Tom Sanders Helps Out

Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Overcast
9 C 48F

Tom Sanders Helps Out

   My previous post was about Christopher Ferrone and his creativity with restoring old toys into new ones "with a twist". In that post, Christopher took 2 old toys from the 1930's and metamorphosed (changed) them into one. The new model , a combination of the 2 toys appeared to actually resemble a toy from the 1930's.

   In today's post, Mr. Tom Sanders wrote me and presented a nice airplane that he restored.  In Tom's case, he creates marvellous models from old toys, but  on a commercial basis (he is commissioned to create them). In the example below, he custom-made a base plate that holds a Wyandotte China Clipper airplane (to represent) a  Martin M-130 China Clipper at the time.

Above: Tom Sanders' trademark logo

Some information about Pan-Am.

Please click here to visit Wikipedia's fine article on Pan-Am
(If the link doesn't work, type in the words "Wikipedia" and Pan-Am to visit the exact page of reference)

Pan-Am was the largest American passenger aircraft company in the USA from 1927-1991.

The company was created in 1927 and started to fly between Key West (Florida) and Havana (Cuba). This route was highly successful, and eventually led to the airplane expanding into South-America. Having been financially strong, the Pan-Am was able to purchase less-successful  South American companies to expand its' South-American Business. Most of the South American business was on the west coast of South America. Example of key cities were Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Santiago (Chile), and Caracas (Venezuela) Also included were Mexico City (Mexico.) The airline also earned added revenue (Money) by having won the rights to carry mail (airmail) between America and the South American routes. Many of the airplanes were what were called "flying boats) that were capable of taking off and landing in the water.

The Pan-Am Logo

*Image courtesy of Wikipedia

A Sikorsky S-42 Airplane

*Image courtesy of Wikipedia

As you can see in the poster below, the route of Pan-Am was quite exotic. It's quite amazing how relatively inexpensive (to 2017 prices) the cost of flying to South-America was at the time. Of course, the buying power of a 1941 US Dollar was quite different from a 2017 American Dollar.

A Pan-Am 1941 Itinerary (Route) 

*Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Stacey,

Hope you are doing well and the Blog is rolling along. I will send you a couple of projects to consider.  This first is unique project. The owner is a collector of Pan Am artifacts from the Flying Boat era. He acquired a model stand some years ago that was missing its original model of the Martin M-130 China Clipper. We had some dealings earlier this year and contacted me with an unusual request, would I consider rebuilding a Wyandotte Pressed Steel Toy Clipper into a model?  Interesting thought as there are a few people making nice cast models. The reason is that he absolutely wanted a period produced model and those are as rare as hen's teeth!!

Part I 

(Creating the new model)

Below are the modifications that Tom initiated to meet the requirements of the client. You can see the extensive work that Tom did to create a wonderful model for his client/

There were a great number of modifications needed to make this work. Here is a partial list-

1) Rear wheel was removed and the belly pan modified to accept the fixture's "saddle" mount.

2) Wings were relocated 1/2 further aft and lowered by 1/2"

3) Tailing edge of the wing was tapered to match the M-130

4) Four new struts were created and soldered to the bottom of the wing. The sponsons both have new receptor holes for the bottom pins of the struts.

5) The main landing gear system was removed, the struts folded back up into the sponsons and gaps filled with solder then sanded smooth.

6) Brass plates were soldered to the bottoms of the sponsons to eliminate the hollowed-out effect.

7) New props, engine fronts/shafts (pop rivets!) and cowlings (brass tubes with aluminum inserts) were crafted and installed.

8) the tail assembly was soldered and bend-over tangs were removed.

9) More windows were added to the cockpit area (cut, grind, sand)

10) Two-tone silver and black paint to match prototype.

PArt II

(The finishing touched)

It's really great to see these old toys being restored and modified for collectors. In this case, the combination of the airplane model with the base plate of the world and focussing on North and South America. 

It's too bad that Pan-Am had to close down, because the airline had wonderful air routes for those who liked exotic places to visit at the time (and still today).

