This post re-posts and combines a few very old blog articles about the smaller accessory ships found with Project SWORD and SpaceX toys. Some of my old ideas and info have been superceded by new research.
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To commemorate how much I enjoyed writing the New Origins of SWORD post this time last year, here's a few more thoughts on toy origins. This brings together various ideas we've discussed before on the blog over the last 6 years concerning the little jets found in the Project SWORD and SpaceX toy ranges.
First up is the silver jet connected to the front of the SWORD Booster Rocket. A possible inspiration is this deltoid spaceship on the cover of Men, Martians and Machines by Eric Frank Russell. Obviously there are countless delta wind designs from the Sixties but this one struck me as similar.
Next: the small jet illustrated on the SpaceX Photonic Propulsion Space Station advertised in the UK in 1970, pictured below top left. A close-up reveals that it's very similar to the small silver plane sat on top of the SpaceX MLP rocket. However, the illustrated jet may actually be a picture of one of the small jets which came with the Photonic toy. One for the future.
One possible inspiration for the MLP rocket jet may have been the Captain Scarlet plane pictured on the cover of the September 2069 [1969] TV21 comic. However as with all the possibilities I suggest this is pure speculation on my part.
In 2009 Bill and I both wrote about the other small jets in the SpaceX fleet, of which there are several. In SWORD there is really only the Booster Rocket jet as we've already discussed. Its SpaceX counterpart is quite different in both shape and colour as you can see from Bill's picture below.
The picture below goes further and shows the silver plane from Sword Booster Rocket, the 'pink' Spacex Booster jet and tiny Spacex Nuclear Ferry rocket plane from Bill's collection.
The remaining mini jet from the SpaceX range is the silver plane found in the blister of the large Nuclear Pulse. Drawing all the Spacex miniature jets together, the list looks like this [You could also include the silver rotors from the Pulse in this list but I haven't and my information on the Photonic Space Station mini jets is not detailed enough to include here].
From top to bottom:
1. Nuclear Ferry carded
2 - Booster Rocket carded
3 - Booster Rocket loose
4 - MLP Rocket loose
5 - Nuclear Pulse loose
Sorry to pour cold water onto your Sword and Spacex silver jet and space plane design theories Woodsy, but I think most of their inspiration came directly from Werner Von Braun's 1950s designs for the US Air Force's space devision,
ReplyDeletewhich later became NASA, for the third stage of his multi stage moon rocket.
This design was used by Disney as part of their space education movies and was also turned into a kit by Lindberg, I believe, around that time.
Mish.
Pour away Mish. The more theories the better. Wernher von Braun was the springboard for many designs for sure. I often see old book covers and think, yes, SWORD and SpaceX! Sometimes its worked and sometimes not. Were you a fan of these toys as a kid?
DeleteWould have been a massive fan of Sword toys etc, but never came across them in West Yorkshire, where I was raised, as a kid.
ReplyDeleteThe only one I ever had was bought on holiday in the Lake District.
I focused instead on the Century 21 and Dinky Anderson TV show related toys( Thunderbirds , Captain Scarlet etc).
Which SWORD toy did you get then Mish? Where did you grow up in W.Yorks? I live there now!
DeleteGoing back to Sword's design influences, Disney's RM1 rocket ship, also apparently designed by Von Braun, 1957 kit by Strombecker, is clearly the forerunner of Sword's Booster Rocket toy of the late 60s.
ReplyDeleteMish.
Yep Mish, multiple-tanked rockets have a long history. Strombecker models are brilliant. The most likely source for the SWORD Booster Rocket is NASA's Project EMPIRE, which was wonderfully illustrated by Ed Valigursky here https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/84/16/52/841652e99f64c7d5fb28279eccac3a6c.jpg
DeleteThe Sword toy I got in the Lakes was the rather pointy Re-entry Task Force No. 1 (which is a bit like the NASA ship in "Planet of the Apes").
ReplyDeleteI played with it for years and nearly used it in a super 8 film when I was 16 !
Mish
That is a lovely toy ship Mish. It would have been so cool if you had filmed it! Do you have any photographs? I haven't found anyone who has snaps of themselves as kids and their SWORD toys yet.
DeleteSorry, no photos either, but did some storyboards for my non-made film featuring a sketch or two of it. Will see if I can find those.
ReplyDeleteMish.
That would be fantastic Mish!
Delete