WOODSY & WOTAN LIVE TONIGHT!

Live now Bill Everatts Underground edition, Woodsy and Wotan join him to discuss the world of space toys once more! Tune in to Celtica Radio at 8pm! Be there or be square!

Space 1999 Models

Some photos of the Space 1999 model displays - and a spacesuit!

I believe all these pics are of some of the original studio items, and although I've seen one or two of them before at previous venues I'm quite happy to see them again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VINTAGE TOYS ON BOOK COVERS II

Hi Woodsy

Here is a pic of an MPC Fireball toy attacking "The Doomsday Planet"! There is no relevance whatever to the story!

 

 

Steve Zodiac

 

Any more out there? Woodsy

WINTER KWIZ

Kwick Kryptic Sci Fi Kwiz with lots of kicking C's!
Kwestion 3 & 7 aren't Sci Fi.

1. It wakes
2. He Konquers
3. Whales love it
4. Native Altairans
5. He had ESP
6. They Kloak
7. The K in Mart

Just one answer per reader please. Leave them in the Komments. Keep 'em Koming!

Space 1999 Displays At Cosford

 

Another movie from the Flights of Fantasy event. This time some of the super Space 1999 stuff on display.   

 

Again, many thanks to the contributors, and although the movie quality leaves a little to be desired I hope you can make out some of the detail.

Help! Desperately Seeking A Tinplate Moonship

 

"Hi Woodsy

 

I happened upon your amazing blog and it quite seriously WOWed me. I have turned the internet upside down inside out trying to find the Chinese Tinplate Moonship [pictured above] that you've mentioned. I saw this and this, which were both sold and I've contacted local toy collectors, international collectors, mainstreettoys, bergintoys, all to no avail, so I'm running out of options and thought that I'd ask for help.

 

 

I'm trying to get this for my dad as a gift. He had this as a child and it was one of his fondest childhood memories. Unfortunately he had to leave many things behind when he moved to Canada but he kept talking about this Moonship so it clearly meant a lot to him.

 

Now I know asking a collector to sell is the equivalent of asking for his/her first born. But if you know anyone who is has one, or where I could find one, please let me know. :)

 

 

Many Thanks,

Sherry"

 

If anyone can help Sherry please let me know here. Thanks

VINTAGE TOYS ON BOOK COVERS

pic: include me out blog

 

 

 

Ever since a reader spotted this paperback cover, BLACK CORRIDOR featuring a Spacex Nova, a few years back I've loved it. There can't be many novel covers picturing toys. Do you know of any more? Pictures welcomed here.

 

 

PS. Brainteaser: I know Mr. Vreede knows this so to everyone else: which other Spacex toy has been used to create the spaceship shown?

Billy Blasts Off

At the time that Mattels Major Matt Mason was riding high on toy shelves as the premier space toy of the sixties, Eldon, one of Mattels competitors brought out their own little spaceman. Billy Blastoff was a small child in a spacesuit as opposed to Mattels Man in Space. Presumably aimed at a slightly younger audience, Billy and his accessories had a much less realistic look. Billy also had an additional gimmick in that his batteries sat in the backpack and sitting him on a vehicle would power the motor in the craft. Later versions of Billy Blastoff added a walking ability too.

Billy Blastoff only managed a few years in production and saw limited release in the UK. As can be seen from the english Scalecraft catalogue above, he has sneaked into a small panel of the advertising. There are a multitude of different sets and guises for Billy to work with, which ill look at in detail shortly. Before this, i'd like to look at a special set of toys which has borrowed the Billy moulds and added another toy that we have seen before too...

Andrew Cook has kindly prepared this set of shots especially for the blog to showcase this unusual toy.

 The Lunar Scout set not only blatantly copies the Eldon set, but draws in the Bandai Thunderbirds Excavator craft too!

 The toy is very close to Eldons original and the toys themselves have more than a passing nod to Mattels famous toyline, including a Space Sled and a Space Crawler with the 'legged-wheel' design.

 At one point, Eldon were one of Mattels major competitors and held they're own against the toy giant.

More Billy and space toy fun to follow soon!

Puppets On Parade

Here's more photos I took of some of the puppets at Cosford.

 

Some are original and some are replica's, but pretty well most of the Supermarionation series are represented.

 

Jimmy Gibson (Original Restored Head)

 

 

                 Steve Zodiac (Original)                      

   

                                     

                         Troy Tempest (Replica)

                       Alan Tracy (Replica) 

            Lady Penelope & Parker (Replica's)

 

Captain Scarlet (Replica)

 

 

 Joe Ninety (Original) 

                     Father Unwin (Original)

A TRACY CHRISTMAS 1966

Forty Six years ago on Christmas Day 1966 I was exactly 48 hours into being all of 6 years old. Father Christmas will have still been totally real to me and I'll have just started at Sacred Heart Primary School. On the only British commercial TV channel, ITV [or ATV], Thunderbirds graced the festive airwaves with the episode Give or Take A Million at 5.05pm! Looking at the complete ITV listings for that day, posted above, it would have been easilly the highlight of my TV day by a long chalk even comparing it with the two BBC channels on the day. Sadly I don't remember watching it but that's a memory thing. Thunderbirds, JR21 toys and Christmas, what could be better! Do you remember any great Christmas TV?

Original Puppets At Cosford Movie

I've put together a short movie for you all showing the original Supermarionation puppets on display at Cosford.

