Model 8.19  Eight-wheeler lorry from the 1955 set 7 / 8  instruction manual. The model is a fairly good representation of the Foden S18 Flat bed Lorry of 1950. Eight wheel rigid trucks were the most common type of large haulage vehicle on British Roads in the 1950s often pulling a draw bar trailer. The Foden was one of the best with its powerful Gardner diesel engine. The Foden Eight-Wheeler was also the prototype for a popular series of Dinky Supertoys the model shown below was introduced in 1952. The prototype Foden S18 shown above was a common sight for me in Gravesend Kent when I was a child, they were used by Bowaters Paper mills a large manufacturer of newsprint at nearby Northfleet. The red liveried flat bed eight wheelers carried about seven of the huge rolls of newsprint to Fleet Street in London every evening. Vehicles with chains on the loading platform were often used to carry barrels whether there was ever a Foden prototype is quite another matter. The Binns Road model department of Meccano Ltd. must have decided to turn their attention to the Dinky products of their company for ideas around this time. The Foden is not the only model in the 1955 series of manuals to be based on Dinky Toy road vehicles others that have more than a passing resemblance include: Mobile Crane 7.7 (Coles mobile crane); Taxi 7.11 (Austin Taxi); Army Wagon 7.13 (Bedford 3 ton army wagon); Coupe 7.18 ( Triumph Mayflower Salon); Breakdown Lorry 8.6 (Commer Breakdown lorry); Military Tank 8.8 (Centurion Tank); Bulldozer 8.20 (Baw Knox bulldozer) Others include Armoured car 6.7, Leyland Lorry 6.8, Electric articulated lorry 6.12 Rear Dumping truck 6.21 and Horse box 6.26. All the Dinky toy prototypes were introduced prior to the publication of the manuals. A scan from the original 7/8 manual is shown below. This model was built as a commission for a collector. In the construction I used nineteen fifties red and green parts and 1960s zinc parts. A few changes were made to both the original manual design and my own yellow and aluminum finished model. The ends of the fuel tank are pre Second World War wheel discs powder coated green to match the 1950s green. I have also built this model in 1960s Yellow and Aluminum parts.   September 24 2008

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