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Hi Kay / Ghosty,
I've no idea on the real colours I'm afraid. I remember FX3's, but they were all black.
One thing to bear in mind with Dinky colours and the real thing is that the Mersey Tunnel Police Land Rover was modelled on real examples probably seen every day by Meccano staff.The model was red. The real ones were bright yellow.
Chris Warr.

Looking at the other two-tone colour schemes Dinky brought out in the mid 50s, I expect the yellow and green was their own invention. I believe the yellow FX3 is authentic, as a few found their way to New York.

If I'm correct, red is right for the Mersey Tunnel Land Rover, and the real vehicles changed to yellow or cream at a later date. I'm sure I've seen a photo of a real one in red with a black roof (and a very nice Code 3 Dinky in yellow with red front wings). The advert on the back of the September 1955 issue of Meccano Magazine states that "like the prototype, it is enamelled in bright red". Incidentally, there is a great diorama of the Mersey Tunnel entrance inside, one of the Toyman's best efforts.

My dioramas are made up specially for exhibiting at car shows - the model club I belong to puts on displays at quite a few of these events, although I only do a few.

Hi Fred,
Didn't know that! I always thought the Mersey Tunnel Rover was coloured wrongly, Dinky were better at this stuff than I give them credit for!
I should read the old Meccano mags more often.
I think I've seen a picture of a Yellow Cab FX3 now you mention it. Must have looked pretty small compared to most 40's / 50's US cabs.
Cheers
CW.

Chris,I'm wondering where your knowledge has come from. Is it principally book learning, or has it mostly been gained 'hands on' and through talking to other collectors? Are there any Dinky Toy reference books you can heartily recommend?

Here are my Triumph 1800s. The dark blue with blue hubs is a variant I didn't see in Chris's list.


Looking at my two-tone Minxes and and Oxfords, these also have variations in the masking around the rear:


The left-hand Oxford has treaded tyres, so is later than the right-hand one (assuming both are still on their original tyres of course).

I only have one taxi, but looking at pictures online, some have the green going further back than others. My example has a 40H baseplate, showing that these were still in use a couple of years after renumbering.

The plastic Brimtoy Morris Minor sits quite nicely alongside the Dinky Oxfords. It should be a touch smaller to match the Oxford's scale. This Minor originally had a plated finish, but when I bought it, there was so little plating left that I removed the remnants to make it more presentable. The plastic enables the quarterlights to be modelled. Dinky, understandably, haven't included these, but interestingly they have modelled the slightly raised bases where the quarterlights went.


It has been great fun getting these models out of the cabinet and studying them. I even discovered a spare cream and green Oxford I hadn't realised I had, thanks to this thread!

Regarding Idris's question to Chris about books, Mike and Sue Richardson's book "Dinky Toys and Modelled Miniatures" is a great book which first inspired me to take more interest in Dinky Toys. The section on pre-war toys is the best part, as they seem to lose a little interest when it comes to the later models. The Great Book of Dinky was a disappointment to me, as it's just an illustrated listing with no interesting text to go with it. No book can deal in-depth enough to compete with the experience gained by collecting the toys and talking to other collectors. Magazines such as Model Collector and Diecast Collector sometimes include some good detailed articles. The early issues of Model Collector had a great series of Dinky articles. I'll be interested to know what Chris thinks on this subject (and sorry for sticking my nose in! ).

Hi Fred.
Thanks so much for the posts, this is EXACTLY what I was hoping for. I've now got two tone variations on the Oxford and Minx to add to my list, and another Triumph too.
What I really want to know now is were both colour masks used on both colour schemes? IE Are there four variants of each of the Two Tones?
Lists in books are great, but there's no substitute for nice big pictures.

With regard to books, I started with Cecil Gibsons "Dinky Toys 1934 - 64", well out of date now, but still a good working list.
Like Fred I moved up to "Dinky Toys and Modelled Minatures" next and that's still the one I refer to first. GBOD is OK, but not that easy to use in my opinion.
The other thing I do is search the Vectis sold database, be careful though, the descriptions can be shall we say "imaginative". Best to just study the pictures.

