Shot Gun Heading

 

I love a hotch-potch of card art! This Cap Gun has all good stuff.

Who is the bespectacled blond holding the pistol? Is she stood next to a motorbike? And is that Carrie Fisher kneeling by her rifle?

I like it! You?

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SOLVED!

Two anonymous readers have ID'd the card art. It's lifted from this book cover by Jerry Ahern:

The Gun of the Golden Agent: Moonbase Mock-Up

 When we were young 'uns my older brothers and me had stuff lying all over the house. One of these things, not mine, was a die-cast golden cap revolver.

It was probably bought by my older brother mail-order from Ellisdons of Liverpool.

I've never forgotten that golden toy cap gun.

Back Round 1992 I got a copy of Bill Breugman's amazing Toys of the Sixties. And bingo! There inside was what I think that toy was, the Gun of the Golden Agent by Hubley.

You can see it in the book, bottom left, here in a video I did 10 years ago, around the 5.18 minutes mark.

https://youtu.be/OtG-TGgCJFI?feature=shared

Further images online are scant to say the least, a search today revealing only these Hubley 1965 trade catalogue shots.

There is another toy gun that looks a lot like the Gun of the Golden Agent, the Matt Helm SCE By Pilen of Spain.

And one more I found, the Golden Sniper by Crescent, with James Bondish box art.

With the Golden Agent in mind and a wave of nostalgia descending, I thought I'd have a crack at making something like it.

With a Farm Shop plastic revolver, plastic pipes and a few bits, here's my memory lane golden special.

It was spytastic fun. Hope you like it.

DRAW!

 

I would have loved this toy at Christmas as a young gunslinger!

Mattel's Outdraw the Outlaw!

Can you believe its from 1959!

This example was on an auction this year.

I saw a modern version at a boot sale last year too. Its got staying power this toy.

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2021/10/fast-plastic-paladone-quick-draw-toy.html

Did you have anything like this readers?

Any cowboy toys at all?

THE LAST STARFIGHTER TOY GUNS: ANOTHER BLAST!

The Last Starfighter was a classic eighties film about a whiz arcade game player called Alex who goes on to fight aliens in a distant galaxy. 

There are lot of prop space guns and pistols in the movie.

Early on in the film, around when Centauri asks him to fight in an interstellar war, Alex is in his bedroom, where we see a table full of typical teenage boy clutter.

On the table is a red toy pistol with a yellow handle. But what is it?

My You Tube screengrab is not very clear but here's the toy in close-up.

About three years ago I suggested on this blog that the toy gun was possibly a 1967 Lone Star Captain Scarlet pistol. This was die-cast and fired caps.

Looking at the close-up again the toy has a trigger guard so I now think it's unlikely to be the Lone Star gun. However, I found this picture of a Marx pistol which has the same colouring and a similar trigger guard.

It's from a Marx set called Cops 'N' Robbers, which came with a stand-up target.

It's clear though that the Last Starfighter toy does not have a silencer like this Marx gun. It looks tapered like an old Moulinex hairdryer and has a bulbous barrel tip.

Maybe the toy gun is also from the 1980's, a contemporary of the film? 

Ages ago reader Jay suggested it might be a Pez space gun. What do you think?

The search goes on. Anyone got a better screengrab of the Last Starfighter toy gun or any idea what it is readers?

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Addendum:

There is a similarly fascinating toy gun in the film called the Super Electronic Gun.

A mere ornament in the film, the superb blog 2 Warps to Neptune takes up the story of how it became a promo give-away!.

https://2warpstoneptune.com/2014/01/28/the-last-starfighter-super-electronic-gun-1985/

Addendum 2:

Turns out that 2 Warps to Neptune [sadly now defunct] was as fascinated by Last Starfighter guns as me and pretty much covered the rest, so kudos to 2 Warps as was.

Within its pages is a picture of a 1984 HG Toys Last Starfighter Target Set borrowed from the amazing archive called Parry Game Preserve [as I have done too].

Looking at the set it looks like a prototype to me. The artwork is sketchy and rushed. I can't find any other images of this set anywhere online. Can you readers?

So what of the toy gun inside?

To me it looks a lot like an unfinished version of the company's Eagle Force Commando Pistol seen here. What do you think?

I doubt very much that HG Toys produced the Last Starfighter Target Set. Is that the case readers do you think?

TOPPER ZUMBADOR?

 

This old Spanish catalogue shows an interesting toy pistol top right, Pistol Zumbador.

It looks familiar. The red missile says Johnny Seven to me, which suggests a Topper Deluxe Reading influence.

Did Topper issue a toy like this pistol?

THE AUSTIN MAGIC PISTOL: THE TABLE TENNIS MENACE

 Some toys are downright dangerous.

This late 1940's contraption is just such a one,

The Austin Magic Pistol.

Its jazz deco looks give it a totally Flash Gordon vibe.

Its also known as the Magic Pistol or the Ping Pong Pistol.

The 'magic' came from being fuelled by calcium carbide!

These were tinned-up as Austin Magic Crystals and created the blast for the plastic ball ammo.

The crystals were tipped into the rear.

Ignited by the trigger, the resultant blast was massive!

images: internet

Tested in Detroit and made in Michigan the Magic Pistol lit up the toy world for a bit and then was promptly banned.

Unsurprisingly I couldn't find a single one on Ebay.

Did you ever feel its magic?

LEW'S BAZOOKA

Superthunderstingcar! This classic show recently turned up on Moonbase and seeing it again after all these years, I can see how the memory plays tricks on me.

With a bit of research - featuring a pic from your own blog from Scoop's TV Toys Take Two - I can now see my toy bazooka and the one in the Pete and Dud show are different toys.

Mine was this Merit Bazooka!

Looey

Oz

GALACTIC WETTING

 

Now who do you think that boy is meant to be?

Ideas on a postcard!

Ps.

Looking at it again I think they predicted Martin Freeman's Bilbo forty years early and with a ray gun!

Chris's Cosmic Water Gun

Hi Woodsy

Something else I thought you might be interested in - the Cosmic Water Gun from B&E. Unusual in that it's both a water pistol and a clicker. 

I bought these two at huge expense from US eBay, because I had a flash memory of having had them as a child in the 70s (?), and had to find one! It took a bit of searching, but they must have been pretty common, though I should think most got broken (I vividly remember breaking mine!). 

I must have bought them here from Woolworths. I was pleased and a bit surprised to find a packaged one. I'm sure I had a blue one though, so the search continues!

Did you have one readers?

Regards,

Chris