Continuing with the unusual Italian range LUNIK 2000 I have stumbled across this wonderful example on Ebay. It appears that the toys are made by one CALIGARIS TIBIBABO. The box art is truly stunning and amazingly it is SIGNED! Alas I can't read the signature. If only SWORD box art was signed like this!Blog friend the Philosophic Toad has pointed out the that the cockpits of the this and the previously posted Lunik 2000's appear to be slightly different - apart from the colour scheme. Also, the pilots differ; different poses and colours.The interesting thing is that they look like Cherilea Spacemen but with most of the accoutrements removed. Compare with the very top image. Philo Toad believes that the silver pilot resembles the one at top-left, minus whatever he's holding up. The white pilot resembles the pose of the Spaceman at top-right (the one in red) but minus the axe-thing. What do other readers think? Cherilea Spacemen do appear in both white and silver versions. Did this company buy Cherilea Spacemen and modify them by hand? Or did it make new moulds, leaving the figures hands-free?
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Mille Grazie Philosophic.
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PS. One other toy, a train set, on Ebay by Caligaris Tibibabo.
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PS2. LUNIK was originally the name of the Russian robot moon probe programme!
THE astronauts and capsule at the top were originally made by Cherilea. The capsule is actually a re-used Dr Who Mechanoid mould with a stand added! Rare as hens teeth!
ReplyDeleteI think it is Tibidabo not Tibibabo.
ReplyDeleteThe editor of Plastic Warrior tells me that Tibidabo had a contract to market Cherilea figures. So it would seem that the Lunik pilots are indeed Cherilea Spacemen, or variants of them.
On the side of the Lunik 2000 box the left hand spaceship looks rather like a craft Frank Bellamy drew when he was doing Dan Dare.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Barry