GMTK sets - no love for Plomb?

[maddawg308]

Building my GMTK over time, MAN it's a slow process. A lot of my sockets and a few of the drive tools are Plomb - I love Plomb stuff, very well made tools. However, in looking around here it seems that there aren't many folks who value having Plomb tools in their GMTK or other tool kits. Any reason why? Plomb was a US tool contractor during WW2, so it's not like it's a no-no for having in the tool sets. Just seems that in the sets I've seen on G503.com, looking all over, there are few who put Plomb stuff in their boxes.

[Silly's MB]

Lot of love for Plomb but most of us don't think the evidence is there for it to be supplied in great numbers with a GMTK. Much more evidence for Plomb use with Air Corps and also War Aid lend lease. Virtually any that I find over here in the UK are Whitworth or WF marked.

[mudbox]

No prejudice against Plomb here! I think they’re a good choice. Perhaps the one brand where you could conceivably match sockets (1/2” and 1/4”), handles, wrenches DOEs and DBE (short and long) adjustables, and perhaps even pliers.

Seems like the majority of their contracts were let to the USN and the USAAF. So maybe that’s maybe why not so many for the humble GMTK. Check the sticky at the top of the page for a link to the verified supplier list that Wingnut pulled together.

I’ve got a near complete 1/2” drive set and some long DBEs but not currently in a GMTK.

My GMTK does have the lady’s foot pry bar from Plomb.

A solid choice but expensive if you’re buying them retail. Finding them at the flea would be possible, but probably take a long time to pull together.

Care to share some pics of your set so far?

Looks like we can edit posts again!!! Yay! Looks like I cross posted with Silly’s MB.

-Jason

[Silly's MB]

Here is Gordon's Plomb thread from a while ago.

viewtopic.php?f=48&t=262301

[d42jeep]

I really like Plomb tools and have quite a few, including some in my GMTK and MVMTS. I briefly considered doing a Plomb based GMTK but they didn’t offer a complete GMTK 1/4” drive set due to not making one of the 8 point sockets. I have wartime 1/4”, 3/8” and 1/2” drive sets so I’m happy with those.
-Don

[Gordon_M]

We all love Plomb here, but as mentioned above we all seem to keep it in Army Air Corps, Army Air Force, or Naval Air Force collections / boxes. .

Plomb seem to have supplied a whole bunch of non-catalogue stuff for export ( only seen on auction site here in the UK ) and a load of Whitworth-marked wrenches too. I thought that the Whitworth stuff would just be British use, like RAF, but I see so much of it that it must have been supplied more widely.

Start a WF collection too.

[Rustman]

I've started working on a Plomb 1/4 drive set for my GMTK. I'm using WF marked tools since our living history group is a USAAF one. I also occasionally find a Plomb WF 3/8 drive tool. That goes into the aircraft mechanic box I have. I've only been stalking the flea market so far. I haven't switched to buying retail to complete these.

Matt

[d42jeep]

Here are two 18” breaker bars that I consider to be late war GMTK correct. The New Britain one above replaced the lower Plomb one in my GMTK.
-Don

[d42jeep]

I finally decided to give it a shot. The results can be seen starting here.
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=245571&start=135#p1905592
-Don

[Homersgarage]

I finally decided to start a Plomb WF collection....have a big bucket full of stuff....would love to swap and trade. Without buying 25 sockets in a box, anyone have a WF27 3/8 socket? I have 25, 26 28 in multiples. (and many more)

[Homersgarage]

Got a WF8 in the mail today! Slowly putting a 9/32 kit together.