Examining the prolific production leading up to World War Two

Frank Hornby, the owner of Meccano Ltd., who desired a series of toy vehicles, aircraft, people, animals, and railroad accessories to complement the Hornby toy train sets, inspired the first Meccano Dinky Toys launched in 1934.

Collecting Dinky Toys has been an ongoing passion for many toy collectors since their first introduction. Meccano made this task easier by using sequential model numbers and consistent names. It issued a collectors magazine covering their toys, usually with hints at future toys, and it started a Dinky Toy club.

Meccano also widely distributed dated prices lists and catalogs. Much of this information has helped in establishing and compiling reference guides, complete with dates of manufacture and lists of known variations. An invaluable reference for Dinky Toy aircraft is included in Diecast Toy Aircraft, An International Guide, by Sue Richardson, published by New Cavendish Books, 1997. From the early beginning, Dinky Toys’ airplanes were modeled after popular aircraft of the period. The first set, No 60, issued in 1934 had a range of brightly decorated civilian airplanes that was followed shortly thereafter by the same aircraft with more realistic registrations. The aircraft issued were the Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta, the DH Leopard Moth, the Percival Gull, the Low Wing Monoplane similar to a Vickers Jockey, a Cierva Autogiro, and the General Monospar.

Initially, these toys were only sold in boxed presentation sets similar to the Hornby train sets, but subsequently they were sold individually out of retailer boxes of six toys. All these early aircraft remained in production until 1941, but are considered quite scarce today. The first known casting variations of Dinky Toy aircraft occurred when pilot figures were added to the Low Wing Monoplane and Autogiro in 1936. At about the same time Hornby expanded their production capacity with a new factory in France, and a few of the French aircraft were offered for sale in Dinky catalogs in the United Kingdom.

There are some difficulties to be aware of when collecting Dinky Toys aircraft. Most of the toys after 1934 were cast from a mazac, usually a stable and sound zinc metal alloy. Consistent rumors relate that metal scraps swept from the floor from all the toy production including lead items from the train production were irregularly added the melted alloy. After a long period of time toys manufactured with this contaminated mixture could become unstable and lead to expansion cracks and, occasionally, the complete destruction of the toy. There is no known cure to the problem.

Additionally, the many casting deletions and variations, differences in finishes, various propellers and pins, and the numerous boxed presentation sets, coupled with the scarcity of these toys could make it impossible today to build a complete collection.

Advanced Dinky Toy aircraft collector Reginald Lambert has, however, amassed one of the most complete collections. “As a young boy I was always interested in aircraft, especially plastic model kits. My collecting really started with a large Dinky Toy Spitfire toy in the early 1980s. This kindled my interest in setting about collecting all known castings and colours, particularly prewar examples of both British and French origins. Since that early start, I have been quite fortunate in amassing a collection in excess of over 200 Dinky aircraft and find great delight in obtaining new, rare, and previously unrecorded examples. I have also been fortuitous in acquiring a number of the original boxes that are quite difficult to find. As a friend and fellow collector once remarked, ‘We are not owners of these rare toys but just custodians for the future generations to enjoy.’“

Dinky Toy designers were well focused on the aeronautical achievements of the time, issuing timely toys and even individually boxed souvenir models of popularized aircraft. The selection process for a new toy started with the creation of an accurate wooden toy to be submitted to the Meccano board for approval. These toys were hand painted using India ink to simulate the cast-in embossing and registration markings. Several of these prototypes have survived and are now in collections. Following approval for production, manufacturing drawings were developed and steel dies were cut. Some of these dies had changeable name inserts that allowed for various toys to be issued from the basic casting.