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

ebay golfer3105 - A New Guest

Thursday, December 8, 2016
Overcast
-2 C 28 F

ebay Golfer3105

A New Guest

Please click here to visit this fine ebay merchant

"In his own words"

"Feel free to use my pictures. My name is Livio from Switzerland and my goal is only to restore toys if they are broken or poorly restored from somebody before, who didn't have the skills and "destroyed it before. In my case,a fire destroyed almost all of my toys, and I had to rebuild from scratch. That means that I will save any toys in their original condition as possible."


When I received the reply from golfer3105 ( a merchant on ebay), I was surprised at the reply.
In my letter, I had mentioned the fine "restored" items that he had. Livio replied that I had his permission to use his photos, and, he mentioned that he likes to  restore items. Lately, I've seen and presented a good amount of restored items, and obviously they do sell.

I also like restored toys, because it presents them at their best. I've restored small toys like the Tootsietoys, and they also sold well.

Extremely Rare Wyandotte LaSalle Version with Removable Hood

Beautifully restored, painted pressed steel with rubber tires

Circa: 1930's

Wyandotte "Coast to Coast Bus with Rear Door

Beautifully restored pressed steel bus with decals

Rubber tires on metal rims

Circa: 1940's

Rare Marx # 3 Race  Car

Painted pressed steel with rubber tires on metal rims

Circa 1930's

Packard Collectible Automobilia Wyandotte Toy

Painted pressed steel with original white rubber tires

Battery-operated lights in front

Beautifully restored wind-up toy

Pressed steel, with working battery-operated headlights and taillight

Rubber tires mounted on steel rims

Rare Working Marx G-Man Toy Gun

Lithographed tin, with working part that emits sparks

Circa: 1930

AS you can see, golfer3105 had a very nice collection of toys for sell.
Moreover, the restored toys are quite nice as well.  In 50 years, 
I wonder what the value of these toys will be, because these
toys will have been true antiques (100 years or older), and will some people care?

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

A Different Wyandotte Toy

Saturday, December 3, 2016
Snow & Rain
2 C  36 F

A Different Wyandotte Toy

Please click here to visit this fine American ebay seller

I saw this Wyandotte toy a day ago on ebay, so I decided to post it on my blog. 

What's different about this toy is that it is a wind-up toy of ducks that move. 

It's probably a toy that is much later than the 1930's toys which seemed to be

mostly trucks and cars of pressed steel.

If you examine the cardboard, you will see that there is no ZIP code of any kind on the box.

Large American city ZIP Codes (Zone Improvement Plan)first appeared in 1943 , and they were

 2-digit codes.  In July of 1963, 5-digit ZIP Codes were announced for the whole country.

So, I assume that this toy is from the late 1930's or 1940's , excluding the war years, since metal was limited in the manufacture of toys during the war years.

A Bit of History:

Initially, All Metal Products Company specialized in toy guns, including pop guns, water pistols, and air rifles. Their slogan in the 1920s was "Every Boy Wants a Pop Gun." By 1927 they had become the world's largest manufacturer of toy guns. Wyandotte Toys stopped manufacturing air rifles in 1929, but continued to dominate the toy gun market throughout the remainder of their history by producing pop guns, clicker pistols, dart guns and pistols, cap guns and a variety of plastic pistols. In 1929 the company added girls' toys and toy vehicles, as well as lithographed novelty toys in 1936. Metal toys were banned during World War II because the metals were needed for the war effort. The company survived by producing wooden toys and die-cut cardboard "build your own" play sets during the war. All Metal Products also manufactured en bloc clips for the M1 Garand rifle. Clips of this nature will be stamped with "AMP1" on the rear of the clip.*

* Courtesy: Wikipedia

Vintage  Wyandotte Ducky Ducklings Wind-up Tin Toy # 850

Lithographed tin with wooden wheels and wind-up key.

Entire duck train Length: 15" 380 mm

Height of large duck:  L x H 6 1/4" x 5 1/2"  158 mm x 140 mm

Height of small ducks: L x H: 3 1/4" x 3"  91 mm x 64 mm

By the way, this toy was won by someone on ebay for # 249.95 USA.

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