Try A Little VC-10-derness

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Vickers VC-10 made in Japan, 1964, Louis Marx trade mark



This plane looks as though it is actually "Nikko Gangu" brand. The nose wheels are powered, and pull the plane along. All four red plastic jet engines light up. The top parts of the body, wings and tail are lithographed tin plate. The lower parts are molded grey plastic.

The markings are those of the prototype: G ARTA. Toy VC-10s usually appear in a revised BOAC colors with "BOAC" titling near the flight deck windows inside the dark blue cheat line, and a gold speed bird on the tail.

This plane looks as though it is the same mold as a Marx 727 "Jet of the Soaring 60s" but I cannot be certain as I do not have one. The toy shares the powered nose wheel with the more famous DC-9 with opening door and setting ladder.

There is another larger battery-operated VC-10 by Masudaya. Interestingly it has "House colors" with VC-10 titles. I am not sure if the plane ever really flew in these colors.

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Here is a very similar NIKKO GANGU-TN VC-10 seen recently. This one is similar to 727 Pilot's Lufthansa 727 with the 1975 date printed on the box.

Note the differences: the large motor box under the fuselage instead of the nose wheel drive like the Marx brand toy, the much more pronounced stepped nose, and the grey plastic triangle at the base of the tail fin. This Nikko Gangu-TN VC10 also has more realistically-shaped wings and tail surfaces than the Marx brand toy. The lithography is identical - they were probably made in the same factory. The owner states that the length is 15" and wingspan is 14" so the sizes of the two toys are similar.

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In The Big Book of Toy Airplanes W Tom Miller has a photo of a die cast VC-10 that's shaped like the tin/plastic toy in the second photo I attached, while the "Wild Wings" VC-10 is shaped like the tin/plastic toy in my first photo. The toy makers must've used the larger toys as models instead of real blueprints. Has anybody researched such an obscure thing?