Tekno-Douglas Seven Seas

[Tone]

I have seen posts here on the Tekno brand KZ4, the B-17, the jet fighters, but this one I have in my personal collection and I wanted to share some new photos.

When I was 4 years old in 1968 my aunt bought, in a small local toy shop (shopping mall is still there but the shop is long gone) a SAS Scandinavian Caravelle, OY-KRA by Tekno. It had excellent retracting undercarriage and even the under-fuselage stairway. She remembered it cost $3.98 which was a lot to pay for a die cast toy. I never dreamed there had earlier been such a great prop plane in this series.

There are several other airline colors available for this toy model. I just checked my Piston Engine Airliner Production List and I confirmed SABENA never had a plane with OO-SAB as the registration. The Alitalia plane even has my last name as the registration on the wing but I have never seen a real one for sale.

[grwebster]

Those Tekno DC-7Cs are certainly ranked as some of the best pre-1980 die cast toys ever made, IMO, their Caravelles, too. They were, after all the inspiration for the Aero Mini line of aircraft.
I have 4 of them and I think there were 8 issued, the hardest to find is the DUVA Air Italia and the Sug Flug, if memory serves.
Here are some of mine, note extra engine always issued with the plastic box.
Don't see these around much anymore.
The Caravelle {also with 7 or 8 variants} came with an upright to convert the box to a stand.

[grwebster]

Here the Caravelle with the upright for the stand and clip. Easy to see how Aero Mini got the idea of using a clip to hold their models.

[richardstarr]

HI TONY AND GR,
THESE TEKNO DOUGLAS DC7C SEVEN SEAS ARE THE GREATEST DIECAST PLANES EVER MADE.
I SEE YOU HAVE COVERED THE SABENA, KLM, SCANDINAVIAN AIRLINES.

I LIKE THE RETRACTABLE LANDING GEAR.

I WOULD MAKE A GUESS ROUGHLY 1958 THESE CAME OUT. I REMEMBER AT THAT TIME, BUYING A TEKNO
NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION F100D IN WIESBADEN GERMANY TOY STORE WHEN I WAS A LITTLE KID.

THANKS FOR THE BEAUTIFUL COLOURFUL PICTURES AND FOR YOUR EXCELLENT ADVICE ON AIRPLANES.
RICK STARR

[Tone]

Here is a link to an unusual variant in an old auction.

One never sees the decals for this obscure airline (Südflug) on any die cast toy plane, except this Tekno DC-7. Yes - "Südflug" was a real airline, and it did operate at least one DC-7C.

http://www.vectis.co.uk/Page/ViewLot.as ... &Start=240

http://www.dusinfo.net/showpic.php?id=3878