666 Missile Erector Vehicle with Corporal Missile Launcher (195964)

Terry, I look forward to seeing your displays in the 'displays and displaying' thread, if they're not already there! To bring the focus here back on the Missile Erector Vehicle -- at least sort of! -- it's interesting to contemplate how some of us collect all genres of Dinky Toys, while others have definite blind spots. In my case, military models are an extremely low priority, as are aircraft, and, to a lesser degree, farm vehicles. That's because I grew up in a suburban environment and my focus was always, whether in play or static dioramas, on recreating what would actually be seen on the street, real or imagined. So army vehicles weren't welcome! Yet I remember one acquaintance, at age 8 or so, who had a massive collection of Dinky Toys, all of them military.

To John and Bruce----I was re-reading this most interesting thread on the 666 Missile Erector Vehicle, and the fact that Meccano did change the name from Erector to Erecting.....and we were wondering why. John, as you nicely pointed out, it was likely due to A.C. Gilbert complaining about use of that name in a toy.......and you are quite right! I was looking up this very model in Jacques Dinky Toys Encyclopedia, and in the section on this model he explained that is why.....apparently Gilbert contacted Meccano and complained, so Meccano made a half-hearted attempt and changed the name on the box. Interesting for sure! Best regards, Terry

I received a very nice boxed example of this interesting model, so decided to post, show a few pictures, and pose some more questions. I was not at all aware of this model until I saw Bruce's more recent postings, then decided to take a further look at it. Like Jan, this is getting outside my main interest area of Dinky collecting, but since it was in the 1959 catalog, I can kind of justify adding it, along with its 667 companion. Right off the bat, I noticed that the box says 'Erector' on it, so I was assuming an earlier one. It also comes with the metal hoisting gears, instead of the plastic. But I then looked at the date stamp inside the lid,and it clearly states March 1963! This seems well outside what was previously written about the name being change from Erector to Erecting. As to the box.....the seller said he bought this model new and it has hardly ever been removed from the box, and never displayed....sat in its box this whole time, so I am pretty sure it is the original box. Then there is the question of the metal gears. In reading past posts, as well as those on Talk Model Toys, there did not seem to be a solid consensus about the dates the metal gears vs plastic gears were used....some said they thought the plastic was first used, had issues, then switched to metal. Others said the metal was first used, and later changed to plastic for typical Meccano cost reasons. Then there are some with mixed metal and plastic gears. Does anyone have any better thoughts on when these were utilized? This did come with all the box inserts and also the instruction sheet, so am very pleased with it. In looking at other examples for sale, I quickly noticed that many had rockets that were either marked up a lot, or had missing decals and paint areas, such as that white and black checkered area near the nose. It is also nice to have an unhandled one, where the matt finish paint is still that way, and not turned shiny due to handling. I bought the companion 667 Missile Servicing Platform Vehicle from the same gentleman, and it was also never displayed and spent its life in the box. Together, they make quite an interesting display, and show the levels of model complexity that Meccano had mastered around 1960. The one item I do not like is the use of plastic on the Servicing Vehicle hoisted 'bucket', but can imagine it was somewhat practical for that piece. Best regards, Terry

My grandparents lived in Woolwich and when young my family went to a show at the Arsenal and I remember being lifted up to sit in the cab of one of these monsters. Due to price I couldn't afford either the Dinky or Corgi Corporal models, eventually getting the Dinky later in life together with the servicing platform, and an Honest John for good measure. The Berliet drone launcher has now joined the team.

