Kevin's Boats

 Kevin has kindly sent me pics of his fleet. 

Enjoy.

HIGH SPEED JETTER

 I love this Japanese Jetter space boat.

It may even be a submarine.

It was released by Yonezawa.

Anyone know about it?

SPANISH FLY

 

This flying ship, Pioneer 2100, I saw on Spain's Todocollecion, is a red ringer for the Flying Sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

What do you think?

SUB STANDARD

I had to chuckle when I saw this old carded frogman. I mean, the firm have just brazenly ripped off one of my favourite Action Man box illustrations! It was clearly the Wild West back then in Hong Kong when anything went!

The toy itself appears to not live up to the famous illustration, a super cheapo frogman and a one-man sub that looks like a soda siphon canister.

Still, back in the day I would have accepted this toy with open arms. I would today! ha ha

Did you have a one-man sub?

SUB HUMAN

 Years back I blogged this image of the cover of the January 1964 edition of Popular Mechanics. 

I suggested the one-man sub shown looked like the SpaceX P3 Helicopter - a bit!

I've dived a little deeper into the baby sub and discovered that the cover painting was by none other than Bob McCall. I also found this image of the subs workings, which is rather neat.

Turns out the old submersible was German and very few exist. One of them was bought by Achim in Germany and is documented in his You Tube video:

I Bought a Submarine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMnuFA0FiMM

There appears to be a black and white photo of it on this old grainy Alamy preview too https://c8.alamy.com/comp/E0WJ2P/mar-03-1963-new-one-man-submarine-on-first-great-tripon-exhibition-E0WJ2P.jpg

For the full low-down on the sub back in 1964 then read the whole article in Popular Mechanics courtesy of the amazing Google Books facility [p.134] - be careful of all the adverts, they're a real distraction!

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GywDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA142&dq=popular+science+january+1964&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvoq31nd78AhUWS8AKHbyaDDUQ6AF6BAgIEAI#v=onepage&q&f=false

Have you got a submarine?

I BLEW IT!

 

Cor! this deep sea diver brings back memories.

You blew the pipe to move the sub or the diver up and down in the sink or the bath.

Great fun, I may have had this very one one Christmas long ago.

You?

THE STINGRAY B1 BATHYSPHERE

I don't recall this B1 sub from the Stingray episode The Golden Sea in 1965, but then again I was only 4.

I do like the look of it. Do you? I understand that there are loads of different subs in Stingray.

Kit detective Marc Frattassio described the B1 as an underwater gold mining bathyscaph 12 inch model and was built from balsa wood with kit parts and plastic or metal tubing details [TV21 website]

At first glance it reminded me of the unlicenced SHADO Sky 8 sub toy from Japan, but on inspection not really.

B1 does remind me of DIVER 1 from the Project SWORD Annual a few years later.

I wonder if the B1 prop survived the ravages of time?

Russian Nuclear Aircraft Carrier Submarine Model

 One of the finest toys ever to grace the blog is the JR21 Stingray Atomic Submarine Aircraft carrier.

A sumptuous and sleek vehicle first found in TV21 comic.

I never thought I'd see another toy or model like it so I was pleasantly surprised to stumble across this video of a Russian nuclear aircraft carrier model posted on You Tube in 2017.

Its an interesting looking thing! What do you think?

The Hunt For Red October Blow-up Submarine

Hi All,

Laura Legends has a new video out, it features The Hunt For Red October, the book, the film, and a special promotional blow-up submarine that was supplied to video stores when the movie came out on video. 

The sub is an impressive six feet long, and must have taken her a fair while to blow up. It is intended to be hung from the ceiling. 

She seems really enthusiastic about this buy, which was about $100 US, still sealed in its bag. 

Very interesting, and I should imagine, rather a rare find.

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

Yours Sincerely,
Paul Adams from New Zealand

NOBOLAND TOY SUBMARINES

This is an interesting Japanese website showing lots of neat plastic toy subs, many of which have Sci-Fi chops.

Do you recognise any?

http://noboland.web.fc2.com/submar5.htm

LIONEL EXPLORER 12

I like this Lionel Yellow Explorer 12 Submarine Transport Flat Car I saw online. It may even be new. 

Anything with Explorer 12 on it always gets my attention.

Do you have a sub like this?

BRI'S CHAP MEI DIVERS

In response to Wotan,here's some nice Chap Mei/Animal Planet playsets.

