Monday, 31 March 2014
MAJOR MATT MASON DUKES IT OUT WITH ALIEN'S RIPLEY
ebay
So in the big dukeroo between the older Major Matt Mason Power Limbs by Mattell [top] and Lieutenant Ellen Ripley's Power Loader from Aliens by Kenner [bottom], who would come out on top? I'll re-phrase that. If they fought, who would win and why?
picreview
Sunday, 30 March 2014
COLLECTING GORGO
Like I said to Bill on tonight's "monster" SWORDcast on Radio Celtica, as prep for the upcoming Godzilla remake, I've recently watched GORGO. One of the original big monster movies, this one's set in Ireland and London, giving us our very own Britzilla. Not only do we get Gorgo Junior but his Mom get's in on the action, all 200 feet of her! Mrs. Gorgo takes out Big Ben, Tower Bridge and most of the Capital looking for her little reptilian tyke. Despite it's obvious rubber suits, I thoroughly enjoyed the flick, especially the special effects, which would have been very watchable on the big screen in 1961.
Watching Gorgo in 2014 got me thinking as to what vintage collectables might be out there for the Gorgo collector?
Well, there's the original cinema poster, which looks just brilliant.
There's a neat paperback by Carson Bingham aka Bruce Cassiday.
and what I assume must be the jewels in the Gorgo collector's crown, the GORGO Charlton comics illustrated by no less than Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man. This series ran for years.
Old Gorgster also got his mug shot on the cover of Forry J Akerman's iconic Famous Monsters of Filmland in 1961. Looks kinda cute don't he?
But my personal favourite and a must if I was to go all-out Gorgo is the Palmer plastic figure, which came in a range of gorgeous colours like this yellow version. I did buy one from the States about 10 years ago on the Bay but he never arrived. He's no doubt chomping through some small model village on Monster Island as we speak! Were Palmer an American company?
Besides. this old stuff, there are tons of modern Gorgo collectables, particularly in Japan, where Kaiju rule supreme. Have you got any readers?
MAKE A MODEL SCRAMBLE BUG
Master model maker Joe Murray has built the card Scramble Bug from the Sword Make a Model book. Expect the Sand Flea soon!
CENTURY 21 ZERO X RESTORATION BY FERRYMAN
My good friend Ferryman is a master restorer of damaged vintage toys. He recently restored a Century 21 Zero X. Ferryman told me "Luckily Woodsy, I had the remains of a remote in my parts box which provided the new cable and plastic to build the retracting wing from. Unfortunately I forgot to take any before photos!" Doh!
Never mind. I think you'll get a good idea what Ferryman did from the photos and his list of repairs:
- resprayed the heat shield silver
- made all the electrics work
- rewired the remote
- removed the melt marks from the remote caused by the cable
- fixed the extending wing and tail mechanism in the main body
- scratch built a replacement for one of the front retracting wings
One thing that needed no TLC was the rare Supremo badge, which came wrapped in its original tissue. A small tip remained missing from the telescopic antenna on the remote but it's a small detail in an otherwise gorgeous restoration.
Have you restored any vintage toys readers?
Saturday, 29 March 2014
BOOSTER ROCKET SPACE WATER GUN BY SALCO
Saw this on the bay the other week. There's a great looking Booster Rocket illustration on the header card. Anyone got one?
Friday, 28 March 2014
AIRFIX ARMIES MASSING ON THE RUG
If Space toys were the bread of my Sixties childhood then Airfix soldiers were one of my favourite fillings. These little green plastic fighting men were everywhere and I can still see their various proud poses and the beautiful box art in my head.
British, American, German, Japanese. They were all on manoevres on my carpet ready to go over the salient of a few annuals and gather in massed ranks by the feet of the wardrobe.
Even though I was obsessed with ranks in the Armed Forces I never bothered with ranks for my Airfix troops. They were all equals on my floor. As long as they could be blown to smithereens by a Dinky SHADOMobile, FAB 1, SPV or Angel Interceptor I was happy. Even my Airfix DUKW's and Personnel Carriers got pounded!
I think my favourite soldier was the stick-grenade throwing German stormtrooper.
