CABINET RESHUFFLE

The first flush of toys in my new Ikea display cabinet. Top: smaller craft, middle:  scratch built SpaceX Photonic Propulsion Space Station and bottom: scratch built Project SWORD Hover Tank by Kevin D.

Right: Hoover

More to come.

CATS EYES?

I can't decide if this is cat's eyes or eagle eyes - either way it's a photobomb!

GLICO TOY IDENTIFICATION SEARCH ENGINE

Here's a cool thing, the Japanese Glico company's heritage search engine, which allows you to identify old Glico toys and date them. Look here and translate to suit: EZAKI GLICO MEMORIAL

Vehicle and Plastic is a good category but I had a browse through everything! Click on any image to make it bigger and get some more details.

There's definately some Thunderbirds inspired stuff in there. I'm not sure if this covers everything Glico ever did but its a start for us collectors in the West.

What do you think?

THE FABULOUS THUNDERBIRDS

I'm loving just taking some simple random pics of Dinky die - casts  in the garden.

Here's the Thunderbird collection

SPACEX II NUCLEAR FREIGHTER MOCK BACKING CARD

This is a mock up of a theoretical card back for the as yet unseen SpaceX II Nuclear Freighter. 

Designed by Bill.

SATURDAY EVENING POP AND CRISPS: OBSCURE WORDS FROM MY YOUTH

I was thinking about something to do with miniature orc models from my youth in the Seventies and thought of a word - or words - I just don't recall what it means anymore, Ral Partha!

This got me thinking - are there any more verbal obscurae from back then that I'm just not sure about anymore? Well, turns out there's loads! Here are a few:

1. Ral Partha?

2. Dolly Blue?

3. Bex Bissal?

4. Brogues?

5. Condo?

6. Duplex?

7. Mel Tormay?

8. Pelican and Zebra Crossings - difference?

9. Ah Oh Chongo?

10. Perambulator?

11. Feature Film?

12. Coal Flowers?

13. Pantry and larder - difference?

14. Cottage and Shepherds' Pie - difference?

15. Gaberdine?

16. Broiled?

17. Rotisserie and spit roast - difference?

18. Grits as in a sort of food?

19. Saloon, coupe, estate - as in cars - difference?

20. Manila as in envelope?

21. Linesman of the County - Glen Campbell sang about one?

I have no idea of the answers and of course I could look them up but it'd be more fun to hear what you think readers off the top of your heads! Your own obscure words welcomed too!

THRUSH BUSTIN' IN THE BUSHES

Another die casting big pic of my favourite Uncles'

RUN-OFF GROOVE MESSAGE: THE HOUNDS OF LOVE

As I'm currently listing LP records on Amazon I'm checking all the run-off grooves for messages. The run-off groove is that no-mans land between the last track and the label, where the stylus 'runs off'.

Often there are production numbers with A or B depending on whether its side 1 or 2. These can be scratched on or machine-written. Its the other scratched messages I look for, handwritten with a needle or something by someone in the factory.

The most intriguing one today has been TOWNSEND on the run-off groove of Hounds of Love by Kate Bush.  Maybe Townsend was the scratcher?

Whatever, its a lost art form and literally just below the surface.

I can't recall seeing any messages inside plastic toys, although there's plenty of room to scratch something. I guess the fact that the insides are not meant to be seen makes it pointless. Sometimes parts of other toys are re-used like the Boat box card in a T in a Circle Flying Saucer we covered years ago.

I do love hidden record messages, ghost posters, notes in old books and the like. Do you readers?

T IN A CIRCLE MOONRANGER VARIATION

These pictures feature a find by Arto, a Tai Hing "T" Moonranger variant 355 A. The same number is found embossed on the yellow underside of the normal T Moonranger itself.

WAITING FOR THE DOCTOR

With the new series of Doctor Who airing next month I've been checking out the rumours and gossip doing the rounds.

It seems Missy and Osgood  will be returning from oblivion. The Zygons are back and, of course we have Daleks, apparently from  all their various time lines.

Now I'm intrigued!

VINTAGE FUN IN THE LINCOLNSHIRE WOLDS

This week we've been on days. Yesterday we went to the lovely Lincolnshire Wolds; gentle rolling hills near the east coast of England. There are a few market towns in amongst the Wolds. 

