Siku Selbstbau Flugzeug
(Build Yourself Aircraft )
This is one of the toy aeroplanes which never got out of my mind
beside the model kits proper I remember to have had in my youth. The
other toy aeroplanes were the plastic mini planes from
Manurba
and the plastic catapult flyers from
Geobra.
Then German manufacturer Siku issued a
series of build yourself plastic toy
model kits in the mid 1950's [ 1 ]. They could easily be assembled and
dissassembled, the parts were not glued but simply snapped
together.
The first of this series was the Selbstbau Flugzeug (Build
Yourself Aircraft). This could certainly not considered as a
realistic model, which resembles only remotedly of a P-51
Mustang but it ranks high in my memory and I simply had to add
it to my collection.
When in 2003 I started recollecting my
memories of modelling in the 1950's and 60's I new exactly how
this toy aircraft looked like: silver plastic, generic WW 2 low
wing fighter with separately moulded inline engine. But I did
not know for which manufacturer I should search for in auctions to
"buy back" this keepsake.
But as so often I found it just by
chance. There was offered a Siku Selbstbau car together
with a photocopy of a 1956 catalogue, where the seller diplayed a
page showing a so called SIKU Selbstbau Flugzeug. And I immediately
recognized that that was exactly the kit I had as a child (see
picture below).
Though I knew now I had to use the brand name Siku in my
searches I found my first Selbstbau Flugzeug proper by chance
again. In October 2010 there was offered a Lindberg F-86D
in
Germany
with was offered as:
F-86 VINTAGE KIT LINDBERG LINE ORIGINAL BOX with the following
picture:
It was desciribed as not complete, but with instructions
and nice origial box. In fact it showed very few Lindberg parts,
most parts were of a Siku Selbstbau
Flugzeug. Engine, cowling, cockpit interior, and one landing
gear were missing. Naturally I bought it for the Siku parts,
though the immaculate Lindberg box was a welcome bonus.
Only at the end of 2012 did I manage to find a complete Siku
Selbstbau Flugzeug, see picture 3, right.
______________________________
[ 1 ] A quick research in US and UK eBay reveals the following
expressions are used for various toy kits.
build it yourself
do it yourself
make it yourself
build yourself |
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Siku Selbstbau Flugzeug
(build yourself aircraft )
Picture 1 :Siku Selbstbau-Flugzeug packaged in bag. Text
translated literally says "build yourself your Siku aircraft"
To the courtesy of Matthias Schafhauser ©
http://www.toycar-shop.de/
Picture 2 : Siku Selbstbau-Flugzeug. Rear of card insert. Bag
removed to show parts more sharply. ©
cjk
Picture 3 : Siku Selbstbau-Flugzeug. Fully asembled.©
cjk
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