A classic toy, these little green warriors have never gone away as far as I can tell. I think they even sell cheapo toy soldiers in our local Co-op up the road. I wonder if the Airfix moulds are still in use?
Which was or is your fave Airfix soldier readers?
Thursday, 27 March 2014
BOX OF GOODIES QUIZ
There are two loose SpaceX vehicles hidden amongst this box of assorted space toys, which Vectis sold recently. Can you spot them? Just one answer per reader please.
Feel free to name as many of the toys as possible as well, such as the yellow and blue figures and the white space rocket.
ABANDONED SPACE RIDES
There is something really sad about derelict fairgrounds, something haunting. Its hard to say why really, The fading of childhood perhaps? The passing of a time and a place? The ghosts that remain?
This picture I found on the net is of an abandoned Flushing Meadows in the States, an icon of the New York Worlds Fair. Mother Nature appears to be getting a toe-hold doesn't she. I seem to recall the saucers at the back featuring in Men in Black. Is that right? I wonder what this site will be like in 50 years? At least it still exists. Britain's similar iconic tower was the Skylon, the space needle at the Festival of Britain 1951. Its fate wasn't even faded glory. It was melted down and made into knives. You can hear this salutary tale of space scrap on Radio 4 from 2011 here.
This web picture of ruined Dodgems is particularly chilling as its in Chernobyl. Its combination of nuclear winter and lost childhood I find harrowing, almost an oxymoron. These dodgems will never ride again.
This web image is also chilling. It depicts a forgotten Gulliver lying friendless in a Japanese theme park. Lilliput never looked so lonely.
Some derelict features were never meant to be abandoned like old fairground rides. Incredibly this black and white photograph is of the the ruins of the double-ring space station, which featured in Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece 2001 Space Odyssey. See all four of Trevor Parson's amazing photos at the Visual memory Kubrick site and read about how he found the space station at the local dump [Question 51].
What all these rides and icons should be like is surrounded by laughter and life like the fun park shown below in Wales. Again, I chanced on this via the net and was smitten with the Supercar/ SpaceX- like cars on the ride.
Are there any space rides or icons, thriving or abandoned, near you readers? Pictures welcomed.
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
IS THIS THE ORIGIN OF THE SPACEX MLP?
I've often wondered what, if any, was the real-world inspiration behind the Spacex Mobile Launch Pad or MLP and its original artwork by Eric Eden from 1966 [above left].
Whatever influenced Eric, if anything, clearly repeated itself in the black and white Tri-ang SpaceX advert for the MLP [above].
Browsing the net tonight I've found this photograph of a Soviet rocket, the N1, on its gantry. The ribbed base appears to be similar to the MLP rocket as does the overall shape. The gantry is a little similar. Clearly there's no spaceship sat atop the rocket, which I assume was wholly Eric's creation. I'm not clear about the timeline of the N1 and whether Eric could have even seen pictures of it in 1966, so all that would need checking. For now, what do you think readers?
Picture: Peters Russia
date?
Picture: Foundation3d
date?
COLLECTING PROJECT SWORD AND SPACEX MAGAZINE ARTICLES
Collecting magazine articles on your favourite subject of Project SWORD and SpaceX is an interesting and relatively economical sideline to the main hobby. There haven't been that many written [that I know of] so it doesn't take much to start your collection either.
This is in contrast to collecting SWORD and SpaceX related comics like TV21, Annuals and books including a couple of Japanese ones, which will eventually require a remortgage of the house and are not covered here [see my SWORD on Paper Checklist for some of these].
Rather than look at it chronologically I thought I'd do it from the point of view of availability. The most accessible magazine articles are those where the magazine is still in print and where they sell back issues. These are usually in mint condition as well as they will come straight from the publisher.
STILL IN PRINT
1. Northern Exposure HO Information From Canada by Victor Rudik - a look at LP style HO astronauts - One inch Warrior Magazine #6 UK B/W
2. Over Here - a Follow Up To the Article on Golden Astronauts by Geoff Cooldrey - One Inch Warrior Magazine #9 UK B/W
3. LP Spacemen and Aliens by Peter Evans - Plastic Warrior Magazine #85 UK [I only have a photocopy of the article] B/W
* the above four mags were a blog exclusive bundle 5 years ago, which I know a couple of readers bought. [Since these publications are still in print I have not scanned them]
STILL IN PRINT BUT LIMITED AVAILABILITY
Project SWORD Toys by Paul Woods - in three parts. FAB magazine Issues 67, 68, 69, limited to members of Fanderson.
