Rocket Money

 I saw this on auction a while back, a tin and plastic Chinese

Guided Missile Rocket.

I love the card art.

There's something Moonshippish about it too.

It's a new one on me. Probably went for a bit of money.

Do you like it? 

Let's be Frank

I saw this Moonship item on Hakes, a pair of 9.5x15" die-cut store display signs of spring-loaded plastic premium rocket launcher and two plastic Spacemen figures under blisters by Swift's Premium Franks, c. 1963. 

Anyone know it?

Do you eat franks?

Operation Box Top: More Moonshipping

 Our joint box project, now in the cutting department, has moved forward another step or two.

From Arto's cool originals and Wotan Bill's ace graphics I've made a second Century 21 Toys Moonship box. This one is sturdier than the earlier test run.

To model it Ive used the blue American Ahi version, as my other C21 toy is in storage.

The sturdier box is safer for the contents but I've used a window film less transparent than I realised, giving it a murky look.

At some point I'll have a go at a third box and try to improve on the last.

I also had a bash at an American Ahi window box from Bill's graphics.

Whether the Ahi had a window box or a all-card box is a mystery. Only one small photo is known - in a book - and it's of a flattened top.

The Ahi will get a standard non-window box too this Spring, for which Bill's graphics were really designed.

To improve the look of this I have since added it's name to the front.

Next up is the Chinese box.

Saturday Morning Boxing Club: The Moonship Tester

 I've often lamented the fact that my three Moonships remain unboxed:

The white C21 Moonship, The blue Ahi Super Rocket Plane and the tinplate Chinese Moonship.

They have remained without properly-made boxes for decades, so I thought maybe it's time to sort it out, Moonbase style.

Having tried before to make boxes for two of them back in 2009, I remembered that the source material is crucial. The better the source the better the box.

There is no better Moonship box source than our friend Arto in Helsinki Base. With a collection second to none Arto kindly agreed to photograph all the sides of the C21 and Chinese ships and send them to the project's art department, namely Wotan Bill.

The Ahi ship is still the elusive box of the three, still the only known picture being a tiny one in a book and only part of it. Thankfully it's in colour, but more on that later.

Once the art dept had worked his magic the copies were then sent to me at MoonBase on both thin paper and thin card for cutting and construction.

Setting to yesterday I attempted a first dry run of the Century 21 box using the thin card graphics. 

I learnt a lot doing this test piece. The card needs to be much thicker, the joints pr-scored, better glue and a thicker window film that creases.

So here's test run box 1, the Century 21 Toys Moonship.

A joint effort (thanks Arto and Bill), we hope you like it.

Watch this space - ship!

THEN AND NOW: THE TINPLATE MOONSHIP FOR ARTO AND ME

The blog legend that is the Moonship: There was a time in the mid-1990's when, together with Chris Avis, my Project SWORD toy 'finder', that we thought we'd found a Century 21 Toys Moonship. 

At that time, circa 1996, neither of us had ever seen one, it's existence only hinted at from a snippet of information from a 1969 toy trade journal courtesy of current blog reader and contributor Will O, whom I've known for years.

Chris A went on to find a tin Moonship and for all intents and purposes it was the Century 21 toy to us for a while, until fresh information came again from Will O. This time it was with a picture of the Moonship, which was clearly made of plastic and not tin! My own tin Moonship, pictured, was as it turned out, a Chinese Kang Yuan.

I went on to make a box for my tin Chinese Moonship and the green American plastic Moonship, the AHI Super Rocket Plane, using small templates printed in the book Future Toys. 

Even though a Century 21 Toys Moonship had been seen, I still hadn't seen it's box at that point.

Somewhere I have the letter from Chris A. offering me a loose tinplate Chinese Moonship, which I still have in a home-made box. Before Ebay came along in the UK, in 2000, we used to swap toys and a bit of cash made up the difference. Those were very happy pre-internet years for collectors like me. 

And so to now, when we know so much more.

The latest owner of a tin Chinese Kang Yuan Moonship is Helsinki Base reader and contributor Arto, who has acquired a mint example towards the end of last year.

We come full circle, as Arto's ship is boxed!

I'll let Arto take up the story himself.

"it was from Antico Mondo in Köln, an original boxed Kang Yuan Moonship! A long story with a happy ending! Earlier this year, I bid on an original Moonship box which came up on Antico and I lost! Then, in the last auction, a Moonship with original box came on offer with a high ( Woodsy edit) starting price. I did not leave a bid. Upon checking the results, I found out it was left unsold! I immediately contacted the auction house and asked to buy it and they were happy to agree! So now the wait of almost two decades is over! A great conclusion for my best-ever collecting year!"

