i don't know who made the original, or whther it was indeed triang….but i had two as a young lad, one that sank whilst sailing it on Fleetwood boating lake, and the other i played with in my bath……and those were before i reached the grand age of 10, and i am 3 score year and ten at the moment..

so that was at least 60 years that those little treasures have been going……..i have an old one with parts missing but still works.

Hi Stephen,

Yes Tri-ang did produce a range of small clockwork model boats your Lifeboat being one of them, The 3 Lines Brothers from south London set up a company which was at one time the largest toy manufacturer in the world who made model railways and some of the brands we now know as Hornby just after the First World War.

They turned to making the Sten machine guns during WW2 when toy manufacture was considered non essential !

Hornby bought the Airfix company in 2006, which was originally formed by a Hungarian businessman Nicholas Kove in 1939, making the name most associated with plastic injection moulded kits, I'm from the 2/- bob kit generation sold by Woolworths

Plenty of history of both companies on Wikipedia

Regards Ray

I remember Airfix bagged kits at 2/6 when I was very young. I used to buy one a week with my half crown pocket money. Then Airfix put the price up to 2/7 so I asked my Dad for a pocket money raise. He refused saying I could miss out buying one every few weeks and have the spare half crown for buying paints and glues and adding to the other weeks to make up the 2/7. A true Yorkshireman my Dad. He called it carefull, I called it something to do with the rear of a duck.

oh I'ts definately based on a Liverpool class lifeboat Stephen….

here's one just a little bit larger

being a lad born and brought up in Fleetwood i went though my phase of building old steam trawlers and then on to shelter deckers………enjoyed building them very much, but arthritis in the fingers gradually took over and 1;12 scale became easier to build………..hence lifeboats.

I've learned to be careful. A:LWAYS cut away from yourself! Works most of the time.

Colin

Nice subject, do you have a plan ?

Our town lifeboat was an Oakley in the old days.

Airfix and Woolies, Saturday morning chores done, paid enough for a bagged kit which where always by the door in Woolies, just below the large peg board display of made kits.

A few years later I worked in Woolies, a large building with a dance hall above, with a leaky roof and pidgeon poooo everywhere.

The large display of assembled and painted kits was stored in the dance hall. A few years later the grand old building was demolished.

Never found out what happened to the airfix display, which was quite large, probably 16 feet by 4.

If that model had a plan for it I would make one.

Ps lifeboats are not supposed to sink.