TRI-ANG'S BLISTERS

I love the small dome of the Tri-ang SpaceX MEV-2

I think its the fact that its sat upon a very flat surface of a boxy body.

Tri-ang did a similar thing with the same on their radar car in the Battle Space train range. Again, a dome on a boxy body.

I like the two toys so much that I mock-up a SpaceX carded version of the Battle Space car!

Could it have worked readers?

Have you got a fave bubble dome or blister cockpit on a toy?

NASA LUNAR OUTPOST ROVER: THE NEW MEV-2

I was struck by NASA's Lunar Outpost Rover how similar it looks to the Ed Valigursky MEV-2.

Here's the Valigursky artwork from the 1960's.

Do you think there's a similarity?

For more of NASA's Lunar Outpost Rover have a butchers at this NASA vid on You Tube.

What do you think?

SPACEX MEV 2-type Pencil Boards from Japan 1969

Eagle eyed reader Paul Kaiju spotted these ace Japanese items on Yahoo Japan. Cheers Paul.

They were described as "Shitajiki Space exploration Kodansha 1969 Venice 2 pieces set Monsiei World Base stationery Nostalgic stationery".

Shitajiki means Pencil Board [Wikipedia], a sort of writing and drawing back-rest.

What's interesting for me is the how the left hand board used the same artwork as the Takeuchi Project SWORD-based rubbers we have featured on the blog many times. Check the link at the bottom.

For SpaceX fans the artwork includes the Ed Valigursky MEV 2 as well as Bob McCall style moon domes. There's a Thunderbird 3 thrown in for good measure!

What do you think?

Can anyone read the artist's signature?

I assume the Venice in the title refers to the brand logo depicting the gondola, above left. Any odea what the rest of the writing means?

3d printed space wheels

Woodsy, the other day you were discussing 3d printed parts. For future toy conversions, here is a familiar 3" 3d printed wheel you might recognize. 

A friend designed this print file for me that is set up to print 3" or 6" moon wheels, depending on the size of the project.

Bob Aucutt

SPACEX NEWS: MEV 2 NOTEPAD

Cruising the cyber-ways this month I chanced upon this space oddity in Japan:

ビニパス ベニス スクールメモ 宇宙探検 昭和レトロ 当時物

It looks like a plastic-covered memo, game or note pad. Those domes were the thing that caught my eye. Very Bob McCall!

Opening up the notepad reveals more!

Yes, that's a SpaceX MEV2 to the right!

The outside cover is great too.

I suspect the whole thing has been influenced by the art of Ed Valigursky and Bob McCall.

What do you think readers? Like it?

More SpaceX news to come.

BIRTHDAY BASH DAY ONE CLOSER: THE SPACEX ONSEN TOWEL

What on Earth is an Onsen Towel I hear you ask? Well its a towel used by Japanese as part of the washing etiquette at a hot spring bath or Onsen.

And what has this got to do with Moonbase Central? Well its perhaps the strangest link to SpaceX toys we've ever covered. Rather than me getting into a lather, why don't I just throw in the towel and show you!

Yes, this Onsen towel features no less than our good friend the MEV2 from the SpaceX range of toys and looks susoiciously like the illustration done originally by Ed Valigursky.

Now safely in the Moonbase collection, thanks to some fancy towel work by Terry H, it is the weirdest addition to my SpaceX/ SWORD display by far beating the Apollo Saturn cookie cutter by a mile!

For more information about Onsen bathing then please dip your toes in here: Onsen Basics. As the site says, most Onsen users prefer to keep their towels on their heads whilst bathing!

Beat that!

ALL THE MEVS GALLERY

All the MEV's

Left to right:

Sitap Jeep Selenite,

SpaceX MEV2 [ aka Golden Astronaut Moon Prospector],

Futuristic Space Vehicles chromed Moon Explorer

and controversially, the Corgi 007 die cast Moon Buggy, which I consider to be related to the MEV2.

Missing:

Clifford M5 - I can't find a piccy of a loose one!

For a detailed look at them all then check out Wotan Bill's post, from whence the top picture hails, from 2011, MEVOLUTION.

MOVING MEVS

 

Man in space needs vehicles and vehicles have to be stored somewhere. Artist Ed Valigursky captured this brilliantly as you can see in the above detail showing the SpaceX MEV2 rolling out.

 

 

The illustrators over at Century 21 used the same idea in the Project SWORD Manual, except this time they've swapped the MEV2 for their own Scramble Bug.

 

 

A variation on this theme came in TV21 when in this Saturn Probe illustration we see a SpaceX MEV2-like vehicle descending from a, well, a MEV from Zero-X more or less!

 

Of course if you haven't got a ramp to roll down then things get tougher. These fellows have got it sorted with cables and pulleys making light work of lowering a, well another Zero-X MEV more or less!

 

 

Do you know of any more MEV's or MEV2;s being rolled, lowered or generally moved around readers?

NEW ORIGINS 2: SPACEX MEV - 2

 

Readers will be familiar with the SpaceX MEV 2 toy, as featured here in Bill's back garden, which were in the shops circa 1969/70.

The consensus amongst SpaceX collectors is that the toy was most likely derived largely from Ed Valigursky's visualisation of the concept in the Man and Space book published in 1966.

 

 

However, as with most NASA concepts, a number of developmental stages were gone through along the way. Hawk-eyed reader Grif spotted this old sketch of a MEV 2 - like concept and a modern rendering and kindly sent them in for readers' interest.

 

Grif explains: "Dear Woodsy, I came across the attached on the "Secret Projects" forum - it's a lunar construction vehicle from the US Army's "Project Horizon" moonbase project, and it looks very much like it was the inspiration for the SpaceX MEV2 and a Project Sword moon vehicle (I forget the name!)! The link to the "Secret Projects" forum is here.

You may have to join the forum to see the images, but that forum will be fascinating for any SWORD fan!

 

Projects Horizon and LUNEX were variants, Army and Air Force respectively, of the old "He who controls the Moon controls the Earth" idea for atomic missile bases.

Merry Christmas,

Grif

 

PS. Readers who wish to see more developmental stages in MEV 2 type concepts should get hold of a copy of Reader Rob Godwin's excellent book "Lunar Exploration Scrapbook". Woodsy.