After posting 'Project Blue Book' earlier this week and showing some of my childhood drawings in my space project series, I was surprised at the amount of interest in what I though was just a little curiosity. Consequently, I took to the attic and uncovered the third and also the remains of the final, sixteenth volume of the Project series. I wasn't sure that the third volume had actually survived, but I found it nestled in a box of sci-fi paperbacks. This was a special book as it was a bound set of four small notepads which were intended to either use as one or split into individual pads - each with a card back. I kept it as one book and made four separate 'stages' a la Spacex, within the book.
This third volume drew on my expanding collection of space books for inspiration and I slavishly copied info and pictures from such volumes as 'Manned Spacecraft', 'Frontiers of Space' and the brilliant 'Life - Man in Space'. I also added in Major Matt Mason, a few SWORD items and as can been seen from the dayglo pink WOMBAT aircraft above, a little Thunderbirds inspiration for good measure.
Thirteen volumes later, I must have been running out of steam or inspiration as the final unfinished Book 16 contains plagiarised drawings of some of the more futuristic trucks from the Matchbox 1976 catalogue as well as direct lifts from the Mobile Action Command toys and the Airfix Eagles Fighting Machine.
Sadly, the magnum opus ground to a halt halfway through my redesining the Snow Rescue Vehicle for entry number 637.. I suspect this was probably because shortly after this time the great beast which was to become Star Wars began to approach on the distant horizon, changing the toy industry and the notion of space travel for ever... 
Beautifil things WOTE. Treasures from your childhood. It's amazing that you hung onto these. 600+ pages - now that is the 'right stuff'. I love the Taskforce drawings - really great - yopu can see the graphic designer in you way back then! Did you send any off to comics? That last Snow mobile that you ended with - didn't you buy one similar to that off yours truly last year?
ReplyDeleteWe want more!
I agree - beautiful. But why be surprised at the interest shown? it's always a treat to see work by someone who actually cared enough to do something about his hobby! Well done, WOTAN, and thanks for showing these pages!
ReplyDeleteyep - thats the very same Snowmobile! Thats one of the great things about ebay - all the toys I coveted as a kid and couldnt find, I can bu now! (well some of them anyway!)
ReplyDeleteI really like the Turbo Copter. All the drawings are great, but that Turbo Copter really stands out as cool.
ReplyDeletethe Turbo Copter is a direct copy from the Airfix Eagles series - i couldnt get the toy itself at the time, just the gigure, so I copied the illustration from the packet!
ReplyDeletehttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RsCCizsWvNw/SjgZAsShOdI/AAAAAAAADu8/86ZyFBmOmzU/s1600-h/eagle.jpg
I teresting looking toy. Wish we'd had that over here when I was a kid. Still and all, you did add additional jets to the tips of the rotors and that's cool.
ReplyDeleteDid you make up Rockoon? Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteRockoon is real too - its out of Man and Space, in the margins
ReplyDelete