SWISS ALPS AND GERMAN CANALS: TRAINS, BOATS AND WATERFALLS

Like bump' n 'go toys as a kid I still love movement in the landscape, whether it be natural or mechanical. A moving landscape on holiday is especially interesting and here are a few short films of cable cars, trains and boats from my summer hols in Europe this year.

Cable Car, Mount Mannlichen, Switzerland

Alpine Train from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen, Switzerland

Trummelbachfalle waterfall, Lauterbrunnen: the meltwater

from the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau glaciers

Commercial Barge on the canal, Zum Yacht Hafen, 

Recklinghausen, Germany

ALTE SPIELZEUG: OLD TOYS OF GERMANY

Yesterday I mentioned the cultural nature of a nation's toys. Like Britain and every other country, Germany's old toy culture is born out of it's past and in particular its fairy tales, folklore and children's TV,  influenced by its many neighbouring European states. There is also a great affection for the American West and in particular Winnetou.

Tin and plastic played a major role in German childrens' vintage toys and whilst browsing at a car boot sale there I saw a beautiful doll's bathroom made by Fuchs in 1971. Of museum quality, it was a snip at just 25 Euros but I had no way of getting such a large toy back to Britain. Fortunately there are several examples on the net to admire and here's one from a equally smitten flicker user, diepuppenstubesammlerin.

Soft plastic and rubber features heavily in old and very popular TV character toys such as Sandmaennchen [English: littlle sandman] and Mainzelmaennchen [English:  little men from Mainz] and they can be found allover Germany at Floehmarkten [flea markets], Antiquitaeten Laden [Antique Shops] and Ebay.de.

Sandmännchen began life in 1959 and two versions were created: one in East Germany (Unser Sandmännchen), and one in West Germany (Das Sandmännchen). It has a fascinating history and is covered on Wikipedia.

Mainzelmännchen were born on ZDF, Germany's second TV channel. They were the station's mascots [not sure if we had TV station mascots in the UK?] and the name is a play on the words "Mainz" and "Heinzelmännchen"), created by Wolf Gerlach in 1963. It's incredibly popular and they still appear between commercials now [Wiki].

There are many more old toy figures collected by Germans such as these Kasperle Puppen from traditional glove puppet thearte. These traditional toys are still being manufactured today!

I will be leaving Playmobil and Kinder Toys alone as I'm not keen on them and everything about them can be found on the web anyway. One general observation I can make about them is that they fit into what I would call safe toys, toys which cannot offend and have no military reference, a tradition/ behaviour I assume arose during the country's post-war reconstruction and pacification. Many other modern traditional toy figures seem to adhere to this safe mode of play such as Cowboys and Indians, Knights in Armour and Pirates, which modern German toy shops are full of. However, this is my own personal theory and I maybe completely wrong. is it like this in other countries?

In my next post in this thread I'll cover Winnetou, Old Shatterhand, Karl May and some more traditional character toys such as Mecki the Hedgehog.

SPACEX II PHOTONIC PROPULSION SPACE STATION MOCK-UP

Inspired by Bill's SPACEX week whilst I was abroad I thought I'd once again post something I made years ago: a mocked up Photonic Propulsion Space Station from the legendary SPACEX II range. Considered to be as rare as rocking horse doo doo, this is about as close as I'll ever get to the real thing, hence the need to bodge my own. Its essentially made from felt pens and paint brush handles with a few extra bits of jetsam too!

The backing cards are photostats courtesy of Bill Osborne and the SpaceX II badge is courtesy of Bill B. The colour scheme and size of the model are of my own making. Who knows what the original looked like as alls we have are black and white drawings! The plastic window box is courtesy of our fridge's veg tray!

What do you think readers? Any more SpaceX II mock-ups out there?

A POSTCARD FROM SUMMER 2014

The English summer is nearly over and our schools reopen next week. I can't quite believe that I have had six weeks off as I really don't know where the time has gone. Despite my best efforts at time-slowing it has still flown by. So, what's happened over the summer....

MOONBASE COMMUNITY GROWS!

First up, Herzlichen Gluckwunsche to Ed B and his family on the birth of their new grandchild. Well done! I think that may be the first Moonbase community grand birth!

MESSAGE FROM THE PAST

I was pleasantly surprised to have got an email from Marc Frattasio. Marc was my earliest contact on the net regarding Anderson models, particularly those used in Gerry's TV shows. Years before this blog came about and with limitless patience, Marc read and answered all my emails quizzing him about Project SWORD! Now a New England railroad enthusiast and author, Marc's help back then was acknowledged on my original Project SWORD and SpaceX online checklist.

A HERCULEAN TASK

The only C21 SWORD toy I don't have in my collection [apart from the Nuclear Ferry!] is the red Task Force 2. This summer I tried again to win one on Ebay but to no avail. SWORD toys do seem to have become more popular!&?! Should anyone have a spare Task Force 2, loose or boxed, I do have a few things I could swap!

