Wyandotte Sirius

[sandmanoverhaul]

In the spirit of getting things moving again, Here is the short tale of a Wyandotte Sirius with two bolts...
I found this toy airplane at the Allegan Antique show in Michigan a few years back. It was almost complete and already having one, I noticed that it had panted landing gear and that was attached using a thumbscrew. Usually the gear was simply attached using the wing attachment foldover tabs. And, there were two sets of thumbscrews. Why two? The dealer said that there were some prototypes made with an interchangeable wheel landing gear and pontoon landing gear and this was one of those from that lot. Cool! It sat for a few years as I scoured whatever resources to find any references. Nothing came to pass so I went ahead and did my best guess and made this Charles Lindbergh's orange and black Sirius that he and his wife, Anne, flew around the Pacific in the early 1930's. The added solid plexi canopy was my only embellishment to what amounts to a hypothetical toy design from 1936.

Regards,
Tom Sanders

[Tone]

Did the toy originally come from the factory with the wings on top of the fuselage? I can't remember having seen a Wyandotte low-wing version, only the larger and more expensive Steelcraft.

[sandmanoverhaul]

Sorry for my delayed response, been traveling.

Wyandotte did make a low wing version of the Lockheed Vega/Sirius/Explorer family. I can only assume they made them in conjunction with Lindbergh's full-scale version to capitalize on the opportunity. They kind of missed an opportunity to produce the toy with the panted landing gear. The first picture below shows one that is unrestored. As far as I can tell, these came only with black fuselages with either orange or green wings. They do feature the more rare flat face cowling. My second picture shows a pair in the same shot. The one in the foreground is a stock unit sans engine cowling while the one beside it is the same airplane with cowling intact, modified landing gear and waiting on a new fin.

They do not come up on eBay as regularly as the high wing Vega styles but they can be found. Search using these titles, "VTG Wyandotte airplane", " Pressed Steel Airplane", "VTG Toy Metal airplane", "Wyandotte Sirius".

I have a couple that need overhauls including parts. Please contact me with any questions.

Regards, Tom

[sandmanoverhaul]

Just more shots of the Lindbergh Sirius Overhaul...

pics by number-

1) top, Shows side view and stance with the new pontoon assembly attached
2) middle, Shows the attachment thumbscrews that started the mystery
3) bottom, Shows the panted gear in place

Regards, Tom

[sandmanoverhaul]

Years flow by and on goes the Lindbergh Mystery Sirius from Wyandotte. Here are pictures of the final piece-

Tom Sanders
SANDMAN OVERHAUL

[hovermd]

Fantastic! Those Wyandotte planes sure do become versatile in your skilled hands!