Clint Bond

 This is a neat spy toy set I saw on auction. The toy pistol and silencer remind me of my Joe 90 items in the 1960's attache case.

But James Bond, the agent looks more like Clint Eastwood in Magnum Force to me.

What do you think readers?

Bill's Corgi Consul Project

Woodsy

I've started work on my Corgi Ford Consul.

 I've not bothered to take photos of before and after, as essentially everyone knows how bad a state these toys are in.

When I was a kid, I didn't particularly like the colour scheme on the toy. So, as soon as it was toyboy chipped I proceeded to remove all of the enamel down to the metal. This made cleaning it down very easy.

So, not being sure what sort of colour scheme I was going to settle on, I had a look at an actual Ford Consul. A beautiful sky blue with a cream roof. So this is what I decided on.

Still some work to do. But I have decided to use a high chrome finish on the bumpers and front and back ends. We shall see how it turns out.

From memory, there are still some police vehicles to restore, a Cadillac ambulance with flashing light, some matchbox toys... AND my Dinky FAB1. - That will document its sorry state to completed restoration.

I've got the Corgi FAB1, and although it's an absolutely beautiful piece of work. The Dinky one has it for me, because it's a lot more streamlined. You can just imagine it thundering (sic) along at 200mph.

So we shall see....

Bill Everatt

UK

From MJ, Birthday Boy!

Hi Woodsy

a cheeky little birthday share....

MJ

http://youtube.com/post/UgkxY9I056vgFukH2WJHZFjcvu9rc-llOgaN?si=C6a3r65OKDagh-Q3

Ed's Archer Satellite Men

Woodsy,

Not too long ago, after a ten-year hiatus collecting these, I finally completed my collection of Archer's 4" Satellite Men. 

Introduced between 1954-55, they were soft vinyl plastic copies of Archer's Men of Mars series (which were cast in hard plastic). Many people also call these Archer slot-hand spacemen, as they had slots in their hands to accommodate accessories which came with them.

 The figures are relatively easy to find, the accessories not so much. 

There were six different poses in a variety of colors, six 'Scientific Weapons', and six 'Astro Pacs', all of which I'll start blogging in a new series starting tomorrow.

From Vegas Base

Ed

ANOTHER BAT BIRTHDAY STING FOR MARKY BATS

 Hope you're enjoying your special day, Mark

Couldn't resist having an appearance by G.H.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

A Card from Lance for Marky B!

For MJ from Electricwave

Marky Bats Welcome to Japan!

For MJ's Birthday from Terranova47

A Birthday Card from Tony k

Card for MJ from Paul

BIRTHDAY GREETINGS, MARK J

 Happy birthday, Mark. enjoy your day.

As you share my love of the Caped Crusader, Mark , I've done you another Bat- bonus card featuring a familiar  guest  hero (fairly obvious, really) which I'll post later in the day.

We're Heading Over To MJ's!

 There's cake and jelly! 

Happy Birthday MJ! 

Hold the Batphone! It's MJ's Birthday!

It's mJ's birthday  you guys!

🎸

Yep, today!

Always handy for the Bank Holiday!! -

🦇

Many zappy returns to

Southcoast Base!

GODZILLA AT SMALLSPACE

 Looking at Lewis's post on his trip to Japan, and the Toho Studios, I was inspired to dig out my extremely limited amount of Godzilla photos.

I took these at Smallspace 8, back in 2016, which show some of the models made by the UK Sci-fi & Fantasy Special Interest Group.

Here's Big G rampaging through a Japanese village.

Here's Godzilla showing a build up of radiation in his body as his heart nears nuclear meltdown, as seen in the 1995 film, Godzilla vs. Destroyer.

More rampaging!

Godzilla Jr.

A baby Mechagodzilla, perhaps?

Ghidorah, the three-headed monster who first appeared in the1964 film of the same name.

Thanks for looking in!

Looey's Last Postcard from Japan

"Are you still here?"

After my last post, I thought I'd exhausted all my Moonbase worthy experiences. But with two last days in Tokyo, I was proved wrong.

