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Topic starter
15/02/2022 3:04 pm
58 years ago on Valentines Day 1964 The Lines Brothers Group (Tri-ang) purchase Meccano Limited for £781,000.
Now Spot-On and the Dinky Toys brands are under one umbrella. Eventually Tri-ang's home grown Spot-On brand looses out to the more globally known Dinky Toys. Spot-On model cars died in 1967 but 1:42nd scale lived on in a number of new Dinky Toy releases from 1964. The last being the Foden lorry in military, tipping and artic petrol tanker guises from 1976 to DT's demise in 1979.
Don't forget that the 1:42nd scale Dinky Toys made in Hong Kong originally started on the drawing board as Tri-ang models and even as DTs they exhibit Spot-On artefacts like 'Flexamatic Spring Suspension', cast detail in relief and of course the 1:42nd scale!
Autominologist residing in the Robin Hood County
Nottinghamshire England UK
15/02/2022 6:58 pm
Fine overview of these brands, Chris. I wonder how much 781,000 pounds would be in today's currency ! Was there a reason for the nominal 1:42 scale choice, as opposed to 1:43 (or even 1:48) scale ?
Karl Schnelle and Karl Schnelle reacted
15/02/2022 7:17 pm
@mikedetorrice Chris must be asleep by now! 😀 So I will take a stab at it.
14 million GBP or 19 million US$. Seems like a lot!
1:42 according to what I read was used to fit with their 1:42-scale Cotswold Village buildings, and Spot-On because they were always exactly 1:42 (cars, trucks, busses) as opposed to their competition (Dinky. Corgi) that used various similar scales.
15/02/2022 10:19 pm
Thanks for that info, Karl. $ 19 million is a tidy sum ! Well, no doubt, 1:42 for Cotswold Village buildings and associated model cars is so close to 1:43 scale as to make them very compatible, even close to one another on display or in a diorama.
Karl Schnelle and Karl Schnelle reacted
Topic starter
01/03/2022 6:04 pm
@mikedetorrice & @karl Tri-ang's tinplate range of toy vehicles under the Minic brand were advertised as 'All to scale'. So, when Tri-ang decided to move into producing models in zinc-alloy via the die-cast method they carried on this tradition. Why did Tri-ang decide on 1:42nd scale? Truth is that this is lost in the mist of time. The Cotswold Village series were not made in the Spot-On factory which was located in Northern Ireland but by a company Tri-ang held a majority interest in starting in 1958, the Young and Frog Rubber Company Limited, whose production facilities were in Greater London. So, they were under the Tri-ang ideal and produced the Cotswold Village series in 1:42nd scale to go as building accessories to the Spot-On range.
1:43rd as a model vehicle scale wasn't really considered until the mid-1960's as British manufacturers for the majority of road vehicles decided on either 1:48th or 1:45th, Dinky Toys, or a range of scales from 1:42nd to 1:52nd, Corgi Toys. Yep, Corgi Toys produced their Mini in 1:42nd scale and the first Dinky Toys model in this scale, the Lincoln Continental, was issued in late 1964.
Autominologist residing in the Robin Hood County
Nottinghamshire England UK
Frank Reed and Frank Reed reacted