Chutes Away

 Junior and me tried to launch an Action Man parachutist today.

It sort of worked. The chute did unfurl but the height was an issue, not enough of it from the bedroom window.

To check if this was a common problem - which I seem to recall from my childhood too - we watched a couple of You Tube clips. Even the guy from Palitoy said kids would struggle to get it to work.

Another clip confirmed that more height could create a decent billow and a full chute, as a drone dropped the figure from a great altitude.

Interestingly it was a solid figure called Desert Rat that was used. Not an Action Man I know at all. You?

Have you succeeded in launching the Action Man parachute?

Shoot a Chute

I like this toy pistol, Shoot a Chute.

You fire the plastic paratrooper into the air via the toy gun. Clever!

The figures even have parachutes!

Ed's Job Lot Spaceman

Woodsy,

I got this as part of a job lot last year., and it appears to be a spaceman parachutist. There's a little hook on each shoulder that I'm guessing may have held a parachute and he appears to be designed to shoot out of a pistol like a dart gun.

What do you think?

From Vegas Base

Ed

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SOLVED!

Woodsy,

One of the guys on facebook (Meta) identified the odd spaceman I assumed was a parachutist shot from a dart gun. Turns out I was right. It was a parachutist included on a carded 'Battlestar Galactica' (original series) set with a ray gun looking pistol which propelled the astronaut heavenward.

From Vegas Base

Ed

SPACE BALL: all Strung Up.

 This a a new one on me I saw online.

The Space Ball.

A ball with a parachute.

Chuck it in the air and it floats back down.

Neat and simple. A born stocking filler.

I wonder if it worked?

Did you have one?

The chute reminds me of the chute on the Project SWORD Apollo Saturn capsule.

The plastic ball makes me want to fill it with ice cream! Remember those?

ED'S SPACE CHUTE

Woodsy & Fellow Moonbasers,

I liked the Star Warsy paratroop figure from Spain. I recently acquired this carded unbranded Space Paratroop set from Hong Kong with two Ajax knock-off spacemen. Definitely figures from an earlier era but the cheaply made parachute toy format appears to be ever popular.

From Vegas Base

Ed

SPANISH FLY

 

This Spanish parachute rack toy on auction caught my eye.

Galaxias en Guerra or Galaxies at War: clearly a big old nod to Star Wars. The mash-up continues with what I reckon is a painted Superman figure and is that nifty card art the work of Chris Foss?

I like it! You?

Jumping for Joy

Italy's Quercetti is well known for rockets and parachutes.

Their JR21 marketed Fireball XL5 has featured here many times, as has the Mach-1 and TOR.

These toys incorporated a small blow moulded parachutist and chute.

Eolo's much bigger set had a similar jumping astronaut cum pilot.

This bended knee jumper became a staple. Here's a more recent bag of three. 

I think you can still get this toy in some form.

It's become a party favour!

US ROCKET TOY AT THE SMITHSONIAN

This is both unusual and familiar at the same time!

Clearly related to the old Sixties TOR and MACH-1 parachute rockets from Quercetti and JR21, this is an unbranded boxed version, U.S. Rocket, held at the Smithsonian.

I love the box art. It was donated in 1973. 

Anyone seen this model before?

https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/rocket-flying-model-us-rocket/nasm_A19930629000

TITAN II GEMINI TWO MAN SPACE CAPSULE

 

I saw this double act on an online sale and saved the pic because one the companies is completely new to me, Gladden, on the left.

I think they've produced a real gem of a toy with this two man capsule. It looks great and quite sturdy. It would need to be because its a parachute toy. I'm unsure how it works but there's a small orange tool up top and a white nozzle at the base. Oh and a parachute. I assume its thrown in the air. Do you know?

The Quercetti Tor is a classic chute toy and many of you will have had this or similar judging by how many times its come up on Moonbase. 

Did you have any parachute toys as a kid?

MYSTERY PARACHUTE

 

I was wondering how this parachute toy I saw online actually worked. Anyone know?

As an aside, the blue cone inside the bag looks amazingly like another space toy part we've featured before. Wotan's legendary spacebird nozzle blogged years ago!

ROCKET MAN PARACHUTE TOY

This is strange. Rocket Man. I've seen that rocket man and face before somewhere - Dr. Who?

Anyways, its an unusual rocket parachute toy. More like a torpedo than a rocket.

Made in Hong Kong this carded example was on Worthpoint a while ago.

I've not seen one before. You?

SPACE MEN PARACHUTIST

I noticed this SPACE MEN parachutist and thought, hmmm, that looks like the LP Astronaut clutching his rifle.

What do you think?

Did you have a space figure like this?

PARACHUTIST LAUNCHER TOY PISTOL SET

Its not often you see a parachutist dart gun.

I saw this on the Bay ages ago and thought it was quite a neat idea. Makes sense!

I really like the toy pistol. It sort of reminds me if the Century 21 Joe 90 toy gun that I had as a kid.

Did you have any parachute or dart gun toys readers or any Joe 90 pistols?

PARACHUTIST BATMAN

I've been  Batman fan since Adam West became the caped crusader.

So I was thrilled last year to find this old hard plastic parachuting Batman - still with the cape!

Made of thin plastic, its very fragile, so its unusual to find the cape still intact.

I'm not sure what the parachute looked like.

You had or got one of these readers?