Continuing our look at the relative sizes of various toys and as a follow on from the Cricket article earlier, heres the Spacex Apollo Tracker. The purple version is a customised standard Cricket, I made into a Tracker, based on the card illustration and a fair amount of guesswork. The orange vehicle is the official release, with a much more substantial radar scanner.
Next we move on to a familiar favourite, the Space Glider. The Project SWORD Glider is a big beast, but a beautifully sculpted design. Naturally, this was ripe for imitation and several variants exist. By way of comparison, i've included the Tandy radio control glider and the tiny Hover version. The Hover Glider is missing a small nose needle, like its big brother, but due to its simplicity of construction (6 pieces) it didn't stand up to being played with and tossed in a box afterwards. This little beauty came from a sweetshop in Liverpool, back in about '73, for the princely sum of 5p. It was originally accompanied by the Hover Scramble Bug and Lunar Rover, but as they were even less robust, they havent made it.
Lovely post Bill. I love your collection. never seen the base of the Hoover glider before. Those three wheels underneath are so cool. I don't know but i thought the Hoover toys were made of rubber. The Apollo Tracker is amazing, one of the best looking SpaceX toys for sure. I like the reference to Tandy. Do you associate the 2001 Glider with them?
ReplyDeleteDamn, dont know my Hoover from my Hover.i assumed the red glider was Tandy, is it not? They reissued a lit of other companies toys like the Tomy Armatron.
ReplyDeleteDon't go by what I say Bill. I get Hover and Hoover mixed up all the time! They never seem to turn up on Ebay do they. Do you think they were just too flimsy to survive?
ReplyDeleteThe odd one crops up, but theyre unmarked and pretty basic. Ive got a bug wheel left out of two toys!
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