15c Tippax - Unlisted Variation

[Ewan]

Now, it has not taken me too long on this forum to figure out that a certain member has a very accurate 'htf' radar, and I think I must ask him for some tuning advice as my own is increasingly set to 'wtf?' which, incidentally, stands for 'Where To Fit?' In recent weeks I've had a 27 Cadillac of indeterminate colour and a 19 Lotus F1 with odd axle rings and there is no sign of things changing.

As any of you who deal with the US will know, the recent government shutdown has had an effect on American spending, and my online shop has ground to a virtual halt. This left me scraping out the bottom of the Paypal account last weekend for a joblot barely worthy of the title - a 17d Foden, half a Hendrickson and this 15c - my first . The Foden was the only one easily coded - it's a Code 3 which is rather appropriate as it's paint is so poor I feel a custom job coming

Back to the Tippax - it is in every respect a Code 5 but has no trim. As you can see it has Chassis 2 with no crossmember but the longer body rests. This is exactly the sort of question raising item I love, and I can come up with 3 possibilities for someone with more Lesney factory knowledge than me to answer.

Firstly (my preferred option) I consider it possible that if the silver paint ran out towards the end of a shift/run/Friday Afternoon then the last few models went through without the trim. This is reinforced by the existence of Code 6 which is Chassis 1 with no trim. This then raises the question - at what point do you consider such models variations rather than error pieces?

Another possibility is that Chassis 1 and 2 were being produced at the same time, and during this time the use of silver trim was stopped. I find this unlikely as the differences between Chassis 1 and 2 seem to be deliberate introductions to stop the Tippax's breaking in half.

The last possibility is that somewhere along the line some Chassis 1 and Chassis 2 were 'lost' and then rediscovered and put down the line along with Chassis 3 examples. This is where factory knowledge helps. I know of instances where lathes have been replaced in factories and finished products obsolete by 9 years have been found in the tool drawers, having been put there by machinists who intended to make them 'reappear' closer to the order deadline when piecework would be brought in. I can't see how this would work in a high volume diecast factory but I may well be wrong.

No matter what the explanation, as we now have both Chassis 1 and Chassis 2 with and without trim it seems to me that the trim alone is not a very reliable method of placing models on a timeline?

[nickjones]

Hi Ewan.
It is not impossible to build up a complete collection of untrimmed Matchbox models. As they either had the trim hand painted or were held up against the spray mask again by hand so no doubt there are plenty of untrimmed models out there. Only when an untrimmed model is found in large quantities then is should be accepted that this was how Lesney intended it to be produced, the last version of the 26a Foden cement mixer with SPW comes to mind. Anything else has to be regarded as an error piece.

I have the 19d on my "to do" list, From feedback on this forum and by email it is clear I have a few variations missing. I believe this could be an example of two slightly different base molds being in use at the same time, On the 19d it is noted that the text on the base was modified which was more than likely because one of the dies were damaged so only one of the pair needed to be modified. so each half of the die set was producing a slightly different model, a die set would produce two complete models each time the molds were filled with metal.

[nickjones]

Also we have to take into account that when a production run was completed any unused castings were put into storage to be used at a later date so odd variations that don't seem to fit the timeline will always appear when you least expect them,
Another oddity (70a Estate car) was made with rounded axles from the start, Then crimped axles appeared for one run, It has to be assumed that there was a power cut or maybe they never had 2/- for the electricity meter. who knows ?.
And speaking of timelines, it is obvious that there is no such thing as a timeline, especially when we are talking paint colours, Lesney switched back and forth between colours as needed, As can be seen on the 33a Zodiac being produced in two or three different colours which can all be found with grey metal or grey plastic wheels,

[Ewan]

Thanks for all of the info Nick, it is much appreciated and I think I'm learning to expect the unexpected with Lesney

Normally I wouldn't have paid much attention to the lack of trim, personally on this model I think it looks better without it anyway. The main reason I flagged it up as an 'unlisted variation' was the existence of Codes 4 and 6 in the table which are basically identical models on Chassis 1, the difference being the trim. That's why I raised the question 'at what point do you consider such models variations rather than error pieces?' so thanks for answering that too.

Speaking of the 70a - I'm sure I have one with crimped axles somewhere. The 70a was one of the first models I went looking for as my grandfather had one and I tend to hold on to them when they come my way.

[nickjones]

The Thames with crimped axles is very hard to find, I have been looking for one for ages but no luck so far.

[Ewan]

The Thames with crimped axles is very hard to find, I have been looking for one for ages but no luck so far.

I've checked and fortunately I was wrong - I don't have one with crimped axles. Why fortunately? As soon as I posted the comment I clicked that if I did have one it would date back to the days before I found your site and started checking models against the guide. It would therefore have been tossed into a jar of brake fluid for paint stripping purposes without a second thought