Hey Woodsy, In my normal perusing of the wonder known as ebay, I ran across a tin toy I had not seen before [from 1961].
It reminded me much more of Fireball XL5 than the ICBM it claims to be. Take a look and see if it invokes a tinge of XL5 to you also.
Obviously it is not an accurate XL5 but definitely copies a lot of the elements. It appears that the nosecone is detachable so it even mimics Junior even more.
A beautiful piece of vintage tinplate! I can see your point. Yes, it's launch action certainly seems more like XL5 than an ICBM. A nice find :)
ReplyDeleteWhat I find odd is that this toy was made in 1961 and Fireball XL5 aired in 1962 so there must be a common ancestor they share since the toy predates the airing of the series. The launching on rails was used in When Worlds Collide (1951) so perhaps that was recent enough to be fresh on their minds?
ReplyDeleteWhat little information I can dig up on this toy is "I.C.B.M. LAUNCHING STATION - HORIKAWA - JAPAN
Tin friction rocket launching ramp. Turn crank on base to turn the friction motor on the missile then push the button on the base. The two stage missile is released. When the missile hits the end of the ramp a button automatically triggers the rubber tipped rocket to release. 45cm assembled."
Apparently it is an extremely rare toy. I could only find 4 examples online counting the current auction.
It is a beautiful toy and the video on the auction shows how it works. Great toy making. As you say Lance, the nose shuttle looks like Fireball Junior as well! I wonder what they official history of Fireball XL5 says about its design origin wherever that might be? Fanderson?
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