Arto's Wittrock X-300 Mystery

In the case of Wittrock (and the X-300) there has been a development.

Re. the eBay auction of 2012,  I found my old photo files. Unfortunately, I had saved the whole internet page, which is why the photos were reduced to tiny 2 kb micro thumbnails. Except for those box ends, which I had saved separately!

What's more, Alphadrome has stored a photo of that boxed X-300 that was auctioned.

Which enabled me to compile these six photos, the first three featuring the Telex Wittrock box version which was auctioned in 2012, and the last three the Finnish Telex version.

As you may see, the Wittrock box ends state the toy as "Rumskib X-300" in Danish, with item number 123. The visible text on the side panel, "Rymdraket", is in Swedish. And there should be an additional Finnish name "Avaruusraketti" on the other side of the box, since the Space Cruiser itself is marked Telex on the underside (visible when enlarged). So the box says "Space Rocket" in three different Scandinavian languages!

The question remains how that three-language Wittrock box came to exist, and for which market it was aimed?

 Furthermore, it is still unclear whether Wittrock issued the "Rumskib X-300" for the Danish market with an all-Dane box.

For comparison, the same three photos of the standard Telex box version, with Finnish and Swedish box ends.

Arto

Helsinki Base

Wittrock

Telex

PROJECT SWORD ADS IN GAMAGES CATALOGUE 1967 [ALPHADROME]

This summer I stumbled across some fascinating Project SWORD entries in toy catalogues I'd not seen before, a perfect Bloggiversary titbit.

They appeared on Brian Hayes' fabulous Alphadrome site and were posted by "Joe K". Joe includes a link to this very blog in his write-ups, so I'm returning the favour.

The SWORD 'ads' appear in the 1967 Gamages toy catalogue. Have a look.

Zero-X https://www.alphadrome.net/forums/topic/25272-1967-zero-x-by-century-21-project-sword/

Apollo Saturn https://www.alphadrome.net/forums/topic/25271-1967-apollo-saturn-rocket-by-century-21-project-sword/

Moon Prospector https://www.alphadrome.net/forums/topic/25270-1967-moon-prospector-by-century-21-project-sword/

Enjoy and thanks Joe K!

Barbarella's Starcruiser Mission Kit Ray Gun

We've spoken about Barbarella's pistols before.

One of her lesser ray guns - pictured above - appears to be the same one in the fabulous Gerry Anderson toy Star cruiser Mission Kit by Thomas Salter featured yesterday ( just had a thought, is this a water pistol?)

The identity of Barb's ray gun has perplexed many a toy mind over the years. 

Here's a great discussion from a way back on the superb Alphadrome, including many versions of the toy weapon.

http://alphadrome.net/forums/topic/15808-my-barbarella-ray-gun/?page=2 

Have you got ray guns like this?

Do you like Barbarella?

I would have loved that Star Cruiser Mission Kit for Christmas back in the day. You too?

SPACE.TRUCKS ON ALPHADROME

I enjoyed reading these three cool pages from Steve Nyland of New York aka Space Trucks over on the motherlode that is Alphadrome. Steve is a keen space toy collector and his passion is infectious!

http://alphadrome.net/forums/topic/22143-spacetrucks-space-garage-showroom/

TENTH BIRTHDAY GUEST ARTICLE: SPACE TOYS, ROBOTS AND ALPHADROME BY BRIAN HAYES

If you're a collector of vintage robots and space toys then you've probably bumped into Alphadrome at some stage. The site is the oldest surviving one dedicated to these vintage space toys. Most people think it's American and are surprised to find that it is in fact a British web site. I've hosted it on an American server since the 1990s because it's cheaper over there and it's closer to the main audience. This mattered more in the early days when the internet was extremely slow. 

I've collected robots and space toys since the early 1980s. That's the time before the internet, and it's difficult to recall just how different collecting was back then. I like to think it was far more exciting because no one knew exactly what was out there. You had to go with gut instinct and, looking back, I made many mistakes. 

At that time the two great robot references were the Kitahara and the Boogarerts books, both of which contained pictures of a wide range of space toys without any sense of rarity or value. I needed more information. Then in the early 90s the world wide web arrived and I realised that it was a game changer.

My job was in computing so I was able to set up a site and post some information. There was no audience back then: it was a vanity project. I began posting articles and slowly began to receive email responses from other collectors. . It's difficult to appreciate just how amazing it was to wake up each morning to read new information about these toys. 

One early contribution was an email from Woodsy. He sent me an exhaustive study of SWORD toys, a marginal area of interest to Yankee tin collectors, but utterly fascinating to me. I posted it in an area dedicated to space plastic and, remarkably, it has been one of the most visited sections of all. 

Alphadrome is a collaborative project. It's the result of thousands of contributions. There is a core of highly respected old-timer authorities whose hard work forms the backbone of the site. Without them a decent site is impossible. Then there are countless observations and comments from collectors who move into and out of the hobby. 