I met up with an American friend who works in the Japanese film industry. He took me to the the Hotel Gracery, atop the Toho Cinema complex in Shinjuku.

You can understand why it's informally called The Godzilla Hotel!

Up close, the life size head is pretty impressive.

And in the foyer is an actual filming suit on display with a puppet Mothra!

The my friend took me on a train trip to see Toho Studios. Still standing in a leafy suburb bisected by the Senkawa River, which is filled with grey carp where Akira Kurosawa used to fish.

The studio has been modernised but it still pays tribute to the heritage of it's two most famous productions.

Another train ride brought us to a leafy suburb with a delightfully overgrown group of small business buildings.

The small understated sign reveals the identity of this most famous of all Japanese animation studios.

Having worked here, my friend knew some of it's secrets. Nearby was an even more understated private studio, with glass windows facing the street where we might just see "Japan's Disney" still at work...

We strolled down the leafy suburban street, as inconspicuous as a pair of towering Gaijin could be. Outside, an aged gentleman wearing a flat blue bucket hat, was just stepping off the porch. Our eyes briefly locked, but we continued walking past, feigning nonchalance.

I know what you're saying Moonbasers, "Pictures, or it didn't happen"

- but to have whipped out my camera and fired off a pic straight in his face, would have been the height of disrespect...

This is a trip I will never forget!

Looey

*

And ....

JOHNNY LIGHTNING GREEN HORNET BLACK BEAUTIES

 Some photos of my Johnny Lightning  1:64 scale Black Beauties.

They're all the same model of course,  so generally I only really pick  these up if they have an interesting  backing card, and rarely bother to take them out of their bubble packs.

Unsurprisingly, I'm missing quite a fair few, including the self-assembly version:  the Classic Plastic one with a tiny bonus  'Aurora' kit box; the Team Lightning hot rod, and the orange version of the 'Street Freaks. There's also a white edition!

Here's my collection so far:

These are my favourites, released in 2022. The one on the left uses the traditional Green Hornet logo , with hornet art from the 1966 TV series. The one on the right uses the font used for the 2011 film. That one comes with a box for the car  and small Green Hornet and Kato figures.

This metallic green version, and more appropriate black version came out in 2001.  The raised feature photo uses the single headlights Black Beauty publicity shot. 

This is one of the two 'Street Freaks'   Black Beauties, which appeared in 2020. My example is customised with suitable green flames, the alternative uses orange flames.   

Stand and Deliver!

I love this Lone Star Harvey Series boxed figurine of Dick Turpin I saw online.

The box is even the front of the Inn!

Any one got any more like this?

Dressed for Action

 Spent a happy afternoon with a friend dressing Action Men.

The Grenadier, the uniform bought in Otley vintage toy shop. The man is a modern Duke GI Joe.

The scuba explorer, a fabulous set kindly donated by blog friend Tony K. The man is a modernish Hasbro figure.

Have you got any dressed figures?

Will's Patty Painter

Hi Woodsy,

Another girlie thing!

Did I see in the blog a little while ago some posts about the Denys Fisher Spiromatic?

This doll by Pedigree has her own , albeit hand operated. 

Will O

An Even Smaller Step

It’s been a good month for vintage space toys and today it was made even better, as Woodsy kindly sent me the plastic astronauts he found at a car boot recently. To speed them on their way, he also included the tiny ‘Blue Shield’ Apollo Capsule set, which originally came in a small carded baggy. Six tiny spacemen and a tiny plastic LEM.

We have seen the Blue Shield set many times on the blog and the LEM is a smaller and less detailed version of the Apollo Moon Exploring version, probably intended as a cake topper or small commemorative toy. At just 10c, the set was clearly not intended to be played with much and it’s remarkable that any have survived beyond 1969! Here it is on the right, next to a modern Hot Wheels Planet Micro LEM and a standard Golden Astronaut for scale.

The astronauts that Woodsy found at the boot sale are simple unbranded copies of the classic GA poses, which are echoed in the tiny Blue Shield figures and are also found in the slightly bigger LP painted figures.