Hong Kong Caravelle

[Tone]

Here's one for Michael, a Hong Kong Caravelle with nicely detailed landing gear. It could have come in one of those mesh Christmas stockings filled with toys around 1970. I just don't know!

[pendulum19]

Looks really nice. How are the wheels made?

[MichaelB]

Hi Tony!
That's a new Caravelle in my eyes...don't know it. About how big is it? Could it have been an assembled kit? Lindbergh was providing their little kits to Kelloggs at the time as a cereal premium.
Michael

[grwebster]

Do you have that plastic Lehmann {germany} Caravelle? It looks like it was about the same size.
I have one from a series of four different airliners I think. Can't find a picture. They appear on ebay from time to time, very inexpensive.

[Tone]

Not a model kit, the plastic body is flexible and one-piece. The black plastic wheels disconnect. They are what Sue Richardson calls "dumb-bell" wheels, shaped like the metal wheels on Dyna-Flites. They snap into place on the forked struts. I got this one at one of our toy shows. I couldn't find it on my data base so I must've forgotten to add it. Wing span is six inches.

[angelreader]

I have a few of these flexi plastic christmas cracker/stocking models,they have done a few copies from existing models,there is a Cessna 402 as one subject.
Christmas cracker airplanes go back quite a way with some stock items finding their way into crackers,how many ended up in the bin is anyones guess ? a piece of mniature aircraft social history.
Barry.

[Tone]

Newer, better photos of this Caravelle from different angles.

[MichaelB]

Still don't have a clue, Tony. It's plastic, yes? ...and it looks like a one piece cast, and it's Hong Kong rather than China so it's pre mid-90s. The fact that it has undercarriage (and a fairly accurate rendition as well) is the real puzzler...
Michael

[MichaelB]

I don't know how these things happen...but...I went in the back and pulled down a box, wondering what was inside. It's an old Hassenfeld Brothers Airport Playset! Haven't heard of the Hassenfeld Bros? Put that name together to make Hasbro....
But...cardpaper airport...fold along the lines to build the buldings...few plastic parts.
BUT...the aircraft...2 hollow, hard plastic 707s and one similar Sikorsky S-58. Cast in is "Blue Box" and No.7314 and 707. Ditto for the helo, but No.7315.
BUT...there are 3 mottled silver soft plastic Yak-25 Flashlights! About 2in long they look just like your Caravelle and are marked Hong Kong! Mostly because they have a similar undercarriage!
I find it odd to have military aircraft in an airport playset; your Caravelle may have come from a later edition. The Yaks remind me of Marx, but they are solid, not hollow. The 707s are 2 piece injected plastic assemblies with a rudimentary red or blue cheat line. They are also marked Made In Hong Kong.
I didn't even know I had this set!
Pictures to follow in time....
Michael

[Tone]

Blue Box toys was still in business in the 80s and 90s. I have a die cast Thunderbird with a "growling" gear on its rear axle - Speed Sounders, they called it.

OT: In college one of their relatives was in my graduating class, an engineering major, good jazz guitar player BTW. He did have an internship with Hasbro summer 84 or 85 as a designer. He even had a large blue plastic toy model GI Joe COBRA A-10-like plane in his room.