MOONBASE VISIT

Bill B made an impromptu visit for a couple of days this summer in which he was able at long last to photograph a complete set of loose SpaceX I toys for the blog. We also kicked around ideas for another blog exclusive. Watch this space!

NO SPACE TOYS HERE!

I have just spent a week in the west of Germany and despite visiting a huge car boot sale I managed to find zip space toys. Nichts. Nada. Nowt. Like in all nations I suspect, toys found at provincial car boot sales reflect the toy culture of the country. In Germany's case it is a combination of Playmobil, Kinder toys, Die- Cast, Maerklin and other train sets and native TV characters such as Sandmanchen, Mainzelmanchen and Der Sendung mit Der Maus. Browsing through Germany's many glossy toy collecting magazines in shops confirmed the homogeneous nature of the country's toy hobbyists. Maybe a large City toy fair like Cologne would have at least a few space toys? Does your country of residence have particular toy collecting habits?

THE AIR IS TURNING

Now I'm back I've noticed an Autumnal tinge to the English sunlight and possible winter projects have flecked my thoughts. I would like to reproduce the inner packaging for all my Project SWORD toys maybe [Cape Kennedy done, 19 more to go!] and finish my Blurb book on Jack Rosenthal toys perhaps. The idea of a Moonbase SWORD Stockist is also appealing. Then again, I may just curl up with Mrs. Moonbase and watch TV for six months!

FORTY SIX YEARS ON

September will bring the first new and official Project SWORD TV21 story and illustration to be published since 1968. Its a hugely exciting prospect and I was pleased to learn from the artist that he has visited this very blog now and then. Despite it being part of a limited edition set from Network, I do hope we get to see the illustration and story at some point. Who'd have thought, Project SWORD Century 22! We wait with baited breath!

Getting to the point

Space toys arrive in many different forms and one of the most overlooked is stationery items. As a boy, I would often get a multi-coloured rocket pen with ten separate phials of ink. Alongside the rocket pens, I would often find space erasers and pencil sharpeners. Today, they are difficult to come by, but I was pleased to obtain two prime examples from the sixties.

I had already acquired a Thunderbird 1 sharpener, but I found what appears to be two more from the same manufacturer.

The first one is a classic rocket, three stages with small fins. The fins are removed to take the sharpener out and release the shavings. Its just under 3" high.

The second one, is Lunar Probe 1 and features elements which show the connection to Thunderbirds. The grey fuselage with white vertical lettering and red nose are very similar to the TB1, but the triple engine array is very similar to TB3.

Strangely, I also saw another auction for a friction Thunderbird 1 which came with a red version of the Lunar Probe. Sharpener synchronicity!

Generation SPACEX - Finale

Having looked at all the models in the SPACEX line this week, here's one last look at the wonderful carded artwork for the series.

CARD BACK WITH SERIES CHECKLIST

EARTH BASE

SPACE STATION

MOON BASE

OUTER SPACE TRAVEL

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

With exactly two weeks to go before the Alpha: 2014 convention I felt the urge to begin a run of posts  putting up a few photos of some of my Eagle models and toys to get me in the mood. Don't worry if you're not going, I'm duty bound to give a full report of the event for the blog.

To begin with I thought I'd re-post a couple of photos I took last year of a slightly distressed Dinky Eagle Transporter which  I picked up at a  Dinky mart, Bill , Paul and I went to in Bolton.

More Eagle photos to follow.

FAILURE TO LAUNCH

"LANCASHIRE, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!"

Heartened by the recent success with capturing the Nuclear Pulse launch, I thought i'd have a go at something a little more dramatic. The Topper/Deluxe Reading Cape Canaveral Rocket Base has been a staple toy for me since I was about seven. One excited Xmas morning I got the set laid out, primed one of the 10" rockets in the spring powered launcher... and Bam! Off it went, a perfect parabolic orbit across the room and crashed into the tree, fusing all the xmas lights. Needless to say, my name was mud for the next few days.

Since that epic launch in the sixties, that set has long gone, but with Woodsy's help, Ive now got an almost complete second set. So, thinking I could record the dramatic launch of a rocket with my camera, I laid it out on the conservatory floor, found a long aluminium rod, primed the camera and...

..Nothing. No amount of pushing or nudging would make it go. A quick spray of WD40, though and it was away - but unfortunately, too fast for my old shutter finger.

  But perseverance is the name of the game, so some 300 frames later, I cracked it. Unfortunately, the launch took 1/30th of a second, so it was a very brief shoot!

The big stick effect also pushes the base around, but the considerable recoil from the rocket (which sailed 8' into the air and landed on my head) slams down shaking the launcher.

On to Phase 2... see the pilot on the extreme left faint dead away at the thought of being sent into space!