I'm lucky in that I have what the Wife calls my "Crack dealers", a couple of collectors in their 70s+ who bought this stuff when it was cheap, and are now selling bit by bit. She calls them that because they come up to me at fairs, look furtively around, reach into a pocket and withdrawing a Dinky whisper "blue hubs!!", or the like.
They do this while shes looking elsewhere, so when the question "where did THAT come from?" arises, I can reply "it was only cheap". Their knowledge is encyclopedic, and I get as much as I can while they're still around.
Cheers
CW.

Being perfectly honest (and I don’t mean this in any way as criticism of anyone involved in this thread), I find some of the above a bit strange. After all, Dinky Toys have been around a lot longer than matchbox and (rightly or wrongly) I’ve always had the impression that Matchbox was looked down upon by Dinky collectors who got their ducks in arrow many, many years ago. Yet here we are, discussing such basic things as body/hub colour combinations and even discovering some 65 - 70 years after the even that some models had two distinct two-tone mask shapes! I really am surprised that, after all these years, such basic details as these still need nailing down., and find myself wondering how Matchbox knowledge has managed to overtake Dinky knowledge so comprehensively.

One other point, and that is what is the plural of Dinky? I’ve studiously used Dinky Toys in my posts in order to get round this issue. Is “Dinkies” acceptable (even though it doesn’t look right)? “Dinkys” is obviously incorrect, and as for “Dinky’s”, well, I simply can’t abide the grocer’s apostrophe!

Hi Hugh,
I think you hit the nail on the head with the phrase "Dinky Toys have been around a lot longer than Matchbox". So have the collectors. Matchbox collecting is FAR in advance of Dinky with regard to online databases / sharing of info etc. The information IS known, it's just not easily available.
I'm sure that there are collectors out there with a full set of 100 + 40 series cars all different, who can tell us that the second type of mask spray on the Oxford was introduced in July 1957. The problem is that tell us is what they don't do.
The DTCA (Dinky Toy Collectors Assc) has more knowledge among it's members than anyone, and I hope I'm not speaking out of turn here, but nearly all of them are not PC / internet users. The DTCA website is as far as I know never used by any of the Commitee members. I've spoken to Dave Busfield (DTCA Website / Ex Journal editor) about this, and he finds it very frustrating.
Sadly there is no Stannards for Dinky, it would be a lot larger if there was, but it COULD be done with some effort, especially online with several contributors.
The other thing I've noticed is that there are real experts on just a few models. There are collectors who know EVERYTHING about the 29c buses, but not a thing about anything else. Likewise Dinky Military has followers who simply don't care about the other stuff. That makes it really hard to get any range wide info together.
Cheers
CW.

starni999 wrote:Hi Hugh,

Sadly there is no Stannards for Dinky, it would be a lot larger if there was, but it COULD be done with some effort, especially online with several contributors.

Cheers
CW.

Good luck with that! We tried it over on MOYBOYZ for Yesteryears. Although the site has plenty of members, including some with the premier collections on the planet, it only had two main compilers, and only a handful (literally) of contributors. One of the compilers quit collecting YY's part way through the listing and promptly stripped all his contributions from the reference section, much of which hadn't been backed up anywhere. It died a death due to apathy. The majority love feeding off other people's expertise, but can't be arsed to make even minor contributions themselves.

Rant over. I'll get my coat.

Idris wrote: One other point, and that is what is the plural of Dinky? I’ve studiously used Dinky Toys in my posts in order to get round this issue. Is “Dinkies” acceptable (even though it doesn’t look right)? “Dinkys” is obviously incorrect, and as for “Dinky’s”, well, I simply can’t abide the grocer’s apostrophe!

Good point! I've never thought about it, but in conversation I use the singular, "I collect Dinky" "He has a few Dinky for sale over there." Rotton grammar I know.
It's easy with Lesney, you either have one "Matchbok" or two "Matchboks".
CW.