Aero Minis-What is the difference....

[madman960]

I recently acquired 2 Aero Mini die cast model planes. The first is a Phantom II F-4E and the second is a F-104J. Why does 1 have II in the name and the other does not? Both are in excellent condition. I have original packaging for both minus the plastic covers. I think I read somewhere that II in the name means it was produced after Aero Mini went bankrupt. Not sure if that is accurate so I figured I would post here.

Thank you for any help;

Bill

[grwebster]

Bill, A lot of us here on the forum collect the Aero Mini series. In fact I invited Robert Metchick ,the founder, to address our club at an airplane only toy show in NJ in the 1980s and published most of the speech and Q&A afterwards in The Plane News in 3 parts. The information below comes from him. BTW there is another airplane only toy show in central florida on 28 January, the only one in over 12 years, so as a new member to the forum here be sure t look up the info in General Discussions and join us. There will be lots of all types of aircraft toys and models and even some original Aero Minis and at least one Aeromini {one word} reproduction by Brian Peckham. Also Brian, I am told, is considering starting up again and perhaps a few examples of his airliner models will be shown at the show.

Most of us consider the Phantom, F-104 and the Zero {2 versions} as probably the finest of all the Aero Mini series and among the best toys/models produced up to 1980 or so. These milittary models were not reproduced after the Aero Mini bankruptcy in 1970.
Those military planes still are sought after by vintage collectors and have retained most of their 1990s values unlike the commercial airliners.

You may perhaps know that the founder of Aero Mini was a pilot, and also flew in the US Navy, He was inspired one day by a TEKNO DC-7 C he had picked up and noticed his 2 boys would not stop playing with it. So he started his own company to make modern ones.

As I understand it, the full scale Phantom was co-produced {under political duress} in the UK with different {meaning UK made} avionics and engines and was called the Phantom II by the Brits. It lacked the performance of the original one, but the UK politicians were happy. I guess that is why the Aero Mini toy/model had Phantom II cast in.

BTW, There were 4 F-4 variants all using the same castings -USAF, US Navy, Japan SDF, and the rarest of all - a US Marine variant {I have never seen one, it was made just before bankruptcy shut them down}.

The Japs did an unauthorized Japanese Defense Force variant of the F-104 { the other two official ones were the USAF and German Air Force}.

[fliegerii]

According to my available literature the Roman II for the Mc Donnell F-4 Phantom was added, because Mc Donnell named already an earlier aircraft as "Phantom", which was the successless FH-1 developed for the Navy shortly after WW II.

You will find that Roman II in combination with the F-4 at nearly every model, e.g. also the Dinky has it. It is absolutely nothing related to Aero Mini.

[grwebster]

Chris, you are right, my misstatement, it was named the Phantom II right from the beginning so all F-4s were Phantom IIs and not just the British variants.
Incidentally, I worked with many F-4s in combat in Vietnam 1968-1969 and their ground attack runs using napalm and dumb bombs mostly were very impressive, but they left long black smoke trails from their twin engines, a problem later solved with new engines but after the war was over.

[craviola990]

GR wrote:

"You may perhaps know that the founder of Aero Mini was a pilot, and also flew in the US Navy, He was inspired one day by a TEKNO DC-7C he had picked up and noticed his 2 boys would not stop playing with it. So he started his own company to make modern ones."

Thanks so much for that info...kinda means more than you know. I started with Tekno DC-7s, F-100 & Caravelle, and when Aero-Minis came out, absolutely flipped, and for all these years, wondered if perhaps there was a connection between the two companies...Now I know...

Best,

Christian