Solido XFV1 Lockheed Vertical

We'll switch gears here for a second and cover another one of my forgotten toys. I pulled this out of a storage bin last week thought it time to present here on the blog. The XV1 (or more correctly "XV-1") was an experimantal vertical take-off plane which sat on its tail. Only two were built by Lockheed resulting from a proposal by the U.S. Navy in 1948 for aircraft which could take off vertically from platforms on the aft end of ships. The plane itself never took off vertically because the program ended while waiting for a more powerful engine. A temporary set of fixed landing gear allowed it to take off from runways in a more conventional mode.

Here's yet another example of a toy company producing a toy for which there were only one or two actual planes built. Over the years we've covered a bunch of toy planes by several companies which fell into this category. Solido's offering is a very small plane being 1/150 scale and measuring 2 3/8" (6.03cm) H x 2" (5.08cm) wingspan. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

Courtesy Wikipedia

Courtesy Wikipedia

Solido 1/43 Scale Diecast 1940 Dodge Texaco Tow Truck

Another truck plucked from the storage box. I probably bought this when I was in my 'everything Texaco' stage of collecting. It's a really cool looking vintage tow truck, but it's missing the tow hook which originally came with it. Hopefully during the coming year I'll be able to cull and sell off all these loose diecast vehicles I ended up with over the past 20+ years. I do like them and all but they've become like weeds - popping up all over the place and overtaking valuable storage space. It measures 4 1/2" (11.43cm) L to end of boom x 1 5/8" (4.12cm) W x  2" (5.08cm) H to top of boom  Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

Solido 1/43 Scale Diecast Lionelville Police 1948 Chrysler Windsor

Hooray! This is it - the last one of our series on Lionel City / Lionelville diecast cars and trucks. We covered 18 sets with 24 items; cars, trucks, trailers, airplanes. Now I know there's a ton of cars and trucks out there in the wide world that I didn't even touch but really, I stopped collecting these over a dozen years ago and I'm just fine with what I have. Truth be told a bunch of these started making there way to fleaBay and other on-line sales. For the most part the Lioneville stuff will stay and the Lionel City stuff will go. 'Linelville' fits in nicely with the 'Marxville' and 'Plasticville' themes.

This last offering is a real nice 1948 Chrysler Windsor Police Squad Car made in 03-88. That's the marking molded on the bottom of the chassis and one I'm assuming is the production date - could be wrong though. It measures 4 13/16" (12.21cm) L x 1 5/8" (4.12cm) W x 1 5/8" (4.12cm) H and is a very deep blue, deeper I would say than Navy Blue. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina