STREAMING THUNDERBIRDS

As it's Thunderbirds Day I'm currently watching some of the episodes being streamed online by Shout Factory TV.

They started off with a screening of one of the three 'new' kickstarter episodes, Introducing Thunderbirds, and are now showing the first proper episode, Trapped in the Sky. 

All episodes will be streamed including the other two kickstarter episodes, so for anyone who wants to catch up with Thunderbirds, download the 'Twitch' app to your phone, tablet or laptop and get watching.

BADGE OF HONOUR

SPORRONG SPACE EXPO BADGE

Christmas 2017 provided a real treat for me, courtesy of the ever generous blog stalwart, Arto. A rare enamelled badge from the fabulous Space 2000 exhibition in Dipoli, Espoo, back in 1984. (Click image for link).

Arto reports that the expo showed a full scale mock up of the Souyz/Salyut/Progress combination, as shown on this photo from Russian Space Web.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANATOLY ZAK

Salyut 7 was one of several early russian stations which paved the way for man's extended exploration of space and was succeeded by the much larger Mir and ultimately by the International Space Station. Salyut showed the world how much further soviet space technology had progressed from the  American Skylab mission.

Soviet Space badges commemorating various missions are commonly available on ebay and I picked up a nice little Lunokhod one some years ago.

Badges and space go hand in hand and I have collected several interesting ones over the years. One of the earliest was a puzzle, as I found the badge without any idea as to what it was, until blog supporter Philosophic Toad, after scouring newspapers in the British Library, unearthed a tiny article in the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Moonbase Central readers will all be familiar with the lovely Project SWORD badges, four in total including the white Supremo badge from the largest sets.

 Some years back Woodsy managed to persuade Fanderson to add the Sword badege to their repetoire, resulting in this fabulous metal and enamel version, produced from an original plastic version.
http://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2010/07/summer-of-sword-fanderson-badge.html

Fanderson offer a range of Gerry Anderson themed badges to members, including the impressive Zero X mission badge.

FAB WORLD OF MODELS

Here are a few photos of the many replica models on display at Fab Worlds of Anderson.

This is David Sisson’s model of the Battlehawk.

More of David’s models:  A close up of Fireball Jr.

A detail from the studio scale Spacehawk.

Fab 1 model as used in a television commercial for Swinton Insurance.

A studio scale UFO Interceptor.

Space Precinct Cruiser showing the removable escape cabin:

Here’s David on the left, chatting about Star Trek of all things, to fellow modeller, Mamas Pitsillis of Studio 2 Models.

Here are some of the Studio 2 models on display.

The super sub, Stingray:

A Terror Fish:

X-20’s submarine:

Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle:

Here’s Ben ten Westenend and assistant, Robert Zijderveld. A couple of Dutch lads who bring their models all the way from Holland, and some of them are pretty big!

Ben’s huge Thunderbird 3 model, along with a couple of  more manageable models either side.

His all singing and dancing Thunderbird 2, complete with a motor and lights.

There’s even Virgil at the controls.

Here’s a detail of inside one of the pods,that is a work in progress.

A large Thunderbird 1, with a removable hatch showing pilot, Scott in the cockpit. This is one of several models on display from R James Ashton, seen here in the background.

Here’s a highly detailed Fireball Jr.

Another of his diorama’s showing the Mole at work.

There were plenty of other superb models on display. This excellent model of the Frost Line Defence truck was built by Paul Gray.

There was even a model of the former Stirling Road studios. This was how the building would have looked in the early to mid-sixties before A.P Films was renamed Century 21. The model was built by Lawrence Harrison.

ANNIVERSARY LUCKY BAGS UPDATE

All those readers who have ordered a blog anniversary lucky bag I am pleased to tell you that you will be receiving one.

Now that final numbers have been finalised I shall package each one up and get them off to you..

As I am currently unwell and laid up with a bad cold shipping will begin next Saturday.

I apologise for the delay.

Woodsy.

FAB WORLD OF JOE 90

As today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the first showing of the Century 21 series, Joe 90 on UK Television, it seems apt to show some of the ‘star’ puppets related to that series, which were on display at the recent Fab Worlds of Anderson event.

Joe McClaine; W.I.N.’s nine year old Most Special Agent. This is an original screen used ‘under-control’ head. The puppet’s torso, hands and clothes are also original.

This is an original ‘frowner’ head. The eyes are original which, over time have taken on that pink hue. The hands and clothes are also original.

An original ‘smiler’ head.

Professor McClaine, Joe’s adoptive father. Here we have a screen used ‘smiler’ head and hands.

Original screen used ‘normal’ head of Sam Loover, deputy head of World Intelligence Network London office.

Shane Weston, Supreme Commander of W.I.N.’s London office. Original screen used head, hands and clothes.

This  impressive replica studio scale ‘Rat Trap’ was also on display complete with a replica Joe puppet .

SHELF LIFE

Alongside my childhood collection of toys, there were always books. Each Christmas or birthday would bring at lease one book and I eagerly scoured libraries for interesting info on space travel. Luckily, 95% of these books have withstood the rigours of growing up and are still with me today.

This occasional series of bloglets will look at these book in some detail and where possible, link up with John Sisson's fabulous blog - Dreams of Space, which covers vintage space books in much more detail and probably predates Moonbase Central in its posting.

But before I move on to books proper,I'd likle to look at one of the smaller items in the collection, but no less a powerful one. A few years ago,blog supporter Andy B kindly sent me a pack of 1969 Woodmansterne Colour Slides, commemorating the lunar landing.

The slides show a selection of timelessly famous shots of the Apollo 11 mission, from Neil Armstrong taking that magical step, to splashdown safely in the Pacific.All the slides are colour positives, designed for projection with a 35mm device. Unfortunately, this presented problems as carousel projectors have been mothballed to make way for modern digital ones.

The solution tro fully appreciating these beauties was to scan with a flatbed scanner using a special attachment on the lid. This enabled me to digitally capture copies of the slides, which could then be loaded into Photoshop for adjustment, as time had discoloured the emulsion, lending an orange cast to the film.