Category:Ubilda

1932: Ubilda Toy Set catalogue listing [image info]

1932: Ubilda Saloon Car, catalogue listing [image info]

1932: Ubilda Racing Car catalogue listing [image info]

The Ubilda range (slogan: "You Build It"), was introduced by Burnett Limited in 1928 (source: V&A), and some of the range appears in the 1932 Gamages catalogue.

The Ubilda principle

The principle of Ubilda was a good one: since tinplate toys were printed as lithographed sheets of metal and then stamped out and hand-assembled, why not leave at least some of the labour-intensive assembly process to the customer, and sell the models as kits, with added play value, smaller boxes, and a cheaper price?

The Ubilda concept allowed buyers to get more extravagantly large tinplate toys for a given price, with the most popular piece in the range being the Ubilda tinplate Fort, which also had the clever idea of making the printed retail box double as a raised stand for the fort.

Chad Valley Ubilda

The rights to the range were bought by Chad Valley after the Second World War.

Product range (1935)

• Ubilda Sports Car (No.101/90)
• Ubilda Locomotive (No.99/90 & 103/90)
• Ubilda Motor Car (No.93/90)
• Ubilda Fort (No.31/90)
• Ubilda Mechanical Shovel (No.102/60)
• Ubilda Fort (No.30/60)
• Ubilda Tower Bridge (No.65/60)
• Ubilda Air Liner (No.88/42)
• Ubilda Locomotive (No.104/30, 105/30)
• Ubilda Fort (No.81/30)
• Ubilda Sports Car (No.98/30)
• Ubilda Fire Engine (No.66/30)
• Ubilda Motor Car (No.92/30)
• Ubilda Air Liner (No.89/30)
• Ubilda Racing Car (No.28/30)
• Ubilda Aeroplane (No.55/12)
• Ubilda Toy Sets

1935 catalogue

Marguerite Fawdry's book includes an inserted facsimile reproduction of the only known surviving example of a Burnett catalogue, for 1935-36

• Marguerite Fawdry, British Tin Toys (New Cavendish, 1990), ISBN 0904568865