Blomer & Schuler Tin-litho USAF Helicopter

Here's a terrific small USAF helicopter from Blomer & Schuler (West Germany). I had never heard of Blomer & Schuler until a bunch of these came up for sale on fleaBay, most of which I couldn't afford. I was able to latch on to this little fella though and it is in great shape with the exception of one missing tail rotor blade. It has a friction motor which makes the rotor spin as the wheels turn. The fuselage is 5 3/8" (13.65cm) L x 1" (2.54cm) W (2"/5.08cm W at wheels) x 2 5/8" (6.55cm) H overall. The rotor span is 5 1/2" (13.97cm). Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

Japan - Unk Mfr - Small Tin-litho USAF Rescue Helicopter

We're gonna switch gears for a second here and feature a nifty little helicopter. This diminutive little fella only measures 3 3/8" (8.57cm) fuselage length x 1" (2.54cm) wide at the wheels x 1 5/8" (4.12cm) high. I'm callin' it a UASF copter because it has a bare metal fuselage, a look utilized more by the U.S. Air Force than any of the other services. The Star-&-Bar insignia was used by all four services and the Coast Guard so that's not really indicative of Air Force use. It has a generic look to it so I'm not even goin' to attempt to call this any particular type of helo, so for now let's just call it a toy helicopter :-). Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

Japan - Sanko 'Y' Piasecki YH-16 USAF Helicopter

Here's a little gem I've had for a couple of years but just recently got around to taking pics of. I've attributed it to the Japanese firm of Sanko because that's how I've seen it listed but quite frankly Ican't be sure. There are a couple of websites which list Japanese maker's marks but the mark printed on the box of this toy appears nowhere. 

The cover art is a pretty decent depiction of the YH-16 helicopter but the toy itself is a caricature - it has been 'selectively compressed' into a much shorter version. The toy has a friction motor which makes the rotors spin when it is pushed forward. The fuselage measures 8 1/2" (21.59cm) L x  1 1/2" (3.81cm) W (the wheelbase = 2 3/8" 6.03cm) x 4 3/4" (12.06cm) H. The rotor span is 7 1/2" (10.05cm). Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

Random shots of the helicopter and a few other aircraft on the New Layout. I've since changed the train layout around a bit and the airport space is gone - I'll have to figure out another way of photographing these things