Tuesday, 28 May 2013

SKYBASE FROM BANDAI

Another New Captain Scarlet  toy from Bandai, this time it’s Spectrum’s Skybase.


Skybase is a floating aircraft carrier stationed at a height of 18,288 metres above the Earth. There are six main engines to keep the base positioned in the sky and a further ten engines designed to keep Skybase balanced. It is 330 metres long and  home to the fleet of high-tech Spectrum vehicles, including the squadron of Falcon aircraft.


I got this toy second-hand without a box so I’ve no idea what should have been included with it, and although I’ve had it a while I’ve only just found out it has voice commands and a section of the runway lights up.


One thing about it that struck me when I first got it was it’s size, it's huge, about 60 cm long, and it's cumbersome and  fairly heavy, but it’s also got some lovely detail for a toy.


Mine came with several small vehicles including a Falcon Aircraft.


This can be lowered into the aircraft bay on the starboard side by means of one of two spinning lifts.


Inside there’s a launch ramp and a crane.


There’s also some detailed stickers on the back of the lid.


The port side has another detailed compartment for storing more of those smaller vehicles.


The control tower opens up revealing even more detail.




I have to say although it’s size makes it rather impractical  it does have it’s appeal and it's perfect as a ready made diorama for those little vehicles.  


Spectrum Is Green!

5 comments:

  1. Scoop - nice model but I'm more interested in the deck-crew figure! Did he come with it? Were there others?

    Hugh

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  2. Hugh - there were two sets of three snall vehicles released separately and im sure they had figures too

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  3. From what I can gather , folks the Skybase originally came with a Falcon and a Colonel White .

    I believe there were four sets of other vehicles in that small range, the first came with 'Fred'.and Destiny The second came with Scarlet, the third came with Blue, and the forth came with Black.

    My Skybase came with all the sets of vehicles and figures apart from a Vampire Jet and a Skybase Emergency Vehicle .

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  4. Scoop, what a fabulous model, and if C21 SWORD were still around just the sort of thing they would have come up with.

    I read somewhere on the official series background literature that the White Falcon was a replacement for the original Angel/Viper, because Skybase was stationed above the operating ceiling of the original jets. It was the only official continuity between the old and new series I ever came across.

    It would also be interesting to see how a SWORD version of its box would look too. In one of the earlier blog entries one of the talented contributes created some brilliant reproductions.

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  5. nice acquisition Scoop! I like it when toy comapanies pack a lot of detail into small sized playsets like this one. it gives a kid a a lot of play value in relatively little space.

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