A Fine Hubley Cast Iron Airplane

Saturday, November 21, 2015
Partly cloudy with mild temperatures

A Fine Hubley

Cast Iron Airplane

   Since Dan Morphy has expanded his auction business, his photography has improved with the use of larger-sized photographs. A lot of his expanded business has been old cars and firearms, which require superior photography. I'm glad this has happened, as it's great for myself to see more detail of the toy photos. In this way, I can expand on my writing and the fine toys.

 "Cast Iron Hubley Tri Motor America Airplane Toy.

All cast iron with aluminum wing marked "America" on wing and has star marks on circles on both sides of wing. Looks to be all original. Some paint chipping and wear on top of fuselage. Original pilots and motors. Original rubber tires marked "Hubley", one has a flat spot. Still has clicker. Condition (Excellent). Size 17" Length ( 431.8 mm)"*

* Description Courtesy of Morphy Auctions 

I like how the first 4 photos have been photographed. Since I have removed most of the grey background, the first 4 images appear to illustrate a spiral downward "dive"by the airplane.

Please click here to visit this fine American auctioneer's website

THe second-to-last photo above illustrates the fine detail of the trimotor castings. Look at the engine assembly to note all of the back parts of the propeller. As is usual, the propellers were made of plated nickel,and have truly stood "the test of time" for an 85 year old toy.

The 2 pilots in the cockpit certainly are "cute". They were hand painted, and even the paint on these characters have also withstood the test of time.

There are no photos to show you how the propellers moved,but you can vaguely see a criss-cross (X-shaped) expandable coils in the back attaching the 2 side propellers. The front wheels have another stretched wire coil that attached to the rear wheels and their coils. As the airplane was pushed or pulled with a string, all 3 propellers would rotate.  Also, in the written description, you will have read  the word "clicker". THe airplane had a clicking devise attached to the airplane. AS the airplane was pulled a nosy clicking would arise, with the noise getting faster and louder as the airplane was pulled faster.

The larger-sized cast iron airplanes from the 1930's are very much in demand and achieve high values at auction.

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey Bindman

Toysearcher@gmail.com

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

The Tri-Motor Airplane Toys-Part I

Tuesday, August 5, 2014
                    Sunny and hot

The Tri-Motor Airplane Toys

Part I

   I remember  when the first Boeing 747, nick-named the Jumbo first flew over out house in 1970 in the Montreal suburb of Ville Saint Laurent. It was huge, and majestic,and it seemed to move to slowly, that you thought it would drop down to earth - but it didn't.  For weeks at a time, the whole family would be sitting outdoors in the summer, and we would watch the immense-sized jet passenger airplanes land at Dorval Airport. The airport is now renamed Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport in honour of one of our 20th century prime ministers.

   I had seen a nice tri-motor airplane on Liveauctioneers, and so decided to investigate further just to see how many companies had made this particular type of aircraft. As it turned out, plenty of companies had made this airplane. Because of it's interesting design of having 3 motors, I'm sure this airplane (later 1920's - pre WWII) must have certainly attracted lots of airplane aficionados at the time. I'm sure that's what inspired so many different companies to manufacture this unique airplane, and also to create so many different designs on the exterior of the toy.

  Because so many companies made this toy, I decided to create a 3-part mini-series presenting 3 different fine auctioneers and their sold tri-motor airplane toys. Bertoia Auctions is the first.

Please click here to visit this exceptional American auctioneer

I'm not sure if the Ford Motor Company made the first tri-motor airplane, but there are lots of references to them. The first plane was made in 1925, and continued to be produced until 1933. As such, the extreme contradiction of having some cast iron toys ( a very old process) made of such a modern airplane is exceptional, One has only to realize how so close in time the Wright Brothers had flown the first successful airplane that was on December 17, 1907, a mere "blink of an eye" in time  at 18 years earlier from the Ford production time.

Below are 2 fine examples of Japanese  quality of tri-motor toys. I remember in the 1950's when "Made in Japan" was synonymous with low-quality, but when you look at the pre and post WWII quality of all merchandise, I realize now that this simply must have been  a myth against the fact that Japan had in fact started the Pacific War and entered into WWII.

Of course, the Americans also had their fine expertise in toy-making, and many of the American companies produced this fine airplane. The Bertoia Auctions photos below present that famous patented wind-up mechanism that was seen all of of the Kingsbury motor-driven toys.

I've never heard of the Aero toy company, but this model certainly is most impressive.

A wingspan of 37" (940 mm) certainly has to be investigated!

All of these different interpretations of the tri-motor airplane reminds me of a design contest for a new automobile, bridge, or a building. The engineers and architects all are given a set of rules by which to design the structure or product, and the final one is selected by the contest committee.

I would have an extremely hard time selecting a winner. All of these toys are stupendous, but the difficult part, for me, would be to stop playing with the toys, and selecting a winner! With many of these toys, there was a mechanism that allowed all 3 propellers to rotate together - now that certainly was an engineering feat for toy-making!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always, 

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey.

toysearcher@gmail.com