JR21 THUNDERBIRD 7 TOY AND CUSTOM BOX BY FERRYMAN

Hi Paul, I've attached six pictures of the Imai Thunderbird 7 kit made up with a custom JR21 box.This is my second custom box project, more will be coming as and when time permits. The custom box is largely based on the JR21 TB2 packaging. The illustration is derived from the Imai kit box with the Thunderbird 2 removed from the background and all of the text and logos touched out.The TB7 kit is made up straight as a toy. The only addition I made was to use a vinyl antenna in place of the brittle styrene one included with the kit. I have sprayed the launch bay internals in matt red and polished up the external yellow base plastic for improved effect. The remote control has forward and reverse functions.Hope this is of use for the blog.

Ferryman.

Awesome! Awesome! I want one! Woodsy

ASAHI CASTAR SPACE RESCUE

Hey Paul, Don't remember if you already had this on the Blog. Picked it up two weeks ago, never removed from its box, at the local flea market for $10. Not sure what the age is, but appears there were three different ones. It is VERY similar to SWORD style. Hard plastic, small driver fixed inside, electric motor, similar to early NASA designs. Made in Japan apparently.

Cheers,

Rob

Canada

I think the Castar Rescue is unique, especially the star wheels! Anyone got the other two?

CODEG MISSILE FIRING 'CRICKET' BOXED SET

Ferryman has kindly sent in these great shots of the Codeg Missile Firing Boxed Set. Both of the vehicles have the basic design of the Spacex cricket ( purple craft in bottom pic). Excellent!

There are some similar earlier bloglets on cricket variants here.

HOVER TANK AND THE BIG GUN SUB

Chris King, prop collector and blog friend, has kindly allowed me to re-print* these five awesome pictures of his original Century 21 BIG GUN SUB prop from the Stingray TV show. It's a wonderful prop made of wood and kit parts and bears an uncanny resemblance to the Project Sword HOVER TANK, which appeared in the 1969 PROJECT SWORD Annual and the Make a Model Cut Out Book (bottom picture). The original Eric Eden artwork for the Hover Tank backs this up I feel. So, I propose that the Hover Tank and Big Gun Sub are Century 21 cousins.

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* the five pictures first appeared on an Space 1999 Eagle Transporter Forum thread in 2007, which also included a screen grab of the Big Gun Sub in Stingray.

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I'd like to say thanks to Chris for his permission to re-use his brilliant pictures.

TRI-ANG CHEMICAL MOON ROCKET

Paul,
Another one you might want post on the blog. No connection to Spacex other than it was made by Tri-ang in the 1960s. Nice box if nothing else!
Best,
Sean

I like it!

DAVID CARRADINE RIP

I was really really sad to hear of David Carradine's death last Friday. I loved the Kung Fu TV series with a passion and along with Bruce Lee it formed one of the defining chapters for me growing up. I was simply crazy about Kung Fu and all things oriental. I even had my own Dojo in the cellar! I can hear the theme music of Kung Fu now, with its swirling melody and sad strings. Kwai Chang Cain and Master Po were my heroes every week. I remember when Look-In comic had a dragon-shaped Kung Fu badge give-away - it was brilliant. I still have part of the comic but sadly not the dragon badge. It's hard to imagine now just how big a craze Kung Fu was in the early 70's, like Monsters and Space before it in the 60's. And now, like the young Bruce and Brandon Lee, David Carradine has sadly died before his time. But I'll remember him. Ch'i RIP.+

MEREHALL'S AMPHIBIOUS MISSILE CARRIER

Hi Paul,

Attached is an odd one which you may wish to show on your blog. It's the Merehall Missile Carrier, rather like a cross between racing car and polaris submarine! I think Merehall was just the UK distributor rather than manufacturer.

Best,

Sean

Nice one Sean. It is a strange one. Anyone got any idea where the design came from?

MOONBASE DIARY

Things are going well on the Moonbase. The Lighting Unit is nearly complete - top pic. I've added Letraset numbers to the modules, a good idea from the mighty WOTAN, plus the odd small black vent. Need to print some SWORD decals too. That leaves the LEM to complete, locate a Lunar Roving Vehicle at Spacex scale, find some plastic astronauts - still unsure about the scale - and last but not least, make the lunar surface for it all to stand on!

LOST TOY

When I was a kid in the 1960's I was, like many kids, crazy about Dinosaurs! One of my favourite Xmas prezzies was a boxed fossil hunting set. It had a small hammer, a magnifying glass, a fossil ID guide, a sharks tooth fossil and other stuff I can't remember. The box cover was reddish I think with a picture of a T Rex fossilised skeleton - I think! Anyone know what I'm talking about?

MOONBASE DIARY

Ever since getting back from the Boot sales this morning, it's been chuckin' it down! So, in between buying my mate's son's toy collection off him and playing with Blue the Doggy (bottom pic - looking sad!) I have made some progress on the Moonbase model in my rather cramped but snug attic den! - pic 5. That old Liberty chair is so comfy you wouldn't believe! And with my stereo record player still in action I've been modelling to the sweet riffs of Wishbone Ash and Rory Gallagher!

So, I've tested the battery-powered lights on the Housing and Light Modules - top 3 pics; more or less finished the Garage Module, complete with crane and ramp (looks quite good!) and the base unit of the Light Module, looking like a square cake with 4 legs at the mo! - pic 4.

As predicted the LEM has proven the most difficult. I couldn't find a Panettone box anywhere - think it must be a Xmas thing - so I've opted for a stack of 3 small boxes to create the effect. Not finished yet so the jury's still out!

Need to decide whether any extra livery or decals are required over and above the SWORD logo?