So Near, So Sea Sword by WOTAN

One area that is sadly missed out in the SWORD range is the submarine, despite the annual covering the deep sea recovery vehicle, Diver 1 and the Hovercraft Sea Sword, there were never any toy manifestations of these designs.

A little known company Europa, came up with a rare toy called the SF Jet Boat Mk1, possibly in the late sixties, but probably the early seventies, judging by the box artwork. Theres an Art. 7220 number featured on the box and Patent pending - Hong Kong on the wing.

The toy itself is a really unusual design, resembling a jet fighter, but functioning as a hydroplane using a propellor mounted inside the hull, drawing water through two large vents at the front. Unfortunately, although the engine nacelle lights up, the motor refuses to run. As the build is especially good, I cant get the hul lopen to fix it! Cosmetically, the model is very reminiscent of a SWORD toy in terms of basic design and also in the gorgeously illustrated box art. I havent been able to find any other toy by Europa or if there were ever any other toys in this series - although I do remember seeing something very similar in a box/blister pack in deep blue and silver plastic, called an X-20 or similar which had a vaned engine and sleek fins.

WOTAN