DOYUSHU ATOMIC ASTROBOAT BY AMY

Hi, Paul. We just saw the great article on Sword Scout 1 and other boat/ships, and we thought you might like some photos (above.Ed) of the "Atomic Astroboat" kit mentioned. My partner built this up a few years ago from a 2001 Doyusha re-issue of the original Midori kit (he loves the movie !). The ship is called the "AAB Gamma" in the movie, hence the decals on the side.

The re-issue box is in his attic somewhere, but we found a small picture online for reference (top pic. Ed) -it's got a photo cover with an outer tray, not nearly as nice as the original artwork box.

They did a matching reissue of the monster from the film "Guilala", but that was more of a clockwork toy - he much prefers his huge resin garage kit of the goofy beast !.

There is a 30 cm. ruler in some shots to show the size - there was also a much smaller (about 9 cms.) metal model by Iwakura that was the "chase" figure in one of their Candy Box sets of Japanese monsters about 5 years ago - we're still after that !

Anyway, don't know if it's any use for the blog, but we thought we'd try to contribute something !

Sword Scout 1 has always been a mystery to me - looking at mine, I'm convinced it was some earlier toy that was redressed to flesh out the end of the Sword line (the size seems so small compared to even the Task Force trio), but I've never worked out what.

Incidentally, do you count the Regent Toys "Walking Moon Scout" as a late entry in the "Project Moon" range along with the "Lunar Climber" and "Moonship" ? We could always send in some photos of that, or even a liitle .avi film of it scuttling along the floor (my partner's cat hates it !).

You've had so many great articles lately, but the "Moon Ranger" origin was a standout ! That "Character Age" magazine is a must ! Really looking forward to the Stingray Carrier box art and the final competiton !

All the best, Amy"

Excellent Amy. Thank your partner for the great photo's! And yes, please send pics of the Walking Moon Scout. Would love to see it. Keep on blogging. Paul