Its probably well known to readers that Project Sword piggybacked on the marketing of Kubricks 2001, from the heavy use of stills from the film to hiring the Hatchett Club next door to the cinema on the opening night and laying out a huge Sword diorama for toy retailers ( see earlier posting HATCHETTS). The look and feel of a lot of the Sword toys is reminiscent of the stark whiteness and clean lines of the 2001 vehicles, especially the Orion Pan Am Clipper.
However, there were very few actual toys made for the film. Airfix made a good sized model of the Orion as well as other manufacturers and there is a tin robot version of Dave Bowman, but I recently discovered two quite remarkable toys. Made in Japan, the photo shows two of possibly three models - an Orion Clipper and a 'Space Ferry'. If memory serves, there may have been a third model in the series, but i cant find the image source to confirm. The look of the toys I find is very Swordesque, especially the shade of blue plastic that was used in the Zero X, Dyna Soar and Nuclear Ferry. The Space Ferry could easily be Task Force 1's smaller brother!
Can anyone else shed any light ?
These pop up on ebay quite frequently, although they aren't cheap. They come on cards rather than in a box.
ReplyDeleteCheers Darth. I think the Japanese company that made them was Marusan? I've seen one carded but only one. I love the Space Ferry!
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