Marx Original Military Flatcar Load - Searchlight Truck - Silver HP

Sometimes I don't even 'get' myself. Back in 2016 I posted a whole series of Marx military flatcar loads. Two repo searchlight trucks were posted but not the original, yet, photos of an original silver version were taken and all ready to post. So why did I not post them??? Most likely I got distracted and moved on to other things. 

Marx made their loads in several colors (like silver, olive green, red, blue) and they were all quite small - around 1/64 scale in size - but sold with Marx's O-gauge Army flatcars. All of the original Marx flatcar loads had the Marx herald on the underside of the vehicle. When Jay Horowitz of American Plastics (formerly Gay Toys) started up his 'Marx Toys' subsidiary using the old Marx tooling he bought, among the first offerings were all of the military flatcar loads. The loads were issued in different colors than the originals and none of them had the 'Marx' hallmark. Often times the toys weren't cast properly leaving voids where the plastic didn't flow all the way into the cavity as you can see by the repo blue truck below.

Ed

Repos (Posted in 2016)

Original Marx blue flatcar loads were a lighter shade of blue, while this repo was much darker

Repo olive green truck. Marx's olive green was darker.

Original (Never Before Posted)

Silver

Shown here with an original Marx DUKW flatcar load

Marx #4045 Army Supply Train

One of the many Marx military trains. This photo shows how the flatcar loads would have looked like in a set

Let's Chat: Play Along Toys AOME LOTR Heroes and Villains of Middle-earth - Aragorn *Sneak Preview*

Here's a sneak preview of a Play Along Toys AOME LOTR series I haven't yet blogged - Heroes and Villains of Middle-earth. The photos have been sitting on the computer for the last eleven years and I just never did anything with them!

As for the chat, I wanted a more peaceful scene of Strider simply walking through The Shire, keeping an eye on things and enjoying the peaceful feeling The Shire leaves people with.

Ed

Marx No. 2 Hybrid Tin & Plastic Wind-up Tank

Found yet another set of unposted photos. This time it's a nice hybrid tin and plastic windup tank from Marx - the No. 2 tank to be precise. The top half is plastic while the bottom half is tin-litho. The turret is fixed in place and does not rotate, nor does the gun elevate. The key too is fixed in place and cannot be removed (at least on my sample). It measures 5.75" (14,60cm) L x 3.5" (8,89cm) W (width of hull w/o key) x 2.625" (6,66cm) H.

Ed

Marx Repo Studebaker Military Police Car

Back in 2016 I went through a round of posts centered on Marx Army vehicles, many of which were the smaller ones often found as flat car loads. Among them was this 1950 Studebaker Army staff car.

Fast forward to last year (or was it the year before??) and I picked up a modern remake of that same auto. At some point during the 80s(?) a reproduction of the Marx classic Studebaker was produced but it was in fact an all new design with all new tooling. The story I seem to recall was that the individual who designed it wanted there to be enough of a difference so that the repo wouldn't be confused with the original. Well, he got that right, because the repo is an awkward looking, odd facsimile of the original. That said, apparently the tooling for the original Studebaker is lost while the tooling for the repo remains, so we collectors still have something to fall back on.

The car I'm highlighting here today is a custom job bought off fleaBay (unfortunately I don't know who the seller was). Unlike the original which depicted a staff car, this one is more along the lines of a Military Police squad car and sports a siren on the right front fender and a spotlight on the roof. Even though the car looks nothing like the original, I still like it and have several of its civilian counterparts in the collection.

Ed