Readers' Paddingtons

Will O.

Hi Woodsy,

Gabrielle Designs did paddingtons in different colours. Here he is in the more unusual Green coat.

Will O

UK

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Brian B:

Ah, Paddington!

When we left the UK in 1974 to get married in NYC I gave my wife-to-be a Paddington as a reminder of the UK.

For over 50 years he has been in our home, wearing the BOAC Tags he wore as cabin baggage and collecting a coating of dust.

Sadly our grandson does not like bears and I have been deprived the joy of reading the Paddington stories to him.

I didn't care for the Paddington movies but I shall treasure the memory of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth having tea with him.

So that's what was in her handbag all those years!

Nice that you could visit our bear's hometown.

Given Rob's recent aircraft his father flew in, Paddington was in a VC10 in the last weeks of BOAC before it joined BEA to become British airways. The lowercase a(irways) was dropped when everyone thought it was daft.

Brian B

NYC

Chad Valley and the Poorly Hedgehog

 Having bagged a few fixer uppers at the boot sale yesterday I began the repairs.

 Always great fun. 

This Year 2000 Carlton FAB1's talking unit didn't work. Parker was muted. The three corroded batteries removed, I cleaned up the unit and sprayed a little WD4O. Alas, even with new batteries the conversation, although audible, is a mere whisper. I've a horrible feeling the WD4O ran into the talking mechanism. Ah well, it's still a new member of my growing FAB1 fleet. 

Repairs were paused for a poorly hedgehog jnr. Having been found in our front room, placed back in the garden with food and water, it returned to the front door two more times during the day. Sadly, we think it's Mom is the dead hog at the side of the main road here. With alarm bells ringing, Thunderbird 2 was launched and poorly tiggywinkle was taken to the local hedgehog hospital in Castleford last night, where he'll get the best care going. Our German toddler guest was asked to name it and so 'our' hog became Erlemann, after himself. Has this happened to you? Poorly wildlife?

Back to the toys, I took apart the next one, a Chad Valley Give a Show Projector. 

The original 1960s Ever Ready batteries were still inside! 

and after some oil lubrication and hefty biffing (cracking the battery unit!) they came out, reluctantly.  Everything cleaned up and power restored it lit up perfectly yesterday. Today nothing! Doh! I shall Chad that Valley one more time.

At 25p each I can't resist a doll which has a Bild Lilyesque face. This one had a foot missing, so some FIMO later, a new foot was fashioned. Annoyingly I overcooked it and burnt it to a crisp! It's just not my day! 

With three out of three repairs a big fat failure I've resorted to photographing the other three things I bought, which simply needed a new home.

I give you a quasi- Sindy, Conan with shaking legs and a Queen Catherine Howard music box.

Oh, and a Four Feather Falls annual.

Time for a cold beer. Oops, only 11am. Make that a coffee!

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Postscript

Not one to give up on toys and coffee in my system, I had another bash.

Bild Lillyesque got a new foot and shoe, the Projector decided to work and the FAB1 got put back together, albeit remaining silent. Two out of three ain't bad.

Captain Scarlet Collectables Appeal

A Captain Scarlet heads-up on the Down the Tubes website via reader Brian B in NYC. Thanks Brian.

https://downthetubes.net/captain-scarlet-60-official-exhibition-items-appeal/?jetpack_skip_subscription_popup

Food of the Blogs: Superman Super Cake

Hello Woodsy,

Nice that you mentioned Steve Flowers, it's great that he's still in business. I found him again a couple of years ago when I needed a couple of items to restore a Minic Fire Engine. A set of ladders and a bell. see here.

You seem to have great success looking through stores selling 'antiques' I guess my tastes are too UK oriented so I have less success here in the US but a couple of weekends ago I went through a large Antique retail shed and found something I would have loved as a kid.

A Superman baking pan.

 This weekend I baked a cake, sadly the result shows the image to be too shallow to be really viewable but I still love the aluminium pan.

Tastes good! Measures 13"wide on the elbows.

Regards,

Brian B,

NYC

Drive Straight On! The Corgi Carrimore Mark III Transporter

 Having vowed not to buy any more die-cast - I have hundreds - I must admit I'm a tiny bit jealous of my friend's little son's new Corgi Carrimore Mark III Transporter from 1966 bought at the local boot sale for the princely sum of £3.

Having had the Carrimore set as a kid, the memories came flooding back. I can still hear the squeaky polystyrene box as the cars were pulled out and pushed back in. 

Such a great set it was. Did you have one? 

Here's my friend's toddler's transporter.

Twenty First Century Booster

 Here's the original Century 21 Toys Project SWORD Booster Rocket from 1967.

It was battery operated with mystery action.

The blue fuel tanks all detached. 

The large coffin box is illustrated with a rendition of Ed Valigursky's LIFE painting. The box included a paper SWORD manual and a plastic pin badge.

The rear red exhaust bell lit up and the silver exhaust rod detached.

The front miniature space plane was spring loaded and could be ejected, a very neat feature of this impressive toy, one of the larger ships on the SWORD toy fleet.

Do you have one?

Images courtesy of Sally Antiques.

Major Coincidence

I had to look twice when I saw this Space Shuttle toy.

The box art and polystyrene body with the stickers really rang a bell.

Of course, I realised, it looks like Major Matt Mason's Re-entry Glider, which I've never seen in the flesh. You?

See what you think readers.

Anyone got the Major glider? 

Food of the Blogs: the Best Sandwich Ever!

 Having driven through Adwick Le Street in Doncaster yesterday I was reminded of Gabrielle Designs, which was famously based in the town.

This toy workshop worked with Graham Bond to create the first toy version of his beloved Paddington Bear. The workshop was run by Jeremy Clarkson's Mum and the Doncaster bear became a toy icon.

I was also reminded of Paddington's famous sandwich, the classic bear butty of white bread, butter and lashings of orange marmalade. It's a sarnie I loved as a kid.

Today I thought I'd create my own classic, using what was in the kitchen.

Taking a slice of brown crusty bread, I first applied butter. Then came a big dollop of smooth peanut butter, then a slice of cheddar, topped with pickled vegetable salad and a sliced tomato. The concoction was garnished with several pitted dates and salt and pepper.

Needing a knife and fork, although not a sandwich for Paddington's tastes, it was easily one of best sarnies I ever made!

What's your perfect sandwich readers? 

Is there a pop culture butty more famous than Paddington's?