TRACKS OF MY YEARS

I was reliable reminded and congratulated by ebay recently, that I had been a patron for the last 24 years. In this not inconsiderable time, I must have spent thousands on toys and models, some of which have vanished into storage soon after purchase and been quickly forgotten about. One such item is the very first toy I ever bought on ebay, the Tri-ang Rovex Moonmobile. I first saw it tucked away in a sixties Tri-ang catalogue and was amazed at the similarity between it and the Matt Mason Moon Crawler and surprised as to why I had never seen it available for sale. Most of the other toys in the catlague, I was familiar with, Trik-Trak, Sailor Buoy, Big Big Trains, Jump Jockey - but this I had never seen. 

So naturally, decades later when I found ebay, as I was scooting along through the Space Toys section, when I saw one, I had to have it. It was in the states and was the very first thing I ever bought. I had to buy a money order from Western Union, contact the seler, arrange postage overseas and then sit tight for several weeks until it arrived. The only flaw was the missiles on it were partly repro versions, but otherwise it was almost perfect. The box was in great condition and the motor ran perfectly. It cost me about £60 all in, but was well worth it. Since then I have seen maybe one other. The interesting thing about it is that it seems to feature a Captain Scarlet figure, with tabard and light up epaulettes and has the exact same missiles that came with the Dinky SPV, except with blue rubber tips, as opposed to red.

The box artwork is exceptionally well done and has an even closer likeness to the good Captain as well!

In the same catalogue was another curious space toy - but one that I was fairly familiar with, having seen it set up in Woolworths grottoes. It was the Spacenik. This was a battery powered spaceship which ran on a toothed track, which allowed the ship to move vertically and inverted along the trackway, before reaching a turntable, where it automatically rotated and made its way back along the track again.

In the mid 1980's I had come across a newsagents with a lot of old toy stock and found a battered box of Spacenik there, which I bought for a few pounds. Unfortuantely, the drive gear on the motor had perished, so it wouldn't run.

Several years later, once more surfing ebay, I found the larger set - Spacenik 2, with a saucer shaped freighter, so added that to my collection. Both vehicles worked, so for a time, I had a run of blue trackway along the shelves in my room, with spaceships happily clacking along it.

Although marketed by Tri-ang Rovex, it is actually a japanese Tomy toy, called 'Grippidee Gravidee' in Japan and having a larger range again.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoFXOPK0EE7UVftXB522acQ

Hornby toys made a similar toy inthe late 80s called 'Mission 3DS' with spaceship that ran on a monorail in a similar way, with an enemy spaceship which fired infrared beams, which could stop the Hypercruiser. I bought one at a discounted price, but it was so flimsy and fiddly to set up, I didn't keep it and donated it to my nephew! The Spacenik sets however, I still have!