Monster Mash: Brian's Halloween Band

It's nearly time!

Just ten short nights!

From Brian F.

Monster Base

New Jersey

Grab Your Callander! Project SWORD in Scotland!

 John Hunter, The proprietor of the Hamilton toy museum in Callander, Scotland, kindly sent me some snaps of the space toy display. I've never been,  so it's always good to see some Project SWORD displays in public view, of which there can't be that many in the world. The glass doors are screwed shut so these are the best shots John could take ( for more views see the museum website). 

For context here's a bigger Anderson display shot I found from a visitor on Tripadvisor.

Via John, Here's a Probe Force 3, a true staple of the Project SWORD fleet and cloned voraciously! 

Next to it is this lovely JR21 Rocket Transporter, which some of you may have.

To the right is a nice Space 8 atop a SWORD Dyna Soar box, one of my favourite SWORD vehicles and based on a real NASA design. 

If I'm not mistaken the strange grey orb to the left is a Mechanoid. Is that it's ladder?

Further along is this wonderful grouping including a JR21 SPV ( Terry recently showed us his Bandai version), a Century 21 Angel Interceptor and above, a blue Excavator, which appears much bigger than I thought it was.

The Captain Scarlet group of tall figures I'm unsure about. Anyone? 

Perhaps the rarest item in the Anderson display is only partially visible. It's the SPC at the rear and it's the box that's rare and ..... maybe the only one known?* (* One is pictured on Worthpoint as having been sold on eBay years ago but my guess is it's the same one as the Hamilton).

We've seen this SPC before, identified first in that display by Graeme Walker of Canada, whilst browsing Facebook no less and subsequently pictured again courtesy of the Hamilton museum 11 years back and wonderfully close-up: The Tarheel Project SWORD Captain Scarlet SPC.

 https://share.google/MEFlHGgFc40XsItJb

Yep, that's right. American Tarheel Captain Scarlet Project SWORD! One of only two items branded as such we have ever seen on MC, the other being the equally seldom bubble-carded target set discovered by Darth in Michigan in 2016.

https://share.google/78mQqA1wR5jQSey95

Have you been to the Callandar toy Museum?

Have you any Tarheel Project SWORD Captain Scarlet toys? 

Ghost Office

A trip to the Posties today and I thought I'd seen a ghost.

There below the Papers was a stack of plastic masks.

Dracula masks.

£2.49 each.

They're virtually doubles of a similar Drac mask I have. 

You can see it here at the top of my old toy cabinet talking to a skull.

Mine was vintage already when I bought it in Whitby at the Stone House shop probably 20 years ago, if not more.  I remember buying three for .... £30. I keit one and sold the others. It's the closest I've been to the quality of a Don Post mask. Somewhere in between that and Ben Cooper.

Mine looks a bit more detailed and is made of quite hard plastic. The Posty masks are flimsier but so similar.

I'll have to find mine for Halloween!

Do you own any masks?

I Saw Two Ships

Woodsy,

Here are two small ship models I recently found at a local flea market. I’m not into ships really, but since I never see model kits of any kind at tag sales or flea markets, I snapped them up.

I decided to build them both, in honor of my father, who loved all things involving the sea.

The Lindberg Tuna Seiner is from 1964, and the Pyro Flying Cloud is from 1966. Both were fun to build, but the Flying Cloud was difficult due to the many finicky masts. As you can see, I did not dare try any rigging!

Rob C

USA

Henshin my Bets

I'm not familiar with Japanese toys really. They just seemed to pass me by, which is why I don't know these guys I saw this weekend on auction. I can bet that some of you do readers. 

Philip's Monogram Space Buggy

Below are finished Photos of  my 1/48 Scale Fictional Space Cargo Hauler in Modern NASA Markings.

 This model was originally issued in 1959 and designed by German missile developer Willy Ley. The first time I built this model I was a very young boy and have always thought it was a cool kit. 

 On this attempt I decided to use modern NASA markings from my spare decal box. A few minor scratch-built and photo-etched parts were also added. 

 To make the display stand more colorful, I cut out a star-field image from an old astronomy calendar and glued it to the top of the wooden base. I have read other model builders make a couple of funny observations about this spaceship design.

 First, the space suits kind of make the astronauts look like the mascot of the Michelin Tire Company. 

 Secondly, the cage sections make you wonder if the designers were really that worried about space-sharks! 

 The last photos show the unassembled kit parts and instructions from the 1969 re-issue. 

 I hope you enjoy the photos.

Philip Gore

USA

Looey's Shonen

Hello Moonbasers! Terry just posted a lovely manga illustration of a Shonen Booster Rocket and it got me thinking about Captain Scarlet content.

Here is one of my only Japanese Captain Scarlet books.

I Google Lens'd it and here is what the AI said...

"The selected item is the vintage Japanese book Captain Scarlet Super Encyclopedia (キャプテン・スカーレット超百科―不死身の超百科), published by Rippu Shobo in their Pocket Jaguar Series around 1981. [1, 2]"

Wow, all these years I've had it and suddenly something new!

S.I.G.

Looey

 Oz Base

Body Concious

Slightly dissatisfied with my recent purchase of the CM Lifting Body toy, due to its odd shaped canopy, I decided to replace it.

The scrap box provided a perfect replacement with a small dome of exact diameter. I’ve just push fitted it, as the original just popped on and placed the first canopy inside the body for safe keeping.

A much more aesthetically and aerodynamically pleasing result!