TerryYour latest Post is acknowledged, and I will comment on it at the end suffice to say, your Post could also have made this Post redundant, but for the sake of disseminating some historical facts, I thought it wise to post it in its original format not to mention the amount of time taken to prepare it over the past month or so!The following was prepared sometime last September, and on reading through this Topic, I could not find it anywhere! A check of my Excel spreadsheet finally revealed the truth - I never got around to submitting it! Apparently at about the same time I became absorbed with the 196 Holden Special Sedan I had obtained from the John Kinchen Collection, and all thoughts on the 666 disappeared out the back door!It is hereby submitted, together with a postscript on Terrys latest Posts #14 and #15!Terry, thanks for your comments in Post #8 above. Yes, there was indeed a woosh of Binns Road air when I started to remove the lid as well as the smell of hops from the Railway Hotel diagonally opposite the factory!!With reference to Post #9 above, it is quite correct in that there has been a discussion somewhere in this site, but just exactly where, I have no idea, despite a protracted search. (That is the problem we have in that we are all guilty at one time or other of going off Topic when we suddenly latch onto a subject that in reality has some or no direct bearing to the Topic in hand and we neglect to post a copy under the correct Topic which is possibly the case for that discussion with the 666 and the word Erector!)With the word Erector I found the following that may be of interest.The interesting thing about Meccano sets is that Meccano SA (France) was acquired by Marc Rebibo, and manufacture recommenced in 1985. One of the first things Rebibo did was to shut off the remaining alternative source of Meccano production in Argentina, where the sets had been manufactured by Exacto SRL under licence since 1967 using the name Meccano-Induction Argentina. Exacto SRL was then forced to drop the Meccano name. Following another change of ownership of Meccano SA, the company bought the rights to the Erector trade mark in the United States in 1989 and commenced selling Meccano-Erector sets in the American market, thereby perpetuating the long-standing connection between the two products. (Factory of Dreams, Kenneth D Brown 2007)One has to take notice of the last sentence . . . . perpetuating the long-standing connection between the two products. However, with the box for the 666 the change from Erector to Erecting occurred three years BEFORE A C Gilbert became the United States distributor for Dinky Toys, so at that time there would have been no direct association between the Dinky Supertoy product of a prototype military vehicle and that marketed as a toy construction set in the United States as both manufacturers construction sets were covered under existing Trade Mark and Patent protection laws. As too the word Erector which at that time was used by both the US and British Armies to describe the feature of a particular vehicle this would most likely fall outside the boundary of a registered trade name. There is also the fact that erector is a noun and in common usage within the English language and although the word can be used as a trade mark as a Proper noun as Erector, but with the 666 box, all the lettering is in block. [img]/images/sites/default/files/u203/hap1063%20-%20Copy.jpg[/img [img]/images/sites/default/files/u203/hap1063_0.jpg[/img] The photograph above (which is also in my original Post #7) showing a blackboard with the name ERECTOR in white chalk clearly shows that this was how the unit was described by the military forces of the United States and Great Britain. Meccano, when the model was released was simply following the military terminology for the prototype vehicle. I have endeavoured to find the official US Army designation for the transporter without success and with the British Army being possibly the only user of the Le Tonneau vehicle, it appears to have been simply known as the Erector Vehicle. But at least we know a lot more about the 665 Honest John Missile Launcher which was actually designated the M289 and M386 (the Dinky version) Launcher Truck with an M50 Honest John Missile. The truck itself made by a number of sub-contractor truck manufacturers Diamond T, Mack, Kaiser and International in the same manner as the WW2 Jeep originally designed and built by Willys but also made by Ford, the Feep coming from the letters of the vehicle, GP, (which sounds like Jeep) the designation for a General Purpose vehicle.Reading the 1963 Catalogue produced by Meccano on behalf of A C Gilbert and we see the name of the model as being 666 Missile Erector Vehicle with Corporal Missile and Launching Platform. The print code for this catalogue is 13/563/50, which translates to May 1963. But if the word was protected, then the change should have taken place right across the board to include all printed ephemera, which in the case of the 666 this clearly did not happen as Erector continues as part of the title of the toy such as the instruction leaflet included with the model, price lists, sales leaflets, order forms, catalogues etc. So, any link between the Meccano-style construction sets in the US named Erector and the change from Erector to Erecting for the 666 is more than likely pure conjecture. [img]/images/sites/default/files/u203/1963USA.p1%20%281283x1700%29%20%28966x1280%29%20%28773x1024%29.jpg[/img [img]/images/sites/default/files/u203/1963USA.p6%20%281274x1700%29%20%28959x1280%29%20%28767x1024%29.jpg[/img [img]/images/sites/default/files/u203/1963USA.p8%20%281267x1700%29%20%28954x1280%29%20%28763x1024%29.jpg[/img [img]/images/sites/default/files/u203/6661355%20-%20Copy%20%282%29%20%281280x712%29_0.jpg[/img We now come to something that has a bearing on the use of the word Erector. Playcraft/Mettoy Toys under their Corgi Toys brand also produced the same model as Meccano, although the Corgi Major model is [b]HUGE[/b] compared with the Meccano offering. They referred to it as [b]Corporal Guided Missile on Erector Vehicle[/b], the sales number being 1113. The model is described in Marcel R Van Cleemput bible on Corgi Toys pages 47, 48, 50 and 51. Nowhere in this book does Mr Van Cleemput make mention of the possible clash of trade name concerning the word Erector. Incidentally, for those unaware who this gentleman was, he joined Mettoy on 1 January 1954 as a designer and was promoted to Chief Designer soon afterwards, a position he held when Corgi Toys were first launched in 1956. He was subsequently involved in the design of every Corgi model until the original companys demise in 1983. Mr Van Cleemput noted that a total of 50,000 Corporal Guided Missile on [b]Erector[/b] Vehicle were made, 36,000 as a single model and 14,000 as part of a Gift Set. I wonder how many Meccano produced of the 666 not to mention why was not Playcraft/Mettoy also included in the request to change the word Erector?