ROBOT CRUSH

Robby and Alta

Polishing the Giant Robot

Unknown robot and Lady

The original fembot Maria

Diana Rigg and robot

SPACEX YEARBOOK

I thought I'd have a crack at a cover for a Spacex annual.

A long while back, purely for fun I wrote a script for a comic strip I wanted to draw featuring vehicles and rockets from the Spacex range and invented several characters to go with it. The story was called The Proton Storm and the 'star' character was Major Hank Hornby, one of the 'Golden Astronauts', who were all  based at a rocket installation near a stretch of land by the ocean called Triang Bay.The person in charge of the base was Colonel Frank Lines and  chief scientist on the base was Professor Lipkin with his assistant daughter  named Pippin.  Other characters' names were inspired by TV series or favourite films.

JAPANESE GLICO TOYS CAPTION COMPETITION

Who can come up with the best caption for this piccy readers?

SATURDAY AFTERNOON PICTURES BY KEVIN D

Hi,

Just felt like doing some photos this afternoon, so these are what I did, thought you'd like to see them.

Take care,
Kevin

MARCOS TALKS CHIBI 2

Dictionary of Argentinian Toys

BICHI / CHIBI Section

Pictures and translation courtesy of reader Marcos Fernandes of Argentina

"Bichi srl: plastic and metal cars (1958-1972) 

Almost by chance or as a deserved reward for persistence, antique hunters found in the late nineties an integrated stock by dozens of boxes of remains of what had been a toy factory: auto parts, incomplete parts, friction mechanisms and hundreds of stickers. 

They were the remnants of the firm Bichi SRL, founded around 1950 by Augusto Blanco and the brothers Enrique, Luis and Carlos Chialchia , which produced cars, mainly friction in a workshop in 3931 Cabrera Street, and reached its greatest popularity in the years sixties. 

For a brief period, collectors, always attentive to the rewards usually granted lso this impromptu outbursts of urban archeology, supiero exploit the recurrence of classic cars, revived in all its glory to be assembled and decorated, as before, with decals steam. 

In May 1960, the firm turned under Bianco &; Society Coleciva cía category, brand and Bichi records throughout the decade produce plastic parts and metal, including highlights curious Murcielauto (Batcar) and  Murciel-lancha (Murciel-boat)  argentine appropriations of bati vehicles- well drawn to avoid paying royalties, the Cipol Agent Car and Planetary Explorer Bichi (after ). 

In the mid-seventies, society-was already SRL reinvents itself as SRL, composed of the same owners, they continued to produce nearly the same models but with Carlos V and Chibi brands _ at its plant in Cambet St 1243, Jose Leon Suarez, Buenos Aires, until 1982." 

Book information:

Daniela Pelegrinelli, (author) Diccionario de Juguetes Argentinos, infancia, industria y educación 1880-1965, El juguete Ilustrado Editor, Buenos Aires, 2010.

This book is out of print. It's great. I know the publisher, If you want a book I can get you one.

Keep in touch

Marcos

MARCOS TALKS CHIBI TOYS

Hi, 

my name is Marcos from Buenos Aires, Argentina. A while ago I started a commercial project of collecting: Cosas Elegidas . Besides being a source of income is an excuse to buy, sell and investigate things that I like. In this extensive and capricious list, toys play an important role. 

Few days ago I bought a lunar explorer Gorgo brand and looking at the web found your blog. I found it amazing that Argentina occupy a place in such an important high benchmark for toy collectors. Exploring blog I met an article about the company CHIBI. 

I recently bought a fire camiión MIB that brand. I pass the link to my blog with this entry, http://cosaselegidas.blogspot.com.ar/2014/10/chibi-bichi-atentoscoleccionistas-y.html and also scanned the Argentine dictionary entry for toys Bichi company that later became Chibi. 

If you need help with translation, let me know and I can take care of that.

Fecicitaciones and thank you very much for your BLOG.

Greetings from the South,

Marcos

IS PROBE FORCE 1 ON THE BOX ART OF ULTRA KING 3?

This is the fab box art of Crown's Ultra King 3 クラウンモデル SFカートシリーズ ウルトラキング３号. Is the spaceship at the back Project SWORD's Probe Force 1? What do you think readers?

Reader Paul Copeland has also kindly sent me the link to this Japanese You Tube Mandarake video about this old kit. He has also solved a personal mystery of his we posted on the blog a while ago but more on this later!

