CENTURY 21 NUCLEAR FERRY PICTURES

Well like most of you I'm in a post- Nuclear state. The Ebay Nuclear Ferry made a staggering price - £580 ($810). Someone will be very happy. Bidding bloggers have told me that bidding was very very tight and it all went to the dogs in the last few seconds! Let's hope the lucky owner is a true swordhead and puts the Ferry in pride of place at the head of the fleet. Pekoday, the Hong Kong seller, very kindly sent me a couple of extra pictures, which didn't appear on the listing (those that did are all here) - the two at the top of the group. The third pic from the top (with the ruler) is for comparison and is from a different auction, Yahoo Japan, in 2008. The picture of the box below it is odd - it would appear that a side of the box is just blank brownish card or the lid has a whole side missing? Still it would be like owning a Picasso!

MISSING THE FERRY

FROM WOTAN: Collision in Deep Space! As the Century 21 Project Sword Nuclear Ferry disappears past the event horizon on Ebay once more, it leaves us with more answers than questions for a change! Besides some excellent photographs of the ship herself, there are one or two (not as good) pics of the box. Besides being radically different from the general Sword packaging and showing a much more modern style, the main focus is the box illustration. A superb piece of artwork in itself, as are most of the graphics on the Sword boxes, but its plainly apparent as to where the inspiration and actual illustration came from.

Earlier in the blog I posted an article showing Robert McCalls beautiful painting of his design for the ferry, with cut away sections and smaller pic of the ferrys cargo section separating from the booster in the background. The NF box art has blatantly copied this artwork, rebadging the hull to Sword insignia and making the cutaway shuttle into a glass canopied (and wholly impractical!) viewport. Everything else, even the distribution of the craters on the surface has been slavishly copied, the jetstreams from the engine, detailing and shading are all direct lifts from Mr McCalls painting. The only way it differs slightly is the top half of the lunar landscape has been foreshortened to accomodate a new 'planet' which appears to be the origin of the second ferry.

I wonder if any further details will emerge when the lucky winner scrtutinises the model after auction ends ...

BLUE BOX SPACE SHUTTLES

These BLUE BOX SPACE SHUTTLES are interesting- on Ebay USA. I really like this set. I used to have a slightly different Blue Box set - in bags with header cards.

There is also a set of Blue Box boxed vehicles too ( thanks WOTAN).

The crossover with the world of SPACEX and SWORD is tenuous but fine! Its the chunky wedge - shaped space shuttle - the same design appears in the:

• Apollo Exploration Set (thanks rayyorkie),
• Exploring the Moon (thanks mark bergin toys),
• 21 Century (Argentinian/ Ebay US)

and others where in some cases replicas of SPACEX toys appear.

NUCLEAR FERRY ON EBAY

The PROJECT SWORD collecting world is buzzing with the current auction of the scarce Century 21 Nuclear Ferry. Bloggers have been on touch all week, like Graeme:

Hey Paul:I doubt this is news but I found this Ebay auction last night. I wonder
what it will fetch at the end? VINTAGE 21 CENTURY HONG
KONG TOYS NUCLEAR FERRY SPACE Too
bad most of the photos are blurry but what a toy eh? Cheers, Graeme

I agree Graeme, what a toy! Beyond most of our simple means but we can still dream of having this fabulous spaceship on our display shelf!

DYNA SOARS: MARTIN AND GOODYEAR BY DARTH

Darth has sent me this:

Hey Paul, attached are two pics from my Dyna-Soar book of something very similar
to what Wotan has been showing. One is an animated mock-up of a winged reentry
vehicle built by Martin and put on display at the New Worlds Fair in New York
in 1964. It looks to be half way between the X-20 and the X-24. Apparently it was
seen to fly back and forth docking with the cylindrical space station. The other
pic is a mock-up proposed by Goodyear for an inflatable re-entry vehicle. BTW did
you get the pics I sent to you several weeks ago of the Hover Moon car? It
looked exactly like a Sword toy. Regards, Rob

Cheers Rob. Hover Moon Car pics to be posted ASAP.