Louth is pretty and well worth a visit especially if you like book shops, new and second hand. Besides fine shopping there are also many well-stocked charity shops. Alas, the appraisers have done their homework and many vintage items are priced accordingly.

In one charity shop I saw a boxed McDonnel Douglas F-4E Phantom II by Sanchis of Spain [priced £50]. It was jet black and had the tail fin missing I think. Looked huge. There's a red version on Ebay from a Greek seller [Greek Toys: pictures below] at the moment.

Horncastle is a town literally full of antique shops. They're everywhere. Items which would appeal to readers include many TV-related Dinky die-cast including Gerry Anderson. 

Examples included an SPC, an SPV, a blue TB2, a Green Hornet Black Beauty, a gold James Bond Aston Martin, a Batmobile, a Monkeemobile, a UFO SHADOmobile and Beatles Yellow Submarine. I could even feel my Yorkshire wallet unstitching!

Other attractions in the area, which we didn't visit - we ran out of time - but which might prove interesting for readers were centred around vintage cars.

On Your Marques is a toy car themed cafe and attraction featuring Scalextric and die-cast. You can even have a go on a four lane slot car track pictured here! It's in Mumby on the A52. Check out their website.

Another attraction a little further afield is the Bubblecar Museum at Boston. Check out their site too. They even do bubble rallies!

KEV'S SCRATCHBUILT SHADO LUNAR MOBILE

I have done some pictures of my scratchbuilt SHADO Lunar Module. They are the first decent pictures I've taken of it (The model must be 15 years old now at least), thought you'd like to see them.. Kevin

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA PAPERBACK FROM DINNINGTON NEAR SHEFFIELD

Just sorting some old books out, I came across this Battlestar Galactica paperback.

Books often tell you things about the owners and this one is a gem. The previous owner, from Dinington near Sheffield [who has blacked out his name], has not only stuck in a Cylon Warrior from the Action Transfers set but also what I suspect to be the stub from the cinema screening of the film way back when!

The stub says EMI on it. EMI ran the ABC cinema chain and I assume it came from a Sheffield ABC ticket. I can't find any info about Battlestar Galactica being shown at Sheffield ABC - dates, attendance - but I presume it was 1978. It will have looked something like this [taken in 1983]

picture: www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk

The  paperback also contains several pages of colour photographs including some fabulous artwork by the gifted Ralph McQuarrie.

I didn't see Battlestar Galactica at the cinema but I can appreciate the effort that has gone into personalising this paperback. Did you see the movie when it came out readers?

DR. WHO THE END OF THE UNIVERSE COLLECTION ON VHS: AS RARE AS DALEK DOO DOOS

I am always interested in news about video-cassettes since there is very little of it these days. Consigned to the waste-bin of dead technologies alongside 8 Track Cartridges, Laserdisc, Minidisc et al, video has a special place in my heart, as I saw it rise in my youth and fall in my Forties. 

Having grown up with it I have long collected videos, especially the older big box VHS tapes [and a few Betamax but sadly no Video 2000] and have a substantial 'library' of books about video.

So I was surprised to see video get a decent journalistic piece on UK TV's One Show last night. Under discussion were the impossibility of finding a VCR nowadays [maybe find one in bigger charity electrical shops], the demise of video at car boot sales and charity shops [ who tend not to accept them now] and the problems that video-cassettes pose for landfill owing to the toxins they contain.

Rarity was also discussed. Now I have many rare videos in my collection but they are all from the initial years of the technology and largely from the mid to late 1980's. So I was astonished to find out that one of the rarer videos is a relatively modern box set - the Dr. Who End of the Universe collection from 2003 when video was already on the wane.

Now if my research is correct this BBC box set was released in the US only, so I can understand why its rare here in the UK, but is it rare in America? What has made it rare?

Wiki lists the set as follows:

The End of the Universe Collection - This release was exclusive to the US market to celebrate the 40th anniversary and contained the last 13 stories yet to be released on VHS. These were The Sensorites, The Reign of Terror, The Time Meddler. The Gunfighters, The Faceless Ones, The Web of Fear, The Ambassadors of Death, The Mutants,Invasion of the Dinosaurs, The Invisible Enemy, The Creature from the Pit, The Horns of Nimon and Meglos. It was released in October 2003.

