BILL EV'S URBAN LEGEND

Bill Everatt has sent me this great graphic for this week's coming Urban Legend

on Celtica Radio.

BILL EV'S ZERO-X ACTION MAN

Today I visited my brother on his 50th birthday. And while we were chatting I noticed a photo cube he had sitting on one of his shelves. On one of the cube faces was a picture of me when I was about nine or ten years old. The very photograph I mentioned earlier in the blog post about Action Man in the Zero-X uniform.

So as I mentioned earlier, sometime in early 1968, I went Zero-X mad! This was probably prompted by me getting the Product SWORD toy for the 1967 Christmas. Easter time, my God Mother had bought me a Red Devils Parachute set for Action Man, and before the summer holidays, my imagination had already gone up a gear. It occurred to me that if I put the red jumpsuit on back to front, on Action Man it looked as if he were wearing a polo neck sweater. Furthermore, you could place a trousers and tunic over the jumpsuit as worn like that.

So I went to my Gran with numerous TV21s to show her the style of the outfit needed. I remember my Gran calling it a Mandarin Collar on the jacket. There was a fair bit of material over from the IR uniform she made me a few years previously. So, she marked out the pattern on that, measuring up Action Man, just as she would if she were making a Gentlemans suit. Gran then cut it all out, did something called 'hemming', and then assembled it, sewing it on her 1908 US made Singer sewing machine.

Once my Gran had completed it and checked it for size, she handed it to me to complete the ZX insignia on the upper arms. My mother was very good at embroidery, and as a child I learned from both of them how to sew and embroider. So I completed the ZX insignia myself and the outfit was complete.

Up until I reached something like eleven I had many adventures with Action Man who was on occasion joined by my dear friend Wayne's Action Man too. My Grandmother's house where we lived, had a large front, side and back garden. And I remember lots of adventures up trees, across the lawns and at the side of the Garage.

I count myself as extremely lucky, my parents, and the Fletcher family (who are my close relatives), always managed to give me the best years of my childhood they possibly could. Is it any wonder my cousin Tom Fletcher ended up founding McFly and going on to chart success.

For that I am so very grateful. I'm now in my mid sixties and although I'm very much a person of tomorrow, my home has many artifacts of those far off days when the sun seemed to be always shining, and the 1960s had yet to come to a close.

SIG

Bill

BILL EV'S GRANDMOTHER

Hi,

Re. Bill Ev's Thunderbirds Memories

.... not my Zero-X Action Man, but further information about my Gran. 

Some time ago, I decided to have my Grandmother's chair restored. Fortunately there is a furniture restorer in Bridgend, and this craftsman is as exacting as the people in the TV series the Repair Shop.

When he examined the chair together with the upholsterer, it was determined that the chair was 90 years old. I thought it was manufactured in the 1940s at the earliest.

What is special about this chair to me is that I often used to sit in it to watch Fireball XL5, Thunderbirds and other great TV shows of the 1960s and very early 70s. I particularly remember watching the Dangerman episode "Not So Jolly Roger". Attached are two photos of the chair, before and after...

Plus a picture of my Gran taken in 1920. She would have been about 20 years old then. Recent advances in graphics restoration software have enabled the photograph to be properly colourised.

So I can see I come from a long line of Redheads!

SiG

Bill Ev~

UK

Bill Ev's Thunderbirds Memories

Hi Woodsy

Reading through your Blog resulted in a cherished memory resurfacing!

When I was a kid, we didn't have much spare cash, and many things from the Gerry Anderson Universe were out of reach of my family pocket.

So one Christmas, I had to make a choice of either Thunderbird 5 or an International Rescue uniform. I chose TB5. But my Grandmother was a very talented and qualified Tailor (in those days women were called Dressmakers) - and surprised me Christmas 1966 with a perfect copy of the uniform, because I understood about the lack of money and had been such a good child.

My Gran (Kittie) had sourced pretty much the exact colour material of the IR uniform, and when it was finished, there was a small amount over, which she put aside for other odd projects.

In 1967/68 I went Zero X mad, and as I had an Action Man, I managed to convince my Gran to make a Zero X uniform for Action Man, as the material was the same colour as the Zero X uniform! - about a week later she produced this really faithful reproduction complete with Nehru Collar. It was designed to fit over one of the red jumpsuits so Action Man looked completely authentic, and ready to pilot Zero X.

Somewhere in the vast collection of photos from my childhood I do have a picture of the Zero X suit worn by my 12 inch high friend...

As regards my own IR uniform... I still have it, and its in pretty good nick, but a tad too small, so no cosplay for me!

FAB!

Bill Ev~

BILL EVERATT AND WOODSY TALK PROJECT SWORD IN 10 MINUTES TIME!

As a an early booster rocket to our Project SWORD day you can hear me and Bill Everatt talk about Project SWORD on Celtica Radio.

You can hear the ten minute interview

live tonight, Friday Night at 8PM UK BST on Celtica Radio's Underground Edition.

Bill Ev also features the urban legend of the Philadelphia Experiment on the show too!

Lots to listen to so here are the links to Celtica Radio ....

FM quality

http://eu8.fastcast4u.com:5232/stream1

AM quality

http://eu8.fastcast4u.com:5232/stream2

Website

https://www.celticaradio.com

Tune in and enjoy!

* 

LISTEN AGAIN!

Hi, the show is now available for download or as a listen again on this link below for seven days.

The Underground Edition Podcast presented by Bill Everatt with special Guest Paul Woods - 

http://s124347079.websitehome.co.uk/audio/edition.mp3

ATB 

Ev

Bill Everatt Interviews Woodsy for Project SWORD Day this Friday Night

As a an early booster rocket to our Project SWORD day you can hear me and Bill Everatt talk about Project SWORD on Celtica Radio.

You can hear the ten minute interview

live on Friday Night at 8PM UK BST on Celtica Radio's Underground Edition.

Bill Ev also features the urban legend of the Philadelphia Experiment on the show too!

Lots to listen to so here are the links to Celtica Radio ....

FM quality

http://eu8.fastcast4u.com:5232/stream1

AM quality

http://eu8.fastcast4u.com:5232/stream2

Website

https://www.celticaradio.com

Tune in and enjoy!

THE REAL DINKY SNORKEL: BILL EV'S 1965 FIRE ENGINE

Hi Woodsy

Here's a photo of a 1965 (I think) Dinky from my collection. My godmother bought my first one in 1968, but this was played with literally to bits.

A couple of years ago I managed to track this identical one down, complete with mint box and leaflet.

We even had a real.one of these at our main fire station. It was absolutely huge!

Bill Ev

UK

PS. Yours looks like the American version.

BILL EV's FAB1's and CENTURY 21 THUNDERBIRDS TOYS

Here are a number of my Century 21 vehicles and real ones in rough scale, as per Chris Thompson's fabulous comparative scale illustration.

Here are some super close-up shots of the Konami FAB1 together with the IMAI kit version. The coin is a UK 5p piece.

BILL EV's KONAMI FAB1

This is from my collection. Its incredibly small. About 1/300th scale.

Bill Ev.

UK

Bill EV's Taito Thunderbird 3

Here's one that my friend Wayne Stock did. The model is a Taito TB3, I did the photography, placing it in front of a black velvet backdrop. [a-la-space-1999-eagles]

There were several shots taken and then then it was over to Wayne to do the really clever stuff. He's a very talented fine artist and photographer, and even had exhibitions when we were still in school together. In fact, I've known Wayne since I was about 4 years old, so we predate Thunderbirds!

The TB3 normally sits in a display cabinet on a shelf with the rest of my roughly 1/300th scale collection of models which include; a Concorde, Zero-X, Titan 3 MOL, Avro Vulcan and a load of other Gerry Anderson TV Vehicles.

But it was good to see the old firework in her natural environment!

Bill Everatt | Celtica Radio

DINKY INTERCEPTOR ON POSITIVE TRACK: A RESTORATION BY BILL EVERATT

What amazes me with these restorations is how quickly the progress from

original toy box chipped to completed project!

Back in 2005, some readers may recall me mentioning that I saw a beautiful

Product Enterprise SHADO Interceptor, when I visited Whitley. I decided to

pass on the purchase, because I thought £28 was too much to pay. 

Stupid me!

However, I do have the Dinky version, although for many years it languished,

lost, tucked away in a box in the attic together with a Corgi Cadillac

Ambulance [which curiously has the original tyres, un-perished!] - But I

digress. 

When in 1971, I unboxed it, I was horrified that the people at Dinky

had decide to pain it a lovely shade of Metallic Vomit Green [perhaps they

called it bronze], but I HATED the colour... What planet were they on??? 

A year later, I disassembled it, and sprayed it white. Unfortunately, at the age of

12 I lacked the skill and expertise to do a job that would do this beautiful

model, otherwise, justice. 

So there it languished, boxed up, surviving four

house moves, essentially lost, as I had unsuccessfully looked for it before.