[img]/images/sites/default/files/u203/ACorgi280415.3248.jpg[/img] 1000 708The following images are from the Corgi Book, and have been photographed, as my scanner has given up the ghost having been involved in scanning 20 years of Model Collector and Diecast Collector magazines! It is interesting that the designers at Mettoy had access to an actual Erector Vehicle. Was Meccano afforded the same opportunity! 347 900 680 900A quick check through the Vectis website and their older catalogues has revealed that in the past 25 years, approximately 43 Corgi Major 1113 Corporal Guided Missile on Erector Vehicle have been sold and none having had the word Erector changed on their boxes to Erecting, to satisfy a possible/perceived use of a registered trade name.Incidentally The Dinky and Corgi Corporal Missile was marketed to children as 'the rocket you can launch' and was timed to coincide with the British test firing in 1959 at the British Royal Artillery Guided Weapons Range on the Scottish island of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides. Missiles were fired toward designated target coordinates in the Atlantic Ocean. Radar on St. Kilda scored successful (on-target) firings. Frequently, Soviet 'fishing trawlers' would intrude into the target area. The Corporal with its towing and erector vehicle and launching platform was also deployed by two regiments of the British Army of the Rhine in Germany the 27th and 47th Missile Regiments, Royal Artillery.During my search for long-lost details on the real vehicle that was manufactured by Le Tonneau I found the following that may be of some interest:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHWFKJnJC3MFinally, a close examination of the first detailed book on Dinky Toys written by Cecil Gibson HISTORY OF BRITISH DINKY TOYS 1934-1964, published so soon after the deletion of the 666 makes no mention of any controversy with the name Erector. I am certain had such existed then mention would have been made within this publication.7 December, 2016 Terry, thank you for your valued contribution to this Topic. However, with due respect to the Dinky Encyclopaedia I did mention in my Post #7, Does anyone have documentary material that can explain this. The fact that the Dinky Encyclopaedia has included an explanation does not come under the category of documentary material as I think we all would like to see a copy of the correspondence that confirms what Jacques wrote apparently Gilbert contacted Meccano and complained with the emphasis on the word apparently. On the other hand A C Gilbert had no problems with the 1963 catalogue! But one would have thought if there was the possibility of legal action being taken against Meccano following receipt of a presumed letter of complaint, a half-hearted attempt by just changing the word on the models box would certainly not have satisfied the American legal eagles advising A C Gilbert. If there was such a written complaint from the attorneys on behalf of A C Gilbert it was probably in the best interest of both A C Gilbert and Meccano to have just simply ignored it, otherwise A C Gilbert would have also had to take on the might of Mettoy plus lose their important connection as the sole importer of the products of Binns Road into the United States at that time which would have been more lucrative then trying to protect their trade mark.On the contrary, I think the change from Erector to Erecting was either due to a misunderstanding by the printer, or the Meccano department responsible for the out-sourcing of the manufacture of boxes. With the error already in place, and no doubt several thousand boxes already produced, it was decided to use these boxes, as nobody would really complain, care, or for that matter, even notice the difference at that time.Again that is my supposition, as we still do not have documentary evidence telling us differently.Finally Terry, with your latest Post #15 and your recent acquisition of a 666 that was quality inspected in March 1963, with the box having ERECTOR instead of ERECTING, you have confirmed what I have long suspected that ERECTING versus ERECTOR was a printers mistake. As for the plastic versus metal gearing, it is quite possible that the plastic gears were experimented at some point during the production span in an effort to reduce costs but were found to be not such a great idea after all due to easy wear and complaints from their clientele, so the company reverted to its original metal gearing.Bruce H. (150)20161208/1050/0249

There is a typo here, the S is missing. As Dinky Supertoys is a trademarque it is invariable.Bruce The reason why the name of this Dinky is not printed in three different languages on the box end is probably because this name is too long.Vhicule d'rection avec fuse Corporal et plateforme de lancement.

Jacques. The text on the 666 instruction leaflet is intended for the holder of a single 666 Dinky Supertoy (singular) Corporal missile in its own box. It is talking about a single Dinky Supertoy and not about its registered trade mark 'Dinky Supertoys'. That's why the s of Supertoys (plural) is missing. That's how I explain it.I will make a contribution in the topic British boxes general about the mention of Dinky Supertoys and Dinky Toys registered trade mark on boxes.Kind regards, Jan Oldenhuis