Nuclear Ferry Movie

This Project SWORD Nuclear ferry animation didn't work out as expected! 

BIRTHDAY UPDATE: THE FIVE KNOWN NUCLEAR FERRIES

All The Five Known Nuclear Ferries

 Researched by Arto, Updated by Woodsy

First published 2014, updated 2024

[the names in italics are purely for fun and based on either the original or current owner and or seller / location of the toy]

1. 2008 - Terry's Ferry for Bill or maybe the 

First Ferry

The first sighting of the previously-never-seen toy came via our man in the East, Terry Harle. Despite all the signs of usage and long storage with melt marks, it provided the first opportunity to have a closer look at this magnificent beast. Today in the custody of Wotan Bill B, this example will always carry the glory of being the very first Ferry.

UPDATE:

As of August 2024, this first Ferry now permanently resides at Moonbase as Bill kindly made me its custodian this summer, a duty for which I'm honoured and humbled to undertake. There'll be more about this Ferry as I start to 'play' with it!

2. 2009, January - Pekoday Ferry

Six months after the launch of the Moonbase Central, the appearance of this Ferry sent tremors through the whole Swordie community. Listed on eBay in Hong Kong, the place of its manufacture, this example came unused in an excellent box, with only slight fading to the top. 

SWORD Manual and Commander badge were included. The bidding was fierce until the last second of the auction with the Ferry fetching a staggering price exceeding USD 800. 

In the course of following weeks, seller Pekoday listed also other SWORD items in MIB condition, suggesting a warehouse find of SWORD and other HK rarities, perhaps of samples or factory remains. Now restored to its full glory by its current owner Ferryman, this example has been ever since - thanks also to great photographic documentation - the seminal piece of the Ferry mythos.

3. 2012, May - Yahoo Ferry

This Ferry, offered on Yahoo Japan in May 2012, went completely under the radar of Moonbase Central until it was brought to light in December 2012. 

Only three pictures remain, showing a complete example with (again) some fading to the box top. Aside the accompanying Commander badge, it interestingly included, not two, but three of the black nose tips of the Passenger Module and the Taxi sections. 

The purpose of the third nose remains a mystery, if something else than just a spare. This example went under the radar of the Sword collecting community, fetching only a modest price of some thousands of yens.

4. 2013, August - Nassau San Ferry

Again a Ferry on eBay from its native Hong Kong, this example showed considerable fading both on the box and on the Ferry itself, suggesting a long display period and exposure to light. 

Upon closer inspection done at the Moonbase Lab, it turned out that it was the Yahoo Ferry all over again! Having the distinct features of a loose nose tip from the Passenger Module and the missing chequered stripe around the nose of the Taxi, it was accompanied by an extra nose tip and a Commander badge but no Manual. 

The auction ended up doubling the previous record of the Pekoday Ferry, exceeding USD 1600. The happy winner was an unnamed U.S. collector.

Nassau San described its history to Woodsy at the time:

This Ferry is from my own collection and I got it from an old Hong Kong toy manufacturing factory / warehouse about 20 years ago. I think that place helped Century 21 Toys company to additional assembly in their space series and other Hong Kong toy companies between the 1950's - 70's. This old factory district was changed to a housing estate and developed by Hong Kong Government. Now when I go to visit again they are just building a modern shopping centre.

5. 2014, October - Moonbase Loan Ferry 

This new Ferry was first seen in October 2014 at the Moonbase Central Weekend display of a complete fleet of SWORD toys. Having lost its wheels and broken its antenna on some previous mission, the boxed Ferry still retained all the prime features of this magnificent toy. 

Contrary to previous Ferries, an Astronaut badge was included along with the Manual. Currently on loan to Woodsy at Moonbase Central from an anonymous benefactor under the moniker SWORDhopper. There were rumours of a bagged headered Nuclear Ferry but it remained a rumour.

6. 2014, November - Helsinki Ferry

The first-ever Ferry to come up for auction in the U.S., this example disappeared from eBay in a split second after it was put up for auction with Buy-It-Now. 

Graded as an old store stock example, despite some minor melt marks, it really lived up to every expectation of a prime example. Missing the Manual and/or Specification Sheet, it came however with red Commander badge. 

Perhaps of note is the fact that, unlike many other old store stock toys auctioned in the U.S., it did not carry an old price tag, pegging the question whether this example was part of an imported stock or just a single sample. Currently undergoing maintenance at Helsinki Base Hangars.

*

That's the five boxed Ferries folks! No loose ones that we know of.

But are there any more?

Ferry Interesting!

 Watching Crack in the World the dangling white missile with the black stripe rang a big bell.

