Many years ago I used to enjoy seeing the articles in the Meccano Magazine by 'The Toyman', he used to create scenes showing off the then newest Dinky Toys.
I recreated some of these for the DTCA Journal when I was the editor, I will add some of these in here later.
When I did my book last year I created a number of scenes which introduced each chapter and I also do a very limited edition Dinky Calendar each year. Because of this I have about 15 Dinky dioramas which I will put on here over the next couple of weeks.
Here is a small commercial garage.
Dave
Very nice Dave! Already looking forward to the next.
Rob
Hi Dave and Rob, I made a little re-arrangement on my semi-permanent Dinky Toys display, a kind of replica of the original one of 1935, as shown in both DT&MM and the GBofDT. This incidental diorama represents a ca. 1948 display:
(for this purpose I took the glass cover off)
Kind regards, Jan
Jan, I know your diorama well as I have seen it in real life a couple of times. It is a lovely presentation.
The dioramas that I have done are great fun and on average take about 1 - 2 hours to prepare, I will be showing more.
Back in 2009 the DTCA held a 75th anniversary exhibition of Dinky Toys in the Silk Mill Museum in Derby. One of the cabinets contained a recreation of the board shown above by Jan.
It was not possible to photograph all of it at one time so I took two images, here is the right hand side.
Dave
Here is the left hand side of the exhibition board from Derby.
Dave
Here is another diorama of mine:
This time it is a farmyard near to a busy rood junction, the building was made by me out of cardboard and covered with brick paper, the wall is balsa wood covered with brick paper.
Dave
Yes, Dave, that was a nice one too, in Derby!
And a wonderful scenery you produced (like the many in your book!). They are more complicated and creative than the 'naive' display board by Meccano (and my rendition).
Any way, it's a nice and flexible facility for displays of this kind. I had some time today and changed the 1948 scene in a decade younger presentation, the end of the 1950s, by replacing the early post-war models by later versions:
Regards, Jan
I really like your diorama Jan, especially since it is so versatile with regard to different eras that you can show. Both look equally at home.....very nice display, and handy that you made it portable as well.
Terry
Good job Jan.
It's a very hard work to do a so beautiful streets crowded with traffic !
In my opinion, as the traffic increase every year, you should have shown us some more of your Dinky for the end of the 50ths !
Kind regards
Richard
Excellent Jan.
It looks just as good with the modern Dinky Toys.
Here is another diorama this time it is a building site:
As well as Dinky Toys it uses another well known Binns Road Product Meccano.
Dave
Now a Dinky army camp:
Dave
This time a goods yard diorama with Hornby Dublo, Dublo Dinky and a couple of imposters.
Note 12 brand new tractors being delivered to the Northern distributor.
Dave
Dave
Another wonderful scene, and nice to see those Dublo's given their due! I did not see the tiny Singer Roadster.....is it the only one missing? I only have it and the Ford Prefect, both bought new around 1960.
Terry
I doff my hat to these ingenious Dinkyholics with their talent and patience to construct these scenes! All I seem capable of doing these days is taking models out of their boxes, looking and smelling them! (Did I say smelling? Yep, Dinky Toys have a very distinctive smell particularly when first extracted from a box. You should try it sometime!)
But back to the subject, I do admire and am a little envious of these splendid dioramas!
Kind regards
Bruce
Thanks guys, I cannot stress how much fun it is assembling these dioramas.
The Singer Roadster is the only missing Dublo Dinky, I will get one some time, it is not he highest on my wishlist.
I do still have a number of these to add here.
Dave
The fire engines are speeding out of the fire station on an emergency call.
Dave
Dave
Another wonderful scene, and very good use of a mix of Dinky's.....these are always a delight to see!
Terry
This time a busy little bus station:
Dave
Here is a Military Ambulance Depot.
Dave
A very busy road junction near to the Bedford Garage.
Sorry about the small size of this image but the site kept insisting I reduced it until eventually it loaded. Why it has to be smaller than all the preceding photo is absolutely beyond me, it makes no sense whatsoever.
Dave
Dave--
Busy and crowded yes, but a plethora of wonderful 1950's Dinky's also on display....I love it!
Terry
Hi Dave, I believe the problem is that there is set a maximum to the file size, which does not always match the maximum set for pixel size. So, even if you are within the limits in terms of pixel width you may have exceeded the limits of file size, and it is 'refused'. Of course this is rather impractical and sometimes surprising. Kind regards, Jan
Hi Jan, the site is completely illogical.
The image of the Ambulance Depot is 640 x 465. I had to reduce yesterdays image from 640 x 465 to 550 x 400 bfore it would load.
It just does not make any sense at all.
Now I have just put it on at 640 x 465. Why did it not load yesterday?????? It has done today EXACTLY what it refused to do yesterday.
Dave
A busy little garage and some campers
Dave
Dave--
A very nice mix of Dinky's indeed....vehicles and even horses! Nice setup to view.........
Terry
Thanks Terry, I do have a few more to add when I dig them out.
Dave
A busy timber yard in Dinkyland
Dave
Thank you for all these nice Dinky dioramas, Dave. We are fortunate to have in you the new present-day Toyman (and in colour!).
I have another contribution for this section. Not a creation of my own, but a leaflet that I found in my paper masses. It is a little companion document to the Dutch Schoolradio - in times that we were rather limited in visual communication.
It was broadcast every Tuesday afternoon and this is a lesson about every day traffic, especially pedestrian crossings. Listening to the radio this leaflet supplied the pictures discussed.
It dates from 7 May 1957. Obviously the Belisha Beacons, prominently present on every picture, were the important thing. And this is understandable, because they were introduced in the Netherlands in that very year - they did not last long, however, and were abolished in 1962 already. In fact they are Dinky Toys dioramas, mixed with a very few other brands, mainly Lion Toys/Lion Cars, the Dutch model car. Here they come:
The only exceptions are the DKW on ill 3 (Lion), Opel Rekord on 4 and 6 (Lion) and Fiat 1100 on 7 (probably Italian Mercury). The other street furniture, buildings and figurines are unknown to me.
Kind regards, Jan
Jan,
Interesting pictures typical of the Netherlands with all these bicycles.
The Somua bus is peculiar, look at the doors which are all green when the upper half should be cream.
Jacques.
I love these Jan, I guess they are examples of things not to do with the School Children tasked with identifying the problems.
I dont remember anyone using Dinky Toys at any of my schools as an aid to road Safety training, if they did, sadly I would have concentrated more on the toys than the lesson.
Here is a French Dinky military base.
Dave
Dave
The animals next door must have been wondering what's going on! Especially the light brown horse looking over the fence. First he saw a timber yard and then at the blink of an eye, it changed to an army base! Not to mention everybody started driving on the wrong side of the road!!!:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Bruce ;)
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