Return to Base

The Cold War may have been a trying time for adults in the U.S, but for space crazy kids, it was a boom time. A little inconvenience like the threat of carpet bombing by enemy aircraft or ICBM's dropping out of a dawn sky was not going to stop toy manufacturers making a fast buck before a nuclear holocaust affected consumer spending. As a result, companies like Remco, Topper and Deluxe Reading produced some amazingly complex and involved toys, themed on the idea of countering an enemy missile strike. Needless to say, these expensive toys were slavishly copied by the small Hong Kong manufacturers to be snapped up by an eager audience.

A fine example of this plagiarism is the Delamare Rocket Launching set, blatantly ripped off from Remco's Voice Control Rocket Base. The Delamare set uses elements from the Apollo Moon Exploring range, such as the conical rocket, which unusually, has been produced in bronze, with two upper sections to extend the body and give it a more missile like shape. The anti aircraft missile bank on the left, has been fitted with two non-firing launchers taken from the LP Moon Bus (themselves copied from Lone Star Modern Army series years earlier). The lifting arm between them is also featured on one of the Moon Vehicles sold in abundance too: https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2010/01/strange-tractor.html

The whole set is neatly finished off with some grey astronauts helpfully glued onto the superstructure, a miniscule green Helicopter fixed to the pad, a small army truck and a flight of three chrome silver F111A swing wing fighters, hideously out of scale, glued to the back of the box. My example came in a battered box, with a Xmas Greetings sticker still attached. Its plain that the toy had never been removed from its pack, the base was securely wired in and everything was in place. Its amusing to see the note on the front reads - THIS IS A TOY - just in case the buyer was tempted to try and defend his personal airspace.

Next on the copyists list comes another Missile Array from Redbox Toys. Originally made by Topper Toys for the Cape Canaveral set, this little battery also appears as part of the Apollo Moon Exploring series, by Imperial, but exchanging the rocket launchers for Radar Dishes.: 

http://www.triangspacextoys.info/SpGAderv/APEX/ApEx304F.html

I originally had this, the Atlas Gantry and a Rocket Transporter in the seventies, each coming separately window boxed with a handful of white figures. The semi circular Atlas Gantry actually fires the missile and the three carried by the transporter could be used with it. Unlike the big Topper base, the transporter only came with a single missile design, although Multiple Toymakers did 'borrow' one of the other types for a slightly larger 'Titan' missile in a rack toy.

http://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2014/08/failure-to-launch.html

Deluxe Reading probably produced the great grandaddy of all rocket bases with the elaborate Operation X-500, which took all the elements from previous releases, beefed them up somewhat and added extra features like lights and moveable controls. It fairly bristles with rockets and gadgets and even has a train to deliver the interchangeable nosecones to the gantry, to be lifted by crane onto the rocket! Its complexity probably worked in its favour, as to my knowledge, the Hong Kong companies never managed to reproduce a small version of it, although they did come close!

Finally this fine Cape Kennedy rack toy, with powerful spring launched rocket and ejectable satellite!

The gantry helpfully rolls back from the rocket and a large well-detailed radar dish tracks the ascent.

Card artwork is especially fine, with clear renditions of Mercury Redstone type rocket and instructions for use on the inner pack.

Safety conscious, the rocket was tethered to the launcher by string, the upper stage springing out to push the circular satellite into space as the rocket is stopped in its rapid ascent by the string. Quite a powerful ascent it is too, untethered the rocket can easily reach a good twenty feet.