Spring Fever

The latest round of 2026 Hot Wheels are appearing on the shelves and along with the standard die cast, I picked up one of the larger Pull Back Speeder series - the 1969 Ford Mustang.

A classic design, this one has been modded a little with side pipes and peek-a-boo intakes in the bonnet. Hot Wheels do tend to be a little heavy handed with the decals in recent years, and the Mustang was no exception. Both doors were painted a light blue and plastered with pointless tampo stickers. For me, the beauty in a classic American muscle is the sleek shape and silhouette, so caking it in stickers does nothing to add to the appeal. I covered both doors in black, having to leave the front wheel arches pale blue and to tolerate the rest of the little decals.

Next up are two standard HW models, ‘Flippin’ Fast’ in its latest colour variation (4th) and the ‘Polestar TRX’ truck. Flippin Fast is a double sided car, which can happily roll just as easily on either top or bottom, with a swivelling pilot in the middle.The large wheels engage the track and the thin body works from both aspects.

The Polestar looks a little like a modern take on the classic Deora, with a flat bed carrying two surfboards. Unlike its 1968 forebear, the boards are molded into the casting.

 

Apollo Force Japan

 From an old auction, this plastic rocket appears to be a relative of one I have.

Except, among other things,  this one lights up! It may even move?

The battery unit is at the rear.

A really neat design, it's made in Japan.

My own relative is the Apollo Rocket seen here on the far right in 2013 next to my Probe Force 2 and pink Tarheel Nova.

Have you anything like this?

Going Nuts about Dianauts

After Woodsy's recent Spacelink post, I did a bit of research about Capsenauts and whether there was any link to Takara's Diaclone toy line...

It turns out, no. But I did learn the little figures with plastic fronts, arms and legs and diecast backs with magnetic feet, are called "Dianauts".

Here are a few from my collection. The original multicoloured crew of five, from the Great Robot Base, still in their blister pack.

The aforementioned Great Robot base.

My Battle Convoy robot with two Dianauts inside.

And last, a "tell 'em they're dreaming" eBay offering - at least it's free shipping!

Anyone else out there, with some of these lil' fellas, Moonbasers? 

 Looey 

Oz Base

Base Luna: Italian Moon Base Set

 This looks to be a fabulous Italian moon set.

Base Lunar.

Maybe made by Baravelli.

How super cool is that?

Is it a set you would have wanted as a kid?

A Face Only A Mother Could Love!

 Ed's comment about the robot car made me chuckle and as it's Mother's Day here in the UK it reminded me of two other faces.

This is Hammer's monster from the film The Reptile, 1966.

And here's the face of a creature from James Cameron's recent Avatar sequel.

The same mother? 

PS. I love the Reptile!

Never Rush When Buying Old Toys

 My recent trip to a fab vintage toy shop was a salutary lesson in why you shouldn't rush. 

The Missus and me agreed I'd be in there twenty minutes, whist she mooched elsewhere. In hindsight, it wasn't enough!

I looked and rummaged among the thousands of items in the shop with a view to a couple of investments and maybe something for myself, perhaps even a Redline. 

The shop always carries a few sixties Hot Wheels in a locked cabinet. Once opened I made my choice, a nice Silhouette, not perfect, but one I could touch up a bit. Result! It went in the bag the assistant had open.

Next I chose a small Action Man soldier, which I guessed was a modern version of my beloved Little Big Man. The assistant opened the cabinet and having pointed at the little fella I walked off to look for more goodies.

This came in the form of an Action Force cruiser, a palitoy vehicle I'd not seen before. That went in the bag too.

With the twenty minutes up and a small discount applied by the assistant I went away a happy boy.

Until, that is, I got home! 

Alas, for some reason the assistant had put in a full-size modern Action Man skin diver instead of the little guy! 

 I was gutted as, with a bunch of original items I have (thanks Bill) I'd planned to relive past glories with my little big man!

But that wasn't all.

To some extent it got worse.

When choosing my Hot Wheels Silhouette Id simply assumed it was a redline since it was surrounded by .... Redlines.

Turns out it isn't a Redline at all!

Here's a proper Mattel Silhouette.

Here's what I bought.

It looks similar but .....

It's a Zylmex Bubble! A knockoff! 

Hot Damn!

I just hadn't looked at the wheels and the base, relying entirely on what birdwatchers call the jizz. How it basically looks! 

Well, I needed a beer after all this! Clearly twenty minutes just wasn't long enough in a sweet shop like that!

 But there is a sort of happy ending!

Speaking to my nephew the next day, it turned out that he was driving through Otley later that afternoon.

He offered to visit the shop and see if the little soldier was still there. Good man! 

He was!

 and once demobbed he drove back home to Moonbase!

😂

Have you any old toy shop horror stories readers? 

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PS. The unbranded miniature man still remains a mystery. Any clues?

Cosmos RE-4

Now this guy is going places! 

Is this ugly?

Paul V's Warhammer Terrain

And here's a couple pics of the modular terrain I made for the boys, years ago.

Fairly straightforward - four plywood boards, with hills and cave made out of layered styrofoam, plastered over for the rocky bits. Standard ground cover of sand in thinned wood glue, dry-brushed in natural colours with grass matt and model flocking to finish off. Trees were made from the roots of saplings weeded out of garden. The few figures in the pics should give an idea of size. We also made some boards and buildings for the futuristic WH 40 000, but I don't have any pics of that I'm afraid.

Et voilà again. :)

--

Paul

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Paul originally sent me this post in 2016! This week I found it again in the drafts list.