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Other collecting themes of mine!


I have many interests besides Aeromodelling which, suprisingly enough, involve collecting once more!

I have collected - and still do - the following for a long time: Meccano, Hornby Trains and tinplate toys, Dinky Toys, and "Observer" books, and any literature to do with them.

Meccano and Meccano Literature

When my son was born I (like most fathers, it would seem!), bought him something that I enjoyed when I was young - Meccano! What I did not tell you, was that he was only 6 months old at the time (in 1965)!

The "used" purchase included many parts that were no longer available on the then current Meccano pricelist, and I decided to dispose of one of the parts - a "Geared Roller Bearing" - as it appeared to be surplus to my son's requirements(!).

To my surprise, when it was advertised, I received about seventy replies from all over the world! It suddenly dawned upon me that people collected Meccano, of all things!

I finally sold it to a gentleman from Taunton, in Somerset, South West England for the enormous amount (then) of £70 - which was seven times more than I paid for the whole lot at the time! It ocurred to me that I ought to find more of these "collectable" parts for myself!

Collecting had started for me!

Hornby Trains

There are many other makers of Tinplate Trains besides Hornby, such as Bassett Lowke, Marklin, Bing, Exley, Leeds, and many many more . . . . and I collect all of them!

My favourite is "0" gauge, which is 1.25 inches between the rails, and this size came into vogue about 1920, but when houses became smaller, and did not have the room for a layout of this size, "00" (half size) was introduced - the famous one in the UK being "Hornby Dublo".

Dinky Toys (and similar)

These started turning up when I bought Meccano, as they were made in the same factory, along with Hornby trains. It became inevitable that all these items turned up periodically for me and the collection grew and grew over time.

It then became rather more varied as purchases of similar models made by other manufacturers, were obtained.

I started creating window displays of these around my home area, with the hope that other people would find some interest in seeing "old toys" once again!

Observer books

During this period, I had collected some of these wonderful little books on Aircraft, and having nearly completed the whole run of these, I decided to open out the collection to encompass the other titles in the range.

There are 97 different titles in the series, each title beginning. . . . "The Observer's book of Trains", or "Dogs", or "Garden Flowers", or "Cars" or whatever else you can think of!

They are not very large, about 5.75 inches high, by 3.75 inches wide, and the thickness varies on the content.

Enamel Badges

Enamel Lapel (or Pin) badges are well known by most, but the type I collect are those that depict anything to do with Model Flying Clubs across the world. I have about 500 of these in my collection at the moment, from as far as China and South America!

If any of you have anything like this (or collect them), please let me know, as I have a large number of swaps too!

I also collect "stick on" club decals from model clubs around the world too - the sort you could put on your wing to sing the praises of your own club! Plenty of swaps of these too!

And then, of course I lurve blondes, but that is a completely different story . . . . . . . . . .


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