Project SWORD fans have often pondered long and hard about the fabled Moon Base Set as illustrated in the Project SWORD Manual.
Does it exist?
As far as I know there have been two sightings of the set, one good sighting in a box inside a shop and one less detailed sighting in Hong Kong.
No known commercially sold examples exist i.e. a toy set in a box and no known example of a loose set either.
The two sightings may well have been prototypes or trade samples for shops set up in the way that the Elf Toys Tracy island displays were set up for Century 21 Thunderbirds toys.
The two most prominent Project SWORD trade displays that we know of, Hong Kong and Hatchetts, contained the entire range of larger SWORD toys but no Moon Base set, despite it being the logical choice for a SWORD diorama. It wasn't there.
Disappointingly the Project SWORD Annual itself failed to offer anything about the Moon Base Set either. No ads, no strips, no drawings. Not encouraging at all. Having said that neither did it contain anything about the Nuclear Ferry and the Scouts but we know they do exist.
If an entire set has never turned up then have any of the constituent parts? The modules and the vehicles? As far as I can tell the answer is no. Certainly no toy lunar modules in the vein of those shown in the Moon Base drawing have surfaced. None of the big space toy firms released anything like them: Century 21, LP, Hover etc in the 1960's.
Tri-ang SpaceX did offer a Moon Base Set called just that but despite it containing a Scramble Bug and a Moon Prospector, like those pictured in the SWORD Moon Base set illustration, its housing modules are completely different.
Imai and later Aoshin released a UFO Moon Base Set, which also contained modules and vehicles including among many others a SWORD Scramble Bug and Moon Prospector. Sadly the modules are nothing like those again pictured in the Project SWORD Moon Base illustration.
There is also the question of which toy vehicles they were? Were they the existing Prospector and Bug? This would have made the Moon Base Set huge. So were they SpaceX sized, maybe the small toy craft released by Hover, which included a Scramble Bug?
We can ponder till the cows come home on this one and no doubt we will. Until then here's the Project SWORD Moon Base Set entry in the Official Project SWORD Manual.
Thoughts on its parts, box, existence and scale welcomed!
The text refers to 'miniature' vehicles, so presumably not the normal sized Sword ones. The baseboard is not deep enough to house batteries, so either the control box or the modules must. There is no wire going to the set but maybe they didn't bother putting it in the illustration.
ReplyDeleteI don't get the reference to a scramble bug in the Spacex moonbase?
So you think SpaceX sized vehicles Kev?
DeleteMaybe something like that, yep.
Deleteyou can see the battery boxes under each of the modules on the surface. If you consider each battery was a 'C' cel or HP2 as they were back then, that would make each module about 7-8 inches high, so the base couldnt be more than 2' square
Delete2 foot square is still a big set but not unheard of. There were some massive boxed toys around back then.
DeleteI meant the Mev Kev.
ReplyDeleteAh, that explains it! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteJust bought an Eagle 1 transporter model. I blame you Woodsy
ReplyDeleteI think Scoop had something to do with it Khusru!
DeletePerhaps it was just on the drawing board
ReplyDeleteI think you might be right. Two examples have been seen though.
DeleteThe inspiration perhaps?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.astronautix.com/l/lesalunarbase.html
Yep. Looks similar. Check out Ed Valigursky's moon base painting too.
ReplyDelete