Near Myths

One of the most elusive and distinctive models of the SWORD range is the Nuclear Ferry. Presumed to have been never made and lost in the mists of time, a photo of a battered model of the Ferry was spotted on Yahoo Auctions in Japan in the dying hours of the auction and as the listing was a domestic one, the chances of securing this most unique of toys slipped away into the rays of the rising sun. Presumably snapped up by a discerning collector even though it was listed as a 'space rocket' in damaged condition, it did feature a box and control line battery pack. At the time it was found, I was mid way through a pet project of my own - to build my own ferry based on the available information and illustrations that were then known. 

A few years earlier I had been lucky to find the only extant model of a carded Spacex ferry - and as it had always been my favourite of all SWORD spaceships, I set out to build a large model. Mattel/Matchbox had produced a successful line of rescue toys in 2002 which had an interchangeable action feature and among these was a (roughly) 00/HO scale (about same size as a golden astrounaut) X-33 Lifting Body/Shuttle. This, i felt was ideally suited to form the hardest part of my model, the sleek shuttle at the front. I decided not to make anything too model-like and stick to the clean toy lines. The fuselage of the booster was made from a tennis ball tube and the collar was a gasket from a gas pipe! The only difference i made was adding a long distance comms antenna at the back to balance the rear end (and to give a nod to Discovery in 2001). A few sprays of paint and a little photoshoppery later, I present the Nuclear Ferrys Thor and Ymir arriving in Mars orbit before debarking to land the X 33 crew shuttle at Thetis Base. 

The Marie Celeste of the SWORD fleet has always been the wonderful Nuclear Ferry.  A beautiful and rare thing, especially since it arrived boxed and with Commanders badge, the ferry must have been one of the last creations of the SWORD designers. Compared to some of the other toys such as the Probe Force series or the scramble bug, the toy is a clumsy and unwieldy beast and must have had limited playability for a child. The remote control gives forward movement and tiny pea bulbs in the transparent red engine are whirled around on a small turntable, to give a fabulous 'reactor' effect. 

The large passenger section holds a full crew and the makers also saw fit to pose the tiny astronauts in positions where two have actually left their seats and are making a crew transfer into the cargo module. This mirrors Robert McCalls famous painting for which he was originally credited as being the originator of the design, but recently, David Portree - a space archive manager at Wired magazine,  cast an eye over the blog at my behest, to see if he could identify any of the designs shown here. 

Almost immediately, he identified the Nuclear Ferry as being a concept vehicle proposed by Ling Tenco Vought, an aerospace engineering company, as a lunar transport ship. This bore out C21's claims that it worked out the toy designs based on plans straight from the NASA drawing boards. 

One other major problem I found with the SWORD ferry was the spring loaded cargo module. The Passenger section slips easily from the steel rods either side of the main hull, but the cargo module was designed to blast off in realistic launching fashion, by the touch of a button. Engaging the spring launched mechanism by pushing the module into place revealed two flaws - the docking collar beneath the cargo module didn't line up with the airlock on the passenger section. Also, because of the age of the age of the mechanism - the latch was prone to releasing itself at will, blasting the cargo pod across the room! 

The ferry has appeared twice in toy form, once by Project SWORD and again, later by Triang Spacex. The unusual shape and distinctive form of the ferry has always obsessed me since childhood and along with the Booster Rocket has been a firm favourite.