In 1949 Lesney introduced the Horsedrawn Milkfloat which measured 140mm (5 and a half inches) long, The body was cast with the rear axle carriers as part of the main body but the front axle was mounted on a seperate turntable which included the horseshafts which was attached by a single fixing so the turntable could turned to steer, There were two different castings of the float, One had a low drivers seat and one of the rails along the top of the float was filled and the later issue had a higher drivers seat.
The float was usually painted orange but a small run were painted blue which are quite rare and highly sought after, The float had "Pasturised Milk" cast into the sides which was picked out in white which I believe was the first model to feature hand applied trim.
The wheels were accurate die cast examples of wheels that would have been found on a milkfloat and they were painted light grey on the blue milkfloat or light or dark grey on the orange milkfloat
The milkman was a seperate casting which was painted off white with a flesh coloured face & hands, The early issues had a large ejector ring on the drivers stomach.
The Horse was originally a very thin casting which sometimes left the Horse with holes in its sholders but the casting was later thickened, The Horse was originally painted an unrealistic metallic grey but were later painted brown with off white feet and tail, The Horse never did look right simply because it was cast with its legs in the wrong position, It was actually walking with its front and rear legs in step like two soldiers marching which is not how a Horse walks.
The model came with up to six white painted metal crates which sometimes had the tops of the bottles painted red.
This one was packaged in its own box which had an orange float illustrated and the words "Scale Model" and "Milk Float" on the front.
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