434 Atlas Bedford TK Crash Truck

To follow the mini triumph of the Guy Lyons copy, Atlas quickly sent their rendition of a 434 TK crash truck. Since we had two Octopus, I suppose it makes sense that we get another Bedford. If they can get the typeface right, I could probably stand for a TK Castrol too. Here again the reproduction is very close. There is more curvature in the top edge of the windscreen, but otherwise just about a match. The box is outsize to include a couple of plastic packing pieces. Actually I'm using one of my very own repro boxes to make a comparison here, but I promise mine is the right size. Also Altas had difficulty again in copying the subtleties of the old image which they've redrawn or overdrawn to make it reprintable.

Here is my TK Crash Truck, light green interior and dark green wheels. Price 7/11.

That's a nice one Pat. Now you need a coal/castrol/cola/dropside to complement it! I notice that Atlas are treading the path of casting recycling with the issue of cab or back combos - two otter, two foden, two bedford, two vixen. This week an Isobloc arrived, which bodes a move into french dinky territory with this supertoys subscription. I expect they will start to send Berliet trucks and various buses as the months progress. Some of their french reissues have been very elaborate models - thinking of the circus set particularly - so it will be interesting to see if that turns up.

Well I had the Top Rank, the coal lorry and the dustbin lorry with solid green cab from new. Never really liked these later Dinky trucks and the coal lorry went a long time ago as the sacks and scales had no chains to stop them falling off! Still have the dustbin truck with its little bins. I bought the yellow tipper recently mint boxed for 45 but it soon found its way on to eBay, closely followed by the Atlas orange one. I kept the Top Rank as I was given a red 589 with the same base back in the day and kept them as a pair, now joined by the Atlas Autoroutes version.

I acquired the Atlas 434 this week. It sits slightly higher which appears to be the tyres, and the track is wider, with the metal wheels having an inbuilt spacer on the inside. My original Dinky has green plastic wheels flush inside. Does anyone know whether an earlier issue had the metal wheels? Were they painted red then green? When did the interior and crane wheel change colour from red to green/grey or vice versa?

There were three sets of the Bedford TK crash truck : Top Rank black cab roof red cab roofthe later is not mentioned in either the GBDT or my old Ramsay. I was going to order the new Ramsay but 15 for the post is outrageous.What I am concerned with is which of the red cabs came first. Probably the black roof one but I have no evidence.Does any member know more about these ?I have listed ten different versions with this truck including a factory error, a Top Rank with the red cab.

I think we can be fairly confident that the black roof version came first. That one is pictured on the box, and those are also the ones I remember first seeing in shops as a young collector. Also, it's worth noting that the black roof version has standard red paint. The version without a black roof appears -- I do not own one, but from the pictures in the Encyclopedia -- to have metallic red paint. As with some fire engines and the Red Arrow Bus, LIverpool usually issued models with more realistic red paint initially, then changed in later versions to the flashy, less durable metallic paint. Regarding the models that combine the Top Rank rear with the red front, there seem to be enough of them out there that I'd not call it a 'factory error,' but rather an instance of Binns Road using up components that had already been painted before the transition to the new livery.