MOONBASE CENTRAL

Saturday, 24 October 2026

Toy Racers

Sorting through the last of my Matchbox and small die-casts before they go, I took a couple of shots of two groups for MC. Mostly sports cars, It was great fun collecting them from car boots around 2020 to about 2024.

See any you had?

Friday, 23 October 2026

The Adventure Begins: It Glows in The Night

This is all new to me. Lords of Light. Is that a Micronauts style body? The card inside looks like He-Man!

Anyone know this range?

Tom Skerritt RIP

I was sad to learn of Tom Skerritt's passing this week.

Only knowing him for his beleaguered Captaincy in Alien, this role made a huge impression on me and before Sigourney took the helm Tom's character of Dallas and his portrayal of it was my favourite.

Tom got to 93. Not bad for an old space tug Captain. RIP.

Giant Ed 2: Plastic Figure And Playset Article

Woodsy,

As a follow-up to my GIANT brand space toys, here's the article from the now defunct 'Plastic Figure and Playset Collector' (PFPC) No. 57 article on the brand.

From Vegas Base

Thursday, 22 October 2026

Arto's Project of a Lifetime

Woodsy,

Re. The Hamilton Toy Museum

Below is a piece of ancient history, a translated page of my journal of our round trip to Shetland, Orkney, and Scotland in June-July, 2003. This was written in July 11th after we had visited the Hamilton Toy Collection in Callander.

At that Friday morning, we arrived in Callander for 10 p.m., all ready to spend a day at the museum. Getting there, we learned that the museum would open only at noon! Luckily, there was an antique mall nearby looked up, so we spent the spare time there. And soon it was noon.

"There it was, the collection of my dreams, abundantly showcased at the Hamilton Toy Museum, in a tiny room of only 5-6 square meters. All the rooms in the museum were small and the corridors narrow, which did not prevent all the glass cabinets and shelves literally bursting with eye candy.

The rooms were arranged according to different themes, including television toys (arranged in closed glass cases), dolls and dollhouses, teddy bears, tin soldiers, cars, boats - and science fiction toys. Within one of the cabinets, practically every toy line that I had only tried to make out of fuzzy eBay pictures during the last six months, was present at least in one example. Dinky Toys. Corgi Toys. All the 60's Gerry Anderson toys. Endless abundance! Batman. Star Wars. James Bond - each displayed in their individual cabinets.

There, behind one glass wall, a collection that it would take more than one lifetime to put together. Still, the need to see got the best of the sense of frustration. As the young man [the tender of the museum] told me, starting a family collection like this accumulated over the decades, would be all but impossible now, since the prices have gone up as old toys have found a new appreciation.

However, he added, it is a common mistake to think that everyone knows the real value of everything, having three weeks ago bought a Corgi Batmobile at a second hand store for 25p!"

What makes this encounter all the more special for me is the fact that the next day, July 12th, 2003, I bought my first-ever Project SWORD toy (TF1) in Edinburgh!

The project of a lifetime had begun!

Arto

Helsinki Base

Looey's Art World Adventure

Hi Moonbasers,

I live a comfortable retired life. The Missus and I were extremely lucky in the late 80's to amass enough film work cash, to build our own house.

Around the end of the 90's a new system came into play, wages were cut and the good times were over.

I say this, because one of my colleagues in the Make-up side of things made enough cash to buy original SF & F art. Things like Drew Struzan's original The Thing poster art -along with Mike Ploog's hand drawn storyboards from the same production...

All of this is a rather long winded way of saying Terry's recent post about Japanese Captain Scarlet manga art sent me on a hunt of my own.

I found the following lot of original art on eBay.

A full colour painted cover and eight hand inked pages with overlaid text.

I found the slight crudity of the art appealing -the Captain has never looked so Japanese!

The asking price was around £2,500 which was silly, but almost achievable...

Then I discovered that price was in US$ and with the exchange rate, in A$ it was almost £4000!

So ended my dream of becoming an Art connoisseur!

So enjoy the pics, because it's as close as I'll ever get to owning them!

Looey,

Oz Base