Category:Aeroplane Construction Sets (Märklin)

1936: Aeroplane Construction Sets [image info]

1936: Contents of the smaller set, Märklin 1151 [image info]

Märklin 1159 Clockwork Motor [image info]

Märklin 1151A Aeroplane Upgrade Set [image info]

Alternative national markings [image info]

The 1930s Märklin Aeroplane Construction Sets essentially consisted of variations on a single Junkers airframe, equipped with one, two or three engines. Märklin's "spin" on this restricted range was that the Junkers range were the only metal-skinned aircraft that currently existed (using the German-developed Duralumin alloy that had originally been used for Zeppelins), and that as a metal toy manufacturer striving for the greatest possible authenticity, it was proper for metal toy aircraft to be models of real metal aircraft.

Märklin 1151 single-engined configuration

Due to post-WW1 restriction on the power of German military-capable aircraft engines, the same basic Junkers aircraft was available as a three-engined plane (the Ju52/3m), but could be fitted with a more powerful engine by foreign airlines to become a single-engined craft - this meant that the same Märklin kit could build two different authentic aircraft (and a third, if the owner wanted to fit the two wing engines and omit the nose engine).

Range and options

The two main sets were

No. 1152 which built the full-three-engined clockwork model aircraft, and
No. 1151 which was a cut-down set that left out the clockwork motor and the two wing engines.

Owners of the smaller set could purchase upgrades to the full set:

No. 1159 clockwork motor only
No. 1151 A The full set of parts to convert a 1151 set to a 1152 set, including the clockwork motor and additional two engine pods and propellors

1936 promotional text:

Aeroplane Construction Sets

to make accurate models of modern all-metal aeroplanes

Aeroplane Construction Set No. 1151

Containing all parts and tools required for the construction of the single engined Junkers (W 34) air liner illustrated above. Rudder and ailerons moveable from the cockpit by means of control wires; air screw driven by addition of motor No 1159.
With comprehensive and richly illustrated instructions.
Size of model: Wing span 22 in.
Length 14 1/2 in.

Aeroplane Construction Set No. 1152

See illustration on next page.
This set, which includes clockwork motor No. 1159, will build the following models:

Single engined Junkers (W 34) air liner as of set 1151, with air screw driven by clockwork motor.

Doubled engined air liner with air screws driven by clockwork motor.

Three engined Junkers standard air liner (Ju 52/3m) with air screws driven by clockwork motor.

Size of model: Wing span 22 in.
Length 14 1/2 in.
Sets Nos. 1151 and 1152 include a number of national marks, which can be attached to the aeroplanes. They are as follows: 1. Belgium, 2. Germany, 3. France, 4. Great Britain, 5. Italy, 6. Holland, 7. Sweden, 8. Switzerland, 9. Czecho-Slovakia, 10. U.S.A.

1996 reissue (#1980)

A limited production run reissue of the 1152 trimotor model was produced by Märklin in 1996, pre-built, as model 1980, and there's one of these on display in the museum.