I'm still on a learning curve with focusing and setting things up etc., plus the quality is again a little lower than I'd like. On top of that the place was packed so you had to grab opportunities when you could, but what the heck, I hope you like it.

 

I was amazed to see  two  Supercar characters, Jimmy Gibson and  Zarin, both looking in the pink . I'd imagined they'd had a lot of restoration. Actually checking my other photos it would appear that these are, in fact, replicas. But who cares, they looked great.

I was also very pleased to see my favourite Anderson character, Steve Zodiac. Since leaving the World Space Patrol, Steve has spent his time as a bowling trophy!

Captain Scarlet and some of his pals were represented, although no Captain Blue.

But I'm not complaining. The organisers and contributors had really pulled the stops out, so, again well done to them.

 

The Imai Good Model Space Expedition Vehicle

This is Imai's miniature GOOD MODEL die-cast copy of the Scramble Bug, which they called simply 'Space Expedition Vehicle'. Dating from the early 1970's,  I bought mine around 2000 from a dealer called Banzandy at the NEC Memorabilia show in England's second city, Birmingham. I can't remember how I first got to know about the Imai Bug - probably an email from someone - but I photographed my own in 2007 for a self-published book on SWORD toys I made online with Tesco.

 

 

The model itself is very similar to the much larger plastic C21 Project SWORD version even down to the small silver radar dish. Pressing the red dome does open the pilot hatch but its a pity Imai didn't try to articulate it like the original.Still its a fabulous toy and one of only two die-cast SWORD toys, the other being the larger Aoshima Zero-X, which sadly I don't own. I'd love to see them side by side as I think the blue metallic finish looks similar. Can anyone oblige with a family photograph of the bug and Zero-X?

 

 

With its card base and backing and the clear plastic blister top [not shown in my photograph], it appears to be part of the same series as other miniature die-cast Anderson toys made by Eidai Grip. I assume that Imai were simply trying to compete with them through their Good Model range. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

 

 

The Imai bug box contains this small catalogue of their GOOD MODEL range, which appear to be based on Japanese TV shows.

In 2009 our pal Terry tracked down this whole case of Imai's bugs, which we went on to offer blog readers as our first blog exclusive, the Project SWORD Mini Scramble Bug, with custom box art by our very own Wotan. Needless to say, they were all snapped up like hot cakes!

I have since seen a note on Worthpoint that Imai's Space Expedition Vehicle was based on one from a popular Japanese Manga TV show, but I believe this to be incorrect and that this 'bug' model was non- character. What do you think?

R.A.F.Cosford Flights of Fantasy Exhibition

Just got back from RAF Cosford and the Flights of Fantasy exhibition.

I'll do some proper posts about it when I come down to Earth but right now I have to give a massive thumbs up to Chris King, the organiser, as well as the friendly and helpful staff at the R.A.F. Museum, and all the contributors and unsung heroes who helped put this thing together.

These pics are just some  appetisers to give those of you who couldn't make it a taste of things.

There were original puppets as well as fantastic replica's.

 

Some original models, as well as some superb scratchbuilt examples.

Some Thunderbird and Joe 90 merchandise on display.

Thunderbird voice artists, Matt Zimmerman, Shane Rimmer and David Graham, as well as a last minute guest, special effects wizard Brian Johnson were all interviewed and kept in line by expert- in- all- things- Anderson, Chris Bentley.

The event was originally planned for just the Saturday, but it seems the visitor numbers far exceeded expectations  and so things continued on the Sunday with an interview with Brian Johnson.

The backdrop of the museum's stunning display of cold war jets and missiles just added to the atmosphere.

The success of Flights of Fantasy bodes well for the possibility of another event next year, so everybody keep your fingers crossed!

Do You Own a YOT?

Back in 2009 I spotted this Italian space set on Ebay and blogged it at the time. I think Arto managed to get one. The toys appeared to be a mash-up of Thunderbirds and Battlestar Galactica.

Fast forward a few years and the same orange Colonial Viperesque ship, called 'Space Fighter and Ship' appeared recently in these two lots of carded 1970's die-cast toys by YOT of Taiwan.

The Thunderbird 4 in the blue Stazione Spaziale set, shown loose below, appears to be different to the YOT original but on closer inspection it's simply missing its engine cover, which is located just below it on the Italian carded set.

The YOT original has the engine cover in place and the front shovel in the up position on the blister card as you can see here.

YOT's toys were re-issues of the earlier Edai Grip range of Japan. You can see the gold version here and all the other colour variations at the cool TOYBOX DX. YOT also went on to buy ZEE toys, who made the Firebird range of die-cast Thunderbird toys. Does anyone own a YOT, Grip or ZEE toy?

Toybox DX

Project SWORD Hover Skid

Mav's comment about pallet shifting reminded me of this SWORD hover SKID 205. which appears in the 1968 SWORD annual. Loading completed!

He Lifts Me Up

I think that given the time of year, I have finally divined the true identity of Santa Claus. Master modeller Kevin Davies has been regularly delivering photographs of his latest creations, but recently has turned his talents to realising the Spacex Interspace Miniature range at 'real' scale and with real-world detailing. This is the latest of his amazing constructions, the Forklift 7.

 The venerable Forklift is probably one of the most recognisable and easily found models in the range of sixties plastic toys and originally appeared in the TV21 strip, Fireball XL5 as illustrated by Mike Noble.

Kevins model is constructed from plasticard and spare parts and is built from scratch. I wonder if I can expect anything nearly as exciting as this under the tree this year ?