Not being a big Who fan, I cannot appreciate the significance of the phrase 'the last 13 stories to be released on VHS', although it sounds special.  Just to be sure I checked Amazon US and Amazon Canada for the set and Ebay US and UK, all to no avail. One last stop was the BBC's Dr. Who online shop and as expected they sell only DVD's nowadays.

It would appear that this VHS box set, which came out in 2003 at the very end of the technology, is indeed a rarity. Does anyone actually have it?

POSTSCRIPT: FINLAND'S OWN VHS DALEK DOO DOOS

Further to Arto's educational comment, here is a picture of the rare Finish VHS release of Dr. Who Pyramids of Mars he mentions.

MYSTERY SHIP: THE JETHRO ZX SPACE INTERCEPTERS

This is an unusual item I saw on the bay recently, the JETHRO ZX Space Interceptoers by Gata Box Ltd of New York 1983.

Several things are unusual. I've never heard of Gata Box - have you readers? The name Jethro ZX seems very odd for a spaceship too, although the initials ZX will be well known in the UK as part of the famous Spectrum ZX computer. But why Jethro ZX? I couldn't find a single reference to it online. The shape reminds me of Chris Foss's imagined spacecraft. Anyone recognise the shape?

Gata Box Ltd is itself is now dissolved as a company.

The toy itself involves slotting two small die-cast Interceptors into the larger ship, the Space Command. Whilst pushing the Space Command along the two Interceptors are released from the front by pressing a red button. Quite a neat idea really!

The second strange little craft I've seen is this miniature space vehicle in Japan. Looking like a small yellow bullet on wheels, I immediately thought of the SpaceX LT10 Lunar Transporter with its lipstick-like front end. Then again it could be based on a dragster? Any ideas readers?

I AM NOT A GOOGLE

Earlier in the month I had to sign up for a temporary Google gmail account. I cannot recall why but it must have seemed imperative at the time in order to move cybernetically forward on something or other! I certainly never intended to use gmail.

Last night whilst checking various blog settings I saw that Google had changed my email address at the top of the blog to their new gmail! You what! 

Not wanting this new gmail to appear everywhere I set about trying to change what Google call my 'primary email'. I always forget that Blogger is owned by Google, despite the fact Google ask me to sign in now and then.

Re-setting my email required texts, recovery email addresses and who knows what. I was even asked if I would like to provide a photo and link all my devices to other people so that they know where I am at any time of the day! Sounding far too much like an Orwellian nightmare coming to roost I searched for the real me.

After about an hour of faffing about I managed to get back to my true identity and not Google's. I once more have my old freeserve email address I have had since I started online 20 years ago!

What with Google tracking me, Amazon launching a new food delivery service, Facebook mushrooming and apps appearing out of thin air I am beginning to feel like the Lawnmower Man in a cyber war!

At some point it will all connect and go sentient - like Cyberdine Systems in the Terminator or even worse, like Proteus in Demon Seed. We all know what happened there - the computer gave birth!

With parents like Google, Apple and Facebook - the meganets of Today - God knows what they'll give birth to Tomorrow! 

Sir Tim Berners-Lee must be googling in his flat beer wondering what the hell happened to the free web he invented.

"I AM NOT A ROBOT! "

At least, I don't think I am. Just tested Woodsys new 'Captcha' comment form and it seems straightforward. But then, I didn't have much problem commenting generally from my Samsung tablet. On a pc it can sometimes by a little long winded. Hopefully this will sort the problem!

MORE GARDEN RUBBISH

"Fancy a spin round the rhododendrons Mrs Peel?"

COLLECTING DARK SHADOWS AND GOTHIC ROMANCE PAPERBACKS

One of my many vintage interests has been collecting paperbacks from the Dark Shadows TV series.

I have found most of them at car boot sales over the last 25 years.

Dark Shadows was a gothic TV soap featuring classic monsters and ran from 1966 to 1971. It had and has a cult following and spawned films, comics, radio plays, toys, games and kits.

