SEND IN THE CLONES: THE CHROMED SWORD TASK FORCE

These are the various Project SWORD metallic/ chromed clones.

About 15 years ago Dennis Nicholson sent me some photo's of a his friend Kelly Lannan's beautiful and unique metallic gold Task Force 3. I have wondered about it ever since. Is it a knockoff or is it a colour variant from Tarheel? There is no maker's mark or number on the undercarraige so no clues there.

In 2011 Bill kindly photoshopped a dome into place for me and we can see what it looked like completed below. I have inserted John Eaton's latest fabulous pictures of the new silver Task Force 3 for comparison. What differences can you see?

Bill B mentioned that he had owned a rare metallic blue Task Force 1. We were treated to an Ebay picture of Bill's toy - below - yesterday and also when the blog first launched. Could this be related to the two metallic silver/ gold Task Force 3's we now know of? Was it carded? Some evidence of all of them having backing cards came in Patron Zero's comment on the blog in 2014 here.

Daydreaming further I have photoshopped two of the loose toys together into the same shot to help you decide yourselves. I have added a Tarheel logo simply as garnish, no other reason. If all of the metallic SWORD toys are related then the next question is whether there is a metallic Task Force 2 as well? The mind boggles! What do you think readers?

and yep, here's Task Force 2 chromed as well, missing its dome!

I'm certain there's a silver chromed Task Force 1 on the blog but can I find it! It would complete the silver trio! ADDENDUM: Here it is courtesy of Paul Vreede's SpaceX Toys website:

As to whether these beauties are American Tarheel toys I'm still not sure. You?

If you have one or any of these then pictures please!

THE TWO COLOURS OF TASK FORCE TWO

 

I saw these two old Century 21 Toys Project SWORD Task Force 2's on Worthpoint and thought I'd blog the image.

Its a good example of both the body colour variation and the base colour variation too. 

The base can be red or white.

The body can be two shades of red, one darker than the other.

Which one have you got readers?

CAMEL TOYS SHOOTING STAR RACE CAR

This caught my eye online.

Shooting Star friction race car by Camel, a company I've not heard of before.

Sadly there were no pics of the toy on Yahoo Japan, just the cool box, although I may have seen this in kit form.

The toy looks very sleek and almost Project SWORD-like.

It's got that Land Speed Record vibe going on.

There's a whiff of other toys here too, Hoover's Space Racer and the X-series X50. Maybe even Project SWORD's Task Force 2 in car-form.

Here's the kit I was talking about, the green one bottom left by Otaki. The brown one next to it is the forerunner of SWORD's probe Force 3.

Anyone got one?

TENTH BIRTHDAY NEW SWORD SIGHTINGS: SILVER TASK FORCE 2

This fine silvered Project SWORD Task Force 2 clone appeared on Ebay earlier in the year.

I saved the images.

Its new to the blog.

The cockpit blister is missing but there's a good view of the pilot.

The undercarraige is a pale greeny-yellow.

The engines are red.

Its marked Made in Hong Kong

The military badge I assume is USAF.

Bill kindly photoshoppied a cockpit blister onto the image to give us an impression of a complete ship.

We've seen similarly metalliced Project SWORD toy vehicles before and this is probably the missing vehicle in a range of three silvered Task Force ships called simply 'Space Rockets'.

The other two, one of which is carded, appeared on the blog previously here https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2016/09/8th-birthday-party-special-silver.html

Anyone got any metallic or coloured spaceships like this?

WORLDS OF IF 1966 COVER ROCKET

Coming through! Task Force 2 lookalike 1966 style - on the cover of Worlds of IF.

For comparison here's the 1967 toy. What do you think?