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.
I was saddened to learn that Toy collector/dealer legend Jim 'Mr. Star Wars' Stevenson, passed away on 24th March 2020, Woodsy.
ReplyDeleteMay the force be with you, Jim - RIP
That's so sad Tone. So sad. I'm gutted. Jim was a pioneer, selling vintage toys as far back as the 80's. I always loved reading his wonderful listings in Model Mart and was chuffed to meet him at toy fairs where his famous toy stall was a true museum of nostalgia. He was a Star Wars toys superfan too. Such an important chap in UK vintage toys. My condolences to his family. Yeah, RIP Jim.
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