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Friday, April 27, 2018

Unk Mfr - Convair F-102 Delta Dagger / F-106 Delta Dart - Red SP Redux

We posted this aircraft back in May of last year but I took a few pics of it posed on the new runway shelf display.

(As far as toys go, today's example looks like a fantasy blend of F-102 Delta Dagger and F-106 Delta Dart aircraft built by Convair in the 1950s.. It has the air intakes just below the cockpit as on the Dagger, but the flattened vertical stabilizer as on the Dart. The cockpit does look more pronounced as on the Dagger but ya know what? - you make the call. Want it to be a Dagger? go for it Want it to be a Dart? go for it. In either case it is a nice blended form example of an early Century Series fighter. It measures 5 3/8" (13.65cm) L x 3 1/8" (7.93cm) wingspan x 1 5/8" (4.12cm) H) Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina


F-102 Delta Dagger's

F-106 Delta Dart's






Here's some shots pairing the Renwal Navy Panther with the F-102 / F-106




Thursday, April 26, 2018

Unk Mfr - Navy Vought F7U Cutlass Red SP

We're gonna look at a few toy aircraft which are from unknown manufacturers. Yesterday was a generic looking jet in yellow soft plastic, today is a Vought F7U Cutlass in a red soft plastic with no wheels. The Cutlass was a stinker of an aircraft, a failed design due to poor power plants approximately 25 percent of those built were lost due to mishaps! The toy measures 3" (7.62cm) L x 4" (10.16cm) wingspan x 3/4" (1.9cm) H. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina




















Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Lucky Shot

I just had to share this. Bettina got this airliner passing across the Moon just two days ago! Way cool Schatzie! Enjoy! opa Fritz and Oma Bettina



Unk Mfr - Yellow Soft Plastic Jet

The past few months I've been playing catch-up with taking airplane photos all the while trying to build my runway shelf display, and list things for sale on eBay (seller: marxtoynut). So for a week or two we'll be featuring airplanes and such here on Toys and Stuff  Up now is this interesting toy from - I'm guessing here - the 1950s. It has no makers marks but looks like a Payton product (that's total conjecture BTW). It measures 4 3/4" (12.06cm) L x 3 3/4" (9.52cm) wingspan x 1 1/4" (3.17cm) H. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina























Sunday, April 22, 2018

Aircraft Runway Shelf Display

I like being able to display or photograph toys in a cool way but it's been quite a while since I've done any kind of display or diorama. An airfield type setting has always been high on my 'really wanna do' list but...

Okay, so this year I said to myself, "Self!" I said, "Get off your behind and get sumthin' done!" Well, that was a lot easier said than done, with what little time I have being devoted to either getting stuff ready to list on eBay (seller: marxtoynut) or just takin' pics for the blog, but with a little creative schedule re-arranging I managed to get a heckuva good start on a display shelf.

Most shelving systems which use standards (the vertical pieces which mount to the wall) and brackets (the arms upon which the shelves rest) only accommodate 12" (30.48cm) deep shelves - not good enough. The solution lie with closet shelving utilizing brackets which accommodate at least 20" (50.8cm) deep shelves. Starting in January the old shelves were pulled down, the holes filled with spackling, and white touch-up paint applied to the wall and new standards and brackets installed. Next, a 20" (30.48cm) x  96" (2.44m) wooden shelf was painted with custom mixed paints from Lowe's. I opted for a dark gray runway with a concrete colored tarmac. The 'concrete' closely resembles Woodland Scenics concrete scenery paint which is more of a tan than it is a gray. To be sure these are not realistic scale colors for a runway diorama. A scale runway diorama would feature a series of light--to-medium gray tones with weathering done in a variety of white/gray/black tones. The reasoning behind this color choice is simple: I'll be displaying and photographing toy planes in a variety of bright, cheerful colors, and the dark gray/tan scheme serves as a nice contrast to the toys.

I knew there wouldn't be much room for a full-blown runway so it is only minimally represented with the tarmac taking up most of the shelf depth. That also allows for hangars to be positioned with airplanes posed in front of them. The runway is 6" (15.24cm) deep with a black border drawn in using a Sharpie felt-tipped marker. The expansion lines are in a 4" (10.16cm) square pattern drawn in using a very fine tipped Sharpie marker.

The new standards and brackets in place and the 20" x 96" shelf painted and installed


The 4" square grid is evident in this photo


The backdrop consists of four pieces of sky blue foamcore cut to fit under the shelf above. The board rests behind the shelf and sits atop the brackets. It is also notched to allow it to clear the brackets above. The segments are joined using foamcore splice plates glued behind


The backdrop in place behind the shelf



Some initial photos of hangars and planes already featured here on Toys and Stuff



Detailing the backdrop is going to take a lot of work. Simply gluing on hangars and other buildings and/or details won't allow for flexibility. What if I want to do a civilian airport theme and I have military hangars permanently glued to the back? or vice versa

Right now I'm leaning towards using a modular concept for the details. The next few photos show a 'proof' of concept' attempt. The photo of the hangar was taken during one of the Aviation Nation Air Show events at Nellis AFB. 


I did some Photoshopping to remove most unwanted details but I need to do more. The pic was printed out on  Legal size cardstock (8.5" x 14"), glued to a piece of matching blue foamcore, and a scrap piece of cardstock glued to the backside to serve as means to hold the picture up while it rests behind the shelf. 




A quick treatment in Photoshop will take away the lines visible on the foamcore


The following photos have all been Photoshopped to remove the lines in the foamcore







Well, that's it for now. I hope you liked this little project and I'm anxious to get more done. Airfields can be busy places and there's a lot more details that can potentially be added all of which I am 
s-l-o-w-l-y  working on. Again - Enjoy!