The Tekno B-17

[grwebster]

The Tekno B-17 {an early production prototype, the Y1B-17 model I believe} was produced {presumably early post War} in a wide variety of finishes: the military ones in silver and hand painted camouflage, all with roundels from many nations. Additionally they made civilian transport variants in all kinds of weird colors in combination and civil registrations like the one below.

One thing that always bothered me was the casting indentation under the nose which can be barely seen in the above profile but is clearer below with the bottom photo just forward of the rivet.

The Dinky B-17, also an early version does {edited- I thought at first it didn't, but it does} have this indentation. For years I thought the Tekno B-17's had has this for some production reason but it was annoying just the same.
Recently in researching something, I came across the Y1B-17 {Boeing model #299} prototype photographs which clearly show this indentation in the actual aircraft and describe it as the bombadier's flat panel window. The 299 also had exactly the same top, side, and bottom turrets as the Tekno toy.
So could Tekno have produced this pre War? If it was post war, why would they use a prototype version and not one the later production E + variants?
Chris Lell, inform us please.

[Tone]

"During the 1940s, occupying (German) forces imposed harsh restrictions on Danish industry, even arresting Siegumfeldt (Tekno's founder) for producing model aircraft."

Judith Miller, Metal Toys, (New York: DK Publishing, 2006), p. 419

[fliegerii]

According to my knowledge Tekno started operation in 1944 (Denmark was still occupied by Germany) and made the "Flyvende Faestung" post war. They copied the Dinky mould of the pre-war started B-299 and gave her the name of the latest type B-17, even though it was not fully correct. I think, that was marketing, since after the war every child knew about the famous B-17 Flying Fortress, while the B-299 prototype was totally unknown. The "minor" differences in fin, etc. allowed this "incorrectness".
It is not unusual to have differences in the tooling of Dinky and Tekno, as they had seperate plants and maintenance. The actual reasons for the differences will be probably not possible to figure out and would always remain speculation.

By the way: My chromed B-17 does not bear the brand name Tekno and has only "Flyvende Faestung" printed below the wings with one word on each wing.

[grwebster]

Never heard of a chromed Tekno aircraft, Chris, before you mentioned it to me a few years ago. Would love to see a photo when you get a chance.
Based on what you said about Tekno coping the Dinky, I looked again at the Dinky pre war and post war aircraft and they both had the B-299 prototype's Bomb Aimer's flat window under the nose. Hadn't noticed that before. Also Tekno went with two arm main gear legs and the Dinky had the more realistic single one.
Thanks, always learning something new.

[Aeronaut]

I also have a “Tekno looking” B-17. Mine is white with red crosses (paper stickers) on both top wing surfaces. These are not Tekno though they are very similar. Props are aluminum with the prop shafts being made of aluminum countersunk type rivets that stick out excessively (about 1/4 inch )

On comparison pic the Tekno B-17 is the top one. There some small differences in size too.

[grwebster]

I think that white B-17 is the same model as the one fliegerii mentioned at the end of his post.
From his info the first Teknos did not have the name on them. Perhaps a War time 1944 production then?
I will have to check mine out when I get back to see if I have any early ones in the collection.
Meanwhile here is a camouflaged Tekno version

There are many camouflage variants that only differ with the National roundel decal/transfer applied. It would appear that every camouflage B-17 Tekno made was hand painted by the same person as they are all identically finished. Here is a partial selection of some of the B-17s I have, and you can see that the camouflage ones, each bought from different places and times with different roundels, are finished exactly the same way.

Please note the Ju-52 in the lower left is not a Tekno, but a prewar model from Denmark maker Pilot Fly.

[Aeronaut]

There are enough differences between the castings of the Tekno and "Tekno like" B-17s, that fliegereii and I have, to determine that they come from different moulds and assembly facilities. The question still stands. Where do these come from? I bough mine from a Belgian eBay seller back in 2006.

I don't have a Dinky or Tekno B-17 in my collection so I cannot make a close comparison of the castings to be able to divine which came first.

[grwebster]

Cristian, could you post photos of yours?
I have an early die cast Sikorski helicopter made by a Danish firm called Molberg, perhaps they, or even Blu Sun, another Dane who produced a much larger B-17 could be the maker.

[fliegerii]

Here is mine and it is in fact identical to the white one of aeronaut:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=44

I thought so far, maker is Tekno, even though brand name is missing. But yes, of course it can be also a different Danish maker, who was e.g. worning down the old moulds of Tekno. The differences in castings are minor from my point of view, so I think, somehow these are also Tekno-based. My feeling tells me "made after Tekno shutdown", but in fact I do not have any solid clue.
At least I learned something now...

[Aeronaut]

GR, the pictures that I posted, other than the one of the silver Tekno, are of mine.

Fliegerii's B-17 is almost exactly like mine. The casting and pros are exactly the same but the prop shafts are different. As I mentioned before, mine are made of aluminum countersunk type rivets. This type of rivet is very common in the aerospace industry, so there might be some sort of connection there.

I stick with my original opinion that these B-17s come from a different mold than Tekno's. The shape of the engine nacelles is different and the way the underside of the wing leading edge is cast is also very different. There is a thickened area just behind and under the wing leading edge on the Tekno. No such thing on the "Tekno looking" one. Size is also different by a few millimeters.