My most recent acquisition for the Straco Express display layout serves two purposes. It's a small Linemar GE courier car, a friction toy made in Japan in the late 1950's.
The first purpose it serves is to add to my understanding of Linemar. It's another vehicle from a set that Linemar issued in the late 1950's (see Collecting -- and Collecting Information Part 15). So now I have five of the ten vehicles offered in that set, and a slightly better understanding of how it was put together.
The second purpose was the same as my last purchase (see Part 34, Fade to Orange) -- to increase the variety of color on the display layout. Most of the vehicles on the display have bright primary colors. Red and yellow are the most common, with green running a close second, and blue coming in third.
The GE courier car is a strange gunmetal blue, and the other colors are also somewhat muted. I think it makes for an attractive piece, and one that does add some variety and interest to the display layout.
Will I seek out more from the Linemar set? Sure, I'll keep looking -- but I have a pretty tight price cap. Some of the pieces, such as the Coca-Cola delivery truck run $80 or more. And that's about eight times what I'm willing to pay. And there's a police car that came with the set that I've never seen on the market. Who knows what that might be valued at!
No matter. The GE courier car fits in well with the layout, and if I never add another piece of the set, it will still look pretty good on the congested roads of the Straco Express display layout.
Total cost for the project:
Layout construction:
- Pegboard: $4.95
- Flathead Screws: $0.40
- Molding: $2.49
- SilClear: borrowed from a friend
- Green Paint: left over from another project
- Wood Screws: $3.60
- Felt Pads: $1.99
Small Houses: $3.00
Testor's Gray Paint for road: $1.29
Bandai Areo Station: $8.99
2 tinplate signs: $1.00
4 tinplate signs (with train) $5.99
Vehicles:
- Two Japanese toy cars: $2.00
- A.W. Livestock truck: $4.99
- Taxi: $2.99
- Ambulance: $2.99
- Two Japanese patriotic cars: $6.99
- Nomura Police Car $2.52
- Haji three-wheel sedan $3.00
- Nomura lumber truck $3.48
- 1950's sedan $2.99
- 6 Namura vehicles $16.99
- LineMar Pepco Truck $8.50
- LineMar Bond Bread Van $8.00
- LineMar Fire Engine $4.95
- LineMar Dump Truck $12.99
- LineMar GE Courier Car $10.98
- Nomura Red Sedan $5.00
- Orange Sedan $10.99
No comments:
Post a Comment