162a Light Dragon Tractor (1939-55)

GentlemanI have a strange looking Dinky. It is a Dragon with plastic wheels instead of cog wheels and chains. See the photo. I have written some time ago in the Journal about it under the 'letters' heading. Does any one know how these came about. I know of two others in existance in South Africa. The one is a Light Tank, see photo below, and the other a Dragon like mine, so three in total in South Africa. I also saw one on Vectis some time ago. Your help with this will help a great deal.Thank youDirk Bloem Potchefstroom 154

Gentleman My apology,
I see I mispelt the Dragon
and that the photo ' s did not apear.Let me try agin with the photo ' s.Dirk Bloem Potchefstroom 154

Gentleman It seems that my photo ' s does not want to apear on the web.i have them available
and will try again later to
add
them.Dirk Bloem Potchefstroom 154

This is a known variant
and,
as far as I know,
is only on pre - war versions.Here is my Dragon Tractor with wheels: [img] / images / sites / default / files / old - forum - images / 162a_Tractor_wheels -20140208.jpg [/img] I am still looking for the Light Tank in this form.Dave

Lovely models Gents,
Wonder if there was a chain issue,
or if these were intended to be more dining room table friendly ! Chris Warr

From
the ' Binns Road Gazette ' of July / August 1999 Keith Harvie writes about the 152a Light Tank: ' Possibly due to the unavailibility of tracks
or shortages in material closer to the war.Some Light Tanks can be found with the wheels
from
the 35 series cars.No documentation to verify this replacement procedure has been found.In 30 years,
I have vever met anybody who bought one in a store ' I agree with Keith on this.Dave

Since this thread is titled ' Military Dinky ' s ',
thought I would post a few pictures of an interesting group of early 1950 ' s Dinky Military vehicles.These are the few models that Meccano decided to market for the U.S.market only,
and they were introduced in the 1952 catalog.I am referring to the Austin Military Wagon,
the Bedford Army Truck,
the Daimler Military Ambulance,
and the Ford Military Staff Car.One final model,
the U.S.Army Jeep (
the larger version with the spare tire on the side
),
does not appear until the 1955 catalog.....and it is the one model I also do not have yet ! The Austin
and Bedford were made through 1954,
and the ambulance through 1955.Both the sedan
and the Jeep were made for several years later.One point of interest that I noticed several years ago is that while both the Bedford
and the Austin were made in the identical time period,
there is still one item of difference: the Bedford front grill
and radiator is finished in the same Olive Drab color as the rest of the vehicle,
while the Austin retains the same grill / radiator finish as its commercial brother.....black with silver accents.Just interesting how Meccano didn ' t always choose to be consistent with a small item.Maybe someone can offer an explanation
or comment.........Terry Images
from
1953 catalog [img] http: / / i929.photobucket.com / albums / ad133 / thardgrave / English % 20Dinky % 20Military / DinkyToys1953catAustinandBedford_0001_zps0d537302.jpg [/img] [img] http: / / i929.photobucket.com / albums / ad133 / thardgrave / English % 20Dinky % 20Military / DinkyToys1953catFordStaffCar_0002_zps4ca78a69.jpg [/img] [img] http: / / i929.photobucket.com / albums / ad133 / thardgrave / English % 20Dinky % 20Military / DinkyToysexportmilitaryvehiclesjumble_zps3800a4db.jpg [/img] [img] http: / / i929.photobucket.com / albums / ad133 / thardgrave / English % 20Dinky % 20Military / DinkyToysBedfordArmyTruckfrntangle_zpscdb72ee3.jpg [/img] [img] http: / / i929.photobucket.com / albums / ad133 / thardgrave / English % 20Dinky % 20Military / DinkyToysAustinArmyTruckfrntangle_zps9a349551.jpg [/img] [img] http: / / i929.photobucket.com / albums / ad133 / thardgrave / English % 20Dinky % 20Military / DinkyToysFordStaffCarfrtangle_zpsf1c39bd8.jpg [/img] [img] http: / / i929.photobucket.com / albums / ad133 / thardgrave / English % 20Dinky % 20Military / DinkyToysmilitaryDaimlerAmbulancerearangle_zpsbf64f79c.jpg [/img] The front of the Bedford Army Truck...notice that the grill
and radiator is olive drab [img] http: / / i929.photobucket.com / albums / ad133 / thardgrave / English % 20Dinky % 20Military / DinkyToysBedfordArmyTruckfront_zpsf986da07.jpg [/img] The front of the Austin Military Wagon...the front grill on this is painted black with silver [img] http: / / i929.photobucket.com / albums / ad133 / thardgrave / English % 20Dinky % 20Military / DinkyToysAustinArmyTruckfront_zps7383c3f6.jpg [/img]

Thanks Terry,
especially the Field Gun Unit
and its successors are interesting: [img] / images / sites / default / files / old - forum - images / IMG_9648.jpg [/img] [img] / images / sites / default / files / old - forum - images / IMG_9647.jpg [/img] [img] / images / sites / default / files / old - forum - images / IMG_9646.jpg [/img] In particular the way they are presented in their various boxes,
kind regards,
Jan

Here is a 669 Universal Jeep to
add
to Terry ' s lovely group shown above.[img] / images / sites / default / files / old - forum - images / 669_Jeep.jpg [/img] Dave

Similar models,
different scales: [img] / images / sites / default / files / old - forum - images / IMG_9851.jpg [/img]