LADY P's FAB 3

 I think we've mentioned it before here on MC that FAB 3 was the name of Lady Penelope's Helijet.

It was also the name of her racehorse in a comic run.

Here's David Tremont's fabulous model made for Thunderbirds anniversary.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/o29BVz

ED'S TIN: Haji USAF Gyrodyne

Here's a fairly large 'helicopter' that used to be in my collection (having sold it years back) the Haji USAF Gyrodyne XRON-1 Rotorcycle.

This odd-looking craft was built by the Gyrodyne Corporation of America under contract by the Navy with the intention of being deployed on destroyers. They were meant to carry one small torpedo or be used as unmanned drones. 

Utilizing coaxial rotors and an open framework it first flew in 1955. It was also being developed for the Marines who eventually decided it was too heavy and too difficult to fly and canceled the project. 

The Navy on the other hand liked its small size and load carrying capacity and continued development. The Navy went on to designate it as the QH-50 but changes mandated by the service essentially killed the program and by 1961 all testing had stopped.

In typical toy company fashion, the Haji Gyrodyne sports incorrect markings. 

Gyrodyne's were never flown by the Air Force, but for whatever reason Haji chose to have this thing piloted by a U.S. Air Force pilot vs. a Navy pilot. The toy is decent enough representation of the real thing that a helicopter enthusiast would recognize its lineage having the contra-rotating props, rotorless tail, and open framework of the original XRON-1. 

Unfortunately my example's pilot was missing his right arm on which the control stick was attached. It measures 9 1/4" (23.49cm) L. The 'fuselage' is 5 1/2" (13.97cm) L x 2 1/8" (5.39cm) W and the overall height is 7" (17.78cm).

As nice a vintage toy as this was, I just couldn't maintain any kind of emotional attachment to it - it didn't 'float my boat' as we say, so I sold it off.

From Vegas Air Field

Ed

Ed's Tin: The Sanko 'Y' Piasecki YH-16 USAF Helicopter

Woodsy, et al, here's another helicopter for your enjoyment!

This one isn't nearly as large as some of my other's but is marked for the U.S. Air Force so it's right at home with the majority of my air fleet. 

I believe the trademark is for 'Sanko' because that's how I've seen it sold before. Maybe the MB Crew can confirm that. 

The cover art is a pretty decent depiction of the YH-16 helicopter but the toy itself - like many toys - is a caricature and has been 'selectively compressed' into a much shorter version. 

The toy has a friction motor which makes the rotors spin when it is pushed forward. The fuselage measures 8 1/2" (21.59cm) L x 1 1/2" (3.81cm) W (the wheelbase = 2 3/8" 6.03cm) x 4 3/4" (12.06cm) H. The rotor span is 7 1/2" (10.05cm).

Hope you like?

From Vegas Air Field

Ed

USA

Spanish Fly: The Congost Rescate Espacial Space Rescue Set

 This Christmas I was lucky enough to receive this beautiful toy from my daughter and her family with a little help from Santa too!

Its the Rescate Espacial - Space Rescue - toy set by Congost of Spain 1969.

Its a huge battery-operated toy in a big coffin box, graced with a great photo box lid.

The lovely base plate is made of tin and the artwork of a rocky island is gorgeous.

Like Mattel's Vertibird the helicopter flies round in a circle. Its controlled with three black dials and there's a neat landing pad next to them.

The play value of this set is in rescuing the three magnetic astronauts from the fabulous capsule and place them safely in the rescue boat.

It works really well and here's a short clip of the helicopter in action.

I've yet to master the dials and the movement but all in all I'm thrilled to bits with this vintage beauty from the year of the Moon landing!

Have you anything like this?

IMAI SPECTRUM COPTER

Imai made some magnificent model toy kits in their time and this Spectrum Helicopter is no exception! Here's some footage of it working in its Japanese home.

 Have you anything like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6US7sOT5aY

HELIJET PROP

 

I've blogged this before I think, a prop I just love and saw on a Ewbanks auction site. I saved the pics as its so darn cool. I forget exactly but I assume its from Terrahawks the TV show.

Do you like it?

