Description:
TOY AIRPLANES
DIE CAST METAL

The first die cast metal toy airplanes appeared around 1910. They were quite small; nevertheless, they were intricate in design for their time.

Die cast airplanes reflected the styles of each era. Because of the many newsworthy record-breaking flights in the 1920s, particularly after Charles A Lindbergh completed his solo transatlantic flight in 1927, toy makers stepped up production. They introduced many new models to meet the increased demand for aeronautical items.

Tootsietoys were already established in the US when Meccano's Dinky Toys appeared in the early 1930s, from Great Britain, and children loved them. These brands, along with Hubley based in Lancaster, PA, remained the die cast metal toy airplane leaders for several years in quality, quantity, and variety.

In the 1950s and 60s, European firms CIJ, Mercury, Solido and Tekno initiated new lines of modern aircraft to compete with Dinky Toys. Aero Mini, located in Long Island, introduced a highly-detailed series of scale model airliners in 1967. They were like no other, and it seemed that detail was the only way to go. Italian-made Edison models blazed the way with World War I subjects and initially Lintoy incorporated details such as moving wing flaps in its extensive 1970s aircraft series. Lintoy sold its toys under different brand names such as Bachmann, Corgi, and Ertl.

In the 1970s Hong Kong toy firms Play Art, Lintoy and Zylmex flooded the market with attractive-looking yet inexpensive toy airplane series. New York-based Cragstan Industries, with its Wild Wings, and Mandarin, painted their crudely-shaped airplane products in bright colors typical of those times.

Germany's Schabak took yet another path. The firm inherited a line of castings from the famous maker Schuco that ceased production after a 1976 fire. Schabak began marketing this line of tiny 1:600 scale airliners as collector's models with a wide variety of decals. The Schabak line inspired two other German makers, Herpa and Siku, to introduce die cast model airliners in 1:500 scale. These models were superior to Schabak models because they sported printed detail rather than decals.

In the 1990s large-scale die cast airplane banks began to appear, but this period otherwise saw a decline in die cast toy and model aircraft. Beginning around 2000, as the hundredth anniversary of the Wright brothers' flight appeared on the horizon, a resurgence occurred, and a variety of die cast airplanes, toy and model, remain available.

The die cast planes shown here, prop and jet, civilian and military, are from my personal collection and span the years 1920 - 1980.

One can study the different styles made in North America, Europe and Asia.

An excellent reference and picture book, but without prices, is Sue Richardson's "Diecast Toy Aircraft: An international guide" (London, UK: New Cavendish Books, 1997).

The Manufacturers:
Aero Mini
Bandai
Barclay
CA Wood
Charbens
CIJ Cie. Industrielle du Jouet
Cragstan Wild Wings
Dinky Toys
Edison Aeromodellini
Erie
Frankonia Air Mail Series
Gabriel
Goodee Toy
Hubley Kiddie Toy
Kansas Toy & Novelty
Lincoln White Metal
Lintoy
Londontoy
Mandarin
Manoil
Matchbox Sky-Busters
Mattel Hot Birds
Mercury Aeromodellini
Midgetoy
Milton Mini Toy
Playmate
Play Art Fast Wing
Play Me
Politoys
Pope Products
Ralstoy
Schuco
Simon et Rivollet
Solido
Tekno
Tootsietoy
Universal Mighty Wings
Wheeler Go-Line
Zee Toys (Zylmex)

     

NyamalaTone's Collections

Toy Airplanes: Die Cast Metal