Skyline tin buildings

Skyline tin buildings

In the 1940s and 1950s, Skyline of Philadelphia manufactured and marketed a line of toy train-oriented building kits. Actually, there were two lines: One was a line of building kits made of cardstock and wood, and one was a smaller line of lithographed tin buildings, similar to the inexpensive toys made by the likes of Louis Marx, Wyandotte, and countless others in the days before ubiquitous plastics.

I’ve long suspected the two product lines came from the same company, but had no evidence to prove it until Ed “Ice” Berg produced scans of a Skyline catalog containing both paper/wood and tin litho buildings, side by side.

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Tootsietoys and lead paint

When it comes to old toys, a lot of people forget about lead paint. It’s not a bad idea to be concerned about Tootsietoys and lead paint. That said, we also have to be realistic and reasonable. There’s no reason to be Scaredy Squirrel.

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Restoring Tootsietoys and other early diecast vehicles

Restoring Tootsietoys and other early diecast vehicles

Restoring Tootsietoys can be a fun and satisfying way to enjoy old toy vehicles. Whether you want your childhood toys to look nice again or just enjoy bringing new life to neglected examples, it can be as easy and as affordable as you want it to be.

I’ll talk specifically about Tootsietoys here, but the principles apply to other vintage diecast cars of the same era like Hubley or Midgetoy.

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Londontoy: Canada’s answer to Tootsietoy

Londontoy: Canada’s answer to Tootsietoy

Years ago at an estate sale in St. Louis’ Central West End, I bought a number of Tootsietoy vehicles. When I got home, I noticed some had only the word “toy,” a number, description, and “Made in USA” inside. That was weird. These weren’t Tootsietoys. They were Londontoy.

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Tin buildings for train layouts

Tin buildings for train layouts

When it comes to trains, I prefer older ones made of tin, rather than plastic. And I like tin buildings too. Any time I open a magazine featuring someone’s train layouts, the buildings all look the same. I want something a little different, so I look for tin buildings to go with my tin trains.

Many companies through the years made food containers with printing on them that look like buildings. The tins tend to be about six inches wide, around 8 inches tall, and two inches deep. They tend to resemble the two-story commercial buildings you used to see in downtowns, with a storefront on the first story and offices or apartments on the second floor.

You can use these tins to put together a very timeless commercial district for your train layout. If you know what to look for, you can find coffee shops, bakeries, candy stores, florists, and plenty of other stores to make your town a nice place to live and work. And the buildings usually aren’t terribly expensive, either.

In this post, I’ll cover buildings made after 1970. For pre-1970 buildings, see Vintage Tin Litho Buildings.

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Vintage tin litho buildings

Vintage tin litho buildings

Years ago, I decided I wanted to take a different approach with my trains. I heard about a guy in Springfield who has a traditional toy train layout with no plastic on it. I wanted to see if I could do something similar.

At the time, information about this approach was rare. So I’ve collected here what I know about tin buildings made prior to 1970 (the approximate end of the postwar era). You won’t find everything you want in pre-1970 buildings, so if you need something more modern to fill in the gaps, see my other post tin buildings for train layouts.

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What scale are Hot Wheels cars?

What scale are Hot Wheels cars?

What scale are Hot Wheels cars, you ask? Unfortunately it varies a bit. They tend to be a bit less than 1:64. But scale isn’t Hot Wheels’ objective. Fitting in the package is. That means the size of Hot Wheels cars is between 2.5 and 3 inches, depending on what looks right for the prototype model. That’s when a prototype even exists. So it can take some homework to figure out the actual scale of any given model. Read more

6 options for removing paint from model trains

It’s not uncommon to find model trains with unwanted paint on them, or original paint that’s damaged beyond the point of being able to rehabilitate it. Fortunately, the price is usually low on these trains, and there are numerous household chemicals that can strip the paint off these trains and give them a fresh start.

These tricks also work with other toys and plastic models, but while some of these methods seem to be unknown in the train community, some of them are very well known among collectors who restore vintage plastic model kits. This is an example where knowledge across disciplines can be very valuable, so I hope the car and airplane modelers won’t mind me sharing their secrets.

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Specs for the Lionel 6-12053 accessory wire–and how to make your own

A question the other day caught me off guard–how long is the Lionel 6-12053 accessory wire for Fastrack? I know a lot of random stuff off the top of my head, but I had to do some digging to find out it was 26 inches long–approximately.

Intended to clip onto leads on the underside of a Fastrack section, you can use it to power an accessory, as an additional power drop, or as an extension if the stock wires on your terminal section are too short.

If you need a different length, or need several and just don’t want to pay Lionel’s price, you can also make your own.

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Using PC ATX power supplies on a train layout

Using PC ATX power supplies on a train layout

PC power supplies are exceptionally cheap and plentiful these days. If you’ve noticed and wondered whether you can use PC ATX power supplies on a train layout, wonder no more. You can.

Thanks to the miracle of mass production, even the cheapest, nastiest PC power supply gives far more power output per dollar than any train transformer. So if the lights and accessories on your electric train layout can run on 12 volts DC, which is a fairly good bet, you can get a lot of wattage for very little money by repurposing an inexpensive ATX power supply, whether new or secondhand. And on a wattage-per-dollar basis, they’re about twice as cost-effective as outdoor lighting transformers, which are another popular option for hobbyists. If you need AC power and more than 12 volts, get a lighting transformer. Otherwise, you can go ATX.

All it takes to use these cost-effective ATX power supplies is a bit of rewiring.

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