DIVE!DIVE!DIVE!-

BrianF 

NJ USA

A Divers Selection

 

 Next to my love of deep space is the deep sea and as a result, submarines! As its difficult to keep myself entertained during these difficult times, I decided to get out some of my collection for another run on the blog. Probably one of the largest in my collection is the wonderful National Geographic Ocean Explorer, with a neat articulated figure, about the same scale as Matt Mason. The sub has a large pair of grabbing claws on the front, operated by means of a cleverly designed had grip in the shape of an air tank.

The diver figure is also available separately in a wetsuit with a sea scooter. There's lovely attention to detail and the accessories such as depth gauge, flippers and knife are all well made. The sub comes with some buried treasure to discover and the diver has a nasty looking shark to contend with.

Matchbox regularly make a submarine in their toy line and along with the pod from Jurassic World, there is a nice array of different submersibles.

Not to be outdone, Hot Wheels also included an unusual submarine in their range. As ever, they come in several colour variations.

Finally, we stick with Mattel for the Sea Devils Rick Riley figure. From the same stable as Matt Mason, the Sea Devils were a range of rubber divers with a wire armature like Matt, making them poseable.  Rick also share some of Matts equipment, such as the chemical tank which has been converted to an oxygen tank. Rick has lost his helmet along the way since 1970 and is also waiting on a new motor unit for his sea scooter, but looks well for his age!

Paul's Britains 2 Man Submarine

Hi Woodsy,

I dug out my childhood collection of toy soldiers, which is fairly small, but it does contain a couple of diver-related models.

Here is the Britains human torpedo, which seems to be based on the Royal Navy Chariot Mk.I used in the latter part of WW2, which was based on a type used successfully by the Italian Navy.

Length is 185 mm. The main body is bluish-green plastic, with a red nose, and tail. Oddly, there is no propeller at the rear. The two divers are black plastic, with orange painted stripes on their wet suits, and orange face masks. 

The twin air tanks are yellow plastic, the mouth piece plugs in to a hole in the face. This is totally different to the diving suits worn in WW2, and has a more modern look, in keeping with a toy from the 1970s. 

There is a paper sticker at the rear, on both sides, with a British flag, and RN S2 in white. To ensure the model stands upright, and is less likely to tip over, the base is unpainted metal. This feature was also seen on other Britains figures in the 1970s. 

The underside of the foot boards have a fair amount of information moulded in: BRITAINS LTD - ENGLAND - COPYRIGHT 1976 at the top; 2 MAN - SUBMARINE at the bottom; and REG.DSGNNO.977778 at the front.

Another British firm, Timpo Toys, had a similar model in silver-grey plastic, again with two frogmen, but I never had one of these. The Italian kit maker Italeri do a 1:35 scale kit of the original WW2 Italian version.

Take care everyone.

Paul Adams

New Zealand

SUBMERSED IN FIBREGLASS

3 submersibles I've seen of late.

This one was at the Deep in Hull.

It looks kinda cool and steampunk!

The sub in Jaws 3D

Marine Boy's Sub

Have you seen any submersibles?

WORLD NAVY SUB 57 AND THE TOY RACING CAR

Yorkie's ace observations  in the comments about this mystery toy racing car and its possible use as a Century 21 prop were so good that I had to post them.

Yorkie said that in the Stingray episode 'Man from the Navy', the World Navy Sub 27 is a converted racing car toy or model. A conning tower has been added and the rear of the car becomes the front of the sub. It could be the toy pictured.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/stingray/images/4/47/Wn27.PNG/revision/latest?cb=20170721030724

Yorkie said it also appears in Thunderbirds painted red in the episode The Man from MI5.

https://securityhazard.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/themanfrommi500015.jpg

*

Woodsy adds:

Since posting the 'mystery' racing car post I've realised where I first saved the picture from. It belonged to modeller Mike Delamar and I asked to use it nearly 10 years ago on an online thread. You can see the thread on the Eagletransporter Forum [you may have to register after a while]. Mike's a master scratch builder and the old thread detailed his search for original parts to create the World Navy Sub 27 from the toy racing car. Sadly the thread peters out and the finished model is not shown.

See what you think anyway:

https://www.eagletransporter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68150

TERRANOVA47'S LONE STAR 2 -MAN SUB

Hello Woodsy 

Further to your post on Lone Star Frogmen. I bought my set back in 1959 and have a very clear memory of arranging my books in my school desk at different levels with the frogmen 'swimming' amongst them. They were the first issue in black, before they became the flesh coloured scuba divers. Mine were given away long ago. 

Someone in Mexico has reissued these in white, they were on ebay last year. 

At the same time as the frogmen Lone Star issued the sea chariot, called a miniature submarine which I still own a copy of though the rubber band power needs replacing. I always thought this was the most authentic model soldier accessory they made. 

Regards, 

Terranova47

NYC