Are TB5 and Tracy Island Similar?

Is it just me or are Thunderbird 5 and the ring structure on Tracy Island the same shape?

STILL IN GOOD 'ELF: THE WOODEN TRACY ISLAND

 Its years since we first featured the Elf Tracy Island on Moonbase. Maybe 14 years, something like that. I think it was Will Osborne's.

I don't think I'd ever seen one on online before that. Certainly not in real life. I don't recall seeing one in a shop, which is where they were made for, to display JR21 Thunderbirds toys.

Elf made their Island from painted wood. It looks like a model albeit very stylish. Like something that Century 21 might have used in Thunderbirds itself. Yes, it looks like a prop. I wonder who made them? Model makers? and where? In London? What do you think readers?

I've always wondered if this was the concept for the Project SWORD Moonbase Set, a wooden diorama to display a few of the Century 21 SWORD toys on in some way. I wonder if Elf were ever considered for something like this as well?

The Elf Tracy island has taken on a life of its own these days, popping up in auctions, reputable toy dealer stores and inevitably on Ebay, where it manifests in two forms, a genuine and eye-wateringly expensive complete set and also and more interestingly to a poor bodger like me, a much cheaper home made set!

I imagine countless Tracy islands have been home made over the decades: Dads and Grandads beavering away in sheds to create the perfect circular pool for Johnnie's Thunderbird 1. Somewhere out there there'll be DIY Tracy Islands just as good as the Elf Toys set and from the Sixties, gathering dust in a forgotten attic.

In the meantime Elf Toy Tracy islands continue to pop up now and then and here's an online auctioned set with a die-cast bundle from a few years back that I saved the image from [Adam - yes, Adam! - Partridge Auctions].

Did you ever see the Elf set in a toy shop readers? Did you have a Tracy Island made for you? Did you make one?

ELF TOYS THUNDERBIRDS LAYOUT

 

I was sent this snap by a reader who found these Elf Tracy Island parts in his parent's loft. Luckily it still has its paperwork too.

It always amazes me when one of these sets surfaces like this.  We've seen them before on MC and years ago at that but its always great to see and gives me a glimmer of hope that one day a reader will unearth a Project SWORD Moonbase Play Set somewhere!

Do you like the Elf Toys lay out?

WILL OSBORNE'S WONDERFUL ELF TOYS TRACY ISLAND: THE FINAL PRODUCT

Hi Woodsy,

This is the production version of Elf Toys Tracy Island. 

As you can see I’ve taken some pictures as it is, and some with the Rosenthal Thunderbirds toys in situ as they would have been displayed in the shop window. 

The plywood base underneath is original as are the small diving board, Thunderbird 2’s launch ramp and the palm trees. 

Will O.

WILL OSBORNE'S PROTOTYPE ELF TOYS TRACY ISLAND

Hi Woodsy,

This is the first prototype of the Elf toys Tracy Island . 

It was made circa 1965 by Philip Hall, who designed for Elf toys, after a visit to the AP studios of Gerry Anderson to look at the Tracy Island film set and agree licensing terms. 

I’ve put a couple of dinky toys Thunderbirds in to give some scale. The finished production model was bigger, with separate buildings to fit the JR 21 plastic Thunderbirds toys. 

The original toy islands were painted at the local mental hospital as part of the patient’s rehabilitation. The original production run was probably less than 500, according to Ted Hall of Heritage Playsets (formerly Elf Toys) who is Ted Hall’s nephew. 

They were on general sale through toy shops, although many used them as window displays for the J.Rosenthal plastic Thunderbirds toys. 

 Regards, 

Will O.

ELF CENTRE: The Elf Toys Tracy Island

Just over two years ago I posted pics from the collection of my oldest SWORD/Spacex contact and super-collector Will Osbourne. The pics were colour photocopies so the online quality isn't great. However, the content is - the uber-rare ELF TOYS Tracy Island toy set, both in prototype and finished forms.

Above: ELF Toys Tracy Island prototype with Dinky die- casts

Above: ELF Toys Tracy Island - actual toy with JR21 vehicles

I still don't know very much about this amazing set but blog contributors Jim and Steve sent me the following info earlier this year: "They were made and issued to toy shops in order for them to display their JR21 toys in the 1960's. The one pictured above, although it has all the buildings, appears to have an incorrect base -there should be a painted road - to display FAB 1 and some water to display TB4" [Steve, Vintage Thunderbirds Toys].  

"They appear to be official toy shop miniatures of the various launch bays that JR21 toys fitted in. Likely to have been given to shops, which bought the toys in large volumes for displays and stuff. No one is sure but they look good and a few have popped up over the last 30 years. Not commercially available but still,it seems of JR21 origin" [Jim Lewis]

Does anybody know any more about this fabulous set or even better have any more pictures?

Postscript: Reader Graeme from Canada has heeded the call for more pictures "please find attached some images of the JR Rosenthal display base I've collected over the years from Ebay". Gobsmacking!

Pictures: Ebay

Amazing Graeme! What a fab collection! Wonder if they're all ELF Toys or are they something else? Gives me hope that there is a SWORD Moon Base out there somewhere!