I was thinking about a Mike Noble rocket in TV21 but then I thought of the white Nuclear Ferry main body by Bob McCall as in Look and Learn.

Anyone else seen any Nuclear Ferries or SWORD toys in anything on telly?

I know Bill Ev has. News on this asap!

THE NUCLEAR FERRY RIDE: SPECIAL STOPS ALONG THE WAY

 Perhaps the longest running blog legend on MC is the Project SWORD Nuclear Ferry.

An amazing toy, of which maybe only about a handful are known to exist we think, its possibly the high point of the SWORD fleet, even pipping Zero-X to the post for sheer fabulousness!

Its Century 21 box art is equally fantastic, based on artist's Bob McCall's original.

There have been a few really significant moments covering the Ferry over the years on MC:

Wotan Bill discovered the ship's origin early on.

Our friend Arto tracked the first five known Nuclear Ferry toys:

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2014/12/ferry-christmas-time-line-of-all-five.html

I discovered a white version of the Nuclear Ferry on an old ITN film, possibly a prototype.

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-great-white-nuclear-ferry-mystery.html

We featured how the late and acclaimed TV21 artist Mike Noble recycled the Nuclear Ferry design as the Tanker in Look-In comic's 1983 Star Fleet strip.

Our friend Paul V created what is most likely the definitive webpages about the smaller Triang SpaceX Nuclear Ferry on his amazing SpaceX toys website:

https://www.triangspacextoys.info/SpGAtoys/NFer/SpLTNFer.html

We found out that Bob McCall's original nuclear ferry painting was hanging in the University of Arizona Museum of Art [anyone been?]

But my favourite Nuclear Ferry moment on the blog came, again early on, when early contributor Rob Godwin, who knew Bob McCall personally, sent me this message:

"I sent the picture of the toy to him and he was very surprised and delighted to see it!"

When artist met the box art and toy we came full circle.

Hope you enjoyed this short ferry ride.

and, have you got one? A Nuclear Ferry?

PROTECT AND SURVIVE MONTHLY SPACE FERRY COVER

I adore this magazine cover from 1981. Smack in the cold war it's got that ace space station and the super cool space shuttle, that's so reminiscent of the Nuclear Ferry front taxi.

Can you read the artist's name?

Do you like it?

WINDOWS TO THE WORLD

This is a new one on me, the Tri-ang Observation Car. How cool is that! I love that observation dome. It reminds me of other observation areas.

My favourite has to be the sky window of the Nuclear Ferry's front shuttle. The crowning glory [or is that Zero-X?] of the Century 21 Project SWORD toy range, the Nuclear Ferry is a seldom seen beauty. Only around half a dozen are known.

I was lucky enough to have a Ferry on loan for a year and gave it a good once over.

I love how two of the golden passengers have left their seats.

One is stood up near the central rail.

The other is .....

climbing the 'stairs', to where I don't know! 

Have you an observation window?

*

Addendum:

Thinking about Arto's fascinating point I went back and checked on the passengers in Robert McCall's original painting.

You can see that it is indeed a cut-out, like Arto says, and not a window.  Intriguingly most of the passengers are sat upside down in the central ball behind the shuttle and no-one is sat down in that!

What really tickled me is that there are indeed two passengers [or crew?] up and about in the main shuttle and one is even climbing the stairs! 

How cool is that! When it came to sticking to the original art, Century 21 Toys really went the extra mile with this toy.

FERRY INTERESTING! THE LTV CONNECTION

Looking up the aviation designers of the concept behind the above pictured Project SWORD Nuclear Ferry toy, Ling Temco Voight, [first discovered here by Wotan in 2009] I realised that their name can be shortened to LTV. 

Looking up LTV brought me to the Scalemates site and I was amazed just how many LTV-based planes there were/are!

https://www.scalemates.com/search.php?fkSECTION%5B%5D=All&q=LTV*

Are LTV a company you're aware of readers?

Klaus Buergle's Nuclear Ferry on Walmart's Rocket Colouring Book

Have a look at the cover of this colouring book from Walmart. 

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rocket-Coloring-Book-Space-Book-Toddlers-Gift-Granddaughter-Perfect-Color-Together-Spacecrafts-Spaceships-Rockets-Shuttles-Starfighter-Aliens-Colorin/154896182

Its the nuclear ferry painted by an artist who featured on Moonbase Central over a decade ago, the great Klaus Buergle.

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2010/03/back-to-future-with-german-space-artist.html

Klaus's art is simply wunderbar. Sadly Klaus himself died in 2015.