R.I.P Leonard Nimoy

http://youtu.be/dhcR-w-56tA

OSCAR TOYS CYBERCAR

Just seen this amazing plastic space toy on ArcheoSF. It's described as the Cybercar by Oscar Toys 1957.  Its an amazing looking vehicle and I've certainly never seen it before. Have you readers?

LONDON 2015: HATCHETTS NIGHTCLUB

On a recent trip to London I took this short film of where I think the entrance to Hatchetts Nightclub was, 67a Piccadily. The picture below is what it looked like in the Sixties [courtesy of voicesofeastanglia.com]

THREE MEN IN A BLOG

 

New portrait of Scoop, Bill and me taken especially for the blog!

All funny comments and captions welcomed!

THE TUDOR ROSE SPACE CLIPPER

Woodsy

I've attached some pictures of my Tudor Rose Space Clipper. Can't find many pics of the ship, I may need to take some more. The box was covered in tape when I got it. I removed 95% of it.

The Kleeware version is moulded in two tone plastic and has small wheels with no friction drive.

I've also attached pic of a HK knock off Space Cruiser and one of a Tudor Rose Friction X-400 that had the wings smashed off and bad fin damage when I acquired it. I had to give it a paint job to cover up the repairs.

Ferryman

NEW LADY PENELOPE AND PARKER REVEALED

ITV have revealed the Lady Penelope and Parker characters for the new Thunderbirds Are Go, as well as a tantalising glimpse of the new FAB 1 which, thankfully does look like a Rolls Royce.

And, it's also been revealed that Sylvia Anderson, who voiced Lady P in the original series is penned in as a guest voice artist on the reboot as Penelope's great aunt Sylvia, in an episode written by comedian David Baddiel.

Another reveal was a rather hip-looking Brains.

So things are still looking good for the new series, especially the new FAB 1, which I'm looking forward to seeing in more detail in the coming days and weeks.

MYSTERY THUNDERBIRDS TOYS

Reader and fellow blogger Hugh recently spotted these lovely plastic Thunderbirds, TB4 and TB5, at the Sandown Toy Fair. They look like sweet containers and may possibly be Spanish. Does anyone know what they are?

ITALIAN LP ASTRONAUTS: BARAVELLI SPAZIALI

Readers of the cool Alphadrome and the Airfix Forum may already know of Baravelli Spaziali but I only discovered them last night on a random cybercruise down the autostrada.

Baravelli Spaziali were a set of six different boxed space toys and figures released by the Italian toy company Baravelli from 1970 onwards. The Spaziali sets were part of a larger series called Minizero, which included soldiers and cowboys and Indians.

Of interest to Moonbasers, SWORDies and SpaceXers is Baravelli's use of LP astronauts, which they imported from Hong Kong, bagged and stapled and along with a plastic space vehicle, formed the contents of the Spaziali sets. The LP astronauts are marked HONG KONG on the base and are HO scale. 

The vehicle designs have been knocked-off from both  UK and Japanese TV shows popular at the time, with Thunderbirds and Ultraman at the fore. The positioning of a Thunderbird 2 and LP astronauts is especially neat and almost SpaceX-like. One other vehicle looks like a stripped-down LT10 Lunar Transporter from SpaceX, but in reality i think it's a Japanese TV space rocket.

Probably the most interesting feature for me is the box art, which is quite stunning. I have never before seen an artist take the trouble to illustrate astronauts using LP Spacemen's actual poses. Here we can see the classic 'sky finger pointer', ' sky pistol pointer' and the 'orb in palm' [my names!] we are so used to seeing in SpaceX, Golden Astronaut and Apollo Moon Exploring, not to mention the Project SWORD Moon Base Set. They are so good they could have been contenders for SWORD box art and easily be the basis of a much-needed SpaceX Annual in their own right!

The artist was Gino Pallotti and you can read more about Baravelli's Minizero Spaziali sets at Atlanticplus.eu which interestingly says that some of the box art is at the V&A Museum in London. In the meantime here are some pictures from Italian auction archives. If you have any of these sets or know any more then please share the Italian joy!

THE BLACK HOLE: DISNEY'S EVENT HORIZON

I saw the Disney movie Black Hole last night for the first time. I was looking forward to it as its part of that golden seam of space operas which lit up the late Seventies. I didn't see it when it came out Christmas 1979 [too busy turning 19!] and for some reason it's passed me by ever since; a true movie black hole!

