Owt or Nowt?

[ChFalkensteiner]

Paired tooling was introduced comparatively early on. By the end of the RW era, some models seems to have had as many as four sets of tooling in simultaneous operation.

The first models with two obviously different moulds for the same parts were introduced in 1963: the 6c Euclid Dump Truck with "A" or "B" cast on the dump and the 15c Dennis Tippax with or without the small dots inside the tailgate.

Generally two moulds were used for larger parts such as bodies, while smaller parts could have up to twelve moulds used concurrently. Famous example from the 1970s: the motorcycles on the 60d Holden Pickup with racing numbers 1 to 12.

[ChFalkensteiner]

Indulge me, and let me ' do a Mick' and have a flight of fancy.
The only plastic Matchbox bodies I have seen are for the American 'Big Rigs'. Could it be they they were not tooling test shots, but trials for an all-plastic range of models, the Convoys perhaps? This model must date from around the time that Lesney started getting into financial difficulties.
Can we add 2 and 2 together without making 5?

I thought about that too, and have come up with the idea that it might have something to do with the "Burning Key Cars" series.

This was introduced under the Kidco brand by David Yeh's Universal company in 1981, i.e. before the Lesney takeover, and was later put under the Matchbox brand from 1983 onward.

The series featured models with plastic bodies and included a Kenworth cab which was very similar to the MB Miniatures model. That model was already available in the series in 1982, as it is shown in that year's Kidco catalogue.

So either there was some cooperation between Lesney and Universal on the development of the Burning Key Cars series even before the takeover (which is possible, taking into account the fact that Universal made some models on behalf of Lesney already from 1979 on, e.g. the Disney series), or they considered replacing the Kidco tools with Lesney/Matchbox ones after the takeover.

All of this is just conjecture though...

[ChFalkensteiner]

How many other 1-75 models of this era had plastic baseplates? Was it just the American tractor units?

Plastic baseplates were fairly common on MB Miniatures of this era. Ever since the introduction of plastic bases in the mid-1960s (on models such as the 37c Dodge Cattle Truck, 60b Leyland Site Hut Truck, 56b Fiat 1500 and the 12c and 57c Land Rovers, to name but a few early ones) the range always contained quite a few models with plastic baseplates.

[Idris]

...if it was made at the factory.

The moulding is so crisp that there is no doubt in my mind that it came directly from the Lesney tooling. I have added a couple of new, high-resolution photographs below. These have deliberately been posted oversized in order to highlight the quality of the moulding. (Even the individual rivets on the side and the tooling split lines on the rear face of the cab are visible.) Also, please note the pale-green windows, which Christian does not seem to have listed as a variation on this model.

[motorman]

Given the date of issue of the #41d Kenworth being around 1982 - 83 and the company being on its knees financially at this time surely they would be seeking ways to maximise their profit and perhaps they thought that plastic moulding was the way forward and the answer to reducing production costs and making the company profitable. It would be reasonable to assume that they would have tested the plastic moulding out on some models to consider if it could replace metal. The fact that we have not seen any other examples may be due to the low number of test models and poor timing that this experimenting was done just as the company was dying.

[Idris]

Given the date of issue of the #41d Kenworth being around 1982 - 83 and the company being on its knees financially at this time surely they would be seeking ways to maximise their profit and perhaps they thought that plastic moulding was the way forward and the answer to reducing production costs and making the company profitable. It would be reasonable to assume that they would have tested the plastic moulding out on some models to consider if it could replace metal. The fact that we have not seen any other examples may be due to the low number of test models and poor timing that this experimenting was done just as the company was dying.

