New Bullycan SpaceX Aircraft Carrier Labelling

 Recently seen on a Spanish auction, this bagged Bullycan plastic aircraft carrier has headers not seen on MC before.

Of interest to SpaceX and Golden Astronaut fans, the red planes are copies of the Hawk.

Oddly enough, the label shows a different more elaborate Aircraft Carrier, #3162, with various SpaceX copies on deck.

It's this one, which has appeared on MC before on this 1970 catalogue page.

It's one I have myself in plain white.

The rear of the new label shows the rest of the Bullycan boat range.

Have you anything like this readers?

Surf's You Right

 I've been browsing through Classic Plastic, the modelling reference book and drooling over the surfing kits like Hawks

There's a few words that crop up in that and other books that I'm unsure about.

I can roughly guess, but does anyone what they actually mean?

Hep

Hodad

Hipster

Hang Ten

Bat Fink

Shooting the breeze

Surfs up

Hot Dogger

Surfari

Wipeout

Beach bum

Curl

Rip

Dude

HAWK EYE

 This is an interesting clip by Monta-Man TV showing the Bullycan Portaaviones or Aircraft Carrier toy.

Keep your eye out for the green SpaceX Hawk clones on the flight deck.

Have you got anything like this?

THE SECOND BATMOBILE

Woodsy and Fellow Bat-nuts (errr, I mean Moonbasers),

Here's the second on-screen Batmobile from 1949's 'BATMAN AND ROBIN' serial. This one is smaller and less ostentatious than the first one from six years prior. Again, it's an everyday runner - no special gadgets that I'm aware of (although I have to admit it's been a l-o-n-g time since I watched all 15 episodes and maybe there's something I missed).

To me this looks like it could be a 1949 Mercury and some years back I bought a diecast 1/24 scale version from Washington Mint to post as a contender for the title. However, it is still in the unopened box! The model is quite close and may be the only 1949 Mercury offered by any toy company. What do you guys think - Batmobile or no?

From Vegas Bat Cave

Ed

Weirdsville Customizing Set

After delving in to the Remco Flock & Feather bird kits from 1969, I wondered what other plastic kits included feathers ? Not many, I should think. The only one I can think of is the Hawk Weirdsville Customizing Set - which was part of the Weird-Ohs line from the 1960s.

The Weird-Ohs were designed by Hawk box-top artist Bill Campbell, with the first of 12 kits being released in 1963. The Weirdsville Customizing Set included three of the early Weird-Ohs vehicles (described as 'Three Miserable Mouldy Models'), along with a plastic bag of items with which to customise them. All were moulded in white plastic, and were individually bagged.

The kits were:

530 Digger - The Way Out Dragster (42 Horrible Bits of Fine Mouldy Polystyrene)

531 Davey - The Way Out Cyclist (39 Horrible Bits...)

534 Leaky Boat Louie - The Vulgar Boatman (27 Horrible Bits...)

To quote the box-top, the bag of 'goodies' included:

Foul Feathers in Kooky Kolors

Gooky Glitter

Hysterically Horrible Hair

Fancy Fuzz

A Length of Blotchy Braid

Enough Customizing Frills to Confuse a Magician

Over 100 Putrid Parts to Paste

The Set was numbered 301-300, meaning it had a retail price of $3.00. Given that the individual Weird-Ohs kits sold for $1.00 each, that effectively means the customising accessories were free.

White glue (PVA) was recommended for attaching the custom materials. The instructions further suggested dressing the models up with items from around the house. 'Beads, colored string, aluminum foil, and pieces of cloth' were all listed.

All the Weird-Ohs kits, along with the Silly Surfers and Frantics, used box-top paintings. But the Weirdsville Customizing Set used a photograph of the three built-up models, adorned with the customising accessories. This probably did not help sales. A panel at the side listed the contents.

The contents were also shown on one side of the box, with other Weird-Ohs kits on the opposite side. The kit number was only shown on the ends of the box.

This mix of nightmarish monsters, with feathers and glitter, seems a little strange. I do wonder how many sold. Certainly, not many appear to have survived, and the set is now considered rare.

All the Weird-Ohs kits have been re-issued, and the range expanded by adding other kits from other companies, but the 

Customizing Set has never re-appeared.

