Q is for Question Time - A is for Are They Kleeware?

You may remember the last in the series of posts from last-year's Sandown Park shows . . . checks . . . no, this February's; included a whole bag of mini- and micro-aircraft, the mini's having some properties in common with early Airfix production, but no evidence to link them so I'm leaving them for a while - I've seen them (mostly silver) on evilBay recently described as Tudor Rose, Kleeware and Tudor Rose/Kleeware, so no consistency or agreement there!

But I said I had different types of the smaller 'micros' and would return to them - this is that return, but it really only serves to clear things to the colour of mud!

The 'common sculpts'

The sample I had here turned out to be two, a few in with the aircraft and a few more in the Kleeware crate? Now, I'm quite a diligent collector and don't tend to put things in accredited 'zones' of the collection unless I've had some evidence they belong there, so we will proceed along the lines that, on one level, they were Kleeware or I have been led to believe such by one of the 'Old Guard!?

However it's never as simple as that with this early 'dime-store' plastic; All three of the samples just mentioned have only four sculpts, namely - as written on the upper wings and listed from left to right in the above image:

• ·         Navion - NC-37104 (the Ryan (originally North American) Navion)
• ·         DC-6 - NC-10747 (Doulas C-118 Liftmaster in United States Air Force service and as the R6D in the US Navy)
• ·         DC-3 - NC-1149W (Douglas C-47 Skytrain in military service; the 'Dakota' in Empire/RAF service)
• ·         C-69 - NC-6461H (the C-69 in military service, the Lockheed L-049, L-649 and L-749 Constellation in civil service)

Navion - NC-37104

North American/Ryan 'Navion'

But . . . the cereal premium site (1957 - Shredded Wheat Cubs Air Fleet Model Planes Free in Packets) have three of the same aircraft along with several (an unknown total?) others, the additions being:

• ·         XF-89 Jet
• ·         F-80 (?)
• ·         Canberra
• ·         Hawker Hunter
• ·         Vickers Valiant
• ·         DH Sea Venom
• ·         Vulcan
• ·         Folland Gnat
• ·         Sabre
• ·         English Electric Lightning

Based on the two different sculpts of Shooting Star visible? [The addition of the Constellation would give a fourteen count? The X-15; fifteen!]

You may remember that we saw a damaged Lightning in this post, which also contained a soft plastic DC3, which I now assume is one of the cereal premiums? However, my lightning is hard polystyrene, while Cluck doesn't list them at all?

DC-3 - NC-1149W

Douglas C-47 'Skytrain' / 'Dakota'

In America, Lido are credited with a set of five:

The Constellation, DC3, and Navion from the common 'menu', the F-94 (Lockheed Starfire; the same sculpt as Nabisco's XF-89) and an X-15 (North American 'X-plane'; the fastest air-craft ever!). The source also credits Irwin sculpts to Lido, so can't be taken as the 'last word' on the subject?

But they are acknowledged to have copied them from Caldwell/Empire, who presumably got the tool as a mould-share from Kleeware (or whoever was the originator of the expanded 'Nabisco' line), but did themselves add the XF-89 as a fifth - with/to the common four.

C-69 - NC-6461H

Lockheed L-049 / L-649 / L-749 'Constellation'

Now, the previous link's post was part of an MPC round-up, and some of the aircraft types are in their 'MPC Minis' set, but only a couple of them and in different sizes/sculpts, given they were all - in the most part - well-known 'planes in the popular imagination at the time, that's as far as I believe any connection with MPC goes.

Note also - the different lengths of the engine nacelles, some extending back to the wheels others not . . . possibly a tool-cavity thing, and a feature shared with the DC-3 mouldings.

DC-6 - NC-10747

Doulas C-118 'Liftmaster' / R6D

Another question is; what is the significance of the 'NC' coding on the hard-plastic forms found here, the codes are present on the three (probably; all four) duplicated in soft plastic for the Nabisco set, but none of the other 10/11 (?) seem to have one, some being unmarked, some having a full title spread over both wings?

I can't think of a toy firm offhand who would fit, but neither is it an early London postal zone (pre-postcodes); it would be 'North Central' which never existed, although once there were calls for one; it became N1C!

However, before moving to Durham (via a castle? Bit of topical humor there!), Kleeware's factory was in the Welwyn Garden City 'new-town', a minute or two's walk from the Nabisco Shredded Wheat factory (and near ICI's plastics plant) . . . well fancy that - as Private Eye would say!

The reason I said we'd return to them is that I knew I has some differences between the samples, even before remembering the soft plastic one. Some have a marked dimple which is part-spherical and might take a ball (from a ball and socket type joint) as part of a stand arrangement?

Some have two smaller but similar depressions at either end of the slot common to all, while the example on the far right (Lido) has two obvious mould-release pin-marks, although also retaining the slot . . . which is a notable factor as . . .

. . . the Lido sculpt - as stated - is a copy, not - as you might expect - a mould share? It's a good one, as it's almost same size, but the fine detail is slightly cruder and the wing-tips fatter.

Which is odder when you consider the evidence for direct mould/product share between Lido (and Pyro) and Kleeware on other occasions, and it may well be that Lido had permission to use the Empire product as the basis for their own?

As in - with the knowledge of the sender, and it's worth remembering that the mould-sharing which went on was due to US economic tariffs, and that therefore in may have been far more expensive for them (US firms) to receive moulds, than to lend them?

We did look it all up years ago on the HäT Industrie forum -  the page is long deleted - but a few aircraft could be exchanged at a toy fair or international convention and 'smuggled' past 'homeland security', moved via the Canadian office (of Kleeware), via Empire or just sent in a small parcel as gift/samples?

Lightning and Orphan 'Scooting Star'!

So; we haven't learnt much, but it would seem that someone (probably Kleeware) had a tool or tools with mini-aircraft sculpts, of which four seem commoner (and multi-cavity?) than the (probably fourteen, possibly fifteen) Nabisco cereal premiums, that Lido in the US carried three of them, after Empire; probably as pantographed, re-etched/re-finished copies with two additional marques, that some hard plastic copies of the soft plastic premiums have turned up and . . . err . . . that's about it!

But if the Kleeware attribution is accepted for now and/or proved in the future, it will make my provisional attribution of the 'other' set to Airfix a little stronger, as there aren't that many hooks to hang these particular hats on?

As you can see I dug the Lightning out, late; it's hard 'styrene, clearly with a different sculpting style (raised panel lines, sharper edges) and marked on the underside only, as the first of two prototypes which reads 'pia' to the eye, but is 'P-1a'. I also found another of the 'stars', marked USA, but I don't know who made it, it's clearly a Shooting Star, but has 'Scooting' on the wing!

A table, pulling the above together as a sort of check-list for anyone wanting to track them all down. However, you will need to find polyethylene and polystyrene versions of both the Nabisco and Lido sculptings?

And you can bet there'll be Aussie/NZ or Canadian versions/colours somewhere!!!