Woodsy and Gang,
Backing off a bit from the big tin-litho pieces, here's a cool little fighter jet that would have been more at home in some boy's bedroom doing strafing runs against his Little Green (or Tan) Army Men!
Here's a terrific little Hunk O' Tin from an unknown Japanese maker, a plane I'll designate a North American YF-93A until such time a better match can be found. The real YF-93A program never made it past having two prototypes made in competition with other aircraft and that competition was lost to the XF-88 Voodoo.
The profile of the toy is a very good match for the real aircraft with two obvious differences: the horizontal stabilizer on the toy is too far down on the fuselage; and while they both have tricycle landing gear, the real airplane's smaller wheel assembly was in front, not to the rear of the fuselage.
Toy companies were not adverse to either producing aircraft that never made it to the production stage, or making planes that had a generic look to them. It measures 5 1/2" (14cm) L x 4 3/4" (12.1cm) wingspan x 2 3/4" (7cm) H. Although I didn't take photos this plane follows the two-piece construction method popular back then.
It has a friction motor attached to the wing assembly and the wing/landing gear assembly is detachable from the fuselage allowing the toy to be packaged in a smaller sized box. Looking closely just above the tail wheel on the port side, it's apparent that the manufacturer's logo was deliberately obscured. Enjoy!
(real aircraft photo courtesy Wikipedia)
From Vegas Air Field
Ed
Another possibility is the Grumman F11F-1 Tiger (later the F-11A). The early version with the short nose. Although that was a Navy aircraft. The wings, tail, and air intakes are a good match, but the nose is different. The red trim on the nose, fin, and wingtips is similar to the high-visibility markings worn by Tigers assigned to training units, but again they are not an exact match.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool “what if?” design! Your tin collection is amazing! SFZ
ReplyDeleteAlmost looks like a Hawker Hunter from above too! Bill
ReplyDelete