MOONBASE CENTRAL: January 2023

Tuesday, 31 January 2023

OTHER SCOUTS

I'm always drawn to red spacecraft that remind me of the Project SWORD Scout 3, as it was one of my favourite SWORD toys as a kid.

The beautiful red ships on the cover of this 1950 Other Worlds magazine is a case in pijt and I can well imagine Scouts on the cover.

Here's the Scout 3 box art as a reminder.

Did you have a Scout 3? Do you have one now?

Its sleek deltoid design has always been popular with designers and artists.

Years ago on MC we spoke about the Traveller Scout, a similar dart-like ship from the early days of Role Playing Games.

In 2010 the GURPS Traveller Scout designer Bill Keith wrote back to me.

"Hello Woodsy,

Good to hear from you. I'm afraid I've never seen the toy you mention (Scout 3), and so cannot claim it as inspiration for my art. I'm sure a number of designs and concepts went into the original art; I first drew the Traveller Scout shortly after I started submitting artwork to GDW, probably around 1981 or so. I first submitted artwork to GDW in 1980, I believe it was.

The one spaceship concept I remember that might have contributed something to the design was a model kit coming out of the early 1960s, when I was a space-fanatic teen. I don't remember the manufacturer [Monogram?] or even the name . . . but the model was of a manned orbiting laboratory idea floating around at the same time as the Dyna Soar project--probably around 1962.

The lab was essentialy a converted Atlas rocket as a top stage; attached to the outside were two ferry rockets or escape re-entry gliders with the familiar triangular shape and painted bright yellow. I always liked the utilitarian simplicity of those designs, and they turned up a lot in my personal art doodles in school notebooks and such. Eventually, something like them evolved into the Traveller Scout. If that is the case, then the Scout does indeed draw somewhat on the X-plane and Dyna Soar project designs, which I believe influenced the look of that model kit.

I'm fine with you posting my artwork, but I don't know what the current copyright status is for Traveller art. I don't think I own it, so the current Traveller copyright holders would be the ones to ask for permission, not me.

I hope this helps!

Cordially,

Bill Keith

Did you play Traveller at all readers? Do you recall its Scout?

Beach Buggy Finished

Last year I finished an Airfix Beach Buggy kit.

This has the copyright date 1971 on one of the parts, and has not been available since the late 1970s. It is now included in the Airfix Vintage Classic line of old kits.

Moulded in light grey, with clear parts. It also includes two very well sculpted figures. The engine and suspension are rather fiddley, but the rest of the model is pretty simple. One word of warning. It is very difficult to fit the driver.

His body is one piece, with separate arms which hold the steering wheel. After breaking off two of the three foot pedals, and the steering column, trying to fit him, I gave up and glued the steering wheel in to his hands and just dropped him in place. So the steering wheel is not actually attached to the vehicle. His passenger is one-piece.

The box top shows an orange vehicle, but I opted for light blue, with black seats, aluminium wheel hubs, and chrome silver trim. Obviously, figure painting is not my field, and the finish is fairly basic.

Do you like it?

Paul Adams

Monday, 30 January 2023

A Birthday T

Well its been a great birthday all round with some great gifts, but just before the celebrations began, I won a nice Hot Wheels Redline in ebay. Ira Giffords futuristic Turbofire from 1969, neatly rounds out the T trilogy of Twinmill, Torero and Turbofire. This was never one of my preferred cars, judging by the catalogue shot, as it seemed a little flat and unfinished, but in the hand its a different story.

Quite a small casting, with an opening engine cover, it sits low, but looks much sleeker in the flesh than on the page. A fair paintjob of spectraflame blue has seen some action over the decades, but not enough to judtify a respray, so I will leave this one as is.

A few days later, amongst the gifts from my daughter were another three Hot Wheels, two from the mainline selection and one from the new HE Premium line. These are much more finely detailed reproductions of existing auto and in this case it is a beautiful 1969 Le Mans Alfa Romeo Stradale. Unlike my usual purchases, I willkeep this one in the pack, as it is a lovely piece of work in itself.

Next up is a Volkswagen Baja Bug with large beige coloured wheels presumably to imitate sand and dust.

Lastly we have the latest incarnation of the Batmobile from the dark DC outing 'The Batman'. As the film is so dark, its hard to make out the car properly, but this model is a deep olive drab colour with dark silver accents.

A converted muscle car by the looks, the Batmobile has exposed engine and reinforced chassis, presumably hiding all kinds of special devices too.

TOYS INTERNATIONAL 1968

courtesy of Will Osborne.

JUST THE JOB

Here's a job lot that was on the Bay. Mixed lots like this are always fun to look at. What can you see in this bundle readers?

EMPIRE OF CARS

Woodsy, attached is a photo I culled from the 'Net of an Empire Plastic Corp. carded set showing the same type of small vehicles as in the RUSH HOUR blog post by Wotan this month.

Also, if I may point out a nice website run by Kent Owen Sprecher which chronicles more of these small vehicles: Toy Soldier HQ (although there's far and away more than just military toys listed)

https://www.angelfire.com/biz/toysoldierhq/OtherUSA1.html

Kent's site is set up as a sales site and while he does have a lot for sale, it's greatest attribute is the history of many of the companies shown, the overwhelming quantity of the companies listed, and the multitude of photos. It's a bit difficult finding things at times but the search is half the fun.

