Ed of Cosmology

Wote and Andy B give EvilEd the good news.

Original russian art: Silver Rockets [cheers Ed!]

sent from my holiday sofa!

Drive Crazy

 Recent holidays in Cyprus allowed me to extend my search for unusual toys a little further. Although my Spacex Nuclear Ferry arrived from a cypriot ebayer, I was never fortunate enough to find anything vintage or especially rare. However, the gift shops and tobacconists in Paphos did have a good selection of Majorette die cast cars. Amongst the general coupes, lorries and sports cars, I often found models from a sub range called 'Fiction'. Typically french in style, the Fiction range featured futuristic and stylish vehicles including a copter and a bike.  I picked up as many as I could find during my stays and have since seen other futuristic race cars from the same company. I have always loved unusual automotive designs since my first Hot Wheels 'Deora' model way back in '69 and still pick up the odd modern Hot Wheels from time to time too.

 

Prior to Mattels buy out and transformation of Matchbox toys from Lesney and the dumbing down of the line into a shadow of its former glory, Matchbox included a couple of sci fi models in their standard lines. The Planet Scout came out of nowhere and dropped into the range beside hot rods and bulldozers and for me became one of the best models ever made. The chunky green body and robust 4x4 styling was a departure from the usual type of car they made. Since then, I have spotted a similar design by Gorgo called the Moon Patrol, made of tin and plastic and dated around 1970, did this inspire the Planet Scout or vice versa ? Lesney then followed up the space them with the slightly less inspiring Cosmobile.

Can You Dig It ?

Ive blogged this model before, but ive been experimenting with a new photography technique and this is a favourite subject of mine, the IMAI Thunderbirds Excavator. I didn't follow the standard kit instructions and added some interior detailing with grinding wheels and a few accessories, to make it look a little more toy like. I also ditched the supplied figure and added a golden astronaut scale figure from a Tomy Zoids toy, just to bring it into the Spacex realm. Its a cracking little model, about five inches long in the body and molded in colour plastic.

Saturday Night Fever

After a heart-wrenching week I find myself in a reflective and melancholy mood listening to some of my favourite tracks, whilst my better half watches Britain's Got Talent on TV. On the Juke Box tonight, courtesy of You Tube, are:

• Mandy Fly Me by 10cc - the 'sharks were coming for me' bit is stunning! Great band.
• The Last Time by Rory Gallagher - from his forst solo LP, Rory plays the solo's of solo's. Epic.
• Fast Car by Tracy Chapman - totally takes me back to my late Twenties. This was her moment.
• Cortez the Killer by Neil Young - I only really discovered the Zuma LP in the last few years and this is it's masterpiece. Breathtaking.

Right, I'll leave you back in the capable hands of the Wotaniser as I seek solace by the sea. I remember at college learning that Woodlice - Porcellio Scaber and pals - get larger the closer you are to the sea. Just to be clear, not an individual woodlouse growing in size! Rather the local community of woodlice are made up of bigger insects. Hopefully they don't reach the size of crabs! I shall test this theory whilst paddling in the rock pools. Adieu.

Wheres Wotan ?

I recently decided to change my avatar picture from the angry looking rubber alien 'Wotan' to a more suitable 'tree man' again from the same stable of rubber 'Teachers Pets' monsters that I had as a kid. These two little figures are among my most favourite of all the monsters I had and have survived years of abuse and neglect. Since starting on this blog, the ranks of Wotans have expanded considerably from the initial rubber one to the tiny silver one that came with apollo moon exploring sets, to key ring based incarnations and more recently with the help of uber collector Astronit, to a clear plastic and further rubber versions of my favourite martian. Just this week, the mighty hordes acquired a new home, courtesy of the Lord of Sword himself, a fab bubble frame. I had just enough different versions to fill each compartment of the cool display frame and duly hung the boys on my wall. Looking at it and the figures slightly aggrieved expression, reminded me of that early episode of Dr Who where the cybermen, attended by cybermats, emerged from plastic cocoons on the space station and also of the episode of 'Out of the Unknown' on the BBC, 'Beachhead' where the enigmatic black aliens stared impassively from their egg shaped homes.