Schwimmwagen Bugs

Paul Vreede, Spacex fan and blog reader writes:

the "action man amphibious bug" you found somewhere is better known
as a Schwimmwagen. Describing it as a bug is somewhat premature, in
that the Schwimmwagen existed a couple decades before the VW Beetle
on which it was based became used as a platform for buggies of any kind.

Schwimmwagen on YouTube

The Schwimmwagen Registry

btw: the Sindi bug already reminded me of the Schwimmwagen in general proportions and outline, but
not to the point that I felt compelled to bring it to your attention and
get even further off-topic too. But since you put one up on your blog I
now feel safe to digress! ;-D

Best--Paul

MORE MEGO SPACE TRACT GLIDER PICTURES

T'other week I posted pic sof this 'newly discovered' and strange MEGO SPACE TRACT space glider variant. the Ebayer who sold the item ( alas not to me I hasten to add) was kind enough to send me extra photographs of the MEGO box before sending it off to its new owner. I had half-expected that the yellow band at the base of the lid would contain the expanded SWORD wording found on Century 21 and Tarheel boxes. But now I can see that the yellow stripe has a description of the bump n go action etc. The battery insertion illustrations look the same as on the SPACE GLIDER box though - I'll check. All in all I'm thrilled with this find and grateful to Carlos for sending me these great pictures. I wonder if MEGO made more space toys besides this one?

THE FUTURE IN COLOUR! LOOK AND LEARN by WOTAN

The Future in Colour! From Look and Learn Magazine in the late
sixties and a fabulous book, 'The World of Tomorrow' comes this collection of
colour images from the Futurama exhibit. Although the bulk of the Moon Buggy
photography shows a white machine, some press shots show them in yellow and
again with the 'Crablogger' machine, happily chopping down the rainforest, a
yellow colour scheme is evident. See also the 'laser' glowing red at the front
of the craft, this would flash brightly and the mechanised arm would appear to
be removing the tree trunk as the convoy trundled along.

The larger road paving machine had lots of moving features, such as rolling
racks and conveyors inside. Also shown is part of the Antarctic diorama, showing
a modular base unit and a large ice drilling machine and snobuggy.

The earth orbit space station shows small supply ships akin to the Sword
Booster Rocket leaving for the moon base. If you look carefully at the larger
Moon Buggy pic shown earlier, you can make out the astronaut figures are clearly
taken from the sixties Marx Toys Operation Moon Base set, the guy on the left of
the picture is the astronaut figure bouncing on a small moon rock! Check out the
fabulous Space Glider that came with that wonderful set too! (pic courtesy of
Timewarp toys).

Nice one Wotan!

ROXY PROSPECTOR & M5 BY MIKE BURROWS

Hi Paul,

Done a couple more lunar 'spacex' pics, although one
of the Prospectors' is a Roxy variation, as is the M5 (top pic). I've had the Roxy ones
since the early seventies, and until I recently got back into collecting Spacex
stuff, I'd never realised they where actually different versions of the Spacex
line. I do wonder how many Spacex 'hybrids' Roxy released, and
what alterations they made. No doubt one or two of the blog readers will
know.

Cheers
Mike

Excellent Mike! Woodsy

NEW YORK WORLDS FAIR 1964 by WOTAN

Moon Buggy at GM workshop (4-5 feet long)

Left - Jungle Cutter Animatronic on display

Right - Road Laying Machine on Bench ( approx. 15 feet long!)

Pictures courtesy of General Motors

From WOTAN, correspondent in space:
I Have Seen The Future.....

The sixties was a big time for space and everything futuristic. All the major toy lines centered on space travel and popular programming too. In 1964 the New York Worlds Fair looked forward to a brighter tomorrow with the space race well advanced and new technologies appearing almost monthly, the show was a huge success.

