Sometimes my mind is invaded by Tanks.
I can feel them cresting the salient of my lobes.
Its largely due to the number of toy tanks I've had in my hands over the years.
As a kid I had a cool plastic wind-up tank by Mettoy I think. It had a flip-up hatch, which revealed a pilot. In fact the pilot may have emerged from the hatch. I know I loved that thing. never seen one since the Sixties.
Another tank-like vehicle I adored was the Airfix Alvis Stalwart. It was a complete toy and not a model, which will have attracted me to it a lot. A fabulous green plastic vehicle it could ferry Airfix infantry anywhere on the carpet, the eternal batte of Axminster! Its probably the one toy I wish I still had now!
Returning to tanks proper I recall finding a huge boxed set at a car boot sale in the 90's. It was called Tank Command. The box was at least a million feet long like a Crossfire carton. I remember getting it home, sliding it out and thinking Oh My! There must have been a thousand parts and dozens of strings threading the underside. It was also broken!
Somehow I fixed it up well enough to sell on later but I've no idea how! I remember the instructions being a looooooong sheet of paper. Did you have Tank Command?
Another toy I procured from a charity shop I think was called Turn the Terrible Tank. It was actually a game really comprising of a really futuristic plastic tank sat on a plastic rail.
The tank brandished a huge silver drill bit instead of a barrel. It looked very Gerry Anderson! I remember that the terrible tank turned when it reached one end of the rail and the impressive drill whirled round. No idea how the game worked though, I sold it before I could find out!
The tank brandished a huge silver drill bit instead of a barrel. It looked very Gerry Anderson! I remember that the terrible tank turned when it reached one end of the rail and the impressive drill whirled round. No idea how the game worked though, I sold it before I could find out!
My final turreted friend was a largish plastic tank I got in a job lot of Lanard army toys years ago. It may have been the Corps, not sure. the tank was battery operated and had a remarkable pneumatic barrel. This had an illuminated crimson tip and made an immensely loud ack-ack sound.
I used it as a prop in a short Project SWORD film I made four years ago for the blog's 5th birthday if anyone recognises it. The tank I mean!
What's your favourite toy tank?
Never had a lot of tanks. I bought the huge topper toys Tiger Joe tank when I made my studio scale Shado mobile. I had a dinky centurion tank as a kid, given to me by my uncle (a Major in the TA), who said it had been used as a visual aid when planning maneouvers! I still have it and I put it up against my Martian Manta ray recently.
ReplyDeleteI never had the Tiger Joe either I don't think Kevin. Its neat how you used it for the SHADO Mobile. Is that what Century 21 did too? Its good that you've he;d on to your Centurion. Its hard holding onto treasured toys.
DeleteYep, Century 21 used the Tiger Joe a lot. It was part of the Crablogger, so that model must've been huge!
DeleteCool clip, Woodsy. I don't recognize the prop tank though? It certainly lays down some impressive explosive machine gun fire. My own fave childhood tracked vehicle is the Marx cap firing tank. Mum bought one back from a local jumble sale in 1974. It was missing the barrel and didn't work, but that wasn't a problem for my active imagination back then :)
ReplyDeleteI like the Marx Cap Firing tank too. I picked up a variation of it a few years back called the Space Tank again by Marx. Alas I sold it, which I now regret! Oddly enough it was a couple of old Marx Tanks which Kevin used to construct two fab Project SWORD Hover Tanks. Kev said they worked really well for the scratchbiuld.
DeleteBack in the 50's Tri-ang made an approximate 1/32 clockwork Sherman the turret partially revolved while the commanders head and shoulders popped out of the hatch. A bladder inside the tank puffed chalk dust from the barrel. The same model was used as a base for Alien Tanks in the TV show Space Patrol(?) or maybe early Fireball XL5 episodes. It was recognizable by the simplified wheels.
ReplyDeleteIn the 80's, Radio Shack/Tandy made a radio controlled Sherman with a red tip to the barrel and firing sounds. It had a remarkable inability to drive in a straight line and about 6' range for the RC.
I love that Terra, a bladder inside puffed chalk from the barrel. What a clever piece of low-tech. Brilliant. Radio Shack were always a strange outfit, somewhere between toys and models. There was a red tipped barrel on the Century 21 bridge building tank, which I've been after for years!
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