ASC SPACE PATROL Thunderbird 2

Not blogging much at the mo owing to family illness but here's a little cracker to say hello with and lend my support to the mighty WOTAN, who is blogging like a champ! Anyways, this is the fabulous SPACE PATROL TB2 clone by ASC in all its boxed glory and looking like a fabulous green Easter egg! Beautiful. From the Arto collection and acquired from New Orleans just prior to Hurricane Katrina - now that's one lucky Thunderbird 2! And below its out of its box as featured on Ebay sometime ago. Is it the same mould as the JR21 version? Anyone able to photograph them both together?

If Only.. toys that never were

I recently asked if there was a favourite vehicle that readers would liked to have seen made into a toy. There have been countless great designs over time which cried out for a toy incarnation, but for one reason or another never made it.


Andy B reckons that Damocles sinister black ship from Mike Nobles beautiful Fireball XL5 strip would be his choice - a design not dissimilar to the Spacex Supply Force Mercury.

Add caption

Ed would liked to have seen the awesome Crablogger, but reckoned the complexity would have been too much for a simple toy.

Art copyright Graham Bleathman

 RAB cites the Captain Scarlet Moon Mobile from episodes 'Lunarville' and 'Crater 101' a design which was revamped for UFO. He would liked Dinky to have expanded the UFO range with a version with springy legs and a diecast body!

 http://www.tvcentury21.com/marc/models-of-cs-space.html

http://ufoseries.com/preProduction/index.html

Rocket Punch still yearns for the day that the Air/Sea Rescue Helijets made it into toy form. Konami did provide one of the smaller designs recently. A rare japanese Thunderbirds Aerocar turned up briefly on ebay recently, but mysteriously vanished - anyone spot it?

Finally, one of my favourites was always the WOMBAT from the 'Duchess Assignment' the flying aircarrier was such a good model, it would have made a wonderful toy. These days I have been lucky to find a poor relation, the Zero Hour Scorch Bomber. Maybe one day though..

Looking Forward - Looking Back

 Andy B has kindly sent me some wonderfully evocative vintage artwork from the Eagle Annual No.8 and Jack Coggins illustration from Rockets, Jets and Guided Missiles (above). Its interesting to note the shape of the rocket in the Eagle spread with two massive boosters either side - predating the shuttle concept considerably. I love the Von Braun/Bonestellian look to the giant winged rockets in direct contrast to the open framework and spherical tanks of the moon landing vehicles. Very reminiscent of the late fifties film 'Conquest of Space'.

 Finally Andy provided a nice composite of some cards given away by Ice Cream vendors Mr Whippy and Mr Softee - anyone familiar with them ?

All at Sea (with Andy B!)

I'm always keen to see a good submarine model or toy and Andy B has sent me a shot of his scratchbuilt Seaview! Built from 'scrap wood and plastic' and based on one of the tv show models used in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. I can almost hear that sonar peep in the background!

Also - from Lesley Ashwell-Woods Inside Information series of books, this futuristic submarine. I love the naivety and simplicity of the design. I had this book as a kid along with the Space Travel one. Great reads!

Envy is Green! The C21 Angel Aircraft

I'm not blogging much at the mo I'm afraid but the Mighty WOTAN is at the helm doing a super job I'm sure you'll agree!

Here's a little morsel to keep my hand in. These pictures of this beautiful C21 specimen appeared on Ebay a couple of years ago. I do love its sleek design and angular lines. If I didn't know any better I'd say it was one of the PROBE FORCE fleet of spacecraft in PROJECT SWORD! A real stunner. Century 21 Toys did a great job of bringing this Captain Scarlet jet to the toy shelf. Lovely box art too - the rainbow side-panel is a really attractive feature. Wonder who the box artist was? is it similar to the Roy Cross box art on the Airfix kit? Anyone got either or both of them to compare?

I've just thought, it also has a very passing resemblence to the silver jet (top of pic below) that Brains comes up with as a possible Thunderbird 6 in the film of the same name! Who knows?!

Angel Aircraft pictures courtesy of Ebay UK.