U.S. Metal Toy Forty Niners Covered Wagon

So far we've posted these U.S. Metal Toy Mfg Co covered wagons with 'California Trail, 'Chisholm Trail', and 'Davy Crockett' markings. Now we've got one lettered for the 'Forty Niners'. It seems U.S. Metal Toy tried to cover all the standard Old West themes when they made these. They also made made a tin-litho stagecoach which I'll post one day. 

A few points about collecting these things: far too often the horses and hitch are missing. I've been buying some off-&-on over the past year or so but haven't photographed the wagons with them yet; also, the wheels are very often broken or the wrong ones were put on the wagon by someone trying to make the thing complete. Over the years I've ended up with a stable of rusted out bodies that I stripped of their horses or wheels. The wagons consist of two tin-litho stamping's, the cover-and -sides, and the bed. The beds and the wheels came in various colors making collecting interesting trying to find as many variations as possible. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

Cheerios Paper Boeing 707 Cereal Premium - Pt 2 Conclusion

The build on this is fairly straightforward with the exception that I added pieces to the aircraft that weren't part of the original artwork. By flipping the scanned image horizontally and printing it out I ended up with wing bottoms and was able to show detail on both sides of the engine pods. The tools were simple: a couple different sized scissors, a hobby knife, ruler, glue, and cutting pad. I tried a new glue (for me), archival "Neutral pH Adhesive" by Lineco. It looks and applies just like Elmer's white glue - perhaps it's just a tad thinner. So far I haven't noticed anything better - or -worse - than your standard white glue so the jury's still out on that one.

I cut out all the pieces first then, going one assembly at a time, glued them up. Cutting took about an hour and drove home a reality to me. My eyes aren't as strong and my control with the knife isn't as good as it once was. No fancy model building in my future I guess. Oh well.

All the assemblies were placed under a weight for 24 hours and the next phase began; assembling the airplane. The slots for the engine pods and wings were cut out first. Instead of thin slits in the paper, actual slots were cut out. In retrospect they could have been smaller because there are gaps, but then this whole thing was meant to be a toy, not a highly detailed scale model. Then all the assemblies were outlined with a black Sharpie marking pen. More unsteady handwork left quite a few stray marks. Maybe I can find some colored markers or crayons and kinda cover them up.

The last step was gluing everything in place.Remember, wait until the main wing is glued to the fuselage before gluing the engine pods. Also, the glue was applied to the wings not to the slots. If you do that the glue will spread all along the wings and you'll have a mess on your hands.

Once the glue dries a little straightening out of the wings and fuselage by running them lightly through the fingers did the trick. The original artwork would have made a plane 7 5/8" (19.4cm) L x 7 1/4" (18.4cm) wingspan. My finished plane measures 8 7/8" (22.5cm) L x 8 3/8" (21.3cm) wingspan x 2" (5.1cm)H

I haven't yet figured out how to hang this thing up so for right now it'll sit on a shelf. It was fun to do an actual build again. Until next time - Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

A long piece of thread is inserted here and used to whirl the plane around your head. I think I'll skip that LOL

Cheerios Paper Boeing 707 Cereal Premium - Pt 1

This classic mid-size, long range, four engine jetliner was produced by Boeing from 1958-79 and was Boeing's first jet airliner. It is often credited with ushering in the jet age and was a staple of airlines for many years. Although Pan Am was the first airline to order 707's, American Airlines was the first airline to offer coast-to-coast jet service with its 707's beginning in 1959. Its sleek lines and attractive livery was a natural for toy companies and Marx offered the jets in it's various airport/jetport playsets.

Our model was culled from the back of a Cheerios cereal box but because I don't have the entire box I can't be certain when it was offered. It's sure to have been the very early years of 707's in American Airlines service. The plane is meant to be assembled as a glider toy but of course I couldn't let that happen :-) 

When cut directly from the box, the wing undersides have no detail and the engines only have detail on one side, so here's how I built mine.

The first step was to scan the art and save a cropped version.

By doing that the image itself is enlarged a little.

One of the pitfalls of scanning and then printing on home systems is the loss of true color. I know there's a way to tweek color management settings but I haven't figured that stuff out yet. The printed versions are more blue than the original artwork. I'm okay with that.

Next, the .jpg was inserted into a Word document, then the image was copied and pasted just below the original. Next, the copied image was flipped horizontally. By doing this, the engine pods would print as 'left' and 'right' sides. It would also provide a top and bottom side to both wings

Next installment will be the build. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

Thomas No. I-140 Pick-up Truck - Red HP

Here's a nice little pick-up truck from Thomas that was made from 1947 to the early 1950's in red hard plastic. It measures 4" (10.2cm) L x 1/3/8" (3.5cm) W x 1 3/8" (3.5cm) H. Enjoy! Opa Fritz Oma Fritz