Matchbox Skybusters – Scale

Fitting the Box

Matchbox, like other manufacturers of the time, made their models to fit the box. This was convenient for the manufacturer and retailers, because they could handle a single size of product, but as a consequence meant that models in the same range were produced to varying scales. In fact, the scale of an individual model is not usually stated.

What does this mean for Skybusters models? Let’s examine the question by taking two aircraft of widely differing size.

Dinky Aircraft – Identification

What is it?

A challenge for any collector is to accurately identify the models that they acquire. Usually the subject is obvious, and by using reference books it is possible to pin down which model one has and access all sorts of data about it. However, sometimes … it isn’t quite as easy as that! To illustrate the point, let’s consider the strange case of the Dinky Vickers Viscount.

Dinky Aircraft – Forgotten Greats

Carrying the Mail

Sometimes, a toy manufacturer will create a model for which, in later years, we are truly grateful, because it preserves the memory of a fascinating but otherwise long-forgotten subject. Most makers manage to (unwittingly) do this at some point! In the Dinky Aircraft range, there are several such models, but none better than that of a rather unique craft designed to deliver the mail.

Dinky Aircraft – Early Days

The First Set

Prior to the Second World War, Dinky produced a range of about 40 aircraft, including both civilian and warplanes. During this period, the early hollow composite models evolved into the more robust solid diecast models that typified their post-war production.

Matchbox Aircraft Kits – Options

Construction Choices

Choices are good. The more choices there are in a plastic construction kit, the more attractive it can seem, because the purchaser has agency over how the finished model turns out and the kit has more potential. Further, it may be worth buying multiple copies of the kit in order to create the different options. So, what sort of choices might a manufacturer offer? To look at this, let’s turn for a change to a largely civilian aircraft, the de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter.