SPACE GLIDER LINE-UP

left to right: Century 21 Orange, Day Fran Orange, NASA 2001 Red R/C, NASA Orange, Century 21 Grey

Top To Bottom: NASA orange (no box), Day Fran, Century 21 x 2, NASA 2001 R/C

From the Woodsy Collection

Quiz Question: which Gliders are missing?

BLOG EXCLUSIVE 8 - APOGEE BOOKS: THE SAUCER FLEET AND MORE

Blog reader, Darth, runs Apogee Books in Canada and he has kindly offered blog readers a 20% discount on any of the books on his site - click on the pic above. The discount would be a refund post-sale. Just buy and pay for what you want by Paypal from Darth's Apogee site (prices are in $US), let me know your name (contact me here), address and what you've bought/order no. and after confirmation from me then Darth will send you a 20% refund via Paypal. Here's the background for Apogee's latest fab-looking book, The Saucer Fleet:

The Amazing Sequel to The Spaceship Handbook:

The Saucer Fleet by Jack Hagerty & Jon Rogers .

After years of waiting, fans of the superb "Spaceship Handbook" can now finally see the long awaited sequel by Jack Hagerty and Jon Rogers. Available in full colour, hardback, this 328 page monster with over 400 color illustrations includes the same attention to detail first demonstrated in the Spaceship Handbook, but this time applied to Flying Saucers.
Few things are more iconic of the cold war era than the flying saucer. Although the
archetypal "Chariots of the Gods" goes back to antiquity, the concept of a
Flying Saucer as a vehicle of alien (or sometimes human) intelligence entered
our culture in 1947 and has yet to leave.
This book examines the social phenomenon of flying saucers through the lens of the films and other media of the day. You won't find any chapters on Area 51, Roswell or almond-eyed Grays here. What you will find is a detailed and meticulously researched reference on some of the most popular science fiction films of all time.
Prepare for the landing of The Saucer Fleet!

Chapters include:
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
TWIN EARTHS
WAR OF THE WORLDS
THIS ISLAND EARTH
FORBIDDEN PLANET
EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS
DISNEYLAND FLYING SAUCERS
LOST IN SPACE
THE INVADERS

BLOG MAP

Occasionally I look at the blog stats, which includes a world map. Thought it would be fun to post this from 5 minutes ago. Isn't the worldwide web just amazing! Keep blogging!

MY PROJECT SWORD COLLECTION

Thought I'd post a few pics of my own collection in its summer quarters - the moonbase cabinet in my attic. This is about 75% of it, there's a whole box of stuff like the Apollo Saturn I can't find! I'm naturally messy so it will take a while to find it. In the meantime enjoy. Pics of readers' own collections welcomed!

AOSHIMA MOONBASE

I'm fairly convinced now that the cute trio of the Moon Crawler, Moon Prospector and Scramble Bug are the SWORD pin-ups when it comes to models! Imai obviously loved 'em and Aoshima's Moonbase re-issue is no different. The hard-working moon vehicles appear alongside all the stalwarts of the UFO fleet and this maybe the closest we ever get to the fabled Imai Project sword Moonbase Kit (which like its Century 21 parent may not even exist). The Aoshima kit comes with a whole sheaf of great Japanese instructions, but I've just posted those for the Crawler, Prospector and Bug - wonder if they translate as the same names? Alas, I don't own this kit (pictures from various kit stockists' sites) so if anyone is lucky enough to own one, any chance of close-ups of our little SWORD pals!

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PS. I used to think Konami did a similar gang of three but I've never found any.

IMAI BASE

Ever since I read in Dennis Nicholson's seminal Guide to Gerry Anderson Memorabilia about Imai Bases I've been in love with them. I don't own any but I just adore the artwork, particularly of the SWORD vehicles. Above are a selection. The top picture of the UFO Big Base is from Modern Fred's excellent Flickr album. The Prospector picture is of the UFO Starbase 1. The bottom two pictures are courtesy of William0099 on the Space 1999 Eagle Transporter Forum. They are scans from what is obviously a wonderful book about the main Imai artist and his work. The one with the base module is UFO Starbase 4. The bottom pic is UFO Attack Unit. I've found a link to this book and many other juicy Japanese Anderson tomes here.

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There's an earlier bloglet on Imai Bases here.

IMAI GOOD MODELS, NOW ROLL OVER!

As a postscript to our recent Imai Scramble Bug/ Project Sword Custom box sale, here's a great little site all about the 'GOOD MODEL' die-cast range (click on the logo). Oddly enough the Bug is the only 'non-character' vehicle made, the rest being from popular 1960/70's TV shows in Japan. Wonder why the Bug? Our little friend is also described as a 'space exploration vehicle'.

The site also covers, amongst many others, the much bigger Eidai Grip range of very similar 60/70's die-cast vehicles, which include Thunderbirds, Stingray and many more Anderson shows. Perhaps the closest stable-mate for the Bug in the Grip range is the UFO SHADO MOBILE, as they both appear together on various Imai Big Base kits.We've seen the 'GOOD MODEL' logo before on the blog - here - a gorgeous and original display case, of the Bugs sold on the blog, as originally procured by supercollector Terry Harle.

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But what were Imai thinking with the line 'Now Roll Over'? Roll over and play with your toy? Roll over the moon terrain? What?

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BTW if you are one of the proud owners of one of our custom boxed Sword Imai Bugs, don't forget to check out the little paper catalogue inside the Imai card base ( open carefully! ).

ACTION JACK ASTRONAUT BY STAR TOYS

...and here he is - Star Toys' Action Jack - 3.5 inches of pure adventure. And there is an Astronaut too. Check out this great Action Jack archive here to see the bigger Space set. It's a poor picture but you get the idea. I love the Sentinels rocket. These little fellas are popular with Action Man and GI Joe fans too. Collect Em' All!