Chief among the exhibits was the General Motors Futurama II pavilion which expanded and developed upon themes shown by Norman Bel Geddes in the 1939 World Fair , showing how the world might be living in 2024. GMs Futurama Pavilion covered superhighways, life under the sea, in space and on the moon and had a moving trainride through huge dioramas showing animated models.

Looking at some of the radical designs shown by GM for the futuristic transport solutions, I wonder if perhaps any of the Century 21 designers maybe stopped by for a visit ? The similarities between the Jungle Cutter slashing its way through the rainforests to be followed by the road building machine and the Crablogger from Thunderbirds and the Moon Buggies and the Scramble Bug seem a little too coincidental..

See: nywf64.com and futurama 2 for more.

BUGS GLORIOUS BUGS - PLACO & DURHAM

WOTAN has sent in more bugs - and what great ones too! Placo Toys and Durham Industries. I love the Super Scrambler box! It'd be great to see a colour picture! Anyone help?

NEW DISCOVERY - MEGO SPACE TRACT SPACE GLIDER

Newly discovered on Ebay USA is this amazing SPACE TRACT ROCKET SHIP knockoff of the SPACE GLIDER. Described as a battery operated spaceship made by MEGO in early 1970. The ship is marked Hong Kong and measures 14.5 inches from tip of antennae to rear. The box describes the features as being jet sound, bump n go with tail light. I managed to get some extra pictures of the toy from the seller. The normal twizzle knob has been replaced with a very strange pilot globe. I have seen something like this before but can't think where. It amazes me that a big company like MEGO, famous for Super Hero action figures, made a spacve ship like this. It begs the question are there any more out there? Unfortunately I dipped out of the bidding early on as the old coffers are low! Still I am thrilled to get the pictures on the blog and am amazed that after 20 years I am still seeing SWORD knockoffs like this that I have never seen before. Even in recession Life is good!

FAMOUS BUGS - LA LA LA LA LA LA LA

BANANA SPLITS BUGGY

SPACE 1999 MOON CAR

SPACE 1999 TV SERIES MOON CAR

SPACE 1999 MOON CAR CUSTOM

SINDY CAMPER BUGGY

Couldn't resist posting these famous bugs! There's a Space 1999 Moon Car for sale at Metropolis Toys. There must be more famous bugs but I reckon the Banana Splits are the coolest. Check out YouTube at the page bottom for crazy video footage! That's it, no more now!

NYLINT TWISTER SCRAMBLE BUG

Now I'm hooked! There's tonka-style Bugs everywhere on the net! Here's some more - the fabulous NYLINT TWISTER! Check out this TONKA BUGGY too.

I promise I'll stop! Is there a tonka-style one that looks exactly like the SWORD Bug I wonder?

COOT - THE REAL LIFE SCRAMBLE BUG

Paul Vreede, ace Blog reader, has sent in these cool pictures of the real life Scramble Bug - The COOT! One has just sold for just shy of $1,600 on Ebay USA. What a fabulous all-terrain vehicle, clearly the basis of the TONKA CRATER CRAWLER posted the other day on the blog (check out Ebay USA for more). Paul has sent a link for the COOT on YouTube too - what gloriously wet fun! Finally, Paul has sent a fabulous link to an All-Terrain Vehicles website Route 66. Check it out!

MY EARLY COLLECTION 1990

Recently I found these shots of my early vintage toys collection from around 1990 including my first re-acquired Project Sword toy, the SPACE GLIDER (bought at an evening toy fair in Normanton - they were great!). The snaps were taken by a professional photographer mate of mine back then, which I have scanned for the blog. Around 1990, I started to buy Model and Collectors Mart magazine, which was absolutley wonderful. The classifieds were excellent and were the 'Ebay' of their day - I miss them a lot (I used to advertise for PROJECT SWORD information!) The mint bubble-boxed Corgi Juniors Batmobile in the bottom pic was my first purchase through the magazine - from the excellent TV TOYZONE. I was so excited when it arrived in the post. Those were the days! Alas, many of the toys pictured have been swapped/sold over the years.

