Bloggiversary Party Piece! Arto's Action-Lobeco Rocket Car: New Discovery!

The Project S.W.O.R.D. range of toys keeps on giving what comes to clones and variants. This must be one of the most peculiar ones. Stretching it a bit, the Probe Force 1 has transformed into a - Rocket Car!

Made by Action-Lobeco of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in British Hong Kong, the Rocket Car comes in an oblong 46 x 11 x 6 cm box. The box is a tight fit, with slots created for the wing tips. Orange colour and oval ornamentation on the inside suggest the Seventies. There is no box top, so it may have come shrink-wrapped. The item number is 2351.

The toy itself is a standard PF1 with NASA stickers on the back fin. The photo on the box side has "Probe Force 1" stickers on the toy, but this example has only the "Probe" part (it seems the rest was never applied).

It remains to be seen if the other toys in the Probe Force range got the same rocket car treatment by Action-Lobeco.

Arto

Helsinki Base

UNSCRAMBLING THE MARSH BUG

 If you like the Project SWORD Scramble Bug then take a look at the origin of the tyres in Popular Mechanics way back in the American south in the 1930's.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vtoDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA529&dq=%22marsh+buggy%22+popular+mechanics&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwismdyurt78AhVKRUEAHZEqB-sQ6AF6BAgDEAI#v=onepage&q=%22marsh%20buggy%22%20popular%20mechanics&f=false

For more on this click on the labels at the base of the post.

PROBING THE DEPTHS: PROJECT SWORD PF3 FAMILY TREE

 My best guess as to the steps that were taken before Project SWORD's plastic friction Probe Force 3 appeared in 1967.

(* The Green Monster was a real rocket car]

Have you got anything like this?

Wandering in Eden: My Home-Made Sand Flea

I've always liked the original Sand Flea designed by Eric Eden seen here in the 1966 Thunderbirds Summer Extra bottom left.

I thought I'd have a crack at making one.

More of an impression than a replica.

 

I opted for a darker blue as I had it in.

The main treadwheel at the front is too big really but I had a green rubber band that slipped perfectly over a Vosene bottle cap.

I looked for a plastic doughnut in our Granddaughter's kitchen set but no luck, so I glued together two plastic crate wheels. They're not big or balloony enough really.

The rear armature is an old plastic house-phone cut down to size.

More of a lunar super bike than the Sand Flea, hope you like it.

UPLIFTING

This might as well be Project SWORD hangar! The Lifting Body era of America. Space Gliders and more!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxUd3h-F5vU&t=690s

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

The Origin of the Scramble Bug Tyres

I've featured this before but I just love it so much. The Marsh Buggies of the old South and widely covered at the time in American and British transport magazines and newsreels. The tyres are deadringers for those on the 1967 Project SWORD Scramble Bug toy - click on the labels for pics of the toy. What do you think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufVfYpEeV4M

TOCHGI APOLLO SATURNS

There are two, yes two Japanese Tomy Apollo-X rockets in this footage of Tochgi toy village factory. The Apollo X was the forerunner of the Century 21 Toys Apollo Saturn.

Enjoy this British Pathe film
https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVADBB7USTRWIDMFNANBI4GX912U-JAPAN-TOY-TOWN-PRODUCES-SPACE-AGE-CHRISTMAS-GIFTS/query/japan+toy

PROJECT SWORD: STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSES MOUTH

Here's a series of quotes and extracts about Project SWORD I've collated from people who where there at the time and worked for or with Century 21. There are also some thoughts from third parties about Project SWORD during the 1960's. I've cited the source at the end of each piece.

When Century 21 Publishing collapsed, the gentlemen of the wholesale trade had had their fingers burnt pretty badly due to having bought huge stocks of “Project SWORD” toys that they couldn't shift. Roger Perry Bear Alley

Project SWORD was going to be the next big thing. Because they had loads of merchandise for it - vast amounts of merchandise. And the scripts were written around the merchandise basically, featuring the various vehicles and spaceships and things like that. If you look at the annual, there's a lot of stuff taken from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Howard Elson GACCH* 

*[GACCH is now sadly a defunct site but can still be partly found on the Wayback Machine archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160412194219/http://www.technodelic.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/]

But in the annual, we have the Project SWORD Moon Crawler, and they actually had this merchandise - this Moon Crawler - made out of plastic and tin and whatever, and that's what they wanted to sell, so we just wrote scripts round the machines. Howard Elson GACCH

I'll tell you where that probably came from - that was Life magazine originally. I remember seeing an artist's impression of a spaceship, which I might have used. Mike Noble [referring to most likely the Nuclear Ferry] GACCH

The idea was they had a range of merchandising that they wanted to sell, and they decided to sell it on the back of strips. The strips basically revolve around the vehicles, which was a unique idea at the time. Howard Elson GACCH

'Early in 1968, Century 21 Merchandising, a company set up to handle the toys, puzzles and other film-spin off material - excluding, of course, publications - came up with the notion of producing toys not directly linked to any Century 21 Film production. The reasoning was probably that TV Century 21 was such a successful seller that anything Alan Fennell and his stalwart team could produce would generate its own popularity and therefore sell toys. Accordingly, talks were held with Alan Fennell, and the outcome was a set-up called Project Sword - dealing with the evacuation of selected people from a doomed planet Earth. Angus Allan GACCH

Alan Fennell approached me to compile a Project Swordannual - strips and text stories - from soup and nuts. I remember that I had great fun doing it... I suppose it was because I was given virtually a free hand to create and develop characters. In fact I did, in a manner of speaking. 'live' the production.' Angus Allan GACCH

I know they had great high hopes for Project SWORD to be a big sell out for merchandise, and this was in the days when merchandising was just coming in. Howard Elson GACCH

I wish I could say that the marketing experiment [Project SWORD] was an unqualified success - but it wasn't. It went to prove that, to make a real go of a marketing operation, you really do need the backing of a 'hit' TV series!'. Angus Allan GACCH

But I don't think it [Project SWORD] worked. I sure it didn't, because we only did one annual, and I don't know how well the merchandise sold. But it didn't become a Lego, or a Barbie doll, did it? Nowadays that's the main criteria, you have to have television. But in the same way that TV Comic, and TV Express, which were the forerunners of TV21, their success was borne out on programmes that were on television. I think if Project SWORD had been on television, in any shape or form, then I think it would have had a chance. It was a very good idea but it just didn't work. Howard Elson GACCH

thankyou for your letter dated 9th august [1996] requesting information about the 1960's project sword. gerry anderson is the person best placed to provide the information you require and i have forwarded your letter to him. keith shackleton to me. personal letter 13.8.96.

century 21 was a much bigger organisation in those days and i was not directly involved in the day to day handling of the project [sword] and of course all the records have long since disappeared. Keith shackleton to me. personal letter 20.11.98.

SWORD was an in-house project conceived as a theme which might spin off into a television series, but thos of course, did not happen. Keith Shackleton to me. Personal Letter  2.7.97.

Non-Verbatim

words in brackets inserted by me for purposes of flow.

He [Keith Shackleton] did remember it, as a totally separate merchandise venture which owed its creation to Jack Rosenthal , whose toy company by that time belonged to A.P. Films. However, as Gerry Anderson considered himself the ideas man he, subsequently had no interest in it at all. Keith also had no recollection of Solo comic either, which might have been something that City magazines themselves came up with. Scoop, Moonbase Central website.

An idea [Project SWORD] which originated at Century 21 Merchandising, Keith Shackleton recalls that it was Jack Rosenthal, the Managing Director of J.Rosenthal Toys (latterly renamed Century 21 Toys, and producers of quality Thunderbirds toys) who put forward a new range under the name Project SWORD. This, Keith Shackleton had once said, was a scheme to reissue and link together existing toys that had been acquired when Century 21 Toys bought out a Hong Kong based manufacturer. Shaqui Le Vesconte/K.Stevens GACCH

It is believed Keith Shackleton, the head of Century 21 Merchandising, did try and persuade Gerry Anderson to do a series along the lines of Project SWORD. But while the format of this version would have been a logical successor to previous series, combining the grim realism of Captain Scarlet, with the very human drama and optimisism of Thunderbirds, the concept of an 'Earth on the brink of destruction' style series was seen as too dark. Shaqui Le Vesconte/K.Stevens GACCH

Keith Shackleton told me that it was devised around a range of toys they had got the rights to when they bought out the company that made the Thunderbirds toys. Keith tried to persuade Gerry to make it into one [a TV series] but Gerry wasn't keen! David Nightengale Star Trader [defunct website; taken from my print out]

Rosenthal didn't have catalogues, only a small number of leaflets [more of an importer]. Sword was Hong Kong/ Chinese off-the-shelf product coordinated into Sword linkage by C21 who bought Rosenthal to control their own merchandising. Lew Benjamin [PYE] and Keith Shackleton sorted it out. Kieth went to Hong Kong to source the range, liked it and then gave it a home ie. Project Sword. Project Sword was controlled by the publishing division of C21 with Richard Cully, Alan Fennell, Keith Shackleton, Angus Allen and Todd Sullivan in loose control. Alan Fennell thinks Project Sword started in SOLO comic as a strip toward the end of the run as a 3 page strip with cutaways. Run was June 24th - Sept 16th 1967. Then went to text story in TV21. Alan Fennell via Will Osborne [my personal photocopy of Will's notes]

THE SOVIET BOR-4 SPACEPLANES AND THEIR LEGACY

This is an interesting article on various Soviet space planes including the Spiral.

There's a really great looking model Spiral as well. It does remind me of Task Force 1.

http://www.bis-space.com/belgium/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/bor-41.pdf

The report was written by Bart Hendrickx of Belgium.

The Spiral 50 50 came up on the blog in 2010 - yep, 9 years ago! - as a result of an article in the Andersonic fanzine about Century 21 Studios model design.

http://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2010/02/re-entry-task-force-1-origin-spiral-50.html

REAL LIFE PROJECT SWORD

Hi Woodsy

https://slideplayer.com/slide/9675941/

check out slide number 9 and slide 11

Cheers

Jim P

JIM'S ROVER

Hi Woodsy

You might like this one.

https://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/miscellaneousImage.cfm?ImgCat=Miscellaneous&Image=369

Cheers

Jim P.

OTAKI MONSTER CAR

I love this old ad I saw on Yahoo Japan.

It shows three of Otaki's model racers.

The brown one is the monster based on the Arfons Green Monster.

Century 21 Toys Project SWORD Probe Force 3 is based on this kit.

The green racer is superb too and could easily be a space toy!

What do you think of them?

THE WHEELS OF THE IMAI THUNDERBIRD 7

Today's fascinating discussion about the LP Moon Explorer Car tyres reminded of the mysterious wheels on another model I have, Imai's Thunderbird 7.

Its the orange ATV in the middle of some of my toys lined up here, next to the red LP Moon Explorer Car.

Here's the white version close-up, in which you can see the 5 spoked wheels inside the tread [image: akasikogouru]

They aren't the same as the other pod vehicles by Imai such as this Mole [image: akasikogouru] All the others lack 'spokes'.

Now it may be that the origin of Thunderbird 7's tyres lies in its own origin as a vehicle, namely the Snow Train by Eric Eden in the TV21 Summer Extra 1966

or the heat-shielded version of it, the Beetle, in the 1968 Project SWORD Annual. 

What do you think readers?

LP MOON EXPLORER CAR WHEELS: POSSIBLE ORIGIN BY ANDY B

Hi Woodsy,

I have always liked the LP Moon Explorer Car you featured recently , which was the Spanish version this time.

It led me to wonder about the inspiration for the LP wheel system. It is pretty definitely a WW2 German tank, either a Tiger or Panther. 

I wonder if the wheels were copied from the much smaller Roco Minitanks Panther model pictured above?

Andy B

UK

*

LP Moon Explorer original pictured below for camparison.

THE SMALL SPACESHIPS OF THE PROJECT SWORD AND SPACEX TOY RANGES

This post re-posts and combines a few very old blog articles about the smaller accessory ships found with Project SWORD and SpaceX toys. Some of my old ideas and info have been superceded by new research.

*

To commemorate how much I enjoyed writing the New Origins of SWORD post this time last year, here's a few more thoughts on toy origins.  This brings together various ideas we've discussed before on the blog over the last 6 years concerning the little jets found in the Project SWORD and SpaceX toy ranges.