One of the first toys approved in the new series was the DH Comet Racer that was featured in the 1934 England-Australia transcontinental race. The Singapore Flying boat and its colorful civilian cousin, the Four-Engined Flying Boat appeared in 1936. Shortly thereafter, in 1937, the Empire Flying boat, modeled after the Short C class aircraft, was issued with actual Imperial Airways registrations all with names starting with a C. The first one, the Caledonia, with registration G-ADHM, was followed by more than a dozen other known variants along with a modified casting finished with bright colors called the Atlantic Flying Boat. All Dinky flying boats included a roller hidden in the hollow fuselage. The hull design was modified on both of these basic castings over the production span. All were issued in blue boxes with graphics and descriptions of the aircraft. These blue box designs were also used on all of the other large aircraft.

In 1937 Dinky Toy added a new dimension for play value called the Gliding Game that enabled the toy to be flown down a string using a cotter pin attached to a square opening in the top of the fuselage. In 1940 these openings were filled in. The smaller aircraft could use a clip-on wire frame.

Other civilian aircraft toys were issued rapidly from 1937 to 1939 including the Douglas DC-3 with an actual period KLM registration (PH-ALI), Flying Boat Clipper III, The Airspeed Envoy and the colorful Kings Aeroplane, the Ensign Airliner, The DH Frobisher and Albatross, and a German registered Junkers Ju-90 Airliner.

In 1939 Dinky Toy developed an unusual toy, The Mayo Composite set comprising a modified casting of the Empire Flying Boat with the registration G-ADHK and a new aircraft, the Mercury Flying Boat with registration G-ADHJ. The Short Mayo Composite was a long-range airmail and transport service experiment using a small, fully loaded flying boat, the Mercury, attached for takeoff to the larger Maia. It would separate in flight and depart for its destination while the lightly loaded Maia would return for refueling to follow on later. This set was only produced for a very short period and most examples found today suffer from the contaminated alloy, consequently making it is a very scare item.

As the European conflicts developed in Spain and later the German invasion of Poland prestaging the outbreak of the next war, Dinky Toy was ready with a full range of military aircraft. The Fairy Battle, the Gloster Gladiator and the Whitley Bomber were issued in 1937 followed shortly by the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Bomber in USAC makings, the Hawker Hurricane Fighter as well as a German Ju-89 Heavy Bomber modified from the Ju-90 Airliner casting but finished in black with light blue undersides and having the Nazi swastika on the tail surfaces.

Dinky Toy continued the Hornby inspired custom of issuing throughout the prewar years numbered boxed presentation gift sets with inserts printed with the catalogue names and codes. Many variations were produced, and they are much coveted by collectors. As war approached, some of the prewar castings were modified to reduce cost and material consumption. The first versions of the Hawker Hurricane and Fairey Battle, for example, in 1939 had landing gear, but that was eliminated from both castings by 1940.

By 1938 the Royal Air Force developed “shadow shading” camouflage guidelines for its aircraft, and Dinky Toys followed soon after with the first of two slightly different color combinations. It is generally thought that the light camouflage came first followed in 1940 with a darker variation. Some toy aircraft initially had all black undersides, followed by a contrasting black and white ‘Dazzle’ scheme reflecting actual use by the RAF.

Similarly, the roundels on all the military toys keep abreast of the several variations used in the service during this period. Additionally, Dinky added new military versions of its early civilian aircraft finished in camouflage with names changed to generic terms such as Medium Bomber for the General Monospar, and Heavy Bomber for the Atalanta. Interestingly, the German Ju-90 Transport was renamed the Giant High Speed Monoplane to distance itself from its German origins and was produced in a variety of colorful two-tone schemes.

It has been determined from factory drawings that a toy of the Messerschmitt Bf-110 was developed in 1940, but it did not see production until after the end of the War when it was issued with the generic name Twin Engined Fighter.

The Blenheim Bomber and the Supermarine Spitfire fighter were introduced in 1940 both in overall “aluminum” finish and also in full camouflage markings. One extremely scarce version of the Spitfire, marked in the casting Meccano Spitfire Fund and sold in individual boxes, was used to raise funds for the purchase of an actual aircraft.

These last two new castings brought to a close the prolific prewar Dinky Toy production of aircraft. By the beginning of 1942, World War II had erupted, and all toy production and sales were halted both by material shortages and government decrees.