Hi Woodsy,
I was at a Dinky fair and picked up a couple of old Matchbox Crash Tenders similar to ones used in airport scenes on Thunderbirds and other G.A. series.
While I wouldn’t describe myself as a collector of old Matchbox toys, certain ones do peak my nostalgic interest. The Hendrickson ‘Cooper-Jarrett’ truck and the BP Autotanker are a couple of favourites and both of course feature as ‘extras’ in several Anderson shows.
The Crash Tender, which, as I’ve no doubt you’re aware can be seen sharing a scene or two with Fire Flash at London Airport, or parked at Glenn Field during the assembly of Zero X. It was produced by Matchbox in 1964 and early versions had a silver foam cannon and suspension. Latter versions had a gold cannon and no suspension. The plastic ladder, hose and lettering were supplied on a separate sprue ready to be fitted by the buyer .
The die cast toy was pretty much identical in design to the Century 21 version ( apart from size and features, of course) which came a year or two later.
I though maybe some of the readers might like to see a few shots I took of them.
Cheers
Mike B
love your tender,Mike.
ReplyDeleteThat Matchbox BP Tanker was always a big favourite of mine as a kid too!
The BP Tanker is a nice design. Sorry if we've discussed this before and I've forgotten, but is the tanker based on a real vehicle? Or pure fantasy?
ReplyDeleteMike, a question for you ... in the photo @ 2nd from bottom, is the lighting a photoshop trick? If not, how did you do it?
My understanding of the Tanker is thats its a fanciful design.
ReplyDeleteIt's an effect created in photoshop P.T. Bit of a cheat I suppose but I thought it looked nice.
ReplyDeleteAhhh, thanks, Wote. It's such a nice design that I was hoping it was based on something real.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you, Mike, for the explanation. It works really well - adds atmosphere - and it's not cheating in the slightest. Skillful, yes; cheating no!
The tenner's in the post P.T. ; D
ReplyDeleteNice pictures...I had something similar to the little tender at one time and I loved the little ladder that came with it.
ReplyDeleteI also had the articulated "container" type lorry with it's container trailer that is shown in the last picture...I loved that lorry but was a devil to park! lol
(grins) Thanks, Mike.
ReplyDeleteGuessing everyone knows, but just in case...the Fire Engine is not a fictional design, it's on the same chassis as the Alvis Stalwart/Saracen/Saladin family and two versions (I think) were given FV numbers for service with RAF/AAC/FAA
ReplyDelete