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Project Sword and the space toy industry is full of surprises. If on company isn't copying another, the other was always trying to outdo its competitors by offering bigger, more expansive sets to an eager army of children each Xmas.
I've always been a huge Sword fan from my very first Task Force 1 to the very recent Nuclear Ferry and I've spent the intervening years poring over the Sword Manual and Annual as (until the advent of the internet) they were the only available sources of information.
Every year while Sword was hot, I included the Moon Base on my hitlist, and every year it eluded me. Its good to know that I wasn't the only one wondering about it!
Woodster's moonbase project is indeed a big task [ a model ]- and I envy him greatly and look forward to the results! As to the question of scale, one thing always troubled me was the (apparently) massive control box - all those dials and switches seemed awful complex, but re-reading the text in the manual, it clearly states that its a 'four switch control panel', so everything below the four lever switches at the top must be decoration!
Also, it details the actions for each part, rotating scanner, lifting lem and blinking lights, so complex switches aren't needed.
Furthermore, looking closely at the main image, you can see what appears to be a battery compartment beneath each module.
Now assuming these are batteries and all they have to do is power the simple function, they would be 'C' size or similar, making each unit about 6 or 7 inches high (approx 16-18 cm) which would in turn put them at the right size for Spacex sized vehicles.
Also, it details the actions for each part, rotating scanner, lifting lem and blinking lights, so complex switches aren't needed.
Furthermore, looking closely at the main image, you can see what appears to be a battery compartment beneath each module.
Now assuming these are batteries and all they have to do is power the simple function, they would be 'C' size or similar, making each unit about 6 or 7 inches high (approx 16-18 cm) which would in turn put them at the right size for Spacex sized vehicles.
Also, the text mentions 'miniature versions' of Prospector etc, so its definitely not the huge set we hoped it might be! The figures in comparison to the vehicles would indeed seem to be LP scale as Woodster suggests - pictured is a comparison of the 6cm 'cake topper' size figures and various golden astronauts.
So many questions there - Are those really battery boxes underneath the Base modules? Would not batteries be inside the control box instead? What kind of functions was the control box for? What is the size of the lunar base plate and was it produced separately? What about the small vehicles, would they have used the SpaceX tooling (if that fits choronologically)? Mysteries abound!
ReplyDeleteIt is the Moon Base mystery Arto. We know more about Mars than we do about this! To be honest, the whole Moon Base set drawn in the Manual doesn't look like a toy, it looks more like a model layout you would see in a display. I can't think of another toy with a control box like that can you? Maybe the equally fabled Imai Moon Base Set model kit described in Dennis Nicholson's book would throw some light on it if one ever surfaced. As to the chronology with SpaceX, whether the Golden Astronaut figures were actually around between 1967-1969 when SWORD toys were available is a good question. Perhaps Century 21 had early access to them or to LP spacemen and vehicles?
DeleteThe manual illustration could be based on a work in progress design, a lot of the drawings seem to be based on the prototype models featured in Solo. The control box is obviously much too complex looking for such simple actions as controlling a light bulb and a pair of motors, so that may be a stock illustration. The Lunar Module has a pop up action which is very similar to other LEM toys of the period too:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.woolworthsmuseum.co.uk/Toys-RaceForSpace.html
Its also possible that the Eidai Grip Scramble Bug toy could have been based on a design intended for the Moonbase, at around 3" long, that could make the entire base itself a manageable 2' square base, with Golden Astronaut size figures. The baseplate is very reminiscent of the Spacex vac form moonscape, which also appeared in the Johnny Astro sets, at a slightly bigger scale.
Whatever the scale, it would have put the MB set apart from all the rest of the SWORD fleet, closer to range of SpaceX and GA. Was that the reason for (assumed) discarding of the planned release? If released, would it have been a Phase 2 model, along with the Nuclear Ferry?
ReplyDeleteWhats for certain is that the toys in the drawing aren't the normal SWORD toys. It would have been HUGE otherwise! This in itself makes it unusual in the SWORD toy range and like you say Arto pushes the the set more towards SpaceX. I have tried many times to find small toys similar to the ones in the drawing. The LEM is the easiest as many companies produced one - AHI, Clifford, Tri-ang themselves. Thene there are tiny LEMs like the Blue Shield toy. The vehicles are harder and the only brand with them in, two of them at least, is the Hover range, which included a rover and a scramble bug. I did a bloglet on them in 2012
ReplyDeletehttp://projectswordtoys.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/hover-craft.html
I see what you mean about the Imai die-cast bug Bill. Never considered that one.
The other miniature is the Moon Prospector. Where might C21 have gotten one of those?
As for the rest of the biudings, I've never seen anything like them. the closest are those in Marx play sets.