With the Moon Landing on my mind I'm Always on the look out for new LEMS.
Here's one from the archives of the blog along with a new sighting.
Here's one from the archives of the blog along with a new sighting.
Its the Penn Plax Sealab Explorer from 1971 seen in red and white below.
Yes, the Sealab Explorer is an underwater LEM!
Penn Plax were and are the kings of plastic fish tank ornamentation.
Here's another more recent sighting of a red and metallic green one on the Minipetsupplies site.
Despite it saying it was made exclusively fpr Penn Plax in Hong Kong the Penn Plax LEM reminds me a lot of the Tri-ang Spacex LEM.
Here's a picture of the SpaceX LEM courtesy of Bill B.
Has anyone got the Penn Plax LEM for some more close-up photo's?
Are they the same?
Are they the same?
I'd have to say NO.
ReplyDeleteVarious bits are a little different and the Spacex LEM has some bits the other does not, like the main thruster underneath.
Mish.
See what you mean Mish. It'd still be great to see the two side by side. I doubt if anyone owns both though.
DeleteDevinitely, no. Leg structure is different, although there may have been a little plagiarism going on.
ReplyDeleteMore pics of a loose Pen Plax Moon Lander to come, I think you're right Wote.
DeleteI would not be surprised if there was some "borrowing" happening.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure which came first, but that red Penn Plax scuba diver is essentially identical to the Placo Flippy the Frogman toy.
Their leg positions, flipper angles are identical. Both have a hole in their midsection, Penn Plax using it for the air post it sits on while Placo uses it allow water to come up in for activating the pellet. Even the arm poses are identical.
The key differences being the Placo version is a solid piece of plastic, the tank is detachable to put the magic pellet inside, the right arm has been rotated to be along the side of the body instead of reaching forward. I presume the arm change is to allow it to use a slightly smaller mold and make it easier for the injection machine to fill it. Also probably to dodge copyright. Also the Placo is not painted and had 2 variations using the very common color swap that so many companies use. It was either black body and yellow tank or yellow body with a black tank.
Alas all my aquarium stuff is decades gone but my even older Flippy is still around and in pretty damn good shape despite all the leagues he's been through ;)
Hi Lance, good to have you back. Yep, aquarium toys were just like proper toys werent they. Very collectable now. Just think of the Penn Plax creature from the Black Lagoon. Thanks for the insights into the two divers. I see what you mean about similarities and possible borrowing of ideas. I adored scuba diver toys as a kid. It was all part of the childhood scenerey in the Sixties - sourred on by Thunderball and Jacques Cousteau. Someone was always donning rubber and jumping into an ocean! I don't have any divers anymore. My ocean has dried up! I do have some more pictures of the PP Sealab Explorer, which I've found off Ebay, as there is a loose one for sale in NJ called the Moon Lander I think. It should help see the differences between the two LEMS I blogged about. I'll post the pics soon.
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