502 and 902 Foden Flat Truck (1947-59)

Hi Jan, a picture to illustrate this issue. Indeed my first types (the early ones, without towing hooks) have the silver (well, blank metal) nuts and bolts. The tanker, however, because of the special character, has a spigot only. I have no later first types with the hooks. Kind regards, Jan

Jan--If you go back and look at my original photos from a couple of days ago, there is a photo of the base of a Type 2 later Foden, and it clearly shows the black or darker nut retaining the spare tire.Best regards, Terry

My 902 is similarly engraved underneath with the number. I bought my 902 and 903 at the same time in 1970 from Brookes toyshop in Crawley when it closed down. The 903 has no number.

Terry and Jan O. I did a check of my Fodens and I can concur with Jan that the silver nut is the accepted type with all the 1st Series Fodens. With the 2nd Series, the earliest boxed model I have is one inspected in April 1954 and this has a silver nut. For some unknown reason, the only nuts that have had rust develop on models that have passed through my hands are silver nuts that appear to have been removed in the past. Interestingly, but all the early Guys and Leylands use the same silver nut but with these, I have uncovered a date when the darker nut was possibly first used, this being May 1953 at least for the 533 Leyland Cement Wagon. It may have been earlier than this by several months as I have not as yet examined my earlier 531 and 532 models, but it is quite apparent that the same silver screw and nut was used for the Foden, Guy and Leyland models at least until April 1953 when the nut was changed to one less obvious. (The 'blued' darker nut appears to be also more rust resistant than the earlier nut.) I do have a 905 Foden Chain Lorry inspected in January 1955 with a silver nut, but I think this is not an original. Does anyone have an earlier date than May 1953? Kind regards Bruce (150) 20160902/967/1228

With all the technical talk about this nice Foden Flat Truck, there were few photos of the actual model in a proper pose, so herewith........ Best regards, Terry

Surprise! Mine happen to be exactly the same, Terry, shown below from a slightly different point of view. Kind regards, Jan

Jan----well, we both knew we shared many collecting interests.......I guess we shouldn't be too surprised!Best regards, Terry

Dug up two pictures from my image files a moment ago, featuring the Foden Flat Truck both in a 1940s and a 1950s rush hour scene:

Jan-Wonderful & lovely scenes......thanks for sharing with us! Best regards, Terry

That scene is indeed beautiful, and I really like the way each item has been carefully updated to reflect the changing Dinky Toys range. For me the double-decker bus is a step too far out of scale with the others, but in a way that is part of the Dinky charm. I really like diorama scenes, and that was one of my favourite things in the old Meccano Magazines. Unfortunately space is an issue for me. I do have a dedicated diorama display case, but it's got Spot-On models in it at the moment (with Dinky pavements fulfilling a useful purpose, as they are much more manageable than Spot-On road sections in a smallish space!).

I made the display table in the mid-1990s, for occasional exhibits. The mid-1930s display, as shown in the Dinky bibles, served as an example. I found a picture with a better scale compatible scene, shown below:

At the risk of getting scolded for being off the Foden topic -- I have always loved your wonderfully done display table, Jan. It is so very evocative of the displays produced by Meccano Ltd. itself. I always wondered why you made the roadways red, however. Is this color a common thing in your country?