Continuing our long-running Booster Rocket origins theme, let's take a look at a 1950's classic. In 1958 inspired German-born rocket engineer Krafft Ehricke, working for Convair, designed a Manned Lunar Reconnaisance Vehicle. Beautifully proportioned and clearly one of the influences on what became the Century 21 Booster Rocket, the design was popularised as an official scale model by Strombecker in 1958 [above]. Allen Ury, owner of the brilliant Fantastic Plastic site, features this rare kit and has kindly given me permission to feature the above box image and the thoroughly gorgeous original but unsigned box art pictured below. I personally think that this 1958 painting is as beautiful as Ed Valigursky's Booster Rocket painting from 1962. Do you agree?
Cal Smith painted much of Strombecker's box art including the 1958 Manned Observational Satellite below, the fabulous original signed art again courtesy of Allen Ury. Did Cal Smith also paint the Manned Lunar Recconnassance Vehicle box art above?
As for the 1958 kit itself, here's Allen's brilliant finished article. You can see more of this at Fantastic Plastic. The moulds for Strombecker kits are now owned by Glencoe models.
And finally here's a nicely painted wooden model commercially available for your desk [or like me, desktop!]
The 1958 painting here is better than the Ed Valigursky artwork for my money ... gives me that "shiver" and sense of longing old space-artwork often does. That feeling of "promise" and "if only" ...
ReplyDeleteWhy'd none of this stuff ever happen? Real Life needs to catch up with imagination, don't you think?
Funny thing, you may notice that near to the Manned Observational Satellite is the upper stage of a ferry rocket that one of our members re-liveried as a SWORD Nuclear Shuttle!
ReplyDeleteGrif