No. 708 no 803 Vickers Viscount B.E.A.

[Tone]

Here is my one and only Viscount with the box - one of my few Dinky toys and an excellent-looking casting too.

I know there were many variants of this toy model made in UK and India and perhaps other countries as well.

[MichaelB]

The Viscount got a lot of attention from the toy makers - it's all about timing. Which made me think about some of those all time favorite subjects that were so common among toys and models of that time:
Viscount
Constellation
B707
Comet IV
XF-90
Cutlass
B-52
B747
Lear Jet
B-58

...feel free to chime in - but think about common subjects...not the odd or unusual. I'd also except the Big 4 from WWII: P51, Spitfire, Me109, Zero seeing as (in my opinion) they were not common in the late '50s or so! The attention was focused on the "new hot jets!" and things like the Viscount, which was a turboprop and much in the headlines! It was much later, and is still currently the trend, to do the Big 4 and their kin and ignore the "odder" aircraft - when they can be found! That's one reason I like the Matchbox bizjets so much - truly some "odd" subjects and a huge area that has been ignored by almost everyone.
I would suspect that the most modeled airframe would be:
TaDa!
The Spirit of St. Louis!
And as much as I would like to say "Followed closely by the DC-3" - that's just not true! Once again, it's only in recent history that the DC-3 has been regaled as the Queen of the Skies. At the time of the post war "Toy Airplane" boom, the DC-3 was regarded as old and washed up - to be replaced by things like the Viscount - which was just about the same size!
Michael

[grwebster]

on your list is the Lear Jet. Not many toys made of that one, but one which must be the best is the Lintoy Corgi early issue.


The date is unknown but late 60's perhaps, along with the other early Lintoy castings that had moving plastic control surfaces. I don't think it was sold by ERTL or Bachmann in the US, only because I have never seen another.
Michael, did you follow LIntoy and Ertl toys at all? Anyone have a list?
If so start a new thread in vintage die cast.

[Tone]

Sue Richardson noted that the Lintoy planes appeared first in the 1973 Corgi catalog

I forgot I also have a Dinky Air France Viscount but it's made in UK not France, it was from Sy !

[MichaelB]

GR, all I know is what I read from Richardson and the fact that I have one Lear Jet, loose, according to my notes. Picked it up in October of '01. Now I need to dig it out and take a closer look!
I see it listed as a "Civil Airplane" series.
Michael

[grwebster]

Tone, I believe the Dinky UK Viscount in Air France was the first one made in 1956, but was discontinued shortly thereafter {oddly, this very short run should make it a rarer item, but the market doesn't recognize it as such}. The French Viscount, 1958 was a separate and different casting, and a better and more accurate one in my opinion with some improvements like landing gear doors. Why France would proceed with its own version is a bit of a mystery, perhaps those centuries of wars between the two countries built a strong competitive environment.
The UK Dinky casting was reissued with BEA livery in 1957 in sliver white, later in grey white, and was discontinued in 1965.
...and there were some India made Nicky Toy Viscounts using the old UK molds some time after 1968. Quality varies alot with the Nicky Toy aircraft but the red winged BEA is interesting just the same.

[grwebster]

Here are two of the late- 1960-1970s Nicky toy Viscounts made from the Dinky molds

They also did a Comet airliner, and perhaps others

[grwebster]

all the above Nicky Toys {Indian Dinkys} are in the June 27th Vectis sale,along withover 300 lots of all types of die cast aircraft from my collection so untouched by me, most in great condition.
Also a John Alcott Nimrod of which he made no more that 10, numbered and signed
http://www.vectis.co.uk/Page/ViewAuctio ... lcott&id=1

[grwebster]

the full aircraft catalog is here
http://www.vectis.co.uk/Page/ViewAuctio ... 6236&Sub=0