Wyandotte? DC4 now C54

[soslipstream]

When I was a kid, a father in the neighborhood was a crew chief on C-54. I couldn't stand the silver only finish on his son's DC-4 so he had his crew re-dress it. I restored it to its "orginal" military guise and am working on a set of props. Note even the cowls and the back of the fuselage ended up with "fill-in" (gotta have engines kid!)

Regards, Tom Sanders (This is a trial picture test)

[Tone]

The maker is the Charlmar Co of New Jersey. It came in all silver or blue and white and was sold as a "DC-7." That paint job is streets better than the original could ever be.

[soslipstream]

Tone,
Thanks! Great info too!

Tom

[grwebster]

Tone, Tom
Very interesting toy. I have never heard of Charlmar Co of New Jersey and yet that toy must be one of the nicest and closest in accuracy pressed steel toy I have ever seen.

[soslipstream]

Happy Holidays to All,

I tracked down a Marx Company expert, Karl "Bud" Kovacs, who further enlightened me on the Marx Airliners. The Charlmar trade name was one of Louis Marx' many companies. It was named for his first wife, Charlene Marx. Some toys were produced under this name in Great Britain as well. Fact is, Louis Marx was a busy guy dreaming up many companies and names. We have these, LineMar, LuMar, CharMore all using some his family names. There are reseachers who are currently trying to establish the connection to a few others including the ELM logo. Rumor has it that that stood for Empire Louis Marx.

Bottomline, The airplanes shown above in this thread are directly related to the huge DC-4 Airliners thus are Marx products. Btw, Bud also commented on those big DC-4s and said that those were mostly manufactured in Japan and paint schemes varied. Some of the popular ones were all silver (Pan-Am & American Airlines), all red (American), Cream and Blue (Pan Am) and various combinations. Paint runs may have been catch-as-catch-can as well as specials for specific retail companies. It seems that Louis Marx was a man that would not hesitate to paint airplanes to whatever the customer wanted. These airplanes were packed and shipped with fuselage and wing seperate in their box leaving it to the retailer or consumer to attach the wings to the fuselage. Many combinations arrived to the end user, some possibly odd and unexpected.

Best Regards,
Tom Sanders

[grwebster]

Tom, many thanks for that information.
I had one when I was a kid, and much later had a full scale one, {USMILGRP, US Embassy Brasil 1970-72}, Well the full scale one was actually the USAF's, but still....
Here is my toy, note the unusual method to drive the props

[soslipstream]

Mr. Webster,

Those are great pictures of that drive system. Those are springs that rotate while attached to the axles? That add-on/option was typical of the various innovations that Marx added to freshen the line. The various color combinations sufficed for a few years, then the single opening door which led to the stairs and finally to the the prop drive system to help the pressed steel line compete with the tin litho types with key-wind prop drives.

I have two sitting waiting their turn for resto and I am amazed with their size and girth. One wonders how many kids on Christmas mornings had its wings clip the hall passages, nicest wood furniture and grandma's favorite French vase. Got to wonder how many then took that short trip from a second story to boot!

Regards,
Tom Sanders

[Tone]

The pressed steel Marx toy planes were made in Japan? I had never heard that. Thanks! Wouldn't the toys, or the planes, or both, have to say "Made in Japan" on them because of federal laws championed by Toy Manufacturers of America?