Condon

[Ewan]

Another first for me last week was the arrival of this Condon Muir Hill Dumper.

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Following a nerve wracking moment straightening the (very) bent front axle with a pair of pliers and some cleaning I sat it down and looked at it. Proving yet again that I'm more of a collector than shop keeper I decided that even though I'd bought it to sell, it was a keeper

I'd already read on these dumpers on Nick's site here http://www.vintagebritishdiecasts.co.uk ... condon.htm and as usual it's probably the best bit of information I found. A few people online are wrongly crediting Jack O'Dell with them, and another comment online which surprised me was that the Dinky and Matchbox King Size models are far superior - I don't own either so can't make a fair comment but I'm quite impressed with the diecasting of the Condon, certainly compared to more modern offerings. I also discovered that the real things were based on Fordson tractors.

If you're interested there are some good pictures on this site http://www.dream-tintoys.de/index.php?page=condon , not just of the dumpers but of some cranes and a quite fantastic 'site trencher elevator' also based on the Muir Hill. There are also some photos of the train referred to by Nick, it looks like a Simplex style locomotive with 3 hopper wagons and the boxes call it a 'ballast train'. I'm no train buff but do have a soft spot for industrial railways so the 'wish list' grows again although I can't see the trains being easy to find....

[kwakers]

These Condons are a high quality Toy that I am afraid to get into collecting. My friend actually has a full size trencher that is based on the Forson, so I am very familiar with some of the odd machinery these Tractors were adapted to. I am glad you decided not to sell the Dumper right now, a re-pro or original driver is next on your list to find now. kwakers

[MOKOSEX]

i have been meaning to reply to this post for a while now so here goes,the condon dumper was one of the first old toys i collected,it was in a poor state so i stripped it and using paint i already had painted my green and red tribute one,the shades are off but its was done on the cheap,when i starting collecting properly i got the main colours again,red with paintless wheels,red with yellow wheels and the green version,a crane and a dredger,the dredger is the toughest to get.The crane is not in the pic but i have it somewhere,the mine trains are what i have to hand,they came in mainly green red yellow combinations but i have somewhere a blue and orange tipper,the drivers for the dumpers are hard to find,the last real one i saw sold for £26,!,i had only one real one till recently when i picked up two in a mixed figure lot,the drivers came in shades of brown,my other drivers pictured were made by hotwheels bob out of resin ,and there is a silver one i made myself.Has you can see in the pic i have stripped two more for repainting ,one with bear wheels the other with green wheels
dave

[Ewan]

Thanks for the responses guys - I was starting to worry nobody else liked them! I'm glad to see you rate the quality too Dick. I can't see me paying £26 for an original driver, particularly when Steve Flowers does them for 85p each but I'll keep an eye on these joblots of figures that pop up from time to time on ebay. That's a nice collection MOKOSEX - I imagine the trencher would be quite breakable?

I should have mentioned in my first post - the boxes for the trains aren't actually shown on that site's Condon pages, but if you select the 'SPECIALS' option from the menu they are on there, seems to be two styles, 1 with the Condon name and 1 without, and both styles in blue or red unless it's different sides of the same box.

[Moyboy]

This was the metallic purple one I swapped with Hans Dave

[Ewan]

Wow - there can't have been many toys with metallic paint in 1950?

[Ewan]

I'm just rethinking my comment on metallic paint - are some of the more colourful Benbros bulldozers metallic? Would it have been associated with high quality in the same way as it was with 1:1 vehicles? It was very noticeable in my area (lots of salt in the air) that the last examples of any particular 1970s Ford around had metallic paint, the non-metallic ones seemed to fall apart quicker.

[MOKOSEX]

[quote="Moyboy"]This was the metallic purple one I swapped with Hans Dave
The purple is very dark on my monitor,and i seem to recall seeing "black" ones and not bidding because i thought they were repainted by a railway buff,bet they were purple lol,will keep a look out now ,
dave

[MOKOSEX]

I'm just rethinking my comment on metallic paint - are some of the more colourful Benbros bulldozers metallic? Would it have been associated with high quality in the same way as it was with 1:1 vehicles? It was very noticeable in my area (lots of salt in the air) that the last examples of any particular 1970s Ford around had metallic paint, the non-metallic ones seemed to fall apart quicker.

Some of my fifties diecast space men are metallic,and a arbur lorry i have,i thought it was who had the paint available,but you may have a point.
dave

[Ewan]

I'm hooked now
This is my latest one after a bit of axle straightening and very cautious cleaning - the paint is rather fragile. Incidentally I spotted a Condon train on ebay almost immediately after my last post on this thread. Didn't have enough pennies to win it, but my time will come!

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