Alas, I have to admit that I was disappointed. Despite Disney's best efforts and some iconic design, I thought it was a bit of a mess. The action began almost immediately with very little build-up and the musical score went into dramatic overdrive almost straight away. In fact I don't think the orchestra took their foot off the gas for the rest of the film, leaving me unsure what the score was telling me. Its similarity to the soundtrack of the modern comedy Austin Power's Goldmember was an unfortunate coincidence.

As for the robots, watching them for the first time, I found them somewhat lacklustre. Clearly an attempt by Disney to mimic Star Wars, which in a time-bending twist they now own, Maximillian, VINCENT and BOB seemed half-baked and ungainly. The most interesting thing for me was recognising the voices of Roddy McDowell and Slim Pickens who go uncredited for some reason. 

There are, however, clearly some interesting themes in the film, which I hope to get a better feel for after a second helping. I should have seen it in '79, when I was still a 'kid'.

What do you think readers and have you got any Black Hole toys, games and other stuff?

Thunderbirds Are Game!

Role Playing game company Modiphius have just launched the Kickstarter for Thunderbirds the Co-op Game! Check it out and get behind this cool project now!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/modiphius/the-thunderbirds-co-operative-board-game-by-matt-l

LITTLE WIERDOS BLOG

I love little toy figures. I did as a kid and I still do. So its a no-brainer that I like this cool blog, Little Wierdos. 

Have a gander! http://www.littleweirdos.net/

PROJECT SWORD GIF ANYONE?

I'm a great fan of animated GIFS and often feature them on the blog. There are some great Sci Fi GIFs on the net, which I've used but I've no idea how they're made.

Wonder what a Project SWORD or SPACEX animated GIF would look like? Anyone up to the challenge?

PLASTIC TOY TOOL KITS

I loved plastic tools when I was a small kid. Hammers, screwdrivers, pliers and spanners. I'm pretty it was a set like this Busy Boy pack that I had. My Mum used to tell me that I actually drew pictures of hand tools on the staircase wallpaper, much to her horror! 

I suppose the next stage of development was plastic meccano; you know, big bolts and wrenches. Then came some junior tools like small hacksaws and a wooden toolbox. Alas, it stopped there as I have no practical skills whatsoever now!

Did you like plastic tools as a kid readers?

PROJECT VEG

I recently came across these cool veg machines on Colossal. I love the blue plastic parts. the turnip looks just like a Moon prospector! ha ha. What do you think readers?

FOR THE LAST TIME BY RORY GALLAGHER

In this age of amorphous pap charading as modern music, wrap yer lugs round some proper stuff courtesy of You Tube: For the Last Time by the late great axemeister Rory Gallagher! Subtle celtic balladic rock at its finest from 1971 when, like the mighty hammers of horned lords, electric guitars ruled supreme! There could be only one reason to have moved on from our beloved space toys as the Sixties turned into the Seventies - and that reason was rock music.

IS TV-RELATED DEAD?

Is TV-related and Sci-Fi toy collecting dead in the press? When I started collecting there were loads of magazines in the UK specifically for the TV and Sci-Fi collector like me, magazines like Model and Collectors Mart, Memorabilia, not to mention those cool US titles like Collectable Toys and Values.

What on earth has happened? There aren't any on the UK shelves anymore and haven't been for ages. OK, the Collectors Gazette newspaper occasionally runs something Sci-Fi but virtually all the magazines in the shops are relentlessly devoted to die-cast cars. 

Now don't get me wrong, I loved die-cast as a kid growing up in the Sixties. Hot Wheels, Superfast, Sizzlers, I loved them all BUT I don't collect them now I'm all growed up. I collect space and Sci-Fi TV-related plastic toys and particularly love to read about them, which used to be easy when publishers took a chance on publishing magazines about them.

Are we destined to drown in countless column inches about die-cast forever? What do you think readers?

MIDORI LUNAR TRANSPORTER: NEW BOX ART?

We've seen the MIDORI Lunar Transporter from Japan before but I'm unsure if we've seen this particular box on the blog. Set on a lunar landscape, its remarkably SWORD-like and would not look out of place as SWORD box art. 

You see from the contents that the unpainted model appears to be dark bluey green and comes with a picture of the Transporter and chums.

Anyone got one of these?

MOEBIUS 1/128 FLYING SUB

Here's a few candid photos of the Flying Sub that comes with the Moebius Seaview I'm working on.
It's quite small and I've fitted a magnet inside so it can be easily attached inside the Flying Sub bay (Moebius do provide a hook to attach the Flying Sub but if that's used the top hatch can't be glued in place).