JUNIOR'S ESCAPE RAFT

 Last week Junior had fun with LEGO.

He made up a story, The Esca[e Raft, around a couple of vehicles and played for an hour on the floor acting it out. I was so jealous! It was a joy to see!

Here are Junior's creations.

A MARS A DAY

Hi Woodsy, my Lego Mars rover is now finished! 

Its latest discovery on the Red planet hints that there may be life there! 

A belated Happy New Year to you and all the Moonbasers. 

Will O.

UK

Spaced Out! Lego Dark Star Custom Diorama

https://youtube.com/shorts/E8ZcwHU60Ws?si=mgm6-rNf99tPoV6l

hi Woodsy I think you might appreciate this little short I put together

Regards 

MJ

Southcoast Base

THERE'S A GHOST IN MY HOUSE

I saw the above illuminated Lego hotel online and was blown away. What a masterpiece.

It also reminded me completely of how I lit-up my Polar Lights Addams Family House kit back in the 90's. Alas I no longer have it but I did find an amazing and illuminated original Aurora Addam's house online. 

Built and lit by Randy Neubert ten years ago it still looks wonderful. Check out all the views of his house here https://culttvman.com/main/randy-neuberts-lighted-addams-family-house/

Recently I found one of the house ghosts on a stick and it brought back great memories of putting it together decades ago. You can see the ghost I mean bottom right below in this auction pic of the kit parts. The ghost on a stick recalls something else but I can't put my finger on it. A chocolate lolly?

My older brother had the original Aurora Addams Family House back in the Sixties, along with Godzilla, King Kong et al. Not sure where they all went. Probably the bin! How could they do it!

Do you have any haunted memories of the Addam's Family House kits, original or otherwise?

Any pictures?

MEMORY LANE IN THE RAIN

A real trip down memory lane today for me with the Missus as we ventured forth to the town I used to work in for twenty years; Morley. I hadn't been back since 2005, when I finished my 'big' job. I was 44 then. I'm 62 now!

Despite the winter's rainy drizzle we were emboldened by a local pork pie and took advantage of the many charity shops. some of which I used to visit on my lunch breaks decades ago!

Today's catch was slim but fun and along the way we saw some interesting items on the shelves. What do you think?

First up, a large boxed Lego set 744, 1980, priced £30. It looked impressive!

A large plastic robot Overseer priced £40 and one I'd never heard of. Next to it was a Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Music Cartridge!

An interesting and near mint boxed game called Snake Eyes by Vic Toy/ Invicta, 1969, priced £5. A lovely item in great shape. I had the Invicta Mastermind game as a kid.

This Darth Vader spinner from 1997 brought back happy memories as I sold one on my old toy stall in the Noughties.

A whole stack of Dr. Who magazines, not one I've ever read. You?

We liked this framed print of steam engines hanging above the Market's excellent vintage corner, Junk and Disorderly. A print of an oil painting by Barrie A.F. Clark from 1977. Reading about the artist, it would appear that he helped designed and made prototype toys in the early 1960's, as well as doing his painting! I wonder which toys?

There were badges too, 50p each. I bought one!

Next door in the Market's record shop was this fab window display of Beatles LP and Singles covers.

A blast from the past for me was seeing a Broons and Oor Wullie annual. Along with Giles, my older brothers always got one of these annuals at Christmas in the early Seventies. Did you?

The two-man sub on the cover of Valiant 1968 caught my eye too. Is this an annual you had?

And to finish, a snap of something I struggled to scoff as a kid but love now, Glace Cherries! I saw these in Morley Morrisons.  There were always some in my Mum's kitchen cupboard next to the equally unusual candy peel! Do you like them?

and here's what I bought, a meagre trio of fun stuff.

The Belly of an Architect is a film I'd never heard of and even better it was on VHS Video Cassette, which I collect. The Heavy Nuggets CD is a compilation of unusual heavy rock tracks for the car.

Perhaps the best buy was the plastic Batman Badge. At first I thought it was a variant of the well-known Plaston plastic badge but then I saw a different brand name on the back, Di Bro and Made in England.

Turns out its from a Batman collectable from 1966 and one new to me, the ABC Interpass Badge and ID Card, which I found information on and borrowed these pictures from Worthpoint. Is it something you know readers?

LEGO Rising Star Spaceplane with Full Interior!" on YouTube

https://youtu.be/mxfvzj97Ovs 

hi  Woodsy just goes to show a good concept is a good concept! imagine this lifting body even lifting!!

Regards 

MJ 

Southcoast base 

LEGO FLYING CAR

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/7dc03c31-17ed-49f5-809b-af5899745929 

Hi Woodsy 

Thought I'd share this with you, it reminds me of some of the space models made by Paramount, also I reckon if many of our readers register with the Lego ideas site we can push for or even create more sci fi builds to be released by Lego.

Regards

MJ Southcoast base

Watch "LEGO SR 71 Blackbird" on YouTube

https://youtu.be/2jlUqbP2FvQ 

Hi Woodsy, I thought this might be of interest to you. What do you think readers?

