6b with silver trim
Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2020 9:27 pm
Not sure where this should go as there is some minor talk about silver trim on Georges forum in the #6 thread and then Hugh has his trim colors thread. So if someone moves this into another thread, that's fine by me.
When it comes to the 6b with silver trim, this is a variation that needs to be viewed with great scrutiny. The 6a had trim, the 6c had trim (although only for a very short time), so why couldn't the 6b have trim? The time line is one of concern here as by 59 mask spray trim was the routine for 1-75's & Majors.One thing I never seen in hand or in a photograph is mask sprayed trim on a 6b. Then there is the coverage or difference in the application of so many of the models that do have silver trim. Some have just the headlights. Other have the headlights and the entire grille including the outer frame going down the sides where the lights are. Still others only have inner portion of the grille painted.Since none of them were mask sprayed, this means that there was little or no guidance on how to detail the grille and/or headlights. So what else is still being hand painted (hand trimmed) at Lesney in those days? Yesteryear's, milk float horses (who can think of something else?). However, for the most part, none of those other items being hand detailed had staff running wild with their applications (they were very consistent).
I bought two of these trucks when they first came out. They both had crimped axles and decals. They were for my HO railroad layout. They were also covered in so much boring yellow (with exception of the decals) that they needed something. So I detailed both the grills in silver. That silver detailing (along with sometimes red and black) would happen to other Matchbox models I used on the layout. I know this was a common trend back in the day and I was far from being in a minority doing this.
Over the next 50 years I would acquire many more examples of the 6b, in fact, way too many. I had a fascination with Scammell's overall design and especially the three pane windscreen. I bought just about any/every examples of the 6b I came across in the 80's, 90's & 2000s. When I went to sell off my collection, I must had had half a gross of 6b models (boxed/mint, loose/mint and every combination and condition down the line). In that massive lot, several had silver trim applied. They all varied quite a bit in the exact locations where the trim was applied. Some even had a silver front bumper along with the grille. As others on various forums discovered silver trimmed 6b's I allowed my opinion to be swayed to the thoughts that this trim may have been factory applied for a short time. However, I literally had my own fairly large group of random sample 6b's and with the advent of ebay, these came from around the world (not just USA examples). The silver trim examples varied in the amount of coverage and extended to all variations in the time line.
There was one purchase which, at first, reinforced the thought that the trim was factory applied and then (rather quickly) caused me to abandon the thoughts that silver trim was applied at the factory. I'll explain. A collector I know (and I suspect many here know who he is too, mainly from another now dead forum) purchased a group lot of Matchbox models from the widow of a recently passed model railroader. As did many, the model railroader kept the boxes for the models as they were a great was to safely store and organize the models when not in use. Model railroaders (including myself), would often purchase multiples of the same items to use in various scenes on the layouts. They would detail these models to suit their fancy, sometimes even repainting the models or removing original decals/labels to install their own. This is something I did as well. It was common enough that there were hobby magazine articles about modifications to models.
The gentleman who purchased the collection had three or four mint boxed 6b's in the lot of models (nearly everything was mint/boxed). I took a look at all of the 6b models and everyone was an early casting, crimp axles, biff pin on the dump, with decal and hand applied silver trim. I pointed out the early casting to a fellow collector (from Spring Hill Florida) and he bought one, I bought the rest. I wanted to believe they were all factory applied silver trim. I had a gander at some of the rest of the models from the same collection. There was a wide assortment of detailing that had gone on with the rest of them. Some had additional silver trim (above an beyond the factory trim). Some had tail light and other detailing, one model had grey plastic wheels painted black (and not on just one but both examples of that model).I tried to hold on to the factory applied silver trim theory for the 6b. After seeing these models from the model railroad collection (which had been detailed just like my own), I began to abandon that opinion. Especially in light of finding silver trim (always hand applied) to models that came later in the time line. Looking for input/opinions from others on this subject.
When it comes to the 6b with silver trim, this is a variation that needs to be viewed with great scrutiny. The 6a had trim, the 6c had trim (although only for a very short time), so why couldn't the 6b have trim? The time line is one of concern here as by 59 mask spray trim was the routine for 1-75's & Majors.One thing I never seen in hand or in a photograph is mask sprayed trim on a 6b. Then there is the coverage or difference in the application of so many of the models that do have silver trim. Some have just the headlights. Other have the headlights and the entire grille including the outer frame going down the sides where the lights are. Still others only have inner portion of the grille painted.Since none of them were mask sprayed, this means that there was little or no guidance on how to detail the grille and/or headlights. So what else is still being hand painted (hand trimmed) at Lesney in those days? Yesteryear's, milk float horses (who can think of something else?). However, for the most part, none of those other items being hand detailed had staff running wild with their applications (they were very consistent).
I bought two of these trucks when they first came out. They both had crimped axles and decals. They were for my HO railroad layout. They were also covered in so much boring yellow (with exception of the decals) that they needed something. So I detailed both the grills in silver. That silver detailing (along with sometimes red and black) would happen to other Matchbox models I used on the layout. I know this was a common trend back in the day and I was far from being in a minority doing this.
Over the next 50 years I would acquire many more examples of the 6b, in fact, way too many. I had a fascination with Scammell's overall design and especially the three pane windscreen. I bought just about any/every examples of the 6b I came across in the 80's, 90's & 2000s. When I went to sell off my collection, I must had had half a gross of 6b models (boxed/mint, loose/mint and every combination and condition down the line). In that massive lot, several had silver trim applied. They all varied quite a bit in the exact locations where the trim was applied. Some even had a silver front bumper along with the grille. As others on various forums discovered silver trimmed 6b's I allowed my opinion to be swayed to the thoughts that this trim may have been factory applied for a short time. However, I literally had my own fairly large group of random sample 6b's and with the advent of ebay, these came from around the world (not just USA examples). The silver trim examples varied in the amount of coverage and extended to all variations in the time line.
There was one purchase which, at first, reinforced the thought that the trim was factory applied and then (rather quickly) caused me to abandon the thoughts that silver trim was applied at the factory. I'll explain. A collector I know (and I suspect many here know who he is too, mainly from another now dead forum) purchased a group lot of Matchbox models from the widow of a recently passed model railroader. As did many, the model railroader kept the boxes for the models as they were a great was to safely store and organize the models when not in use. Model railroaders (including myself), would often purchase multiples of the same items to use in various scenes on the layouts. They would detail these models to suit their fancy, sometimes even repainting the models or removing original decals/labels to install their own. This is something I did as well. It was common enough that there were hobby magazine articles about modifications to models.
The gentleman who purchased the collection had three or four mint boxed 6b's in the lot of models (nearly everything was mint/boxed). I took a look at all of the 6b models and everyone was an early casting, crimp axles, biff pin on the dump, with decal and hand applied silver trim. I pointed out the early casting to a fellow collector (from Spring Hill Florida) and he bought one, I bought the rest. I wanted to believe they were all factory applied silver trim. I had a gander at some of the rest of the models from the same collection. There was a wide assortment of detailing that had gone on with the rest of them. Some had additional silver trim (above an beyond the factory trim). Some had tail light and other detailing, one model had grey plastic wheels painted black (and not on just one but both examples of that model).I tried to hold on to the factory applied silver trim theory for the 6b. After seeing these models from the model railroad collection (which had been detailed just like my own), I began to abandon that opinion. Especially in light of finding silver trim (always hand applied) to models that came later in the time line. Looking for input/opinions from others on this subject.