Expect more potentially damaging camera hijinks soon..

THE REAL STARS OF THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO 2015

Although there's a while to go before, hopefully a whole new generation of Thunderbird fans will come into being when we get to see the brand new rebooted Thunderbirds are Go TV series.

Slowly but surely, little snippets of info are being leaked onto the web to wet our appetite and provoke many a debate from fans, myself and blog friend, Will Schwartz included.

Personally, my interest will be in what merchandise we'll be treated to, die cast toys, plastic models, I can't wait.

We've now seen plenty of images of the new Thunderbird 1, including this rather tidy looking large model. That would look very nice in my display cabinet.

We've also seen these 3D renderings of the craft ,which are all over the web, so they may as well be here as well.

This is what I think of what I've seen - what do you lot think?

Thunderbird 1 is too much like the original for me and there's been changes for changes sake. I'm not sure I like those stubby wings, but I can see me getting used to them.

The rendering of the new  Thunderbird 2 looks like the wings fold up, and what is that circular thing behind the intake? I'll be honest  this design is really growing on me. There's enough of the original design to make it recognisable, but now it's taken on a more muscular look.

I must admit I'm having trouble with Thunderbird 3. The rocket motors look like they've been inspired by Lego. I'm hoping it'll look better on the show.

Thunderbird 4 doesn't look a lot different to the original, but unlike the changes in Thunderbird 1, I reckon this looks a lot sleeker and more realistic.

As to Thunderbird 5, the 3D rendering I've seen looks totally different to the original one we're used to.
To see it along with the other click on the link which shows the 3D renderings.

http://rocketumbl.tumblr.com/post/93947737360

Generation SPACEX - Outer Space Travel

 Outer Space Travel

ROCKET NOVA 1

The final installment of our look at Spacex Stage One is the only series without a larger model. Instead it features a flight of four smaller toys.

NUCLEAR FREIGHTER NF II

SPACE PATROL 1

PLEASURE CRUISER 1

This last series of models are all spacefaring vehicles, but with the notable inclusion of a pleasure cruiser, Triang clearly thinking ahead to a period when the everyman could take jaunts into space. Nova 1 again features in Arthur C Clarke's book along with the MEV and Sword Booster Rocket and the elegant Space Patrol 1 or Space Command Ship from the US line, is a direct lift from Ron Turner's 'Guardian' ship in his TV21 Dalek strip. The Nuclear Freighter has more than a touch of Thunderbird 2 styling as well.

I hope you have enjoyed this brief look at some of my most treasured toys and a look at Woodsy's personal SPACEX fleet. A multitude of style and colour variations exist, some of which can be seen here: 

http://projectswordtoys.blogspot.co.uk/p/wotans-page.html

Prospector on the Moon

Master builder Kevin Davies has sent us a fine photograph of his recent Prospector build, coursing over the moon surface. Wonderful.

Generation SPACEX - Moon Base

MOON BASE

The Triang Stage One series Moon Base series includes the single most complex toy of the fleet, the eponymous base itself. Based on a NASA concept for an advance base, the toy has four modular capsules, each sitting on four tiny detachable legs. Inside three of the four units are tiny scaled items of furniture and equipment, including a computer array, recreation hall with cinema and dormitory with pool table and bunk beds! The fourth module is the garage unit with opening hatch and the four units are connected by a cross shaped tunnel unit.

MOON BASE

The Moon Base series is possibly the closest that SPACEX comes to Project SWORD in one sitting. Featuring a central base, the almost identical Prospector and Moon Bus lookalike, parallels between the series begin here and radiate outward.

PROSPECTOR

EXPLORER MEV 2

The MEV design can be found in Arthur C Clarke's 'Man in Space' book and the Cricket P1 appears in many other toy lines, most notably in Remco's Hamilton Invaders line.

MOBILE HQ

BASE PATROL CRICKET P1

Nuclear Pulse in Action

The Spacex Nuclear Pulse is a fabulously unique design and besides its unusual look, it has two action features to extend playability and interest. In the central bay is a small ejectable space plane, spring mounted and almost guaranteed to speed off into the depths of space (or far corner of the living room) at the slightest touch.

Fortunately, the Pulse comes equipped with a second feature, twin satellite launchers! In the sixties, flying saucer guns were frequently found with wind up launching saucers and Triang have taken this concept, made it smaller and added a pair of neat launchers to the model. With a few turns and the flick of a hidden lever, the satellites launch into the air, spinning furiously. Until recently, the whole effect happened so fast it was hard to enjoy, but while on location at Moonbase, I managed to grab two sequences at 30 frames per second of a launch. Here they are, as animated gifs!

A few brisk turns and the saucer satellite is ready to fly, twirling a good foot into the air. As with any vintage toy, caution is always advised, but as usual the Pulse performed beautifully!