Hi all,
I've followed this thread since it started and find it a very interesting subject. Weekend befor last I found a #66 Greyhound with reddy brown axle clips (base looks a bit damaged on the pictures but thats just a bit plasticine and dirt) and motorman linked me at this thread, thanks for that MM!
I took some time, going through my models and checked which Sf's have axle clips in general and which one have the red/reddy brown one. My Sf basic castings collection isn't complete and because of that I miss some for sure (Sf Land Rover...etc.) but as you will all know, the axle clips were mainly used on lorries or larger vehicles. And a large number has the same size, for better comparisson I call it the "Greyhound" size: #1 Mercedes Truck, #7 Refuse Truck, #28 Dump Truck, #63 Dodge Crane Truck, #11 Mercedes Scaffolding Truck, #49 Mercedes unimog, #44 Refrigorator Truck, #74 Daimler Bus and I be sure there are some more. Except for the white axle clips Jason found on a Greyhound bus or Johnny Pimp seen on a Vectris Land Rover (Which are a level higher than the red/reddy brown ones I think) it is certainly that they made the red/ reddy brown ones just or mainly for that axle clip size. Or are there larger axle clip sizes as used on e.g. #29 Fire Pumper or #42 Iron Fairy Crane in red/ reddy brown we know?
I wondered a lot why Lesney would use an extra plastic colour just for a small run of axle clips. So I started searching exaclty this reddy brown colour on other plastic parts made for models by Lesney at this time and made a find in my Sf' spare parts/ Sf graveyard box
. In my opinion it's the same plastic colour as used for the plastic suspension on smaller Sf models, in this case on a Lamborghini Miura.
Considering how small a proportion of production these red clips are, they could just be one batch of plastic clips made when they had no black dye -perhaps it took 1 day, a few days or a week to use up that dye.
I think this is a reasonable assessment and that was my first thought, too.
I can't imagine that they made axle clips for a special marked. I think boys in this age (not as us large boys[excluding me
]) would not pay much attention to axle clips and they don't care if they are red or black. A special colour, non-standart wheel types or homeland brands (e.g. Germany-Aral) were more effective for realeasing models for a special marked.
But that's just my opinion, I'am looking forward to your assessments and ideas!
Greetings,
Linus
