Posted 11 years ago
ohmyflyguy
(83 items)
This is possibly the only version of the Marx Pressed Steel Toy Bomber that went through a full conversion to an early Boeing B17D "Shark-Fin" Bomber. This toy airplane is now destined for display in an Amarillo Texas Museum.
The roots of the design comes from various tales related to me from and old Marx employee from West Virginia who recounted that this Marx toy
started as Marx' version of the a Douglas DC-4E in 1938 but was a bit of a thorn in the company's side as it looked nothing like the airplane it intended to depict. The full-scale version actually featured tricycle landing gear, had 3-fins, was tested by United Airlines and not American Airlines, so gaffs all around for Marx. To re-coup the mistakes, Marx went back to the drawing board and spawned off the "Coastal Bomber" which we normally see on the market painted silver and red with litho- gun blisters.
Marx considered taking that concept one step further. According to my contact, Marx considered making a new version, the Boeing B-17D Bomber from the basic Douglas toy steel stampings. It meant creating new tin litho parts and, with the war-clouds imminent and new steel usage prohibited, the project was shelved. This toy has been re-built according to the anticipated design changes with markings honoring the first bomber group (19th Bomb Group) to strike back at the enemy in WWII. The new owner plans to donate the toy to a museum in Texas.
