X - Factored

Delving into the darkest recesses of the garage, amongst the spiders and mice, I came across a long forgotten box of toys ive had since I was about 7. In with my Spacex toys were three small plastic and diecast planes. These were bought at a seaside holiday - probably in Wales in the mid to late sixties. First off I got the X-15, a single piece body made of hard styrene about 2 inches long. Underneath is a die cast chassis, which I removed in order to make it look more 'spacey'! The chassis originally would have had four sprung suspension wheels, like the sort found on Hotwheels or Matchbox Superfast cars. A fine steel axle and a small solid plastic wheel. The aircraft would originally have been intended as racers, but i took out the wheels and added them to my space fleet. As I recall, they were sold in a counter top box, loose. The only three I ever saw were the X-15 and a year later at the same resort, the Starfighter (white missing tailfins) and the magenta Saab Drakken. Theres no indication of maker, only the ubiquitous 'Hong Kong' stamped on the base. Howere its unusual to note that the Drakken (or Draaken) and Starfighter have Royal Canadian Airforce livery!

As its my turn to drive the blog, im selfishly indulging myself and adding in a few off-topic toys which have no direct relation to Sword or the space theme, but are just plain good. In this vein is a Majorette Air Forces oo/ho metal and plastic, futuristic jet fighter. I love the sleek lines and folding wings. Its got retractable undercarriage, firing missile, dropping bomb and an ejectable pilot! At about 7 inches long, it came with a plastic desert display base and two soldiers. What more could a frustrated pilot like myself want ?