Two photographs from Worthpoint

Paul Adams from New Zealand

Manned Orbiting Laboratory Kit by Hawk

An old MC post on Other Scouts was interesting, including the reply you had some time back from artist Bill Keith, and his mention of a plastic kit from the 1960s.

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2023/01/other-scouts.html#comment-form

He thought it might have been a Monogram kit, of a manned orbiting laboratory. The closest thing to that would be the Monogram Space Taxi from 1959 (later re-issued as the Space Buggy), but this does not match his description.

He describes the model as a converted Atlas rocket, with two ferry rockets or escape re-entry gliders attached to the outside. These were triangular in shape, and painted yellow. This sounds much more like the Hawk Manned Orbiting Laboratory, which was based on a Convair design.

The first version of this kit had yellow 'space boats' at the rear, while on the later version they were orange.

Hawk released the Convair Atlas Space Station (Manned Satellite) as kit N.513-98 or No.513-100. The number after the dash is the retail price in US cents at the time. This version has 'Reproduced from Plans Supplied by Convair Astronautics' on the box lid.

It was later re-issued, with a new name, and a new number. The Manned Orbiting Laboratory, No.551-100. No mention of Convair on the lid.

The dates quoted for this kit vary, either 1958 or 1960 for the first version, and 1966 or 1968 for the second. The copyright dates on the boxes themselves are 1958 and 1966, but copyright dates are not always the same as the actual release dates, and may be a year or so earlier.

The kit had a clear forward section, to show off the detailed interior; 4 figures; Space-O-Rama clear plastic display base showing part of the Earth's surface; and two small re-entry vehicles at the rear. Moulded in silver plastic.

Here is a beautiful poster showing both the Atlas Space Station and Lockheed TV2 jet trainer (Navy designation for the Air Force T-33).

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-hawk-model-kit-space-station-2077560840

There may be further information on the kit in the Mat Irvine book Creating Space, which I do not have.

Hope you like this kit.

Two photographs from Worthpoint.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

Life imitating Art from Captain Steve

Merry Christmas to you and the rest of the Moonbase Central community!

I thought you would be interested in this, the Soviet Union's Ilyushin IL-40. To me it has a distinct Gerry Anderson like appearance, particularly the 2nd prototype with the elongated nose.

http://www.diseno-art.com/encyclopedia/strange_vehicles/ilyushin_il-40_brawny.html

http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/il-40.php

I'm a big fan of the blog, and I finally found something to contribute!

Captain Steve

Hawk Weird-Ohs

Hi,

                From Maxsmodels here is a history of American kit company Hawk, and their models. These include the Weird-Ohs line of creature kits, which have been mentioned a time or two on Moonbase. 

A couple of these were re-issued in Britain by Airfix, which seems a pretty strange choice for Airfix.

There is also a great kit of the Beta-1 Atomic Powered Bomber. This was a 1/188th scale kit which came out in 1959. 

It even included a pair of parasite fighters carried by the bomber for self defence. Wish someone would re-issue that one.

HAWK/Testors Model company - YouTube

Paul Adams from New Zealand

SPANISH SPACEX

Not sure if I've blogged this. The last year is a blur!

Its an old soft plastic two-part Hawk from Spain, resembling the SpaceX toy.

Its just missing its wings.

HAWK BOOSTING

I picked up this loose SpaceX Hawk knockoff from Spain this Lockdown.

It was a proper bargain but then again it isn't complete.

Its essentially a yellow fuselage ....

and a blue undercarraige.

Both parts are soft plastic.

Its clearly related to the other red soft plastic Spanish Hawk I have.

They must have been a cheapo Spanish toy range back in the day. They are different to the similar but much classier and carded Aviones Cosmicos range by Bullycan.

I really like them though.

You can pull these apart too and swap parts around.

I've stripped the red one and boosted the new yellow one here.

This is what a complete yellow one would look like, although the parts - wings and nacelles - may have had different colours to the red one's. I imagine the wheels were always black.

What do you think?

WEIRD-OH TOY FRICTION MONSTROUS FISH PLANE

Last year I blogged about Frantics models.

Well I was amazed to see a plastic friction toy version of those mad creations:

The Monstrous Fish by LMR.

It was sold from Missouri on the Bay last year.

Anyone seen anything like it? Any more toys? Who are LMR?

The plane looks to be from the Weird-Oh's Freddie Flameout kit by Hawk, which amazingly is available as a brand new reissue on Amazon

The head appears to be the same as the left hand beatle from Steel Pluckers, part of the Weird-Oh Frantics range by Hawk. This built up set was sold on Worthpoint, where the image is from.

Have you got any Weird-Oh toys or indeed the Monstrous Fish?

FRANTIC CATS

I've been flickin' through my old Classic Plastic book by Rick Polizzi.

I got it Xmas 1997.

Its stuffed with magnificent model kits from the golden age of the 50's and 60's in America.

One of my fave ranges in the book are the Frantics by Hawk and my fave amongst them is a kit called the Frantic Cats.

Released to cash-in on the so-called British Invasion of the States by the Beatles and fellow beat bands in the early Sixties, Frantics appears to have perfectly frozen the cross-over between different youth cultures in America at the time.

Frantic Cats is a fine example. Here's the wonderful box art as it appears on Ebay. You can see two beautiful young things boppin' to the latest beats in a very appealing and zany cartoon style.

This pro-painted example of the kit I saw on the Bay showcases brilliantly the excitement and poise of the model itself. Both boppers are cleverly caught in mid-groove creating a hypnotic scene of balance and symmetry.

Yet somehow the two characters don't say the Beatles to me. 

The boy's boots on the cover have been replaced by loafer style shoes and socks on the model more closely associated with rock 'n' roll. Similarly the girl's look shouts more Bill Haley than the Fab Four.

And so to the beard. Despite the Beatle's mop top, the chinstrap beard makes me think of beatnik culture, Bob Dylan and folkies more than anything. I suppose that's what the Beatles invaded.

Similarly juxta'd were the designers, middle aged company men looking for the next big thing and the fearless youths they so desperately hope to emulate in plastic. It was and is a tense stand-off of generations and sub-cultures.

For me the appeal of these Frantic Cats and the other Frantics is just this, that tension caught in plastic, freezing the borderland between the Beatles and the Beatniks, between folk and rock, between hep and hip and between corporate America and its youth.

I'll explore some more Frantics soon.

CCV BOMBER: HIGHS LIKE A HAWK

I saw this on the Bay a couple of years ago and immediately thought Tri-ang SpaceX HAWK!

Called the CCV Bomber, its a superb looking things with its rear nacelles, double exhausts and swept wings.

I can't see a signature on the artwork but its a brill painting.

I wasn't the only blogger who noticed. The Unwanted Blog saw it too and combined with more fab artwork, the original patents and even a model have created a terrific post back in 2016

http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=31786

Designed in the early 70's it's too late to have influenced the SpaceX toy but could be related.

Here's a SpaceX Hawk and its larger green cousin The Tarheel/ Durham Nova:

For the real dope about the origins of the Tri-ang SpaceX Hawk and its American equivalent then check out Paul V's Tri-ang SpaceX Website:

http://www.triangspacextoys.info/SpGAorig/Hawk_OrF/Hawk_OrP.html

more hawk talk

I couldn't help noticing a fleeting resemblance to the SpaceX HAWK when I saw this artwork.

Its from an old Ebay auction and its a painting of a plane called a CCV.

Here's the Hawk in two different sizes.

You can read more about the CCV on the fab Aerospace Projects Review

http://www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/blog/?paged=8

scouts, hawks and angels: toy jets everywhere!

I've always loved the Century 21 Toys Project SWORD Scout 2.

It was a form favourite as a kid especially as it had swing wings and spring-loaded missile.

It always went well with that other swing wing the SpaceX Hawk shown here in orange with the larger Tarheel version in green.

I like Scout 2 so much that anything that looks remotely like it gets a second look as I've blogged many times before.

Here's a few more Scout-and-Hawk-alikes I've seen in cyberspace.

Bandai

Sanchis

Lesney

Some morph into designs more like the Century 21 Angel Aircraft

Guisval

Sanchis

and occasionally I'll see a doppelganger for the Spectrum Passenger jet too!

Bandai

Glico

Front right.

Have you seen any toy planes that would go well here?