Airfix Lifeboats

I recently bought an Triang lifeboat on Ebay and am very pleased with it. It is plastic, not tinplate. I've had a bit of a google but cant find anything to say when it was made. Does anyone have any idea.

Thanks

Stephen

Edited By Stephen Garrad on 05/02/2022 21:55:34

i don't know who made the original, or whther it was indeed triang....but i had two as a young lad, one that sank whilst sailing it on Fleetwood boating lake, and the other i played with in my bath......and those were before i reached the grand age of 10, and i am 3 score year and ten at the moment..

so that was at least 60 years that those little treasures have been going........i have an old one with parts missing but still works.

but, i must say, they are meant to be played with......lovely little boats.

Hi Stephen,

Yes Tri-ang did produce a range of small clockwork model boats your Lifeboat being one of them, The 3 Lines Brothers from south London set up a company which was at one time the largest toy manufacturer in the world who made model railways and some of the brands we now know as Hornby just after the First World War.

They turned to making the Sten machine guns during WW2 when toy manufacture was considered non essential !

Hornby bought the Airfix company in 2006, which was originally formed by a Hungarian businessman Nicholas Kove in 1939, making the name most associated with plastic injection moulded kits, I'm from the 2/- bob kit generation sold by Woolworths

Plenty of history of both companies on Wikipedia

Regards Ray

I have a lovely book on British Model boats, fabulously illustrated with plenty of history in it. I will have a look-see to see if the approximate production of your lifeboat can be ascertained,

i have a plastic Triang freighter, electric. It suffers from the usual Triang boat bent deck/covers/missing bits syndrome, however very hot water and weights has flattened the bits out somewhat!

Ashley

I remember Airfix bagged kits at 2/6 when I was very young. I used to buy one a week with my half crown pocket money. Then Airfix put the price up to 2/7 so I asked my Dad for a pocket money raise. He refused saying I could miss out buying one every few weeks and have the spare half crown for buying paints and glues and adding to the other weeks to make up the 2/7. A true Yorkshireman my Dad. He called it carefull, I called it something to do with the rear of a duck.

Thanks very much for your comments. I've had a look at Wikiwhatnots but cant find any reference to the lifeboat. The original ebay listing said it was 1950s so Neil's guestimate based on his years isn't far out it seems. Its clockwork and has quite a long runtime and appears to be complete and is in good condition. I suppose as it appears to bear a good likeness to a Liverpool class lifeboat, a good clue would be after 1931.

Thanks again

Stephen

oh I'ts definately based on a Liverpool class lifeboat Stephen....

here's one just a little bit larger

Hi Neil, yes, I've been watching your build progressing with great interest, far quicker than my Alice Upjohn but I'm not going up Windermere!!. I have in mind a Liverpool for my next model as we had the Robert & Phemia Brown in Ilfracombe when I was a lad and there are 2 nearby at the moment. Grandson might say different though, he fancies a trawler I think.

Stephen

being a lad born and brought up in Fleetwood i went though my phase of building old steam trawlers and then on to shelter deckers.........enjoyed building them very much, but arthritis in the fingers gradually took over and 1;12 scale became easier to build...........hence lifeboats.