First up is the silver jet connected to the front of the SWORD Booster Rocket. A possible inspiration is this deltoid spaceship on the cover of Men, Martians and Machines by Eric Frank Russell. Obviously there are countless delta wind designs from the Sixties but this one struck me as similar.

Next: the small jet illustrated on the SpaceX Photonic Propulsion Space Station advertised in the UK in 1970, pictured below top left. A close-up reveals that it's very similar to the small silver plane sat on top of the SpaceX MLP rocket. However, the illustrated jet may actually be a picture of one of the small jets which came with the Photonic toy. One for the future.

One possible inspiration for the MLP rocket jet may have been the Captain Scarlet plane pictured on the cover of the September 2069 [1969] TV21 comic. However as with all the possibilities I suggest this is pure speculation on my part.

In 2009 Bill and I both wrote about the other small jets in the SpaceX fleet, of which there are several. In SWORD there is really only the Booster Rocket jet as we've already discussed. Its SpaceX counterpart is quite different in both shape and colour as you can see from Bill's picture below. 

The picture below goes further and shows the silver plane from Sword Booster Rocket, the 'pink' Spacex Booster jet and tiny Spacex Nuclear Ferry rocket plane from Bill's collection.

The remaining mini jet from the SpaceX range is the silver plane found in the blister of the large Nuclear Pulse. Drawing all the Spacex miniature jets together, the list looks like this [You could also include the silver rotors from the Pulse in this list but I haven't and my information on the Photonic Space Station mini jets is not detailed enough to include here].

From top to bottom:

1. Nuclear Ferry carded


2 - Booster Rocket carded


3 - Booster Rocket loose


4 - MLP Rocket loose


5 - Nuclear Pulse loose

DAIYA ASTRO SPACE RACER AND PROBE FORCE THREE

Ages ago I established the likely link between the Otaki Monster car kit and the Project SWORD Probe Force 3. The origin of them all is the Green Monster car, famous in US rocket car history. Here's a short film courtesy of You Tube.

Now here's some footage of the Otaki Monster Car kit from Japan also courtesy of You Tube.

And finally a You Tube clip of the Daiya Astro Space Racer tinplate car, another likely relative of Probe Force 3 and the Otaki Monster car, as they all share the similar bulbous engines and lateral exhaust vents.

To finish here is a nice shot of the Probe Force 3 itself released in 1967 by Century 21 Toys.

Are there any more similar rocket cars readers?

CORGI JET DRAGSTER: A GREEN MONSTER?

This die-cast Corgi Silver Streak looks superb in this online picture.

It's also called the Swedish Jet Dragster.

I'm unclear about its Scandinavian roots but it does remind me of the Arfons Green Monster shown top below on this old US poster. What an April that must have been!

The Arfons Green Monster was the inspiration for the Japanese kit by Otaki

Followers of Project S.W.O.R.D may recall that Otaki's Green Monster lead to the look of the Probe Force 3.

I love the thought that the Corgi Silver Streak might also be related to the Probe Force 3!

Does anyone know the story of the Corgi toy?

NORTHROP F1-M2: SPACE GLIDER

Above:

NASA 1965

I think there's a very similar Project SWORD cutaway in SOLO comic.

Sears Apollo Saturn Rocket on British Pathe 1964

I've blogged this before many times. Browsing Ebay reader Tony K reminded me just how fabulous it looks recently and as I'm such a huge fan of the Project SWORD Apollo Saturn rocket here goes again. 

This footage from British Pathe depicts Christmas in London and around the World in 1964.

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/xmas-round-the-world

You should see if you watch closely what I assume is the US Sears version of the Apollo Saturn based on Tomy's Japanese original. There's no box, just the rocket as shown below but in black and white.

I know a few readers are lucky enough to own the Sears rocket. It was part of the Sears Turnpike range and actually emitted smoke.

There was also a mirror on the baseplate. Was that to reflect the smoke and give it even more dramatic umph?

By the way, If you are able to send me a clip of your toy rocket giving off smoke that would be so fab for me and blog readers to see!