ANOTHER SPECIAL BIRTHDAY GIF: THE PROJECT SWORD NUCLEAR FERRY FLY-PAST

 

Original Nuclear Ferry Art by Bob McCall

BOB MCCALL'S EXPLORATIONS

 http://www.mccallstudios.com/explorations/

Just look at this collection of beautiful paintings by the late great American space artist Bob McCall. 

Among the many pearls it also contains the original box art basis for the Project SWORD Nuclear Ferry, a magnificent toy, which only a very few people have the pleasure of owning. 

I hasten to add that I'm not one of them, though I did borrow one once and took a snap of it in my collection.

PROJECT RHO NUKE FERRY

Long established website Project Rho has an interesting chapter on Atomic Rockets and a section on our very own Nuclear Ferry! 

http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/realdesigns2.php

Do you have a Nuclear Ferry toy?

MISSING THE FERRY: WOTAN'S THOUGHTS OF THE NUCLEAR FERRY EBAY AUCTION 2009 AT THE TIME

Collision in Deep Space! As the Century 21 Project Sword Nuclear Ferry disappears past the event horizon on Ebay once more, it leaves us with more answers than questions for a change! Besides some excellent photographs of the ship herself, there are one or two (not as good) pics of the box. Besides being radically different from the general Sword packaging and showing a much more modern style, the main focus is the box illustration.

A superb piece of artwork in itself, as are most of the graphics on the Sword boxes, but its plainly apparent as to where the inspiration and actual illustration came from. Earlier in the blog I posted an article showing Robert McCalls beautiful painting of his design for the ferry, with cut away sections and smaller pic of the ferrys cargo section separating from the booster in the background.

The NF box art has blatantly copied this artwork, re-badging the hull to Sword insignia and making the cutaway shuttle into a glass canopied (and wholly impractical!) viewport. Everything else, even the distribution of the craters on the surface has been slavishly copied, the jetstreams from the engine, detailing and shading are all direct lifts from Mr McCall's painting. The only way it differs slightly is the top half of the lunar landscape has been foreshortened to accomodate a new 'planet' which appears to be the origin of the second ferry.

I wonder if any further details will emerge when the lucky winner scrutinises the model after auction ends ......

SCRATCH FERRIES

I saw the above Nuclear Ferry scratchbuild for sale on Ebay a few years ago. the maker had gone for a total weathered look. What do you think?

Here's a Nuclear ferry I made earlier!

In 2009. Out of a mineral water bottle and a few scraps. Oh, and a box too.

I went for a glossy look.

What do you think?

TV21 STAR FLEET AND THE NUCLEAR FERRY

In April 1983 the British comic Look-In ran a story-line in it's Star Fleet strip involving what SWORD fans recognise as a Nuclear Ferry nearly twenty years after its appearance as a Century 21 toy. 

The strip was illustrated by the late great Mike Noble, who was well-known to fans of TV21. 

The entire Star Fleet Look-In strip is available to view online over at the excellent Star Fleet X Bomber webpage created by superfan DJ Dust. I contacted DJ and asked if I could post the April strips depicting the Nuclear Ferry [called a 'Tanker'] who replied as follows:

Hi Woodsy

Thanks for the email, and when I say that, I actually really mean it. I find these days that people just take stuff off web sites and pass it off as their own and if you ask them about it, get incredibly defensive and rude!! I've got no problem at all with you borrowing anything you want from F-Zero-One. Help yourself mate... :)

cheers

DJ Dust

Some of you may remember in January 2012 generous blog readers clubbed together to buy Wotan an original page of Mike Noble artwork from the Star Fleet strip for his 50th Birthday from The Book Palace. Like an episode from the Twilight Zone, Wote blogged about Mike Noble's Star Fleet Christmas 2011, not knowing he would be the owner of the original art a month later! The Book Palace still have original Star Fleet art for sale should you wish to dream!

So, what do you think of Mike Noble's version of the Nuclear Ferry?

Re-posted from 2012

THE EMPEROR OF THERM NUCLEAR FERRY

You just can't keep those Nuclear ferries down.

Check out the Ferry top left on this old German Perry Rhodan book cover, Die Kaiserin von Therm.

Do you like this cover?

Have you read any Perry Rhodan?

ALL ABOARD! MY HOME-MADE SPACEX NUCLEAR FERRY SETS SAIL

This was fun.

My take on the SpaceX Nuclear Ferry toy.

It was a lot easier than the MOLAB and having the real toy helped a lot getting the feel of the Ferry.

The main body came in the form of an old metallic red metal torch.

The nose is a blue game counter and the engines are small rubber lugs from the local scrap-store

The rear wheels are drawing pins.

The front cab is a red miniature of the Star Wars Imperial Cruiser with its snout cut off and tail fins added.

It was a lot of fun getting on board this little Nuclear Ferry.

Hope you like it.