Just Keep Rollin'

Its been an exciting month here on Mars Base, as for the first time in seemingly forever, a Spacex II model appeared. Not unfortunately, one of the extant models, but one that I only had as a loose and incomplete specimen. What made this appearance even more exciting was the fact that there were actually two models and both still carded!

In order to grab the toys it required a three man team involving international co-operation! As it happened, Woodsy spotted the toys on a small ads site in Europe. He alerted me and after a failed attempt to register my intention to buy on the website - thank you Brexit - we called upon the skills of Paul Vreede, Spacex collector extraordinaire. Luckily, Paul was already registered with the site and was able to contact the seller and expedite a sale.

Both models had the cards with them, although one had become detached and the blister compromised. I took the loose model and Paul bought the sealed one, which you can now see at: http://www.triangspacextoys.info/SpGApack/PppnPcks/MBugCard/MbugCrdF.html

The Moon Buggy is one of the few models issued with a die cast base and also comes with a seated astronaut, much bigger than the standard models. The pack contains a golden astronaut and one of the red Spacex Commander badges, which echo the Project SWORD toys in their style.

The toy is one of the models issued by Pippin toys around the time that Tri-ang were heading for dissolution and the card shows another of the missing models - the Rocket Transporter.

The illustration on the card is easily identifiable as one from the NASA archives, showing the early lunar rover design by Grumman.

The image comes from the Magpie ABC of Space book, by the great Peter Fairley, a common sight on TV in the mid sixties and seventies, as science editor fo major news channels in the UK. 

The card states that the action feature includes 'soft wheels' which refers to the innovative cone shaped wheels which were intended to deform and accomodate the lunar terrain, or to prevent the vehicle sinking into what was suggested might be deep tracts of moon dust. The model itself has rigid wheels with lots of small plates on the rim, something which are prone to damage, as can be seen on my earlier model, which arrived minus driver too. We can only hope that the last three missing designs turn up soon!