Regards 

MJ

Southcoast Base

Bionically Yours

 

Most peoples perception of Lego will be either a standard 8 stud brick, or more lately a minifig. Lego today is one of the biggest toy brands ever, but around 2000, it was in dire straits and heading for the back of the toy cupboard. With the revival of Star Wars and Transformers franchises, Lego looked for a new approach to toys and construction and went down the action figure route and shortly after, the Bionicle franchise was born. Popular Mechanics tells the actual story much better than I can, but suffice to say, after getting rid of most of my original Lego, I was suddenly back on board again, with a vengance.

In the late 1990's, I had found an advert from Lego asking for freelance submissions to Lego Dacta, the educational arm of the company and I contacted the company and began to submit some ideas for various new directions. granted, none of my ideas were even close to Bionicle, but what I did provide was very well received, even if it didn't actually land me a desk in Denmark!

Still it did however put me back in touch with the toy in a big way. I bought a huge lot of standard Lego from a friend and started building and shortly after, saw an advert for the new Bionicle line in the Lego magazine. For me it was a wish come true, combining a super adaptable toy with an action figure base. 

Collectable 'Infected' Hau Mask

As the line was revealed, it became apparent that besides the off the shelf figures, there was a collectable element to it too, as the figural heads all had removeable masks, which could be bought separately in blind baggies. £1.50 bought three masks with a chance to find a super rare 'Infected' mask, a hand painted version which expanded the storyline behind the figures.

First Generation Bionicle Figure

The series was hugely popular and spawned endless variations and spin offs including merchandise, comics, videos and games. Lego did fall foul of some legal issues, as the mythology behind the series was based on polynesian gods and theology and the original ideology had to be changed slightly.

But up until a few years ago, the line was going strong, with various revamps along the way, but always with the central 'mask' idea, meaning that in order to collect all the possible variations and designs, you would need very deep pockets and a lot of space! Needless to say, I have been collecting them from day one and am still not complete, but content myself with a selection of the more accessible ones and not worrying about the platinum and 4 carat gold versions!

Nestle Cereal Premium

For me, they represent a throwback to the little toys that came with cereal, bright coloured plastic and nicely designed toys, but there is also the mythological element to them as well, as each mask is accorded a special mystical power and some of them even reflect totem animals or primitive art.

Canadian First Nations Masks

So Lego has come a very long way from its origins in small wooden pull along toys, through the first brick based plastic toy into action figures and mainstream cultural icons, but it will always remain a fabulously playable toy and something which I will always enjoy, either on my own or with future generations of grandchildren.

Gerry Anderson's Stingray in Lego

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/b17faf1e-7697-4434-8154-e794ee49b1be 

 hi Woodsy, while having a mooch thru the Lego ideas page I spotted this, official Gerry Anderson lego would be a great idea! 

Regards 

MJ 

Southcoast base

TROLL, SNOOPY AND THE DOCTOR

Hi Woodsie,

Following on from your Dam Troll thread this month, here is my wife's Troll and my Snoopy astronaut.

Also here is my red and white Lego with a visit from the Doctor!

Looey

Oz

MOONBASE BY NIGHT

One of the Lego buildings we've made for Moonbase Junior.

Minimum light at night.

KEV'S LEGO

In answer to the question about Lego, here are some things I've made,

1. Space 1999 commlock.
2. The heroes of 'Star Cops'.
3. The starship Hooded Swan.

What a brick!

Kevin

Model Citizen by Paul Vreede

These Lego cars were sold as being in the H0 scale of 1/87. Compared to other makes, Wiking for example, they tend to be a tad larger. But they were still very useful for a model train layout; something which Lego also suggested in an early ideas book which featured an earlier town plan with an H0 model railway running round it, over bridges and past buildings made out of Lego (See http://brickfetish.com/ideas/dk/byggebog_1955_26.html - there are minute links at the bottom of the pages to see the rest of that book; the entire site is very much recommended).

The train track is overdoing it a bit to my taste, so I'm contenting myself with just having some contemporary buildings, based on various sources.

The front cover of the town plan shows some buildings that I've also built. Incidentally, the boy playing with the Esso truck is a young Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, the grandson of Lego Founder Ole Kirk Christiansen and the man who was CEO and Chairman of the company until 2004 (his last name starts with a K due to a clerical error when he was born apparently).

The back of the townplan shows other buildings, some of which were available as sets at the time. I've built a few of those to go with my townplan as well. The iconic Esso service station I initially built from loose parts, but then I found a glued-together display model at a swapmeet, made from all the correct parts including the special plates trimmed in red.

 When this town plan period started, Lego was made from cellulose acetate. Which has a lovely slightly translucent shine to it, as opposed to the dense colours of the ABS plastic that came in from 1963. But it has less clutch power (as Lego calls it) which when young we countered by clamping a sheet of paper between the bricks and tearing off the excess (a trick I've used again f ex in the aerial on the fire station roof).

Its other disadvantage is that it can (and most often does) warp over time, making larger bricks completely useless. The white flatbed trailers made from cellulose acetate are very likely to be twisted into weird shapes, and most Mercedes convertibles and moving trucks go somewhat banana-shaped as well. 

The Bedford trucks (and passenger cars) were issued in ABS plastic before the Bedfords were replaced with Mercedes trucks. But for sheer period nostalgia, the bright shine of cellulose acetate is hard to beat.