A very small sample of the multiple-paged trio of articles [FAB, Fanderson]
I wrote three detailed and lengthy consecutive articles during 2010/11, which were published in three consecutive issues of FAB. They featured lengthy descriptions and colour picture galleries about Project SWORD toys. Together they form a single comprehensive guide to the Century 21 SWORD toy fleet and all their clones and knockoffs produced over the years including many unusual collectables like records, books, rubbers and models. The three articles in total run over many pages.
The three issues were 67, 68 and 69 and were released to Fanderson members between 2010 and 2011. Issue 67 also includes a written reply by Gerry Anderson to my questions about Project SWORD.
OUT OF PRINT
1. Model and Auto Review #188 - note on Project SWORD
2. Model and Auto Review #189 - note on Project SWORD
3. Model and Auto Review #198 - "Project SWORD" article with colour picture of Moon Prospector by Peter Paine, December 2005
4. Model and Auto Review #242 "Excellent Prospects; Toy Moon Prospectors of the 60's" by Paul Woods and Bill Bulloch, 7 May 2010
5. Project SWORD toys featured in Rob Godwin's interview/collection in Toy Shop magazine 4th February 2005 [The Final Frontier: Will Romano]
MISCELLANY
1. Toy Trade Magazines and Journals: several British trade journals featured articles about Spacex and Project SWORD during the 1960's e.g Toys International [featured on the blog in the first year]. I've never seen the original journals.
2. Price Guides: several paper price guides from UK toy dealers such as Jim "Mr. Star Wars" Stevenson and TV Toy Zone featured sections on Project SWORD during the 1990's, together with price lists in magazines such as Model and Collectors Mart, Collectors Gazette and Toy Shop from the US [many Golden Astronaut toys featured over the years].
Collectors Gazette November 1989, Star Wars Jim cover, contains the earliest photograph, of a SWORD toy being sold by a dealer, in my collection of magazines as seen below in "Sky's The Limit", Booster Rocket box, middle top [ you'll have to take my word for it!].
I subscribed to Model and Collectors Mart throughout the 1990's and besides having read Look-In as a kid, it was the most keenly awaited mag I ever got. Having moved house at the end of the 90's I had to chuck most of my pile apart from these few.
Many Model Marts had price lists for vintage toys including Jim Star Wars Stevenson's, which often included one or two mint and boxed Project SWORD toys. Here are the few I have:
October 1988
[very small Sci-Fi section]
No SWORD but there is an Imai Zero X 8 inch model kit £9.95
December 1992
Booster Rocket £45
Probe Force 3 £25
March 1992
Moon Prospector £25
Probe Force 1 and 3 £25 each
October 2000
[huge Sci-fi section]
Scramble Bug £95
This was the glossy but short-lived successor to Model Mart. A great pity it ended so soon as it was an all-colour TV toy extravaganza. The December 2008 'Batman Returns' cover issue had a two page article on the Johnny Seven, together with a Jim Star Wars Stevenson price list - in colour!
TV Film Memorabilia
December 2008
Dyna Soar £195
Moon Bus £95
Moon Prospector £75
3. SIG NO.7 SPRING 1983
"The World of Gerry Anderson Model Kits" by Bill Earle
This is perhaps the earliest reference, albeit indirect, to Project SWORD I can find in a magazine. In fact, it isn't a reference at all but rather a question. It concerns the mysterious origins of the Imai model kit of Thunderbird 7 [bottom of page above]. Posing this question is almost symbolic of the mystery of SWORD itself. In 1983, compared with today, I imagine that little would have known or published about the toy range. Thunderbird 7 was based on the Beetle from the Project SWORD Annual published 14 years earlier in 1969.
Author's Note:
This is a work in progress. Many more articles on Project SWORD and SpaceX, large or small, may exist in toy magazines across the World and I would be grateful to hear from anyone who knows of any. Magazines such as SIG, FAB, Century 21, Action 21, Anderpup and Andersonic might have such articles. My own collection is very limited.