Neat Find at an Antique Store: B-36

kyleb said:
Looks like I picked a bad day to quit smoking...
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Actually, the ashtray comes out. I'm mulling over 3-D printing something to replace it. Like a section of globe. Or a door slightly open, with Jimmy Stewart's eye looking out.

Ron Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
Actually, the ashtray comes out. I'm mulling over 3-D printing something to replace it. Like a section of globe. Or a door slightly open, with Jimmy Stewart's eye looking out.

Ron Wanttaja
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or perhaps June Allyson on the ground looking up
 
You probably got it for a steal. There's one on Ebay for $390 that's nowhere near as nice. I've not seen one for less than $200.

These were given out to the Convair employees who worked on the thing.
 
flyingron said:
You probably got it for a steal. There's one on Ebay for $390 that's nowhere near as nice. I've not seen one for less than $200.
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After viewing the item at the antique store, my wife and I retired to a nearby pub that had Guinness on draft. Did an online search to see if the price was in the ballpark; it was. IIRC, the online $200 one was actually missing the ceramic ashtray. Stoked with stout and onion rings, we returned to the store and bought the ashtray. They had several other similar aircraft ashtrays, including an art deco one with a nearly nekkid woman, a Spitfire, a P-38, etc.

My main collectable target is "space kitsch," the kind of stuff sold in the '50s and '60s to capitalize on the space race. But I'm a sucker for aviation stuff, too, especially toys that show actual unusual aircraft. Got started with this tiny plastic toy of the Boulton-Paul Defiant...
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The Defiant was the worst fighter of WWII...which led me down the rabbit hole of figuring WHY a company went through the effort of making a toy of it. A little digging online revealed the probable answer. The Defiant was introduced to much publicity in the spring of 1940, and in 1942, Britain's Acme Plastics issued a set of Battle of Britain fighters, including the Hurricane, Spitfire, and Defiant. I'm guessing that Acme Plastic's lead time to design, prototype, and make the models would have been about two years. So the Defiant was included from the beginning, and just carried along after the design work was completed.

An American company, Thomas Toy, picked up the little fighters after the war. I'm guessing there were few people in the company that knew the difference.

Anyway, this particular antique store was shy on space kitsch, but had one of the biggest selection of old aviation toys I've seen. Most of it was just generic airplanes, which aren't of interest. One exception was a tin toy of the Boeing B-50.
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The B-50 was an interim bomber based on the B-29; I'm, again, surprised a company went through the effort to make a semi-accurate toy of it. Considering its similarity to a B-29, I'm also surprised that it was a Japanese company that made it. The toy is huge, about 19" wingspan.

Ron Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
Actually, the ashtray comes out. I'm mulling over 3-D printing something to replace it. Like a section of globe. Or a door slightly open, with Jimmy Stewart's eye looking out.

Ron Wanttaja
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As a prochronism, a 3d printed miniature of Slim Pickins, cowboy hat in hand, riding a Mk 41.
 
You could 3d print an RF-84K or an XF-85.

Of course, they would be miniscule compared to the Peacemaker.
 
I've got a little cast Navion toy kicking around here somewhere. The only oddity is that they built it as a taildragger.

I also have in my bar a bourbon bottle that looks like the Winnie Mae. I got it when Margy was working at the Udvar-Hazy center where the original one is.
 
The B-36 ashtray reminded of a clock I picked up a couple of years back, with a Starfighter....
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Obviously had had a presentation plate on the front. The bottom has a very chewed up label from the supplier. Name was "E.R. Flewwe..." (can't make out the letters after that). Address was "18 W. Hastings Va...." A search on "18 W. Hastings" finds one in Vancouver, British Columbia. So this was probably for those involved in the Canadian CF-104.

One interesting aspect is the 104 model doesn't have the aircraft's distinctive anhedral...the wings are straight across. Don't know if this was a limitation of the casting process, or the designer just didn't catch that feature.

The clock itself was made in Germany...which I had felt ironic, considering Germany's bad luck with the F-104. Says "Mercedes" on the face, but that was the name of an entirely different company than the auto manufacturer. Digging online says the manufacturer was Staub, in EAST Germany. You gotta wonder if the Starfighter itself was made there, too, which might explain some of the technical errors. So, interesting antecedents.....

Ron Wanttaja
 
kyleb said:
You could 3d print an RF-84K or an XF-85.

Of course, they would be miniscule compared to the Peacemaker.
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When I was a kid I had a plastic model (probably Revell or Monogram) of the B-36 hanging from my bedroom ceiling, with a tiny F-4 Phantom carved from balsa wood in formation with it (never mind that they missed overlapping by two years, I was a kid and didn't know better).

The B-36 lived up to its name, "Peacemaker"; it was never used in an actual war.
 
Dana said:
The B-36 lived up to its name, "Peacemaker"; it was never used in an actual war.
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It is a fascinating aircraft if you look at its altitude, range, and load carrying ability. And it excelled in its role for most of a decade during one of the most disruptive periods of technological change we've seen.
 
One of my older co-workers had been a kid when the B-36 was operational. He said the sound was indescribable. Really sorry I'll never have a chance to hear it, unless Nauga or someone does a restoration....

Ron Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
(U)nless Nauga or someone does a restoration....

Ron Wanttaja
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Well, the Liberty Aviation Museum has been restoring 5AT40 (N9684) since 2004 with a crew that fluctuates between 15 and 50...
5AT40.jpg
Given that a B-36 is "slightly" larger... :cool:
 
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