Let's Go Round Again

The Nuclear Ferry Top by S.K.K of Japan, has featured prominently on the blog before, but is something which has never made it into my collection before. Like buses, two appeared last week on ebay and I was lucky enough to buy them, fitting neatly into two of my collecting niches of space toys and spinning tops!

The top is small, about 3" diameter and all pressed steel, with lithographed images of the ferry passenger shuttle, a general USA rocket and a Von Braun style space wheel, of the type made by Strombecker in 1958.

Image courtesy of Fantastic Plastic

As with many tops of this kind, after it is wound up and released from the plastic spinner, it makes a delightfull humming sound, dropping slowly in octave as it decellerates.

The Nuclear Ferry itself has appeared in many guises, but is probably most well known for its original appearence in Life magazine in the full page painting by Robert McCall in 1964.

The image on the spinning top bears a striking resemblance to the brightly coloured interpretation on the header card for some childrens toy watches, also Made in Japan by an uncredited artist.

Looking at these images, it reinforces my suspicion that Life magazine and other, similar international magazines, may have directly influenced toy makers in the far east. If you look at another spread from a later issue of Life, we can see the clear origin for Mattel's famous Moon Suit and Space Bubble, but also probable inspiration for other toys as well, such as the Moon Walker by Yonezawa and the Eldon Space Survey 3d Kit, with 'Moon Beetle'. Its entirely probable that the yellow six wheeled vehicle proposed by General Motors in the centre of the spread, may have influenced the design of the SWORD Scramble Bug.

Due to its huge readership and wide circulation, Life magazine would be freely available in the colonial Hong Kong and may have been used as a barometer for current trends in the West.