The Lionel no. 3429 helicopter car was the company’s answer to get more kids to buy its products in the late 1950s. It was an attempt to get away from a product line the public regarded as old-fashioned.
The company’s creative minds decided to make items Lionel could link the trains to popular military and space themes. Instead of hauling coal, logs, and barrels, it developed some exciting cargo: helicopters, missiles, and submarines.
Read about more of Lionel’s military- and space-themed products here.
Everyone at Lionel was excited when, in 1959, engineers developed a flatcar that not only transported a miniature helicopter but also launched it with the flick of a switch.
Over the next few years, an array of different operating and non-operating “’copter cars” entered the line, nearly all of which featured a royal blue frame and a whirlybird with U.S. Navy markings.
For one action-packed outfit in 1960, though, Lionel remembered the Marines. It painted a flatcar in olive drab and heat-stamped it in white with the initials of the United States Marine Corps. The no. 3429 carried a unique version of Lionel’s helicopter – the only one stamped “U.S.M.C.” and not “Navy.”
The U.S.M.C. version of the Lionel no. 3429 helicopter car appeared only in set no. 1805, which Lionel nicknamed the Land-Sea and Air Gift Pack. Along with two other olive drab versions of military operating cars and a medical caboose, it rode behind a no. 45 U.S. Marine Corps missile launcher. The 3429 was not available for separate sale, and after a year in the line it was gone.
Lionel helicopter car models aren’t generally considered scarce, yet they are known to be hard to find, especially in like-new or better condition and with their original packaging (component box and possibly inserts). If you can find one in good condition, the Lionel no. 3429 helicopter car makes a great addition to any postwar collection.
hello i recently acquire a 1650w set the usmc car in it assume by the boxes and no other items that it was put in kit at factory. now it did have a navy helicopter on it. could you verify that this is possible. by your article it is not.