Pan American Stratocruiser by MOMOYA

[Tone]

About a year ago I posted some photos of the Momoya brand tin planes in my collection to demonstrate how this firm generally did not adhere to reality, and mixed styles and shapes.

This Momoya toy, a Pan American Stratocruiser, is a bit different. It is a somewhat stylized caricature but it also has the real lines of the real plane.





Span is 15" and the power is friction. Both the registration number and the name Clipper World are fictitious.

Though this is the first Stratocruiser toy I bought, in 1990, I do not see them come up for sale very often.

Dennis Ramsey inquired about the variants of Yonezawa brand B-50 bombers. Yonezawa, Momoya and other Japanese toy makers followed Boeing's lead. The toy makers used the same wings and engines, and added the double-decked airliner body to make the B-50 toys into Stratocruisers. There are at least two lithographed B-50 variants of the toy with the same wings.

Several years ago I was following the price of a very nice Momoya B-50 in an on-line auction. The seller declared that it was a Japanese toy that a Marx factory in Pennsylvania had purchased in the 50s so it could examine a competitor's products. Perhaps seeing a nice lithographed model such as the B-50 made Marx executives realize that the firm could "commission" lithographed tin toys from Japan to sell under its name, since US makers were producing less and less of them. ! ? ! ? !

[grwebster]

tone, <The toy makers used the same wings and engines, and added the double-decked airliner body to make the B-50 toys into Stratocruisers. There are at least two lithographed B-50 variants of the toy with the same wings.>
That is of course exactly the way the Stratocruiser was created. The B-29 morphed into the B-50 [bigger better engines, more fuel via pods under the wings, and some other stuff- it was already pressurized} and became the Stratocuiser by adding the double bubble fuselage- over the existing fuselage, the wings the tail...and every thing else that was there from the Boeing B-29/50.

[Toyplaneguy]

Fantastic toy. I have been looking for one of these for years now in this kind of condition. They are indead rare birds. Thanks for Posting.

Mike

[grwebster]

When I was 12 years old I flew by myself in a NW Orient Stratocruiser from NYC to Seattle. I remember the lounge in the rear, down the staircase. I do not remember much else but the constant rumble you could feel. Probably slept most of the way.

[ramseyd]

Thanks for the data. I was looking to replace my tailwheel on my B50. I can now expand the list to more examples and still have an authentic (?) replacement. I also need one prop cover, but it looks like these do not have the same red cover as the old B50.