Many of the Dark Shadows paperbacks were authored by Marilyn [aka Dan] Ross. These gothic stories became part of the sub-genre of literature known as gothic romance, which has its roots in the 18th Century and even the Brontes.

Modern gothic romance like Dark Shadows novels blossomed in the Sixties and Seventies with publishers like Paperback Library and Ace Gothic. I also have a collection of their gothic romances.

Gothic romance featured dark settings, lost loves, commanding men, love-stricken ladies, ruined castles and many other gloomy devices.

For me the covers have always held my fascination. The true modern gothic romance paperbacks covers almost always featured a fleeing maiden, a country house in deep shadow and most curious of all, a single illuminated window! See for yourself here. How fabulous is that!

Have you any gothic novels or other gothic collectables readers? Have you ever seen Dark Shadows on TV?

HELP! BLOG COMMENTS PROBLEM!

NEWSFLASH!

In an attempt to break the stalemate in the current issue with CAPTCHA verification on the blog, whereby even though I have turned it off months ago, several frequent readers are still being asked to verify pictures before commenting, I am going to re-set the blog.

So, for the next 24 hours I will TURN BACK ON picture-word/ CAPTCHA verification and change the comment format - in the hope that it changes  something - hopefully for the better!

Please let me know - via the comments [if you can] what your experience is now, before I decide what to do after the 24 hours is up.

I apologise in advance if your experience is less than good.

___________________________________

One of our regular readers and top contributors, Kevin, is struggling to comment on the blog from his Android phone. 

Even though word and picture verification [CAPTCHA] is turned off on the blog - and it has been for some time - Kevin's phone still asks him to verify picture-words before he can comment. This means that he can't comment, which is a great shame.

Is anybody else being asked to word/picture verify before commenting on the blog? Is it on your mobile? Does anyone have any advice for us as to how to solve this?

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

This birdwatching is great fun - there was an Eagle in my garden this morning!

HAS EBAY CHANGED HOW WE COLLECT TOYS?

Ebay is 15 in the UK and Europe. They'll be celebrating down at their HQ. But are we? 

Ebay changed collecting habits overnight and for me personally the increase in  items from around the globe suddenly being available was the single biggest change.

Some of the social side went out of collecting though, but this could have been the internet overall and not just Ebay. I used to go to far more swapmeets especially small evening ones. But big swapmeets and toyfairs have survived so there must still be a demand.

One of the things I miss most are the small ads in magazines like Model Mart. Its through these Ads I got to know Bill and Paul V. These ads also allowed sellers to circulate their lists of wants and items for sale or trade. Those lists were just great. I sent loads out and loved getting other collectors' through the post.

All this being said, Ebay, for all its ills and commercialism, has shown us more toys from around the world than ever before. I'm not sure that the net itself, without Ebay, would have done that. Certainly not as quickly. So more than anything for me that is Ebay's legacy.

What do you think readers? Has Ebay changed things?

MYSTERY SPACE CAKE TOPPER ASTRONAUT AND BASE

Celebrating 15 years of Ebaying in the UK, I had a pop at three items during July. Being on a limited budget I knew it would be tough, especially the JR21 XL9, which would have been a fine step forward for my Probe Force 3 fleet. Needless to say I didn't win any of them!

I thought I'd blog the pictures of the little space toys/ cake toppers baggy anyway. It looks like a mixture of Apollo Moon Exploring/ LP-style items and some others.

The capsule, the flag and the LEM I think are Apollo Moon Exploring/ LP inspired - the LEM radar even has the ribbed collar [doesn't the Triang SpaceX Mobile HQ have the same one?]

Its the small round lunar surface and the astronaut I don't recognise. Do you readers?

BANDAI DIE-CAST THUNDERBIRD 4

I was sent this die-cast Thunderbird 4 toy by blog friend and fellow blogger, Will Schwartz, who acquired a second one  and was kind enough let me have this one.

And what a beauty it is. being die-cast it feels really solid and looks good too. As with a lot of Japanese toys it does have it's features.

It comes with little missiles which can be fired from the front.

There are also a couple of collector card and instructions.

The box artwork.

As its primarily a toy it does have the obligatory wheels.

Now that Will has introduced me to the TB 4, I'll be looking out for more  Bandai Thunderbird die-casts.