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johnboy wrote:

motorman wrote:I would suggest Phone booths made from lead would be noteably heavier, just a thought

Yes, Zamak is an alloy and it's lighter than lead and lead is also softer and has a different feel in the hand.

is now surely a of lead model.
thanks Johnboy

When I was about 6 or 7 I had two similar models. One was a police box (dark blue, like Dr Who's Tardis and smaller than the Dinky version) and one which was pale green. I don't know what it was, possibly a newspaper sellers box.

mike wrote: How can I tell the difference?
zymack or lead.

Use the tip of a knife on the inside of the box to see if it's soft or, better yet, use the little household lead testing kit (the same one you use on Nico's toys to see if the paint or plastic contains lead). If you are not checking Nico's toys, shame on you. Many toys from the Pacific Rim contain lead in the plastic and paints. My daughters always check all of the children's toys and furniture and have returned and/or disposed of countless toys because the plastic or the paint contained lead. These little kits are inexpensive and cost about eight dollars (U.S.).

If you remember, not too long ago, certain Disney's "CARS" models made by Mattel were recalled and removed from the shelves because they contained high levels of lead.

Tinman wrote:

mike wrote: How can I tell the difference?
zymack or lead.

Use the tip of a knife on the inside of the box to see if it's soft or, better yet, use the little household lead testing kit (the same one you use on Nico's toys to see if the paint or plastic contains lead). If you are not checking Nico's toys, shame on you. Many toys from the Pacific Rim contain lead in the plastic and paints. My daughters always check all of the children's toys and furniture and have returned and/or disposed of countless toys because the plastic or the paint contained lead. These little kits are inexpensive and cost about eight dollars (U.S.).

If you remember, not too long ago, certain Disney's "CARS" models made by Mattel were recalled and removed from the shelves because they contained high levels of lead.

Tinman, Thank you for the info.

Hello Mike & Nico,
Your little red metal phone box models look like the ones marketed as 'MASTERMODELS' during the mid 1950's, these in turn then being made in plastic by 'MERIT' as part of their extensive range of OO/HO model railway accessories from the late 195o's, into the 1970's.

The metal Mastermodels were usually manufactured by B.J. Ward, as a 'WARDIE PRODUCT' and made in England.
The plastic Merit models were made by J & L Randall and also made in England.

Regards,
GHOSTY.

GHOSTHUNTER wrote:Hello Mike & Nico,
Your little red metal phone box models look like the ones marketed as 'MASTERMODELS' during the mid 1950's, these in turn then being made in plastic by 'MERIT' as part of their extensive range of OO/HO model railway accessories from the late 195o's, into the 1970's.

The metal Mastermodels were usually manufactured by B.J. Ward, as a 'WARDIE PRODUCT' and made in England.
The plastic Merit models were made by J & L Randall and also made in England.

Regards,
GHOSTY.

Ghosty, do you know if Wardie made any others? ( I mentioned earlier that as a young lad I had a similar Police box and a newspaper stand).

johnboy wrote:

GHOSTHUNTER wrote:Hello Mike & Nico,
Your little red metal phone box models look like the ones marketed as 'MASTERMODELS' during the mid 1950's, these in turn then being made in plastic by 'MERIT' as part of their extensive range of OO/HO model railway accessories from the late 195o's, into the 1970's.

The metal Mastermodels were usually manufactured by B.J. Ward, as a 'WARDIE PRODUCT' and made in England.
The plastic Merit models were made by J & L Randall and also made in England.

Regards,
GHOSTY.

Ghosty, do you know if Wardie made any others? ( I mentioned earlier that as a young lad I had a similar Police box and a newspaper stand).

Hello johnboy, yes, 'MASTERMODELS' made quite a lot of this sort of thing, I am still away from my home, so can not furnish you with specific details at the moment, but as soon as I can, I will post a listing of some more.

I reconised it from collecting 'MERIT' models and knew from my research into this company that the two companies had shared some tooling and model ideas.
The plastic versions can be found in the 'MERIT' Remote control driving test board game, itself re-boxed several times over the years.

GHOSTY.

Thanks Ghosty, I do have a red plastic one somewhere, I'll have to find it. I do remember it had an opening door (quite useful really).

POLICE BOX MODELS (The TARDIS).

Very few models of the now well known 'TARDIS' type Police phone box have been made over the years, the one everyone knows is from Dinky Toys, it had a red or blue light on top and every toy fair seems to have one.

The next one to chase is from Spot-On and markedly larger than the Dinky, because it was made to go with their 1/42nd scale vehicle range. I collect 'TARDIS' toys and models, but still do not have this one in my collection, but I was privalidged to handle the example shown in the new recently published SPOT-ON book. One more to chase from this early period, is the plastic kit made by Corgi Toys, in the early sixties, this is in a scale to match their 1/48th vehicles range, so is a little bigger than the Dinky, but slightly smaller than the Spot-On models.

During the early Seventies, many model railway based models came onto the scene with a few 'TARDIS' models appearing, made out of whitemetal, the odd one or two being made of resin and matching red phone box models were often made to go with the 'TARDIS' as part of a small range.

GHOSTHUNTER.

Modern model companies have often added a red phone box to their railway accessories range and it may be 'MERIT' again that makes one with an opening door (again, I don't have access to my Merit stuff to check this), but Hornby Hobbies have made one and I am sure there are many others.

GHOSTHUNTER.