Put Your Foot Down

Its always good to see a classic vintage space toy on the blog, but finding them in the real world has become increasingly difficult, as popularity and exposure to the genre increases. To this end, here is a favourite of mine, which has graced the blog before, but is so unusual, its worth bringing to the fore once again. The Cragstan Americus Moon Buggy. Unlike its contemporaries, which were mostly tracked or wheeled vehicles, the Americus has legs to traverse the lunar terrain.

Billed as 'America's first moon walking vehicle', its unlikely its design was informed by any real life design, but its walking action is decidedly 'bug like'. Moving two legs on each side at once, it always maintains four points of contact with the ground at any time, making it surprisingly stable. Its not however, a great climber, but does march along quite steadily.

The America theme is naturally carried through in the tricolour scheme and its finished off neatly with a spinning radar to detect 'atomic power'.
Cragstan products were the main staple of Airfix brief foray into the toy market in the early to mid seventies, as can be seen in this catalogue spread.