Wednesday, 23 January 2013
SNOW TREK
Well with all the wintery whinging going on, schools off, pipes frozen, traffic at a standstill, its always amusing to consider what we might do in England if we were faced with real cold (eh Arto ?)! With this in mind Woodsy asked me to rustle up a 'toy' inspired version of the Snow Train.
Eric Eden originally designed the 'Snow Train' in A TV21 Summer Extra during a look at futuristic travel concepts. The vehicle was then adopted by the Project SWORD annual as the Beetle, in a slightly shortened version. In the lead story, the Beetle attempts to cross New York which has been devastated and now sits on top of a volcanic area. In order to get through the lava, the Beetle deploys an odd looking heat shield arrangement, covering the vehicle.
This strange contraption was seemingly adapted into the nearest toy approximation of the Beetle/Snow Train we have seen so far - the Imai Thunderbird 7 kit.
The rounded shape bears more than a passing resemblance to the Beetles heat shield and does not feature in any Thunderbirds material. Using Ferrymans photos of the completed model, I set out to try and create a hypothetical 'Snow Train' toy.
Maybe we will find that there is a legitimate Beetle/Snow train toy out there one day!
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READ THE ESSENTIAL PROJECT SWORD COMICS HISTORY BY SHAQUI LEVESCONTE & KIM STEVENS
the definitive guide to vintage thunderbirds toys - steve's thunderbirds vintage toys
PROJECT SWORD SPACEX TIMELINE
- 1968 SPACEX LT10 CONCEPT
- 1966 SPACE GLIDER REAL THING
- 1969 LUNAR CLIMBER & MOONSHIP
- 1968 PROJECT SWORD ANNUAL
- 1968 TV21 #168 PROJECT SWORD PHASE 2
- 1968 PLEASURE CRUISER CONCEPT
- 1968 CENTURY 21 TOY MANUAL
- 1967 SCOUT 1 CONCEPT
- 1967 NUCLEAR FERRY TOY AD
- 1967 SWORD TOY AD
- 1967 SWORD TOY AD
- 1966 SPACE GLIDER CONCEPT
- 1966 HOVERTANK IN COMIC
- 1966 NUKE PULSE NEEDLEPROBE IN COMIC
- 1966 ZERO X FILM DEBUT
- 1966 MOONBUS IN COMIC
- 1966 SPACE PATROL 1
- 1966 P3 HELICOPTER IN COMIC
- 1966 SAND FLEA AND SNOW TRAIN
- 1966 MOBILE LAUNCH PAD IN COMIC
- 1965 SPACEX MOONBASE CONCEPT
- 1965 APOLLO FIRST UK TOY AD
- 1962 NOVA CONCEPT
- 1962 MOONBUS CONCEPT
- 1961 MOON PROSPECTOR CONCEPT
- 1953 MOLAB CONCEPT
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KYUSHU THUNDERBIRDS MUSEUM
OTHER PROJECT SWORD VEHICLES IN THE ANNUAL
DREAMS OF space - a fabulous timeline of space books and art
PROBE FORCE 3 VARIATIONS
PROJECT SWORD, SPACEX AND APOLLO MOON EXPLORING LIST. KEY SS = SIMILAR TO SWORD, SB = Similar box
- T Moon Prospector artwork box
- T Moon Prospector Photo Box
- T Moon Ranger
- Tarheel (T) Space Glider USA
- Sears 3 Stage Rocket Base USA
- Century 21 (C21) Moonbase Playset UK
- C21 Zero X
- C21 Nuclear Ferry
- C21 Cape Kennedy Set
- C21 Apollo Saturn Rocket
- C21 Space Glider
- C21 Moon Ranger
- C21 Booster Rocket
- C21 Moon Prospector
- C21 Probe Force 1
- C21 Probe Force 2
- C21 Probe Force 3
- C21 Re-Entry Taskforce 1
- C21 Re-Entry Taskforce 3
- C21 Re- Entry Taskforce 2
- Century 21 Scout 1
- Century 21 Scout 2
- Century 21 Scout 3
- C21 Rocket Launcher - SS
- C21 Mobile Bridge & Combat Tank - SS
- C21 Moonship - SS
- C21 Lunar Climber - SS
- C21 Topo Gigio Camper - SB
8 comments:
Let's hope so, Bill. It would make a great toy.
The photo interpretations are great! I can see this trundling across a frozen permafrost wasteland.
Excellent image Billster. I imagine its not impossible to really combine two Imai TB7 model kits together like this! As regards the unshielded Eric Eden original, the front cab reminds me of the cab of the radar truck found in the Thunderbird 2 pod. It also recalls the Tractor from the SpaceX range. Bill, you've got a big one haven't you? A spacex tractor I mean! We just need some carraiges for the back!
Ha ha Scoops git a veritable snow train of tractors on his recent post!
Realistically youd need 3 TB7 kits to make it articulated, but with photoshop i can do it for nowt!
There's synergy for you....
I printed off your cardboard version yesterday! Realising I'd need two cab-units I printed two of them, then realised the track units were on the passenger-car 'sprue', I obviously had to print two of them too!
This left me with two passenger units on card, so I thought "Well...it is a train!", but that left me needing another set of tracks and no card...so I've printed a third unit today on paper, and I'll laminate the tracks onto a card off-cut.
Started cutting them out about an hour ago...watch my blog in about a week?
Hugh
Hugh ,- send us some photos for moonbase too - never been patient eniugh to attempt myself!
Well...started glueing and realised there are both ends on one sheet, so didn't need the second sheet! Might 'pimp' the second cab unit! But will still have the two passenger cars....maybe?
The rear 'obs' unit is a bugger!! But I will succeed, and I've always got a spare if the first goes pear-shaped, but had to drop the glue to go midnight snowman building!
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