SMOKIN: Sears Rocket Base Mysteries Remain

Eagle-eyed reader Tony K alerted me to this superb example of the American Sears Rocket Base he spotted on auction.

Despite being released by the US Sears company, it was made by Tomy in Japan.

I don't have this toy set so looking at the excellent images I noticed a few things.

The base-plate has a mirror beneath the rocket's engines. In fact the engines are reflected in it. I assume that this feature was to make the smoke emission even more dramatic by reflecting it in the mirror too. Is this correct?

The gantry, which looks like its made of tin, has two levers, which can rotate either way.

I can only guess that the right hand lever draws the whole gantry forwards and backwards on the metal track which is visible.

The second lever on the left presumably moves the elevator up and down the gantry tower.

Could a plastic astronaut figure fit in the elevator?

What is the grey mechanism at the bottom of the chain in the above picture? A lock? Could the rocket itself be moved backwards and forwards on this movable gantry?

Last but not least is the image of the rocket bottom. Since this example is missing its engine window panes its possible to see inside.

What's visible is a cylinder with holes. It looks like its made of metal. Am I right in thinking that this is the unit that creates and distributes the smoke?

You can see the word SMOKE at the top of the switch.

If you own one have you ever had yours smoking?

Is the version released by Tomy in Japan the same smoke mechanism?