Paint It Red

Following up from my recent War of the Worlds post, I thought I would flag up the art from the 'Tell Me Why' magazine serilaisation of Well's story. I am 99.9% certain its by artist Terence Cuneo, famous for his military paintings and Hornby Railway catalogue covers. Either way, it is the definitive representation of the Martians and their fighting machines for me.

"The lid began rotating, unscrewing and Ogilvy feared there was a man inside trying to escape"

" A huge rounded bulk, larger than a bear rose up,its lipless mouth quivered and slavered"

"A tall funnel rose and an invisible ray of heat leapt from man to man, as each was instantly turned to fire"

"They were inside the hoods of machines they'd made, massive metal things with legs. They attacked us"

"Striding through pine trees and smashing them, cutting through bridges as though they were paper"

"Snake like tentacles writhed as the clumsy body heaved and pulsated"

"Drifting from street to empty street, drawn inexorably towards that cry"



"The martians spent the night at work on their new machine, a squat metallic spider with jointed limbs"

"I fell helplessly in full sight of the martians, expecting nothing but death"

"Out of the hood hung red shreds, at which the hungry birds now pecked and tore"

Zero X - Zero Points

Way back before the internet made everything accessible and I was restricted to model shops and the excruciating process of snail-mail order, I picked up the little Imai Zero X kit. The dynamic box art looked great and having seen the toys and other Imai models, I was quite excited to finally get my paws on a long awaited OX. 

What a disappointment. I should have known reality couldn't possibly meet my expectations, but even so I was seriously underwhelmed. The box art suggests the kit is a full formed Zero X, with MEV and correct proportions etc - at least thats what the picture suggests. As I can't read Kanji, it could be saying "ha ha gaijin, this is what we expect you will think you're getting - but no way!"

So what I got, was a flimsy, deformed excuse for a kit, which doesn't really even make a good toy. Which, with its massive wheels and rubbish firing missile, it is probably closer to.

So, I lashed it together and then shoved it back in its box and buried it in disgust under my growing pile of Macross kits. Recently, having acquired a couple of other far superior models, I felt a bit bad and unearthed it, just to check how naff it really was.

From an authenticity standpoint, its naff. It's deformed and the heatshield is completely the wrong shape and there are no decals. From a production standpoint, its naff. The plastic is thin and the moulding is weak, with lots of flashing to trim and ill fitting parts. From a playability standpoint, its naff. Although it has a big box on the rear axle, there's no motor and just free rolling wheels. The Lifting Bodies do detach, but leave huge gaps in the fuselage and launching the heat shield doesn't reveal a nice MEV cabin, but an open space with the spring mechanism poking out. So Zero points all round.

So I was just as unimpressed as ever. Even so, I had a bit of blue automotive paint left, so I gave it a bit of a spray and dusted off the shield in silver, with red accents on the nacelles. The huge motor unit had to go too, even though it leaves a large open box on the base.

Its still a bit naff, even with a lick of paint, even the tiny 2" Morinaga version is more technically accurate, but it has grown on me slightly. Its basically the same size as the Bandai toy version and the Shinsha Fondly Remembered Collection model shown below.

Both of these versions are not technically accurate, but do have a specific style and charm and for all its failings, the Imai version does fit in with them quite well. So maybe, after all my gripes it could be Zero X 1..

What Wotan Wants Wotan Gets!

Just a reminder I bought the folk art models as is. 

They are not my handiwork.

Terranova47

USA

Exploring Space Books

Well my quest to find interesting vintage space books has borne fruit - I originally started collecting books to find references to Triang Spacex toys, but this just blossomed into a major nostalgia trip fuelled by the 50th anniversary of the Moon Landing recently. Just this week I have picked up four inexpensive books, including the above sticker book. Ordinarily, I would probably have passed over this one, as it was clearly used and all the stickers having been put in place, but as the seller kindly showed an image of the centre spread, I realised it was a must have!

Besides the stickers, there are two spreads of general space information, with some nice artwork which is very reminiscent of Mish's cool school space project. But the real meat on the bone was the stickers themselves, which had clearly been influenced by some of my favourite space artwork and designs.

The first page of stickers shows some fanciful shuttle type designs and a fantasy space station. At top left we have a version of the Martin PRIME Test vehicle, below which is a spirited rendition of an air breathing shuttle launcher and then the Siamese Twin craft at left, as visualised by Ed Valigursky in Life's Man and Space book. Immediately below is a small delta wing shuttle courtesy of Robert McCall (see below) and then the most interesting craft is an early antipodal orbital bomber, either russian or german. Finally lower right, a hint of further excitement to come..

On to the main show and the centre double spread shows a lot of Robert McCall plagiarism, chiefly represented by a beautiful Nuclear Ferry in various stages. The big delta shuttle is back, along with the Death Star station, McCalls jetpacking astronaut and Mars Lander tucked in behind the Lunar Rover and at far left we have the early design for the Booster Rocket type shuttle from a Nuclear Mars Programme.

The astronauts seem to have been taken from NASA released photographs, judging by the figure bending sideways to place an instrument - due to the low gravity and restrictions of the suit, bending over was a hazardous process and had to achieved with care, lest the astronaut topple forwards.

Always great to see new Nuclear Ferry artwork, this version having been given some Stingray like vents at the front and a slightly more streamlined hull.

The Mars Booster Rocket is an interesting addition too, as its considerably early, like the orbital bomber design. The sticker book is produced by Litor Publishing and dated 1977, so would be one of the last of the classic space themed books before the wave of Star Wars mania hit and conventional spaceships and spacesuits went out the airlock window in favour of the fantastic. More vintage space materials to follow soon!

TERRANOVA'S ROYAL NAVY ESCORTS

Hello Woodsy

Boats: I have some that are home made. Not by me I hasten to add. 

I bought these on Long Island a few years ago in Greenport. There is a Nautical Museum there and these were in a local Junk Shop. 

Painted in WW2 style they are loosely based on Royal Navy escort types. Size is comparable to the Matchbox toys. Material is wood. 

The display platform was my contribution to recreating the Cruel Sea. 

Regards, 

Terranova47 

US 

THE SOLAR SILL

Moonbase Junior has the space bug alright.

This is his lovely concentric solar system model on his window sill, sadly minus Pluto. A cosmic travesty!

Just below it is his Lego rocket set, with the Saturn V -style gantry, which I love! Check out who's at the control panel!

One day a kid like Junior will land on Mars and even beyond, a mind-boggling thought!

Would you go to Mars?

DRAGEES AND PASTILLES

I love munchies. I always have. Although square, to me they are related to the class of sweets known as pastilles, most of which are round.

One of my fave round chocolate pastilles are Marabou, which we get at Ikea. A whole packet of delicious milk chocolate discs. Yum.

But the King of pastilles has to be Droste. Now these are a cut above even Marabou. They may even be better called dragees than pastilles, although I'm unsure of the difference.

Droste are tops!

And then there are what are called chocolate drops, although i can't find a brand for these. They seem to be posher than the rest and bagged up bespoke by high-end sweet shops.

Do you like chocolate pastilles and dragees readers?