After 7 years of blogging and 15 years before that discussing Project SWORD online I thought it would be interesting to take stock of the relative scarcity and commonness of Project SWORD toys.
A bit of fun and not really scientific either, I thought I'd do a scale of sorts. I'll just cover proper toy vehicles and not die casts, paper models, plastic kits or miniatures. No books or comics either.
Here is my take based on the number of existing examples of the toys known to me [i.e. examples with me or fellow collectors, seen on ebay and other online evidence of numbers]:
RAREST
0. Century 21 Moon Base Set - no known examples
0. T in a Circle/ Century 21 Moon Bus with T emblem on nose - no known examples
1. SL Task Force 3 - 1 example
1. YT White Space Bird Probe Force 3 - 1 example
1. Century 21 Yellow and Purple Probe Force 3 - 1 example
1. Durham Green Space Glider [loose] - 1 example
1. Carded Japanese Scouts 2 and 3 - 1 example each
1. Carded Tarheel Task Force Force 2 and 3 - 1 example each
1. Blue Tarheel Task Force 1 [loose] - 1 example
1. Gold Task Force 3 [brand unknown] - 1 example
1. Century 21 Scout 1 complete with radar - 1 example
2. Hover remote controlled Probe Force 3 - 3 examples
2. Century 21 Scout 3 - 3 examples
2. Century 21 orange Space Glider - 3 examples
2. Tomy Interplanetary Apollo Saturn Rocket - 3 examples
2. YT Silver Space Bird PF3 - 3 examples
3. Century 21 Nuclear Ferry - 5 examples
3. Hoover Booster Rocket - 5 examples
3. Mego Space Tract and Day-f-Ran Space Glider - 5 examples
3. Italian de-Tarheeled Moon Ranger - 5 examples
3. Hover Space Glider - 5 examples
4. Century 21 Cape Kennedy Set - 10+ examples
4. Century 21 Scout 2 - 10+ examples
4. Tarheel boxed Project SWORD of any kind [not including rare branding] - 10+ examples
4. Hover and NaSa Probe Force 1 and 3 - 10+ examples of each
4. T in a Circle Moon Bus and Moon Prospector - 10+ examples of each
4. Chibi Bichi Moon Prospector - 10+ examples
4. Sears Rocket Base Apollo Saturn - 10+ examples
5. Century 21 Apollo Saturn and Zero X - 50+ examples
5. Century 21 Probe Force 2 - 50+ examples
6. Century 21 Moon Ranger, Dyna Soar, Task Force and Probe Force 1 - 100+ examples
7. Century 21 Moon Prospector, Moon Bus and Probe Force 3 - 250+ examples
COMMONEST
Views/ comments/ additions/ removals welcomed!
Back to basics! A very interesting list indeed Woodsy, so many facets to it that it takes a while to digest... It seems that some of the toys I have not come across (in decent shape) in all these years, are still quite common!
ReplyDeleteAs to the T Moon Bus with the T emblem, I believe it was a prototype for photo purposes and never produced as such. However, I would be glad if it did surface one day!
Its all very subjective Arto I'm afraid. The estimates are just gut feelings based on the numbers of certain toys that I've seen over many years. You will have seen the same ones, certainly online. As for the T emblem Moon Bus, since everyone at C21 used it for their illustrations I believe, like you, that there's a protoype out there somewhere. I have a photograph of an early T Moon Bus with passenger windows artwork applied to it - from the National Archives.
DeleteJust a thought about the elusive Moon Base Set: Have we ever tried to approach the question by its parts, that is, has any of the three smaller vehicles or even the lunar surface plate ever come up as separate pieces? Could it have been, as is the case with many SWORDs, that the Moon Base would have used parts already in existence?
ReplyDeleteIts a fascinating thought Arto. One possible starting point is the scale of the thing. This might help work out which LP spacemen were used. In turn we might deduce whether other toy vehicles such as LP brand were used or perhaps Hover? I've reposted an old article by Bill about the set's scale to maybe start us off.
Delete