That is increasingly my opinion too.
I've been making enquiries, and a well-known toy-dealer and Matchbox expert told me that he's never seen a plastic Lesney bodyshell before and, until mine, the only thing even remotely similar that he was aware of was the resin RW 73c which went through Stacey's. To me, this rather casts doubt on the claim that such plastic mouldings were common practice at Lesney (although I understand subsequent owners of the brand did go down this path).
Since the other bodyshells I saw were for similar models (possible the very same model), I can only assume that it represents either a short-lived tooling experiment or a project which never made it to market

[ritchie]

A few of my all plastic Matchbox. The Kenworth cab was from an old photo as I could not remember where I stored the model. It's got the same bodyshell as Idris'. The main difference was that the base has not been plated and the base plastic was in brown while Idris' was in red. I think mine was un-riveted but can only verify 'til I find it.

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The Diesel Shunter was from Lesney PS-1 Container Port Set from the late 70s. It has obvious casting differences from the regular #24c. It might be the only all plastic model issued by Lesney, and was possibly for cost consideration?

The all plastic Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud was a mold testing sample from 1985. The mold was made by a Portugal company that made molds for Matchbox 'Pre-school' series plastic toys. Matchbox asked them to make the mold for this Silver Cloud (instead of making it their own) because time was very tight that the model need to get into production before the movie "A View to A Kill" go on-air. Mold testing samples were made of plastic because the Portugal company didn't have die-casting machinery.

17c Leyland bus was issued in similar years as the Kenworth cab. For their plastic counterparts, the base of Kenworth cab (Idris') was a later casting (I'll need to check mine), while the base of Leyland bus was an early casting, (c) 1980 and "No. ".

52d BMW M1 was another model also from early 80s, in which an all plastic sample was noted in an auction last year.

A point to note that with burning key cars, whether Kido or Matchbox, I think they all have metal base. And the plastic bodyshell from Matchbox burning key cars was a different casting from the regular range.

[Idris]

Very interesting, Ritchie.
If we discount the shunter (issued in all-plastic) and the Rolls (non-Lesney development), that still leaves the Titan bus (1980 base date) and the BMW (1981 base date) as examples of plastic models. The Kenworth is also dated 1981, so this seems to be pointing to something going on in the early 80s involving plastic moulding as part of the model development work.
it is interesting to note that Paul Carr has a plastic-bodied Titan for sale.

[ChFalkensteiner]

The Diesel Shunter was from Lesney PS-1 Container Port Set from the late 70s. It has obvious casting differences from the regular #24c. It might be the only all plastic model issued by Lesney, and was possibly for cost consideration?

There is one other all-plastic (except for axles) model issued which is considered part of the MB Miniatures range, albeit not by Lesney, but by Matchbox Int'l Ltd. That is the inflatable dinghy with trailer which was introduced in 1984 as part of the TP-110 twinpack; later versions were also issued in five packs.

Like the plastic shunter it was never issued as a single but only as part of sets which also contained metal models.

For the 17g London Bus (Leyland Titan) it is known that they considered each of the three main casting parts - upper body, lower body and baseplate - to be issued in either metal or plastic. Therefore pre-pro examples exist with all three parts made of plastic as well as with all three parts made of metal and with various combinations of plastic and metal.

The eventually issued model had the upper and lower body made of metal and the baseplate made of plastic, and I do not think that they seriously intended to issue this model with all three parts made of plastic.

[Idris]

The Diesel Shunter was from Lesney PS-1 Container Port Set from the late 70s. It has obvious casting differences from the regular #24c. It might be the only all plastic model issued by Lesney, and was possibly for cost consideration?

For the 17g London Bus (Leyland Titan) it is known that they considered each of the three main casting parts - upper body, lower body and baseplate - to be issued in either metal or plastic. Therefore pre-pro examples exist with all three parts made of plastic as well as with all three parts made of metal and with various combinations of plastic and metal.

The eventually issued model had the upper and lower body made of metal and the baseplate made of plastic, and I do not think that they seriously intended to issue this model with all three parts made of plastic.

The fact that they turned to plastic in the above-mentioned cases must be related to cost cutting, either manufacturing cost or shipment costs (the plastic components being lighter).
That might explain the BMW which was released with a metal baseplate, but I don't think it explains the American tractor units which (I believe I'm correct in saying) are only known to have ever had plastic baseplates.