I came across an old ad for the Eldon Scenics kits that have appeared before on Moonbase, and did a little further digging. There is not a lot of information on these kits. This is what I found.
First up, from the Alamy site, which seems to be professional stock photos for publishing, a full-colour magazine ad for the Moon Survey set. The sets were 19 inches by 12 inches, and came with a frame, curved backscene, as well as Testors paints, cement, and thinners.
Vintage Toy Advertisements of the 1960s (Page 3) (vintageadbrowser.com)
Eldon have been mentioned a couple of times before on Moonbase Central, these are the posts.
Pages from an old catalogue, showing the kits.
MOONBASE CENTRAL: THE ELDON ARMOURY (projectswordtoys.blogspot.com)
A short film clip of the 1968 British Toy Fair, with the Eldon Sea Lab kit on the Wells Brimtoy stand, I assume they distributed the kits in Britain. Shown at the start of the clip.
Now a post showing the assembled Moon Survey kit, and an old magazine ad from the American magazine Boy's Life for November 1966 'announcing a new hobby', so I assume these kits were released in late 1966, just in time for Christmas ?
This ad says that the Sea Lab kit is also available, and that there will soon be a Prehistoric Kit, with more Scenic Kits to come. The only pictures I could find of the actual kits were for the Lunar and Sea Lab sets. Despite being shown in the Eldon catalogue, I am not sure if the planned Prehistoric kit was actually released.
There really does not seem to be a lot of information around on these kits. They are not mentioned on the Scalemates or Old Model Kits sites, and I could not find anything on You Tube. The fact they were shown in the Toy Fair video at least suggests they were sold in Britain.
Here are the references I could find.
Say; Hello Spaceman: Eldon 3D Scenic Moon Survey Model Kit (1966) (sayhellospaceman.blogspot.com)
Then some items from Worthpoint.
RARE 1966 ELDON 3D SCENIC MOON SURVEY MODEL KIT | #156172983 (worthpoint.com)
That is about it for now. Take care.
Paul Adams from New Zealand
The Eldon Sea Lab is it based on Irwin Allen's Voyage to the bottom of the sea?
ReplyDeleteI am sorry, I have no idea. That is something I had not thought of before. I do remember the submarine Seaview, the Flying Sub, and scuba divers. Not sure if they used the kind of underwater power units shown in the kit. There is also the James Bond film Thunderball, right at the end of 1965. The Eldon kit is a bit too early for the Jacques Cousteau underwater series, which did not start until 1968. There was also the TV series Sea Hunt, starring Lloyd Bridges from a few years before. It could have been a generic scuba diver set, but underwater exploration was new and popular in the 1960s, so there were several things that could have inspired it. Good thought, and certainly possible.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid I was always fascinated by the sea and although I never got to see it as a kid (a dream of mine) I visited Disney land and saw the 20000 leagues under the Sea ride, as a child it would have been amazing but as an adult you see how it was all done, still I had a lump in my throat as I boarded the "submarine" the lights dim as bubbles are blown over the observation port holes and it moves on a large circular track,on the "submarine" are UV lights and as it passes various underwater scenes it lights up the day-glo painted divers, squid,whales and sunken ships with treasure troves, I've seen videos of this ride from the 60's on YouTube since my visit and I think it still holds up to my childhood expectations
DeleteWow, these are the rarest of the rare! Never even heard of them before - good detective work!
ReplyDeleteAs a kid growing up my father had bought us boys (6 of us) both the moon base kit and the Sea Lab kit I remember playing with them and breaking them when I was very young,,, going through my father's things recently after he passed away,I found two of the sharks and the Moray eel from the Sea Lab kit that he kept with parts of his other model kits seen your post brought back memories from those days
ReplyDeleteglad we could bring back some happy memories. so sorry for your loss.
DeletePrehistoric kit was released, seen in Prehistoric Times magazine and Dinosaur Collectibles book. It is not just the rarest of the Eldon scenics but it is the rarest styrene dino kit (refer to Dinosauriana)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the extra information on the Prehistoric kit. I drew a total blank on it, apart from the old magazine ad. Nice to confirm it was issued.
ReplyDelete