This is a new one on me, the Tri-ang Observation Car. How cool is that! I love that observation dome. It reminds me of other observation areas.
My favourite has to be the sky window of the Nuclear Ferry's front shuttle. The crowning glory [or is that Zero-X?] of the Century 21 Project SWORD toy range, the Nuclear Ferry is a seldom seen beauty. Only around half a dozen are known.
I was lucky enough to have a Ferry on loan for a year and gave it a good once over.
I love how two of the golden passengers have left their seats.
One is stood up near the central rail.
The other is .....
climbing the 'stairs', to where I don't know!
Have you an observation window?
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Addendum:
Thinking about Arto's fascinating point I went back and checked on the passengers in Robert McCall's original painting.
You can see that it is indeed a cut-out, like Arto says, and not a window. Intriguingly most of the passengers are sat upside down in the central ball behind the shuttle and no-one is sat down in that!
What really tickled me is that there are indeed two passengers [or crew?] up and about in the main shuttle and one is even climbing the stairs!
How cool is that! When it came to sticking to the original art, Century 21 Toys really went the extra mile with this toy.
What adds to the appeal of the Ferry sky window is the fact that there is not one in the illustration that it is based on, by legendary Robert McCall. There is however a cutout which enables you to see two figures standing in the passenger cabin.
ReplyDeleteI have often wondered whether adding the sky window was a misinterpretation of the McCall illustration or a willful addition to the design. The Ferry would have been much less complex to produce without it, and much less appealing in equal measure.
Fascinating Arto! I've added something to the post. Its a shame that C21 didn't 'misinterpret' the cut-out on the central ball chamber on McCall's painting. That would have made a great little window on there too, maybe one that opened with a tray of upside down passengers that could slide in and out! Winchell Chung's excellent Project Rho website has brought together most of the Nuke Ferry research in one place. The original LTV concept [thanks Bill] clearly shows that the front module is for 30 'personnel' and the central ball is a 30 'man' shuttle. I'd forgotten how complicated the mechanics of the Ferry were, with both module and shuttle docking and undocking constantly! I wonder what the SWORD Manual actually says?
DeleteProject Rho https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/realdesigns2.php
DeleteThis is one of the carriages from the Triang -Hornby Canadian Pacific set. The gorgeous blue and yellow livery always stood out for me and this car and another carriage with a dome on the roof, always made it look futuristic! Bill
ReplyDeleteDo you have this carriage Bill?
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