New arrivals

This morning, I received this green Armstrong Siddeley. It fits very well with its grey sister ! Kind regards Richard

The windscreen appears to be silver framed, is it Richard? Being just an incidental catalogue collector it's only every now and then that I buy a catalogue which strikes me somehow. This one, the general Meccano catalogue of 1955/56 for New Zealand had such an appeal on me. As soon as I will have scanned it entirely I will gladly have all 27 pages published in the 'Publications' corner of the website. Front and back cover below. Kind regards, Jan

Jan, the image on the cover of that catalogue is perhaps the single most evocative image ever produced by Meccano Ltd. It would be wonderful to know if it was originally inspired by a photograph, or all the artists imagination. I would also love to see the original art work.As many may already know, the same art was used on the cover of the December 1954 Meccano Magazine.

Whats interesting is that the figures in the foreground are the same, but the background is somewhat different! But a wonderful and fascinating image...... Best regards, Terry

Terry, Right you are -- I noticed the Meccano sign added to the catalogue version of the image, but missed some of the details. The Meccano Magazine version makes a token effort at showing some non-Meccano products (the large-scale airplane and a castle) in the toy store, but the catalogue version doesn't!

Thanks, good observations, both of you. Now you see why I found this catalogue so intriguing and attractive. I have no knowledge of other contemporary (1955/1956) Meccano catalogues for various markets, and if they show the same front cover scene. Besides, the New Zealand provenance and the as new quality were decisive for me too. Kind regards, Jan

Yes Jan, the Armstrong windscreen is silver framed. This morning came these 7 Bedford van from the John Gay 'productions' All are new in box. Kind regards. Richard

An envelope containing the b/w photo on the left fell on the door-mat this morning. A much appreciated gift from 'dinkycollect', the original photographic inspiration for his many-decades-ago-made creation, a conversion of the 555 Fire Engine with Extending Ladder on the right (which he donated five years ago already, in 2013). Jacques, thank you very, very much !!! Kind regards, Jan

Hi Jan When I saw this beautiful conversion I thought at first it was designed as a 'Tower Wagon' for working on overhead trolley wires but, when I enlarged the image, it seems too tall and too sturdy for that. Then, as it is built on a 555, I thought it might be an escape but there's no obvious stair or ladder. What was the purpose of the original vehicle? By the way, I hope Sinterklaas will be adding to the pile this pakjesavond. Kind regards John

Hello John, regarding your question about the converted 555: Jacques can possibly comment more precise than I can. There are also some comments on this one in the British Emergency Vehicles: 555/955 thread if I'm not mistaken. About Sinterklaas: yes, tonight is the night, but nowadays for us, adults, the presents (mostly food and drinks) are not as important as for the children and grandchildren. Moreover, in the remaining days of the year I receive too many Dinky Toys already. By the way, some surviving examples of my childhood Dinky Toys presents of Sinterklaas eve can be seen on page 6 of the 'Dinky of the Day' thread. Kind regards, Jan

Thanks Jan. Yes, I saw and enjoyed the Dinky of the Day thread. I always enjoy looking at old photos and I spent some time this morning trying to identify the vehicle in the photo you posted on the 30 series Vauxhall thread. I'm pretty sure it isn't a Vauxhall as it doesn't have the chrome scallops on the bonnet, which were a feature of Vauxhalls for many decades. As to what it IS I cannot yet make a suggestion. I shall have a look at the 555/955 thread and, if I don't find what I'm looking for, I'll ask Jacques directly. My ebay lot of 35 series cars arrived this afternoon so I'll post on them soon. John

John The truck is based on the pre war Paris tramway company over head repair truck. The original was build by Schneider and one of them is still kept at the Paris transport museum. I think that it was still in use until the 60s when the last trolley buses were witdrawn from sercice. The model was made when I was 15 - 17 many years ago. Jacques