BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE MOON BUS: A BIRTHDAY SNIPPET

 Toho's Battle in Outer Space must have looked so futuristic in 1959.

The Japanese movie house just had a knack of bottling definitive science-fiction.

Battle in Outer Space contained a fabulous Moonbus vehicle worthy of any Gerry Anderson show!

There's even a working model kit of it, although the make of this is a mystery to me.

Do you know readers?

THE PROPER MOON BUS: NASA'S FLXBLE STARLINER

This is brilliant! What a coach!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pMAgz1fj74

Have any of you travelled on a NASA coach readers?

MOON BUS WINDOWS: WHAT A PANE

 I love this old Russian space bus.

You often see it for sale on Ebay.

The thing I like the most are the side windows.

This feature brings the vehicle to life I feel, especially the personnel within, sat at consoles of some sort.

These windows remind me that there were originally windows on the Moon Bus designs for the Project SWORD Moon Bus. I discussed these old features way back in 2014 in https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2014/08/what-would-original-t-in-circle-t-nose.html

You can still see vestiges of the windows on the SWORD Moon Bus running along both sides,

Do you think that true clear windows with passengers would have improved the SWORD Moon Bus?

Did you get one for Christmas?

DISNEY MOON BUS!

I saw these die-cast Disney Racers and thought, wow, that white and orange bus reminds of something!

The project SWORD Moon Bus!

Have you got either toy?

THE LP MOON EXPLORER

Auctions often bundle together amazing and mouth-watering piles of old toys. The Saleroom is no exception.

This past sale included some choice morsels including JR21 Thunderbird toys, a Tudor Rose Space Clipper, a Lincoln Motorcycle and a rather neat blue LP Moon Explorer.

There's a fab link between the Moon Explorer and Lady Penelope. if you want to read about it check here 

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2010/05/sword-box-art-origins-moon-bus.html

My own LP Moon Explorer is red. Do you have one? There are even yellow ones out there and some with canons!

ARK II EPISODE 1 1976

Thanks to reader Jon for ID'ing this obscure vehicle and US TV series.

Check out the brilliant ARK II land vehicle!

How cool is that?

PROJECT SWORD MOON BUS ON UK TV!

Hi,

Just watching ITV's The Day We Walked on the Moon. About 20 mins in, there is a big close-up of a Sword Moonbus!

Kevin

S.W.O.R.D ON PAPER

Plucked from my archives, a random trio of Project S.W.O.R.D images.

Apollo Saturn Rocket in TV21

Moon Bus in Lady Penelope

The cover of the Project S.W.O.R.D Annual

DOME SWEET DOME

I've always been a fan of what I think maybe called astrodomes. 

An illuminating dome features on top of the Project SWORD Moon Bus and many other space toys.

So I was interested to see these short films about the similar domes on the nacelles of Star Trek's USS Enterprise.

They may interest you too particularly Trekkies among you!

https://youtu.be/m5nZPw_v3M0

https://youtu.be/d3lsYBGBc10

IS THE MOON BUS A LOCOMOTIVE?

This clip of a Japanese Exploration Train toy borrowed from You Tube reminds me how similar the front loco is to the original drawing of the Moon Bus in 1963.

What do you think readers? Similar?

PROJECT SWORD MOON BUS RADAR STALK

I recently saw this Project SWORD Moon Bus online.

As you can see it has a standard silver radar. The radar is stood on a white stalk, which I have ringed in red.

Not only is this stalk white it also appears solid to me, a hard plastic rod, set at an angle.

My own Moon Bus radar stalk is made of thin red hollow plastic, which I have long suspected as being a DIY replacement.

What does your Moon Bus radar stalk look like?

Anyone got a a photo of one close-up?

WAR OF THE WORLDS EYE

Just watching War of the Worlds on the TV, the Fifties version. Looking at the Martian 'eye' it got me thinking.

Where have I seen something similar? Forbidden Planet?

No. Its the inside of the astrodome on the Project SWORD Moon Bus! A dead ringer!

Is this colour wheel significant? You seen any more readers?

T IN A CIRCLE MOON BUS IN TV21 SWORD STORY " LIKE FATHER LIKE SON"

Studying this illustration from the Project SWORD text story Like Father Like Son I noticed that the Moon Bus has also got what looks like the T in a Circle emblem on the nose. This lends further weight to my theory that the Moon Buses which were first available to both Century 21 Toys and TV21 artists were the original T in a Circle toy Moon Buses with the T emblem on the nose. As yet, they remain unseen in the collecting world.

RIDING THE REGOLITH

A Gallery of Moon Buses, Crawlers and Rovers

 

Shigeru Komatsuzaki Japan

Mike Trim UK

Project SWORD

Klaus Buergle Germany

Syd Mead USA