BLOGGIVERSARY FAREWELL: PROJECT MOON ONE YEAR ON BY JON AND AMY

Vitually a year ago to the day I posted the two toy ads below from Philosophic Toad for the amazing successor to PROJECT SWORD, Regent Toys' PROJECT MOON.

Keen blog readers and SWORD enthusiasts Amy (JR21 pistol winner!) and Jon have sent in a brilliant update on PROJECT MOON and it seems the perfect moment to post it as part of the Bloggiversary farewell as we look forward to our second year.

Hi Paul,

Amy's partner Jon here ! Glad you liked our Atomic Astroboat pictures and could use them on the Blog. As promised here's some info on our "Moon Scout" above. I'll write a little background info first to give some history that might be of use to the Blog.

First we have a series of ads that ran in "Joe 90:Top Secret" comic around Spring 1970. These show the last of the S.W.O.R.D. range becoming "Project Moon" then being listed as general releases from Regent Toys. The last one shows the "Moon Scout" with a mention of the "Lunar Climber " at the top, linking it back to "Project Moon".

The example in the photos was purchased on Ebay a few years back with no box and appears to have been repainted, but the remaing decal on top identifies it as M.S.8. (more photos to be posted next week Ed.)

The only maker's mark is a "Made in Hong Kong" on the base along with a tiny (impossible to photo) logo that is hard to make out but might be an "Aladin's Lamp" in a triangle (!?).

There are no astronauts in the cockpit. Instead you can see the mechanism that drives it. This is clearer in the video of it walking as you can see the cogs turning.

So is this S.W.O.R.D. ? We tend to think not, as it's not as sleek as the classic ships and the leg mechanism looks a bit ungainly, but what do others think?

On another recent note, the U59 explosives truck is certainly popular with scratch builders - we picked up a 2 foot one that had apparently been made for a Gerry Anderson exhibition (Possibly at the FAB cafe in Manchester - anyone remember seeing it there ?). The U87 Stronger is much harder to find but we definitley saw a garage kit of one in resin on Ebay many years ago.

Anyway hope all the above is of some use. The Blog is great as always and if things go well we might be able to send in some interesting stuff on the "Lunar Climber" next week. We didn't see the original "Project Moon" post as we only found the Blog around last Easter, so it's a great excuse to get around to reading through all the old posts !

All the best - Jon & Amy

Fabulous stuff you guys. PROJECT MOON is the new SWORD! Thanks for all your support, help and contributions this year. Keep on SWORDIN! Next, the competition!