Black , Long , Red rust on the bottom and very white deck houses .She was built by Wen - Mac industries about 1957 or so .This one example I have , still runs , and looks good doing it ! !
The other is done by IDEAL Toys and doesn’t do squat ! Just sits there collecting more dust . Both are NOT bad examples of both a toy and a larger model , ( if somewhat incorrect ) Of a ship that wore many colors during W.W.-2 in real life . Who sold it ? and how did one get their sticky kid fingers on one ?
I am sure many of you will get it right BUT remember this , there were three on the market at the time . One wasn’t even of the same type ! Go for it ! T.B.
It is possible that the ideal ship is the Phantom Raider from 1964.The neat battery operated raider extended out to display hidden missile emplacements on the deck.
The Wenmac ship is the Texaco North Dakota. I have one.
Aw , Gee !
You certainly know your ships . It is indeed the TEXACO North Dakota . Funny thing that .Did you know that the Hull is almost dead on correct ? Everything else is Hmmm .
Now that the bag no longer contains the cat , did you know she makes a great operational hull for a jeep carrier or a tramp steamer ? All you really have to do is change the prop to the proper type as far as the power plant is concerned .
My battery pack fits right where the original did and my radio antenna is in the mast ,
I was thinking of restoring it. I found a website that sells replacements of all of the original parts. They also sell rep parts for all kinds of other toys from the 60’s. But I kind of lost interest. Probably for $ 200.00 in parts I could have a no-box replica.
I have pondered this same thing .
My operational one is near box perfect .The other one now . Well suffice it to say she needs to be yarded for a major refit .
The boxed ones are not perfect , but they are original . I could use one as a parts ship . Don’t know if I should though .
The ones with the hull being to only really useful part , well , they will be a few other things , Just not tankers anymore .
The TEXACO North Dakota was a “fill up” premium offered by Texaco service stations (remember those?) in 1961. For a tank full of gas you could purchase the ship for $2.89. It came in a box with a booklet explaining underway life on the tankers trip from Galvaston, Texas to Providence, RI. The second part of the booklet told of the wartime story of the oil tanker OHIO that survived numerous German attacks attempting to bring aviation fuel to Malta in WWII.
For an additional $1.00 you could send away for a plastic display stand ( same length as the model) that came with a nameplate with all the ship’s specs on it.
I purchased a number of tankers from Evil bay, some were basket cases but cheap. I put each one through a “re-hab” process, new parts, new motors, new decals and a new paint job. The superstructures white plastic turned yellow over time and a coat of fresh paint made the model look brand new. Wen-Mac offered their own tanker labeled “the SS DOLPHIN”, same as the gas station model but without any connection to Texaco.
By the way, some of the Texaco tankers had the “brown” bottom paint, some had a “red” bottom paint, I have examples of both.
I think it cost $ 2.89 to fill up my Bug back in the day!
Yes the tanker had a nice set of Plimsoll markings on it. Sort of unfortunately the TEXACO on the side is engraved. Mine is pretty much junk, it barely survived my last move. A smokers toy, too.
Plus you most likely gotten several Flintstone glasses along with that fill up.
Can you post some pics of the Tankers Thunder?
Sorry, I’ve given up on posting pics here on this web site. Trying to download my photos on Photobucket and then attempting to load them here to this site is a horror show. Last time I tried I spent 2 hours and the results were nil. As I had mentioned before, there are sites that you download your pictures to with no “hosting” to another site for retrievel. And these sites are one man operations, I’m not sure why all model sites are not onboard, especially those with a budget. If I knew your email address I’d send some photos along to you.