Cheers

USA

Toys and Stuff Blog

UNCLE SAM'S SLAM BAM

I see these old blow moulded toys on Ebay USA a lot. Called Slam Bam, who is he?

Sunday, 29 January 2023

KEVIN'S LUNAR ORBITER - BEFORE!

Here's my SpaceX Lunar Orbiter prior to its restoration.

Kevin D

WILL O'S GAMES AND TOYS 1967 VINTAGE THUNDERBIRDS ADS

Looking through an old Games & Toys mag the other day, I came across some adverts that might be of interest to MC readers.

Will O.

KEVIN'S TOY LUNAR ORBITER AND SPACEX FLEET SO FAR

Hi,

After over two years, I have managed to get another Spacex II toy for my collection. The Lunar Orbiter.

A lovely toy. It was far from mint, but I did a bit of restoration and am happy with the result.

I now still need the Space Station, the Soyuz pair and the 3 that nobody seems to have! Here is a shot of my SpacexII collection so far.

Still not giving up!

Over the Moon,

Kevin

RICO GIROSCOPICA

I love the box art on this Spanish Gyroscope toy box by Rico.

Its an interesting toy, a stack of spinning discs!

Did you have anything like this?

Saturday, 28 January 2023

HOT WHEELS JPL SOJOURNER MARS ROVER

While going through some old boxes, I found this Hot Wheels set from my early days as a die-cast collector.

In the 1990s Hot Wheels had a series called Action Packs, each containing either two vehicles, figures, and accessories; or three vehicles.

Each was housed inside a long plastic bubble, mounted on a large backing card. Other sets within the range were shown on the back of the card.

Most of the sets were normal road vehicles, with one or two TV tie-ins. This one was devoted to the JPL Sojourner Mars Rover mission.

This was the first NASA mission to land a wheeled rover vehicle on another planet. It was launched on 4th December 1996, and landed on Mars on 4th July 1997.

The Hot Wheels set, number 16145, has a copyright date on the back of the card of 1996. Notes about the mission say that the landing is due in 1997. The front of the card shows the Rover on the surface of Mars, with the Lander in the background

There are three models in the set.

Lander - silver-grey with a white centre section. There are three fold-down petals, one of which carries a mini Sojourner Rover. Printed paper solar panel details.

Sojourner Mars Rover - six-wheeled vehicle. Silver-grey wheels and suspension, gold body, and metallic blue solar panels on top.

Mars Pathfinder - the white flying saucer-shaped spacecraft that carried the Lander to Mars. Removable top section. With silver-grey and gold detailing, and metallic blue solar panels on top.

Markings on the various models include the NASA insignia, red JPL lettering, and the US flag.

My example cost $9.99 at The Warehouse chain.

The Action Pack series also included a John Glenn set, which I do not recall ever seeing.

Probably they were all snapped up by American collectors. This contained a Mercury capsule, Space Shuttle, and three figures of Glenn from different periods.

Have you got any of these?

Paul Adams from New Zealand

SPACE WAR 71

I thought this was cool on Ebay, the Space War 71 Blackbird.

Its a neat looking plastic SR-71. I wonder if Space War was a range of toys?

Anyone got one?

A MEAGRE MOSEY

Not much to show for moseying round 6 charity shops this afternoon. What's clear is prices are going up!

Two interesting things I saw were:

Oh Penny! boxed sets by Blue Bird toys from 1988, the Shopping Centre and the Camper. Both £15 each. I was sorely tempted until the Missus insisted that the Granddaughter play with them if I bought them! You what!

There was also this fella whom I don't know at all. From 2003. £8. Who is it?

You win some, you lose some. Today I came away with nada. Oh well.

Have you found anything of late readers?

THE HOT WHEELS ASTON MARTIN SPEEDSTER

Here is a Hot Wheels model I picked up in 2021, the amazing Aston Martin V12 Speedster.

The real car is a limited-edition, with a planned production run of just 88 cars. It is powered by a 5.2 litre V12 engine - top speed is 'limited' to 186 mph. Actual top speed is probably somewhere around Mach 1. It is super low, with twin cockpits, and no windscreens. The prototype is painted in Skyfall Silver.

Here is the Aston Martin company entry on the car.

V12 Speedster | Aston Martin | Aston Martin

Most of us will never be able to afford the real thing, but Hot Wheels have produced a beautifully scaled down version for around $3 NZ, about £1.50 in Britain.

The model is part of the 2021 range, and comes in two colours, either silver with a black plastic interior and base (which includes the Aston Martin grille), or metalflake red with black interior and base.

Tampo printing is limited to the headlights, rear V12 number plate, nose and tail badges, and vents.

In this case, the 'window colour' referred to in the Hot Wheels Wiki entry for the car is only for the streamlined fairings behind the seats. The model has left-hand drive. Not surprisingly, it is included in the HW Exotics sub-series.

Aston Martin V12 Speedster | Hot Wheels Wiki | Fandom

The name of the model, as it appears on the base, is Aston Martin V12 Speedster; the copyright date is 2021, and it is made in Malaysia. The card is dated 2020.

Paul Adams from New Zealand