Until I was up in our attic a little while back, and decided to look in a different

location. AND THERE IT WAS!

So, a few days before the Jubilee, I set about disassembling it and soaking

the two fuselage halves in a strong paint stripper for several days.

This was part of the end result.

On Saturday the 4th June, I began spraying all the metal components, the upper

fuselage was just primed with Grey and the lower one had the vinyl skids

bound with masking tape as I planned to keep the original colour there. I still

want this to resemble the toy I had all those years ago.

The next bit proved a little tricky as I needed to spray certain sections silver as

per the original model. I used some very thin masking tape to ensure I kept

the razor sharp lines and the rest was then bound up with ordinary masking

tape, and off I merrily went.

Once all the fuselage masking came off, this was the end result...

The next bit was to print off the waterslide decals, creating them from some

original photos on the Italian UFO fan site was fun. Applying them wasn't, as

some kept on ripping or ending up not quite straight.

After several HOURS [!] I had finished, this was last night, the 10th of June.

With the outside light fading, I completed the last bit of clear lacquering, and

sat down to watch some enjoyable telly.

When I got up this morning I checked the completed vehicle, the clear lacquer

had hardened and it was ready to have the skid masking removed and re-assembled.

Finally some Matt Black, and final assembly, complete with a reproduction

missile. I still have most of the original missile, but it had cracked and the

nose cone was missing. All the screws tightened nicely, and it still works just

as it did when I disappointingly unboxed it in 1971.

Ready for interception of UFO on positive track!

As a footnote, I did notice that the canopy has a small crack in it, so at some

I'm going to replace this with a reproduction. But no rush.

Bill Everatt

Wales

BILL'S 7TH BIRTHDAY WAVERLY RING AND THRUSHBUSTER

Hi

By popular request here is the photo of me wearing the Waverly Signet Ring, plus with the newly unpackaged Thrushbuster.

The photo was taken on my 7th birthday. In addition to the Corgi Thrushbuster, I also had the JR21 Thunderbird 2, with the Mole. But there are no photos of the Thunderbird machines.

SIG

Bill Ev

UK

Woodsy asks: has anyone else got photo's of you with your toys? Please email me!

THRUSHBUSTING: A TRUE CORGI REUNION BY BILL EV.

So, a few months back, I came across a few more of my old Dinky and Corgi toys. These included a 1966 Man from Uncle Thrushbuster. As is the case with all these beloved old toys, this had been played with and was extensively toybox chipped.

The wing mirrors on the original were broken long ago, and the periscope was missing. The original tyres were perished. Replacement parts were ordered from eBay.

After drilling the rivets out, I found that the remaining plastic components were in good condition and not broken or cracked. They just required cleaning with warm soapy water. The Perspex component was polished and the whole lot bagged up and put to one side.

The next bit proved intensively frustrating. Having received a limited response to my requests for the correct colour blue. I found that the small can I'd bought was chemically incompatible with the clear lacquer required as the final coat. This meant that the days of spraying primer, drying, topcoat, drying and applying the waterside decal, were ruined when I put the clear lacquer on, as it all turned into crazy paving!

This time, I visited Halfords, with an old friend (who actually remembered playing with my exact same car when we were kids) Wayne, is a professional photographer and fine artist. We found a pretty much a perfect match at Halfords, and all the paint was fully compatible.

So, it had to be soaked in paint stripper and the whole painting process undertaken all over again!

First, the grey primer, followed by some silver, airbrushed onto the front grille and rear.

Then the silver areas were plugged with blu-tack and the beautiful metallic/pearlised dark blue colour coat applied.

Lastly the application of the Man from Uncle decal. The original was a paper sticker. But, there were some aspects of the toy that annoyed me as a child, like the paper sticker, and the excess of sliver paint on the front and back.

The decal was created by scanning the original sticker at high resolution and then worked on using photo and graphics software. Then shrunk down to actual size and printed on white waterside decal paper using a laser printer. The blu-tack was pulled out from the front and rear grilles, and the waterside decal applied. As all the paint components were chemically compatible, the clear lacquer went on without any issues and it was just left to dry.

The last bit was really fiddly, but the internal pieces were fitted back into place, and the hardest part which was riveting the baseplate into position, without screwing up the finish. The next time I'll do one of these I'll use small capscrews.

The end result before a final polish.

And now ready for the Jubilee!

Bill Everatt

UK.

