The Tri-Motor Airplane Toys-Part III

Thursday, August 7, 2014
                Sunny and warm

The Tri-Motor Airplane Toys

Part III

   If you've been following my blog, this will have been my third post in a series. Personally, this is one of my favourite toys by all the manufacturers. It has plenty of details, and everyone made big efforts to design their exterior colours to make these toys so attractive. But the best of all was the most-interesting design of the mechanics. Many of the manufacturers created ingenious mechanical designs to have the 3 propellers move all at once. It was as if the toy association decided to have a contest to see who could come up with the best design, and everyone did!

Please click here too visit this most interesting American auctioneers' website

When you write a blog or anything for that matter, you learn lots. If I've learned anything, especially with regard to Stout Auctions, it's that they also auction all kinds of other toys. True, their logo is "America's Premier Toy Train Auction Company", but they do auction other toys. I Searched on Liveauctioneers, and without any surprise, I came across 5 great Tri-Motor toys that Stout Auctions had auctioned off over the years!

Please look closely at the last photo above, so that I can explain how the 3 propellers would rotate in unison. Between the 2 large tires is a black roller. A band (metal or rubber would attach to the front central propeller. As the 2 tires rotated, they would move the front propeller. However, the 2 tires were also attached to the left and right wing propellers by small rods (hidden). So when the tires turned, the  2 wing propellers would rotate in synchronization with the central front propeller.

Even though this airplane was missing its some of its original parts, a collector replaced the parts with others.  You can understand how desirable these airplanes were and still are.

Metalcraft (the manufacture) made several kits that children would assemble. The kits were designed well, and well-made. The Tri-Mpotor above is a fine example of the longevity and durability of this Metalcraft.

Of course, what would  a Tri-Motor  set be without Louis Marx and his contribution to this special toy. His "piggy-back" presentation certainly is different from the "usual", and reminds me of the Zeppelins with their hanging airplanes, or the Boeing Jumbo 747 carrying the Space Shuttles back to their launchpads after their landings in other parts of the USA.

Even my favourite small-sized toy manufacturer-Tootsietoy, made the Tri-Motor. These "miniatures" compared to the "colossal" sizes of many of the other manufacturers, nevertheless were in great demand by children.  They measure approximately 5"- 6" in length (( 127 mm - 152 mm), and I've bought and sold a few of them. Even being small, you are immediately attracted to the wonderful design and features of the Tri-Motor airplanes.

I hope that you liked my presentation of this mini-series. Of course, there are still many,many other Tri-Motor airplanes that I left out, and that can be found at Liveauctioneers or at the individual auctioneers websites. If you get a chance to see one, have a close look at it. You may even want to bid or buy it!


Thanks for dropping by to visit,
and as always,
have a great part of the day or night,
wherever you may be.
Stacey
toysearcher@gmail.com