Midgetoy Eng.Electric/Martin B-57 Canberra

[grwebster]

Michael, not so sure i agree with you on Midgetoys. For me the Tootsietoy range, especially the early full bodied, 2 piece casting jets were heavy, unbreakable, just the best - at least for those of us who couldn't afford the imported Dinky Toys {only sold in real toy stores - my father was a Navy pilot, we never had money for those}. The 'Five and Dime' had the cheapest stuff but it was just fine with us.
here are some of the early Tootsietoys 'full body' jets



These were the later ones with open castings


BTW the rarest ones {not expensive, just next to impossible to find} of the post war Tootsies were those sold in the Army set, all were painted OD and had decal/transfers

[grwebster]

here are some better photos
the 'full body' two piece casting F-86


the full bodied Panther



the single casting Panther

[MichaelB]

Well, yes then...the TT half bodies in particular are very similar. The half bodies came later? Who's imitating who here?

[grwebster]

It would seem logical that the full body Tootsietoys came first and, I would guess, were produced up to early 1952 or so correlating to the service life of the actual aircraft. {As an aside, the full body toys are not often seen on eBay.} I have read that during the Korean war metals, such as the alloys used in toys, were in short supply and probably made necessary the new open castings, eliminating of a lot of the metal used in the earlier full body toys.
The Shooting Star {which was a full body Tootsietoy only and not made later in an open casting} was at the end of its career already being replaced by the F-86 in Korea. The F-94C Starfire was not issued in a full bodied version and it started serving in the Korean war in 1952. The Cutlass F7U was put into service in early 1954 and it never had a full body version either. Likewise the F4D Skyray, which entered service only in 1956.
I have no information on production dates for the Midgetoy jets but again it would be logical that they appeared singularly after 1953 or so based dates the actual aircraft entered service: the swept wing Cougar in 1952, the B-57B in 1953, and the Cutlass in 1954. The 707 was much later.
Based on the above I would submit that Midgetoys copied the later production Tootsietoys.

[grwebster]

Perhaps my logic about production dates isn't right? Nope, I'll stick with it.
On ebay right now are two Tootsietoy Delta full body jets and both sellers refer to this as a limited 1954-5 issue. I still am not sure and I don't know where they are getting this info. There are only a few references to use when researching Tootsie aircraft that I know of, an old Tootsie book which is incomplete and skips over most of the airplanes and perhaps that Smith airplane price guide which is full of errors in my opinion.
I have found that the dates people site are probably based on toy catalogs or store advertising which reflect toys already produced and in stock, not the actual toy production.
So I still think my logically derived dated for full body Tootsies production being over by 1952 is right. The actual aircraft, a Convair XF-92, first flew in 1948 then after an accident was retired in 1953. It would have been in the news during that period and would seem 'logical' that Tootsietoy would have produced that model during the hype of media reporting, not after the actual aircraft was in the boneyard..