Buck's Invader

 This Buck Rogers Invader is new to me. It's a saucer with a motor and the box claims it can spin hundreds of feet into space! 

A mix of toy and rocketry! 

Anyone ever had one?

Will's Plastic Rockets

Hi Woodsy,

I've been really enjoying Arto's posts of the plastic rockets. Here's a couple of strange ones. The first one has a metal tab , I think to mount it on a bike handle. The second is a whistle.

Will O

An ICBM under the Floor!

Hello,

Attached a couple of photos of an empty box for an Atlas space rocket, which I bagged from a Finnish auction site Tori.fi. 

After purchase the seller told me that it was found under the floor of they house during renovation. And the house was originally built in 1951!

According to internet hits it seems to be quite scarce. Shame that the rocket has not survived, but the box has great graphics for display.

Is this something you have seen before?

Arto

Helsinki Base

Boeing Concept Rockets

https://youtu.be/4Kk9CWegvxQ?si=1xrJFer7YuB99ROA

hi Woodsy check out theses vintage space projects!

 MJ

Southcoast Base

IN A GALAX FAR FAR AWAY

 

This impressive craft is a Galax by Testors, an amazing looking model plane, which I understand was gas powered, so is part of that mysterious branch of toy hobbydom, rocketry.

There's a strong hint of Stars Warsiness in the front cockpit unit would you agree?

Anyone had a Galax?

Historical V-2 Rocket Launched from USS Midway

Hi

         Here is a great new documentary from Airailimages on Operation Sandy, the launching of a captured WW2 V-2 rocket from the aft flight deck of the new American aircraft carrier USS Midway. Several modifications were made to the Midway for the test, which was the only launch of a V-2 from a ship. The test took place on 6th September 1947. 

This is a great film, showing the V-2 being moved by road and rail - it just fitted inside a big American box car. The support equipment and road transport trailers were carried on open flat wagons. Then loading equipment aboard the Midway, and the test itself. The film clips are a mix of colour and black and white. 

An amazing piece of history.

Captured V-2 Launch At Sea Aboard USS Midway - YouTube

Paul Adams from New Zealand

 

TOPO TOR ROCKET

If you like Topo Gigio then Dreams of Space have posted a wonderful picture book. There's even a plastic TOR rocket toy in Topo's place too!

http://dreamsofspace.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2021-09-24T13:16:00-07:00&max-results=7&start=5&by-date=false

Estes Model Rockets

Hi,

Here is another model company history from Maxsmodels. This time covering Estes, which made actual flying rockets. 

Even to someone who knows nothing about model rocketry, like me, this is a great item. A model rocket designer named Orville Carlisle teamed up with a White Sands Missile Range safety officer named G. Harry Stine to produce model rockets. 

Vern and Gleda Estes were brought in to manufacture the rocket engines. Later they produced complete rockets.. Vern Estes had a background in fireworks, as his parents were fireworks wholesalers, so the move in to model rockets was hardly a giant leap. 

Their product range included the Cineroc, equipped with an 8 mm movie camera.

Anyone got an Estes rocket?

(1) Estes model rockets: a brief history - YouTube

Paul Adams from New Zealand

WILL OSBORNE'S VINTAGE VX PUMP ROCKET

A 1957 German BE BU pressure propelled rocket.

THE US ROCKET

I was fascinated by the detail of this online gallery for one boxed toy, the US Rocket. A battery-fired plastic rocket with parachute, each component is lovingly photographed. The most interesting item is the box of engines and wires, which we don't see, just the box, the contents of which were made in Macau. Having never had anything like it I have no idea really how this worked.

Its a strange title, US Rocket. Bland, non-specific, but overall the toy recalls the JR21 Quercetti Tor and Fireball XL5 rocketry missiles seen on the blog.

What do you think of the US Rocket? Were you a rocketeer? 

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

Saturn V: Toy Roll Out and Lift Off

There's some beautiful footage of a model Saturn V rocket blasting off from its launch pad and gantry here.

Its from You Tube and appears about half way through.

Rocketry has always fascinated me but I never had actual firing rockets as a kid. Did you?

What I did have was the Project SWORD Cape Kennedy Set with its own Saturn V back in '67.

Made by Century 21 Toys it as a bundle of battery-operated rocket fun!

I had more fun with my set a few years aback as you can see from this You Tube short I did at the time. 

I always thought Century 21 Toys could have released a large plastic biulding, the VAB, as an accessory to this toy, maybe even flat-packed IKEA style!

They didn't so I made my own from a cardboard box.

Enjoy!