Spanish Space Rescue Helicopter Toy

Hi

Here is a film clip from You Tube showing what I think is a Spanish toy from about the 1960s. It is a tethered flying helicopter that you control. 

The helicopter takes off, flies out to sea, picks Astronauts out of a floating space capsule, and transfers them to a waiting rescue boat, then returns to base, and lands. It is called Rescate Espacial, which I think is Space Rescue. I do not recall having seen this before.

RESCATE ESPACIAL de CONGOST 2 - YouTube

The name of the maker seems to be Congost. Here are a few more items on this toy.

Vintage 1969 Congost Rescate Espacial Space Rescue tinplate toy Gemini, Apollo | #495545463 (worthpoint.com)

Congost rescate espacial ref 901 - space rescue - Vendu en vente directe - 16028576 (todocoleccion.net)

Juego de rescate espacial en caja de congost co - Sold through Direct Sale - 52489902 (todocoleccion.net)

RARE SPACE RESCUE TOY VINTAGE CONGOST SPAIN Battery Height Route Speed WORKS | #1847096592 (worthpoint.com)

Paul Adams from New Zealand

PAUL'S SIKORSKY COPTER

Hi

In the recent post on the Anglo Gum SPV card, showing the Captain Scarlet SPV and a helicopter, you said that you did not recognise the helicopter. I thought immediately of the American Sikorsky S-51, an early helicopter design, first flown way back in 1943.

The type served with the US Army as the R-5 (R for Rotary wing, a designation that covered both helicopters and autogyros), and the US Navy and Coast Guard as the HO2S and HO3S. The type was also built in Britain by Westland as the Dragonfly, and this was the first British-built helicopter to serve with the British forces.

MOONBASE CENTRAL: ANGLO GUM SPV (projectswordtoys.blogspot.com)

Here are a couple of photos of my Dinky die-cast Westland-Sikorsky WS-51 version, which is tiny. This was first released in 1957, model number 716, and only came in red and cream civil colours, fuselage registration G-ATWX.

The nose windows are painted on in silver, there being no clear parts. The three-bladed main and tail rotors were tinplate, and are frequently missing from surviving examples, so I was very lucky to find a complete model.

The helicopter on the card is a much chunkier design, and the undercarriage is different, but the basic S-51 shape is there.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

SPACE HELICOPTER

I liked this copter when I saw it on an old auction site so I kept a piccy. Its got that optimism of the space race all over it, basic yet somehow futuristic. I love the box art. Is that rocket earlier than Apollo?

Dunno who the maker is sorry. Do you like it?

A Little Ingenuity

"A helicopter in space ?!!" Thats what crossed my young mind when I saw the Spacex card with the Helicopter P3 on it, decades ago. The fact that it seemed to be sailing blithely across the vacuum of interstellar space appalled my notions of physical logic, even at that early age and it wasn't til many years later that it dawned on me that as it was part of the Earth Base section, it wouldn't actually be flying in space, just supporting the ground vehicles. 
 

Even so, the idea still bemused me as to why we might need a helicopter in space. It was further compounded when I came across the Marx Moon Scout Copter, which was clearly intended for use on the moon!

Still, all my pre-teenage angst over these technical faux pas in the toy industry have long since dissipated and I am now firmly embracing the exciting idea of copters in space. On 18 April, the NASA JPL Perseverance rover will assist its 'moving buddy' Ingenuity in a brief flight on the Martian surface. Ingenuity is a tiny, drone sized copter that has hitched a lift under the rover and will make its maiden flight in the thin atmosphere for the first time. Carbon fibre twin rotors, designed to offer maximum lift will hopefully allow the fragile craft to lift off on the first of a series of brief forays on Mars. 

Ingenuity doesn't look even remotely like Triang or Marx ideas of full on space copters, but does mark a huge leap forward in the exploration of other worlds 

if all goes to plan on Mars, a further helicopter will be dispatched to Titan on the Dragonfly mission sometime in the near future: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasas-dragonfly-will-fly-around-titan-looking-for-origins-signs-of-life

Its amazing to see how far technological developments have leapt forward since the first tentative steps into space and all in a human lifetime. What might our children see occurring in the next century ?