Mobaco - Moubal

Mobaco consists of thick cardboard base plate with square holes. Wooden columns of various heights could be inserted. With various cardboard like pannels a building structure could be created. Mobaco also used a very efficient building plan system and so having all parts are numbered.

Mobaco came with many different sets (first two sets in 1924). It was produced & sold by Moubal in Zeist and later sold via Jumbo.

For much more related information, visit mobaco.nl.

History

Mobaco is originated by similar building game Pulko Baukasten. Most likely there was some kind of cooperation between mr. Pulkowisky and Moubal, where Moubal basically provided a better production method.

1924 Moabal starts selling Mobaco boxes (Sets 1 & 2), while the belonging manual had already many (set 3 & 4) buildings on the cover. So apparently they want to see if smaller boxes were sellable. It's a bit strange, because the bigger boxes need also different parts and so different stamping tools. This must have been a large inital investment.

After the first 7 years of selling the Mobaco game, Moubal started to increase sales by selling a bigger variety of constructions, adding: windmills, garages & showcased Model-Z.

Moubal also tried to sell different games, including Elba, which uses the same 'cardboard' material.

After WW2, Jumbo took over the sales & the boxes were reduced a lot, increasing profit. Finally there was a new toy on the block: Lego, which basically vanished a lot of these building toys.

A picture of the Mobaco-timeline:

Today there are still many collectors, at least in The Netherlands, which are collecting & building with/including Mobaco. Some active members are found on the facebook page.

Due to the 100 existence of this toy, there were some exhibitions organized by C. Mol and others. Read more about: Mobaco 100 years.

Boxes & Parts

Here a small impression is shown, about the (many) different boxes and parts, during the years:

Bellow you see an overview of all different parts.

Specials & rare parts

After investigation all Mobaco related content, it's always nice to find rare parts/buildings. Why are these parts displayed, but never produced?

• One of these special parts (windows) are found already on the first manual (1924) on top side of the big unknown castle building.
• Model Z, including many special parts, were already issued in 1931, but never produced: read more in this post: reconstruction of Model Z.
• Also during the start of Jumbo sales, a small windmill appreas both on the front cover picture and even as part number inside the lid. But never produced.
• There are rare parts found, about be bigger green windmill(?) kind of construction. Might have been a prototype?
• Some years back, there was a sale of Mobaco farm house on MP. It's remarkable, because during the garages & windmills period, Moubal also announced more building types, like farm houses. It's unknown if these were prototypes or not.
• Rare parts ao.: Clock #29, #150, #151 & #152.
• Bigger base plates..
• Different windows...

Reproduction & custom designs

These specials are interesting, when brought to live. So let's re-make these parts:

Original Mobaco cardboard is not working for the CO2 laser cutter. Original Mobaco cardboard could be best modified by saw or water cutter.

I'm still selling Model Z special parts (and/or other) parts if needed.

Some system characteristics

Here a short list of some system characteristics and how it’s retrofitted into the virtual LeoCAD library:

(todo: re-create this table...)

Library information

Here an overview of the parts library:

Building in LeoCAD

Many buildings are virtual recreated by a small group of LeoCAD enthusiast's:

Buildings from manuals:

Different virtual buildings from the original Mobaco manuals:

Some PovRay animations:

Some 3D models:

Set 5 buildings:

And three representations of the never produced 'Set 5' buildings:

The backside of these set 5 buildings is speculative, since there are only pictures from the front side. Below a 3D model of 5A & 5C:

DIY buildings by G. Poort:

• Anthonius-kerk De Vecht
• Amsterdamse grachten panden
• Bergkerk - Deventer
• Bolwerksmolen - Deventer
• Chateau Moulinsart
• Cheverny
• De Waag - Deventer
• Dom Toren - Utrecht
• Dudok (wit) - Hilversum
• Dudok (rood) - Hilversum
• Heldringkerk Hoenderloo
• Jachthuis St Hubertus
• Kasteel Ruurlo
• Lebuinuskerk - Deventer
• Rijksmuseum - Amsterdam

DIY buildings by C. Mol:

• Domkerk + kloostertuin (v4b)
• Gemeentehuis - Zeist (v4)
• H&H 1955 Jaarbeurs model
• Maliebaanstation
• Moubal Fabriek
• Nieuwe Station Ede-Wageningen, groot v1
• Nieuwe Station Ede-Wageningen, klein v2
• Notre Dame (Jumbo size)
• Oude Station Ede-Wageningen 1920 v1b
• Speelgoed Fort
• Speelgoed museum Oosterhout

DIY buildings by others incl. myself:

• Reconstruction Farm
• Dom Toren + kerk
• Molen De Ster Utrecht
• Notre Dame (Jumbo size)
• Notre Dame (Moubal size)
• Notre Dame (a la L'Edifice)
• Remise Spoor 0
• Special mill house (BW)
• Amsterdamse grachten panden + custom gables (GdV)
• Model Z street (PtH)
• Notre Dame (PtH)

And some more renders from special buildings I liked most:

Building & playing

Our kids are also still playing with Mobaco once in a while, mostly combining with other toys.

A nice comparison of 4 similar building games, from left to right:

• Mobaco
• Edilizia Moderna
• Edilizia
• L’Édifice

Downloads

The latest Mobaco library (v1.5) is available at Cults3D for free. Including original Mobaco example files and many DIY designs. If you build something great, let us know!

Enjoy all 3D Mobaco buildings on SketchFab.com.

Watch all LeoCAD buildings listed on Mobaco.nl.

Or read more about Mobaco related posts.

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