HUNGARIAN SEA SWORD

This Hungarian UFO ship (EBAY) sort of reminds me of the SEA SWORD (top), which appears in the Project SWORD annual. On second thoughts, maybe not!

TONKA SCRAMBLE BUG E.R.V CRATER CRAWLER

I don't know, I just like this Tonka ERV on Ebay USA. Those huge wheels remind me of the Scramble Bug. Those Tonka toys sure were tough!

SCRAMBLE BUGS ON THE GREEN PLANET

Browsing through a box of old books in Berlin last Autumn I came across this great little novel with this stunning Scramble Bug - style vehicle on the cover. The title translates as 'The Inhabitants of the Green Planets' from the Spaceship Pollux series. It can occasionally be found on Ebay Germany.

REASEARCH CORRESPONDENCE ARCHIVE: BILL BREUGMAN

I enjoyed reading the seminal US collectors book TOYS OF THE SIXTIES so much in the early 1990's that I just had to write to its author, BILL BREUGMAN, the founder of the fabulous TOY SCOUTS INC ( I loved the toy catalogues they posted out - before the days of Ebay!). Alas, he wasn't aware of PROJECT SWORD.

RESEARCH CORRESPONDENCE ARCHIVE: MARTIN BOWER

Continuing my posts of research correspondence from the 1990's, I recieved this nice reply from ace Model Maker Martin Bower in 1996. Unfortunatenately he couldn't tell too much.

HOVER PROBE FORCE 1 PURCHASE DATE 1970

Chris King, of the Space 1999 Eagle Transporter Forum, has posted a group of really excellent shots of his SWORD collection, including this HOVER PROBE FORCE 1. Fascinatingly, Chris can date when and where he purchased it - Hamley`s London Xmas 1970. Where Century 21 SWORD toys still available then or had they had their day already? Or where they sold side by side? Anyone remember?

RESEARCH CORRESPONDENCE ARCHIVE: TARHEEL

I got this reply from Empire of Tarboro in 1997. I had enquired about Tarheel Project Sword but, alas, they couldn't tell me anything.

SPACE GLIDER NOSE ANTENNA WANTED

A fellow enthusiast needs a nose antenna for the Century 21 Space Glider. Has anyone got a spare one?

Research Correspondence Archive: Century 21

During the 1990's I wrote, via Snail Mail, to various people concerning PROJECT SWORD. Although there is nothing sensational here I thought it might be fun to post them anyway. I have removed any original signatures. The first are my brief responses from Keith Shackleton at Century 21. Frustratingly Keith did not remember much about SWORD but it was kind of him to take the time to reply. I also wrote to Gerry Anderson last year but as expected to no avail I'm afraid. I wonder if anyone else has had better luck with Century 21?

SPACE 1999 EAGLE TRANSPORTER FORUM

There's some great SWORD discussion going on on the SPACE 1999 EAGLE TRANSPORTER FORUM. If you like the SWORD forum you'll like this one too. Thanks for pointing it out Grif!

HOVER PROBE FORCE 3 - REMOTE CONTROLLED VERSION

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Yesterday I was pipped to the final post on this fabulous Hover Probe Force 3 that appeared on Ebay UK. I know several bloggers have clocked it on Ebay and I think you'll agree it's a beauty. It's very unusual and a version I haven't seen before. The NASA livery can be seen on other Hover PF3's but the two most striking features on this one are the brilliant open window box and the remote control. Awesome. It's fair to say I reckon that along with the 2001 NASA Space Glider, this toy is the only other remote controlled version outside of the big 'three' r/c's in the Century 21 range, the Zero X, Nuclear Ferry and the Cape Kennedy Set. I have asked the buyer if further pictures of the box base and sides may be forthcoming for the blog. That's looking hopeful too!