In the 1990's I acquired my Century 21 Project SWORD Cape Kennedy Set. It came with a soft plastic red remote control with two yellow buttons.
Only years later did I find out that this remote was the wrong one. It should have looked like the stick unit below.
I had thought that maybe mine was another Century 21 remote unit like the one on this Thunderbird 1 but its not the same.
So I was amazed to see yet another Project SWORD toy this year with the same one when this Scramble Bug appeared on Ebay with the same red remote as mine. The remote's cable is inserted where the toy's on-off switch would normally be.
This is it from the inside.
In an attempt to ID this red remote and see whether it may have been standard practice by toy companies to use it instead of the original I had a good look round for other examples.
One I found was this Lincoln steerable Bulldozer. On the box the advertised remote is the stick type not dissimilar to that of the C21 Cape Kennedy Set.
However the actual toy has that red remote again!
What is going on readers? Is their a remote chance that when toy companies ran out of stick controls they stuck on a cheaper red unit instead? Or was it techy kids or is it modern collectors changing the remotes? What do you think?
Cost-cutting exercise perhaps? Somebody starts making a nice cheap unit and you use that instead of a more expensive unit you used before. And which you might've bought in as well instead of producing your own.
ReplyDeleteToy makers buying in components or accessories from other manufacturers is and was a common practice (think friction motors f ex. Or golden astronaut figures by LP supplied to Triang. And where I think plated radar dishes were also supplied by LP since they also appear on their own toys).
Best -- Paul
Insightful Paul. I'm heartened by the fact that you don't think its just collectors changing remote controls but rather the manufacturers themselves. The Scramble Bug is so unusual where they've inserted it where the on-off dial should be. Looks really odd. But a remote control Bug. How cool. Yay!
ReplyDeletePaul's right...the other example is the motor-unit for boats and submarines, there are really only two or three major designs, the commonest being the large one usually seen in red-white, but they are found on all makers toys, and for sale as extras or accessories in a lot of toy and model kit catalogues of the late 60's/Early 70's.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, other examples are the pull-back flywheel motors and full-on battery-motor units....either the same units on different makers toys, or different units on the same toy.
H
If it's just one "wrong" control unit then I'd've really looked over the rest of the toy for tampering, esp screw heads and the holes they go in which would be the most likely place for scratches and the like. But with the evidence in the photos you've collected, it stops being a coincidence.
ReplyDeleteUsing the switch hole in the Scramble Bug makes perfect sense too. No extra hole for the remote wires to adapt into the moulds or add as an extra step in the assembly process by drilling one in somewhere. And if there's any lugs or other attachments inside to hold the wires in place, then the rest of the assembly stays exactly the same in hooking up the wiring coming from that hole to the motor. Only extra thing needed is something to keep a child pulling the remote wires loose and out of that hole, where just a double knot in the wires can do the trick.
Best -- Paul
Thanks Hugh and Paul. I'm feeling more confident now that my Cape Kennedy Set wasn't hacked by a dealer or a techy kid after all. The search for the stick unit has ended! Cape Kennedy stands at ease.
ReplyDelete