One development that I'm particularly pleased with is the database of robots and space toys. It's a huge repository of information. I think it fair to say that we've now identified most of the vintage robots that have been produced, have found their boxes and established the maker. Space toys are more elusive and unrecorded items continue to turn up. 

There's also a Timeline which for the first time has determined the date of production of a wide range of space toys. You can track the development of the hobby year by year from Buck Rogers' Space Ship in 1932 to the mid 1980s when, arbitrarily, I call an end to the Vintage Space Toy era. Best of all was the work done to prove that the Lilliput Robot was the first toy robot and that it was produced before the war. 

What has Alphadrome done for the hobby? Well, like Moonbase, it's emptied the wallets of hundreds of collectors. It's brought people together to buy and sell and to share information. There's even an annual "Botstock" convention in the US where collectors get together to chew the cud. And what effect has the internet had? It's had an utterly profound effect. I have acquired more than I could have ever thought possible, but some of the magic has gone. 

On a personal not my interests have changed slightly. I was addicted to the classic Japanese tin robots and I used to buy most of my rarer items on Ebay from the States. This has become more difficult because sellers are increasingly unwilling to post abroad, those that do charge a fortune and Customs and Excise want their pound of flesh. So my collecting habits have changed and I'm much more interested in European, especially British space toys. 

We didn't produce robots over here but there's a wealth of great space stuff. I'm a Tudor Rose/Kleeware hard plastic junkie and am still searching for the Space Patrol spaceship (hint) . I love Dan Dare and the early Anderson toys. I hunt out early European space guns and space figures, mainly from Italy and Spain. There's still much out there waiting to be discovered. 

My favourite piece? It's a wooden spaceship from Spain, made in the 1950s and populated with a crew of Archer-like spacemen. It is a work of art. 

Recently I've retired and have taken a shine to 3D printing. I'm able to make passable versions of the early B Movie robots, and can bring to life prototypes and other rarites. I'm no longer just a consumer, I'm a producer and it's great fun. 

Finally I'd like to thank Woodsy for all his work on Moonbase. It's a fascinating site that has a huge overlap with Alphadrome. I enjoy the enthusiasm and the attention to detail that is present on every page and I'm a regular visitor. Here's to the next 10 years, Paul. 

Brian Hayes August 2018

Alphadrome

project sword apollo saturn on alphadrome

There's an interesting discussion about the Project SWORD Apollo Saturn rocket and its Sears cousin over on the epic Alphadrome site here.

One of the pictures in the thread, here, looks remarkably like this early shot of the Apollo Saturn in Starlog's space models book from 1984. Pure coincidence I'm sure but the combination of a tall rocket and a robot is very appealing to me too.

Anyone else got any good rocket robot photos?

alphadrome's treasures: moonships and moon rangers

Like an old stack of TV21's, Brian Haye's fabulous Alphadrome website never ceases to amaze me! Whenever I read it another handful of gems surface!

Recently I browsed a few of its depths again and found the following treasures:

Hong Kong Space Toys: there is a fabulous thread about Hong Kong plastic featuring lots of the X-series of rockets and spaceships as well as LP's cool Space Blimp on page 2.

Under The Radar: a wonderful short thread from 2004 about the Moonships no less. ZZRobot pictures his Century 21 Moonship and box [look for the hot link] years before it appeared on the blog here!

Dealer Catalog 1969 - 1970 M W Kasch: again, a fantastic thread from 2004, four years before the blog started, about this US toy catalogue from 1969 - 70. Of great interest to me are the Moonship and the Moon Ranger entries.

The Moonship shown appears to be the white UK version rather than the green US version. The name 'moonship' concurs with this as does the use of the model number 6801 in the catalog notes below it [the 1969 Ahi catalog I blogged yesterday doesn't mention the model number]. 

Sold as either a Full Carton or BK. Carton whatever that means? [the flag sticker on the ship's side sort of looks like the Union Jack but its so unclear I can't really say].

The Moon Ranger is fascinating as it appears in its own grassy diorama and was sold in bulk in packs of 12 [I assume PK. means pack but no idea if a carton is bigger than a pack!]. The model numbers do not relate to either the UK Century 21 or US Tarheel versions so it could be either.

Chinese Rare Moonship: again another thread from the Moonship King ZZRobot, this time bang up to date this month about the tin moonship from China. I have had a loose one for twenty years but never owned a box. 

We've featured the box before but it's always a revelation to see how old this toy actually is as the box is dated 1965. That's a whole 4 years before the 2 plastic versions were released in 1969 and was clearly their source.

Perry Mohney Collection: check out the nice clear USA flag decal on this Ahi Moonship. Look for the entry April 9th [this year]. Check out Perry's entire collection whilst your at it. Simply breathtaking!

If you haven't checked out Alphadrome then do so now!