Matchbox Regular Wheels No.42c Iron Fairy Crane

Product Description

Matchbox Regular Wheels No.42c Iron Fairy Crane – Stannard Code 3 – red body, dark yellow jib with low hydraulic pin, yellow base and interior with thin seat, yellow hook, 12.5 x 45-tread black plastic wheels, Near Mint in Poor to Good type F3 box.

The Lesney model of the Iron fairy crane joined the Matchbox 1-75 series late in 1969 which was around the time that Lesney were starting to convert the range to superfast wheels but as the vehicle was a crane it was not converted to superfast wheels until 1970-71.It had a die cast body and two piece crane jib and a yellow plastic baseplate, the body was painted red and the crane jib yellow but shades can vary.

The crane can be swiveled and the jib can be raised because it was hinged on an axle pin, To hold the jib in the up position was a die cast hydraulic ram that slid into a plastic sleeve, because it was a snug fit into the sleeve it stopped the jib dropping down.
It was usually fitted with a yellow plastic hook.
The baseplate also included the drivers seat as part of the molding and according to the Stannard the seat can be found with a thick or thin backrest.
The wheels were 12.5 x 48 black plastic that were fitted on dome head axles with rounded ends.
The early issue had a crane jib with the inner end of the hydraulic ram fitted in a higher position, later the hole for the pin that held the inner end of the ram was lowered but the cut out in the jib to give clearance for the higher pin was not filled in.
There were two body castings for the iron fairy, The main difference between the two is in the area around the grille at the rear end and the crash bars that protect it but there are slight differencies in the checkerplate panels on the front and rear ends of the mudguards, On body 1 the checkerplate comes right up to the edge of the cab and at the rear it comes right up to the edge of the engine cover, on body 2 there is a gap between the edge of the checkerplate and the cab and at the rear there is a gap between the checkerplate and the engine cover.
The iron fairy is fairly common but the early issue with the high mounted jib pin is quite hard to find. It was packaged in an ‘F’ type box,
The superfast version was deleted in 1972.