Hubley 495 Redo

[soslipstream]

Since GR caught this already, I thought I might as well share the latest finished project with you all. The plane was in decent shape but needed to be overhauled. It has a new prop, cockpit, canopy decals and paint. It is exactly as delivered around 1965.

Regards, Tom

[MichaelB]

Well, it's obviously colorful and lovely! You do nice work!
However...those "stars and bars" don't go with the pre-war stripes on the fin. Were you emulating the original Hubley issue in placing them so?
Michael

[soslipstream]

Yea, The technical terminolgy is "Dead Nuts onto the Original". I put it back exactly as originally delivered. Even the silver and red are spot-on. One of these days I will do a Hubley 495 as a P-47M from the 56th FG. But this one I just returned completely to stock for the Hubley collectors. Hubley had a great gig with these and, yes, they were strictly toys. A similar comparison would be two "Toy" train collectors- one is Lionel O-gauge enthusiast and one HO collector with a "working time schedule" layout. The lionel guy just loves his out-of-scale trains with average paint finish and detail- More power to him and his passion!!

Tom

[grwebster]

Tom, that is the first version of the toy. It seems that the cowlings could fall off so they quickly changed it- the later ones had a hump at the top of the fuselage where it touches the cowling.
Nice job on that restoration.

[soslipstream]

GR,
Thanks again on all counts! You all are great resources!
Tom

[soslipstream]

GR,
Could you venture a guess as to when the #495 began in production? Were there any overlaps in production in the airplane line? I suspect the "Navy Fighter" ala' Brewster Buffalo came first but was it produced in conjunction with the 495 "Fighter/Bomber"?

Thanks, Tom

[grwebster]

I have had that same question for years- I just don't know the answer
Dated retail toy catalogs could tell us but I don't have any.
I'm guessing around 1947 for the first ones in olive drab, the Buffalo was also issued in OD around that time.

[tsmgguy]

GR,
Could you venture a guess as to when the #495 began in production? Were there any overlaps in production in the airplane line? I suspect the "Navy Fighter" ala' Brewster Buffalo came first but was it produced in conjunction with the 495 "Fighter/Bomber"?

Thanks, Tom

These first came out in 1956. Soslipstream has the earliest version, which was also available in blue and silver. The stickers shown look correct, though they were also often attached upside down at the factory, that is, with the upper point of white stars to the rear.

The second variation came out in the 1957-58 time frame, and was different in that the top half of the fuselage had a flange that hid the seam. The colors remained the same.

Later versions still had a bump on the upper portion of the cowling. The Hubley 495 was produced for almost thirty years. The latest versions had stickers that read "flying circus". Gone were the stars and bars. Not PC enough, I suppose.

I still have my own first variation Hubley 495 "Navy Fighter Bomber", bought new for me by my grandmother. I well remember opening several boxes at my local drug store, looking for the red and silver color scheme. That little toy was powered only by my imagination, and it was a favorite. My mom saved it, and it sits on my mantle piece today.

[grwebster]

Howard,
Be very welcome to our forum, and many thanks for clarifying the dates of the Hubleys.
I had thought them to be much earlier but never knew.

do you know when the plastic series came out?

One of my Hubley favs is their metal Piper cub, normally seen in Red, but I found a NOS one in Army green.

post photos of your collection when you can., we all love them
see General Discussion for how to do it.
GR

[hovermd]

Here's a post I did earlier that shows the blue and silver version from 1957-58 - it was featured in the rare Hubley Airfield Set. See below:

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1193&p=5792&hilit=airfield+set#p5792