I. They were Land Speeder, Tie Fighter, X-Wing Fighter and Darth Vader Tie Fighter. There mirrored the larger plastic vehicles and spaceships for use with action figures that were available from Palitoy with the Star Wars range. Land Speeder, Tie Fighter and X-Wing Fighter all have Cat No 31318 in the top left hand corner on the front of the card, whereas Darth Vader Tie Fighter has Cat No 31340, indicating it may have come out slightly later than the first 3 diecasts.

Series II was released next and featured 3 more spaceships, Millenium Falcon, Imperial Cruiser and Y-Wing Fighter. None of these diecasts had larger spaceships available from Palitoy with the Star Wars Line. Millenium Falcon was available on the Empire Strikes back line and Y-Wing Fighter on the Return of the Jedi line. Imperial Cruiser had no equivalent larger ship, instead a playset called Darth Vader's Star Destroyer was available in the Empire Strikes Back line. The Kenner line of diecasts also had Tie Bomber in Series II, but this was not produced with Palitoy packaging. These diecasts came in a box with a transparent plastic cover over the diecast rather than being on a large cardback like series I. The front of the box had the diecast name on it with the same yellow starred circle seen on Series II. The Palitoy logo is in the bottom right hand corner. The top left hand corner had Cat No 31345 for Millenium Falcon, Cat No 31346 for Imperial Cruiser and Cat No 31347 for Y-Wing Fighter, showing that they were produced at the same time.

The back of the box had 3 pictures of various features of the diecast with 'STAR WARS excitement with this finely detailed replica of the Empires largest Space Craft' written above the pictures. This text was repeated on all 3 boxes despite only being applicable to the Imperial Cruiser diecast. They forgot to change this text on the other 2 boxes. Below these 3 pictures are pictures of all 7 of the diecasts available from Palitoy showing if they were in Series I or Series II. In the bottom right hand corner is the Palitoy logo with Made in Hong Kong to the left of this, showing that these were manufactured in the Hong Kong factory by Palitoy (Far East) Company Limited and then imported to the UK. The catalogue number is repeated in the top right hand corner.

The Kenner line also saw Series III that came out on the Empire Strikes Back Line. These were Twin-Pod Cloud Car, Slave I and Snow Speeder. None of these diecasts were made with Palitoy packaging.