Playart Fastwings

[Punks]

Does anybody collect Playart "Fastwings". I believe that they were issued in the 1970's and have an amazing array of models. They did a larger scale series and a very tiny miniature series. Very interesting and collectible items. I would appreciate seeing all the ones I am probably missing! Really, any discussion would be a treat.

[Tone]

my two favorites, because of subject matter, are these. The second of the two I photographed reminds me of your "name."

[Punks]

Well, tone, its actually my cat's name, the little fella in the avatar. Always beside me, forever curious.

Well lets see what you have, a Boeing 314 Clipper but with a green underside. Heard about it but never seen one. My ones have light blue and red undersides, very nice indeed.

Your second item, A Vickers VC-10, again a good choice. I have one but one but it is missing the right rear engine pod (where to find one of those!) and it is done in the colors of the predecessor of British Airways, BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation). I will provide a list of what I have. They were a neat set. The military ones started out with very fine, delicate plastic landing gear. But in the hands of an eight year old, they wouldn't last 10 seconds. The large metal wheels replaced the earlier landing gear which also by the way retracted!

[MichaelB]

I have always found the FastWing series from PlayArt to be one of the more intriguing lines out there. The quality was much, much better than any DynaFlite ever was, and they had a number of interesting pieces including the B314 - which was the only "toy" of that piece for a number of decades.
The 7400 series are the larger aircraft. There are 27 casts without counting color variations. This includes a number of very nice airliners. However, the airliners had attached plastic engine "pods". These pods are often missing from recovered pieces destroying the appeal of what otherwise might be a very nice cast.
PlayArts also produced a number of "Gift Sets", both military and "airport".
The much smaller 7600 series only had 8 items, all redos of their larger 7400 series. No airliners in the 7600s; scales ranged from 1/148 down to 1/215. Again, lovely casts and surprisingly never reissued under any other name by anyone else! Very unlike the Lintoys in this regard. The FastWings were at one time sold in Woolco as a house brand, just as they had done with the DynaFlites in the late '70s.
Michael
Houston

[Punks]

Hi Michael, thanks for that informative post packed with a lot of information that I didn't know. Yes these are my favorites. Would you by any chance have a listing of issued models. Either the base castings or more if you have it. That way I can see what I am missing.

Thanks again, Michael

[grwebster]

I don't seriously collect Play Art Fast Wing but had acquired over the years some examples and unusual variants.
They had an unique selection of military aircraft no one else did. There are two scales, too, but then Michael and Punks know much more than I. I do not have any lists.
Here is an unusual B-314 Clipper that inspired some discussion on the old forum. An all silver variant! It has red metal props and I am certain is original. Michael doubts it. It certainly has a manufactured finish and the props were factory installed in my opinion. Anyway, Punks, no one has seen another so your comments would be appreciated.



Here are some other in the series

[MichaelB]

The B314 came in a variety of color combinations, so I suspect that the silver one was somebody's "special" or "in house" as part of a promotion package. Playart used red, black and yellow plastic on it's planes, so it's probably a factory build.
There was a "Miniplanes" 747, for example, and we continue to see Matchbox put it's name on the title board on a number of their current products.
Michael

[Punks]

GR, you have a pretty extensive collection of Playart planes there. Wow, some real beauties!

On the matter of the silver Boeing 314. The item that bothers me about this model are those metal painted propellers. I have never seen a metal prop on any Playart airplane. They look good but I am not sure they are original. It could be that someone had a "basket case" and decided to do something different. Also, I have never seen or heard of any Playart plane being done in an all silver scheme. So I'm on the fence with Michael on this one.

[MichaelB]

?? The props on the silver B314 are red, presumably plastic and seem to match the look of the regular black props.

[Punks]

I don't seriously collect Play Art Fast Wing but had acquired over the years some examples and unusual variants.
GR, you have a pretty extensive collection of Playart planes there. Wow, some real beauties!

Here is an unusual B-314 Clipper that inspired some discussion on the old forum. An all silver variant! It has red metal props and I am certain is original. Michael doubts it. It certainly has a manufactured finish and the props were factory installed in my opinion. Anyway, Punks, no one has seen another so your comments would be appreciated.

On the matter of the silver Boeing 314. The item that bothers me about this model are those metal painted propellers. I have never seen a metal prop on any Playart airplane. They look good but I am not sure they are original. It could be that someone had a "basket case" and decided to do something different. Also, I have never seen or heard of any Playart plane being done in an all silver scheme. So I'm on the fence with Michael on this one.

?? The props on the silver B314 are red, presumably plastic (I though that GR said that they were metal) and seem to match the look of the regular black props.

They look like painted "replacement" props to me.