It took a while but here they are at last. A few years ago I had a great find, the Dinky Toys 250 Streamlined Fire Engine, with original tattered box and knobbly tires. This was depicted on the box aswell although I didn't realise the significance of this until much later. Apart from paint scuffs the truck appeared mint, especially the chassis. It had, however, the ladder and bell missing, but I managed to find some at the Aussie site 'Recovertoy'.
A little over a year ago I was lucky with another great find. the Dinky Toys 25H fire Engine. Ofcourse at the time I saw a bad picture with a dozen other cars in great disrepair and just had to have it. When I received this beastie I noticed that the baseplate was covered in rust. the axles fused, three coats of handpainted red paint, mostly acrylic, the ladder and bell missing, and the original, albeit, paint smudged smooth black tires.
I had just joined www.ToyCollector.com and befriended Nobleco quite early on with his huge repertoire of parts. As I only needed the ladder and bell that should've started me on restoring this ancient engine. Unfortunately Winter was approaching and if your painting in an outhouse its best to paint in good dry weather.
Preperation under way and I wanted to find out about the vinegar trick. It took 40 minutes and it was a magical result. It was also eating away on the wheels making them more porous, otherwise I would've continued the exposure to the base.
The usual restore processes, strip the paint, prime it and finally repaint it.
For some rerason I've lost a few pictures... never mind... made some new ones. Both together.
An attempt at making my own repro-box.
Hope you liked my show&tell
Kind Regards, Richard K
Re: Ain't Dinkys Grand?
Thanks John, collected quite a few Dinky Toys over the years, from mint to extreme playwear. I really like these Daimler Fire Engines as the 25H is only a year younger than my Dad.
Anyhoo, thanks very much.
Richard K