Budgie Toys No.292

Bulk Milk Tanker

Issued 1963-66    Length 110mm    OO/HO scale (1:76)

The Bulk Milk Tanker was the second Budgie model to be based on an Albion truck. The same casting was used for the cab and chassis as the Bulk Flour Tanker (288) with the milk tank replacing the flour silos.

The cab and chassis were one casting with clear windows in the cab and silver trim on the front headlights. Initially painted dark blue, a late version was coloured red and this is quite rare. As with the earlier Albion model, three different bases were used on the Bulk Milk Tanker in an attempt to incorporate suspension on the model.

The type 1 base on the early Bulk Milk Tanker was painted glossy black and had 'No.292 Bulk Milk' cast under the cab, 'A Budgie Model' in the centre and 'Made in England' at the rear. The axles, apart from the front one, were fitted into V-shaped extensions and held in place by spikes or pins cast onto the chassis above. One of the advantages of this was that the axles had some 'play' and thus gave the model a simple suspension effect.

However, for some reason Budgie did not like this because after a while a second base was introduced which had the V-shaped extensions filled in and strengthened. Also 'Made in England' cast at the rear was in smaller lettering, but Budgie were not happy with this base either because they reverted to the type 1 base on blue models.

On the type 3 base, however, a much better attempt at suspension was made by incorporating black plastic springs above the first and fourth axles. These were fixed to the base at the centre with two arms, like an inverted 'V', pressing on each end of the axle. This type 3 base was used on both blue and red models and used ridged plastic wheels with knobbly tyres.

The tank of the Bulk Milk Tanker was painted pale cream and carried long decals on each side claiming 'You'll feel a lot better if you drink more Milk'. On the rear there was a further 'Milk' decal. The tank was held in place by a central peg and two rivets from the base. 

Issued first with silver plastic wheels and treaded tyres, a final run saw the use of smaller ridged silver plastic wheels with knobbly tyres. These were the only wheels used on the red version.

Boxes for the Bulk Milk Tanker were initially the standard 'Budgie Models' box (B2) with a descriptive panel on one face. Later Budgie used blue and white open sided window packs with shrink-wrap (C1) and most of the late models with ridged plastic wheels were sold in these.

The blue Bulk Milk Tanker is not too hard to find but the red model is fairly rare.

Blue cab & chassis, spw

Budgie No.292 Bulk Milk Tanker

Variations

1) BLUE cab/chassis   CREAM tank   type 1 base    spw (treaded tyres)               B2 box or C1 pack

2) BLUE cab/chassis   CREAM tank   type 2 base    spw (treaded tyres)               B2 box

3) BLUE cab/chassis   CREAM tank   type 3 base    ridged spw (knobbly tyres)    C1 pack

4) RED cab/chassis     CREAM tank   type 3 base    ridged spw (knobbly tyres)    B2 box or C1 pack

Variation 4: Red cab & chassis, ridged spw

Type 1 base

Type 3 base with suspension

Variation 1 in original sealed C1 window pack