Arto continues

"I bought a loose Kang Yuan Moonship already some 15 years ago, so now I have two! But it needs all those fabulous box graphics by its side to display it in all its glory.

Researching the Moonship a bit more, I landed on this interesting website

https://www.tintoysofchina.com

Which states that no factory name nor place (usually Shanghai) was printed on the toys or their boxes after 1958. Which would date this boxed Moonship version into the 1950's. Compare it with the other known box version which has © 1965 and word FOREIGN on the box - was that version meant for export only, and what's the reason for changing the box? A new distributor perhaps? There is also a considerable time gap between the pre-1958 and 1965 issues, so was there a gap in production as well? Intriguing!"

The other tinplate Moonship in Arto's fabulous collection is Soviet, the Lunnyij korablj LK-1

Arto has found two websites with info about it.

https://belka-strelka.su/cosmos

https://odessahistory.net/en/ussr-replica-story/lunnyi-korabl-lk-1

You can also find more Moonship posts here by clicking on the label below.

Do you have a Moonship readers?

AHI SUPER ROCKET PLANE MOVIE

 Azrak-Hamway's American moonship in orbit. Whoosh!

THE PROJECT SWORD TOYS THAT NEVER WERE!

 In 1969 this trade article appeared.

SWORD collectors will have been excited by the new of a new Project SWORD toy described there, the Lunar Climber.

Alas, the Lunar Climber wasn't a Project SWORD release.

Nevertheless, it was a cool Century 21 Toys release and by the power of the internet here it is today!

Images: John Swan

The other toy mentioned in the article was the Moonship, which is described as not being Project SWORD.

That was correct but again its a wonderful Century 21 Toys entry anyway and by the power of Helsinki Base here it is, both red and blue versions, one boxed.

Image: Arto H.

What do you think?

Which do you like the most?

The Moonship has Landed

 My home made Moonship is done. It's the one at the back. Century 21 Toys original at the front.

Reunited with my bits box I was able to finish the plane I bought in Germany.

Not perfect by a lunar mile but it'll do.

The home ship has sound effects too. It just needs a flag. But which?

My Moonship: The Icing Problem

Work on my copy Moonship is painfully slow not being at home. Very little progress to report.

I've borrowed some lighter fluid off a chum and cleaned the plastic body thoroughly to remove the old decal adhesive.

I've snagged my corn plaster box to whittle a new transparent green windscreen from.

I've sourced a box of cake icing products by Ernesto that contains perfect-fit nacelles, which I will repaint in Blighty. The set was 50p in a charity shop here in Germany.

Trouble is, ideally I need another set to get that really long double nacelle look on both engines.

I'm now trying to find another cheap Ernesto icing set!

First Phase of the Moonship

 

Well it's starting to look slightly like my work area at home here at the German flat.

I've stripped off all the decals from my airliner and done as good a clean of the glue residue as I can without access to lighter fluid. 

I've cut out a windows decal strip for each side and finally today repositioned the front landing gear, which is currently drying.

I'm considering a new and wider windscreen next.

Some progress at least in my downtime here

Ship Shape!

 To keep my toy hand in I've bought an airline to mess with.

Costing 8 Euro, this ARJ21 plastic plane is a foot long, has detachable parts, illuminating nacelles and engine sounds.

More interesting is how much it looks like .... 

..... The Century 21 Toys Moonship! 

I've begun basic tinkering on the liner, removing some stickers. Without my bits box here I may struggle to find parts, but here goes .....

Friction Long Distance Jetliner MF 105 from the Kang Yuan Toy Factory Shanghai China

Appearing as part of my JR21 alerts, I saw this tin jetliner recently on the 'Bay, a fine old Chinese plane.

It's clearly related to the Chinese tin Moonship that a few of us own. Its from the same factory.

The box art is even better than the toy. Looking long and sleek it's got Fireflash vibes galore. The toy looks shorter than the illustration.

Is this a toy you own?

Moonship at Moonbase

 This is my new Century 21 Moonship.

I found it in a cabinet of old stuff in an antiques shop.

I've blogged about the Moonship since the start of Moonbase. Click on the Moonship label below for more.

Have you got a Moonship?

AERION MOONSHIP

I was reading this about a new Supersonic plane https://www.ge.com/news/taxonomy/term/5844 from 2019 and I thought, Wow! 

That new Aerion AS2 looks a lot like our friend the Century 21 Moonship from over 50 years ago! See what you think!

Now that's flying!

Image: GE

Image: Arto

PAINT YOUR SPACE WAGON

I saw this old tin bundle on auction yonks ago and noticed the rocket.

Its the Chinese tinplate "Moon Rocket", which has appeared many times here under the name of the Moonship [click the label below for more], but this one is different. It looks sort of shoddy.

Would you say its been painted?