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?

CAR BOOT DIARY: STARBLAZER, MANTA FORCE AND TV21

Well, it's been another eazy Sunday morning here at Moonbase Central. The girls have gone to Appleby Fair and the dog and me are lazily looking through this morning's car boot booty, which I have to say, despite some red-herrings, is a fine haul. I thought the plastic ray gun was from the obscure Gerry Anderson STARCRUISER Mission Control Set by Thomas Salter but alas its not. Its actually STARBLAZER, which has its own fanbase and website! The Decimal Board Game, bought in a hurry at the end, wasn't the Century 21 Decimal Dominoes set I thought it was, as featured in Chris King's collection on the Eagle Transporter Forum. But its complete and in great shape - someone obviously never decimalised! The two small plastic action figures I can't identify but I like them. Adventure People?

I also picked up 3 Manta Force boxed vehicles for Ebay, which were a sod to get to the car, together with a staple for my collection, a nice boxed spy pistol, plus some 70's/80's Star Wars toys leaflets and a couple of old games and cars.

By far the best catch of the day was the Century 21 books lot. Toy Tony, the best dealer at the boot sale, had really dropped on the week before when he bought about 100 Annuals and Comics for £20 at the local Hospital fleamarket, in amongst, which, were loads of Century 21 Annuals, which he's now selling to his own regulars like me and making a handsome profit to boot! I took the opportunity to leaf through most of his C21 Annuals, probably for the first time since I was a kid in the 60's. It became clear that the Project SWORD format and style had been tried many times before in the Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet Annuals - the classic 2-page cutaways and the day-glo-colour strips focusing on one fabulous machine or other. I was amazed! A Eureka moment! It made me realise how easy it must have been for PROJECT SWORD to have been created in what was obviously a seething hotbed of art and futurism over at Century and TV21. Spoilt for choice, I settled on a TV21 Summer Special and a TV21 Annual to bring home and fondle. Non- Anderson books got a look in too with a Space Adventure annual by Atlas and a Golden Token Space Patrol book.

If I sell a few bits on Ebay I'll be back again next week!

Whilst tapping this bloglet out I watched an AMAZING repeated 30 minute Channel 5 TV show called MEAN MACHINES about amphibious vehicles like the ARKTOS. Brilliant! There's more to come - Space Transporters 10th June 7.30pm, Loggers 13th June 10.30am and Trucks 17th June, 7.30pm. Wow!

CENTURY 21 SUBMARINE AIRCRAFT CARRIER - NEW PICTURES

The seller, MrThunder, of the current Ebay auction of the superb Century 2 SUBMARINE AIRCRAFT CARRIER has kindly sent the blog more great shots of this superlative toy for posterity:

From Top to Bottom:

1. Full view as can be seen cuurently on Ebay

2. Box ends - both the same

3. One long side of the box lid

4. The other long side of the box lid showing instructions

5. Top of hull with deck flap open

6. Detail close-up of the two firing mechanisms for the 'airplanes'

7. Underside of hull showing friction-drive motor and wheel assembly which slots into the black area of the hull recess. This is removed and the red propeller assembly then clips onto the small black holder halfway down the length of the hull

8. Most of the "detachable" parts available for the toy in the Ebay auction including both rear 'wings', part of the propeller assembly, the two 'chrome' parts to the conning towers, the under-hull steering wheel and the four launchable 'airplanes'

Thanks MrThunder - Just faaaaaaaaaaaaabulous!