THE LAST SWORDCAST

Sadly, after nearly 10 years Wotan and I have decided we can no longer continue making the SWORDcast on Celtica Radio. Its been a year since we released the last one and now is the time to call it a day. 

We are both sad about this but what with Covid and growing families and a few other bits of life in general it became increasingly difficult to find the time and space to make the show.

When Bill Everatt, Celtica's Station Manager, approached us all those years ago, Wotan and I were both complete novices at radio but with Bill's patient guidance we began to feel at home behind the mic and make half-hour radio shows that we thought were fun. They were certainly fun to make and Bill produced them all brilliantly, adding his own fabulous ingredients which gave the show a proper identity with a themed intro and artwork!

The SWORDcast also lead to both Wotan and I writing and narrating our own radio dramas, which was a great privilege and all thanks to the encouragement of Dave Carrington and his Squaring the Circle show.

Thanks to everyone who listened to our efforts on the radio over the years and we very much appreciate the encouragement we received from listeners and Moonbase readers.

Since turning off our mics both Wotan and I have received very kind feedback from both Bill Ev our mentor and producer and also from Dave Cook, the founding Director of Celtica Radio, for which we are exceptionally grateful. It was a real privilege to have been part of the Celtica radio family. We would like to thank them all.

Interestingly the main online outfits for Supermarionation all do podcasts now but I think we may have got there first! You never know, we may have started a trend!

Thanks everyone.

YOUR HELP NEEDED: THRUSHBUSTER BLUE?

Bill Everatt of Celtica Radio and blog supporter is in the process of restoring his Corgi Thrushbuster. 

But he's not completely sure what shade of metallic/iridescent dark blue he should order. Or the paint manufacturer it can be purchased from. So he's looking for some advice.

Do the readers have any suggestions or know of where he can purchase a spray colour that would be closest to the original?

Thanks.

THE ACHE OF ETERNITY TONIGHT ON CELTICA RADIO

Hi Woodsy, this might be of interest to you. This months Squaring the Circle on Celtica Radio marks the return of Andrew John to the airwaves, reading a Vampire Horror Story called the Ache of Eternity.

It'll be on air on our live service at 8PM tonight, Sunday the 21st, and thereafter as a repeat at various times and also a Listen Again/Podcast download.

Link to Radio Celtica https://www.celticaradio.com/

The Facebook artwork is attached, and that picture is actually Andy pulling a face! You may also find one of the fonts familiar - [earthman] - however, other than the font and Andy doing a decent impersonation of Colonel White for you guys, there is no connection with Captain Scarlet.

But it is a good romp!

Bill Ev.

V4 - The Gamma Solution: a Radio Story on Celtica Radio

Bill Everatt, Station Manager of Celtica Radio and Moonbase reader, has let me know that there is a new radio story on Celtica Radio that may interest Moonbase redears: V4- The Gamma Solution.

You can hear it here online: http://s124347079.websitehome.co.uk/audio/circle.mp3

Can you spot the Fireball XL5 connection!

BILL EV'S POWER JAM

 

Hi Woodsy, 

Nice blog piece waxing lyrical about heavy metal and Deep Purple! 

Sometime before I started playing the Hurdy Gurdy, I used to regularly play my own plastic axe. And here is a bit of me and a couple of mates doing a session at Swansea University in 1985. 

No name to the band, we were just four session musician mates who love Rock. 

Graham Wyatt on Lead, me on Rhythm, Dave Parton on Bass and Dave Frater on Drums.... And my guitar??? It's a customised Fender Stratocaster. And those power chords are real I'm proud to say. 

Generally, the stuff I'd end up doing would be short pieces used in commercial production, although I did play on a set of jingles used at Red Dragon Radio... I still play little today; the technology is a lot less bulky and more effective nowadays. So, it shows how good those original metal guys really were. 

Hope you like it!

Bill Ev

http://s124347079.websitehome.co.uk/Copy/URA.mp3 

Fireball XL6 to the Rescue!

I can see you two have been moonlighting for the United Earth Space Patrol!

Bill Ev

Celtica Radio

*

Our new Autumn radio SWORDCAST is available to listen to anytime. Click on the link in the sidebar.

New October SwordCast on Celtica Radio: Listen Again Anytime

Listen again to tonight's SWORDcast, a half hour of our vibrant vintage toy talk and chatter.

It's a perfectly mint boxed way to enjoy your toy hobby on the radio, on your phone or on your PC.

So come listen again anytime on Celtica Radio

http://s124347079.websitehome.co.uk/NewCelts/swordcast.mp3

It's playfully toyish!

Let us know what you think!