SunnySide ('SS' China) - Ford Model A Stakebed Truck - 'Sunny Straw' Chassis No. SS 701-6

Today we have the second of twelve vehicles that were part of my boxed SunnySide Classic Transporter 2 set: The Sunny Straw Stakebed Truck. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Today we're looking at that truck second from the left on the top row

 

CIRCUS TIME: First Aid For A Vintage Toy Tableau Circus Wagon - Pt 2

 This series of photos shows some of what went into the repair of the old circus wagon kit that was delivered as a disresembled mess. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

first I needed to lay the parts out to see what was there

the wagon was glued to a 1/16" thick slice of veneer wood which had a bunch of splits in it. The veneer was detailed with what appears to be paint and sawdust for 'grass' texture

Glued the base of the wagon back onto the rear wheel set

Everything was glued to the veneer with big globs of rubber cement

Wood-on-wood  repairs were glued using wood glue. Metal-to-wood repairs were glued using a super-glue gel

All the major components have been glued up

I made a new base from a thicker piece of basswood

The base ended up getting several coats of paint in forest green as a contrast to the brown veneer

CIRCUS TIME: First Aid For A Vintage Toy Tableau Circus Wagon - Pt 1

I had put off posting anything regarding this wagon until I was satisfied that this project was finished, and I will say it's finished enough!

Back in January of this year, this wagon came up for sale on fleaBay and the seller claimed it to be nearly 100 years old but didn't identify it's manufacturer. It was clearly one of the early circus wagon kits but from who?? It's not in any of my Wardie-Jay catalogs which date to at least the immediate Post-War years - which would make it around the 80-year old mark. Okay, close enough to establish it as 'nearly 100 years old'. Of course, it could also have been perhaps a '50s era kit. Oh well. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Here's a couple of photo's taken directly from the fleaBay listing as to what it should have looked like:

Here's how it arrived!

Upon closer inspection, none of the major components were actually broken, the wagon essentially disassembled itself during shipment. That would mean that I would basically be re-building the much of the kit. In the next installment we'll take a closer look at some of the re-building efforts.

SunnySide ('SS' China) - Ford Model A Stakebed Truck - 'Sunnyside Sweet Wheat' Chassis No. SS 701-6

Okay, there was some discussion on one of the Facebook (now Meta) groups as to whether these vehicles were modern production or vintage because the individual claimed to have seen SunnySide vehicles still being sold at Walgreens and CVS pharmacy's. My contention is these are all vintage because I know for a fact I started buying these around 1991 when first getting into 3-rail O-gauge!! My guess is that the individual claiming these to be 'modern' actually saw the larger 1/32 sized vehicles which I have seen myself. As for this particular line of 1/43 scale vehicles by SunnySide, no, I don't believe these are still being made. If anyone out there can verify one-way-or-the-other that would be appreciated.

We're going to start this series with the first truck shown (far upper left corner) of the first photo below: Sunnyside Sweet Wheat. Remember, this photo shows the vehicles that were a part of the Limited Classic Transporter 2 set shown in earlier posts. We'll work our way across that top row, then hit the bottom row, then cover trucks that weren't included in this set to include some that were specially made for K-Line trains. 

Underneath the chassis there is a number which I've begun to call the 'chassis number' but have absolutely no clue what it's importance is. After photographing many of these toys it seems there were several variations:

No number whatsoever

SS 701-6

SS 4625-30

In addition, every vehicle - car or truck - had opening doors, they are all equipped with pull-back friction motors, and every truck (except for the panel van) has a load. The exception are the K-Line trucks in which there is one or two without a load.

Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Set No. SS707-12D Limited Classic Transporter 2 - Set Inventory

It occurred to me that I almost started putting the cart before the horse in that the next post in this series would have been one of the trucks. Having totally forgotten to take the vehicles out of the box and do a set inventory made me scurry out to The Cave and take a few quick shots. So here goes, the twelve vehicles included in the set I bought - Enjoy! Opa Fritz

-Sweet Wheat

- Sunny Straw

- Wood Blocks

- Heavy Brick

- Speak Beer

- ABC Wine

- Cabriolet

- Henniez Coke

- Fuel Oil

-Shirley Chocolate

- Sunny Gas

- Cal Wine