UFO MOVIE

There's talk of a new UFO movie! What are the chances of UFO/SWORD crossover (a la Imai kits) vehicles like the Moon Crawler, Scramble Bug or Moon Prospector appearing?

Woodsy

So Near, So Sea Sword by WOTAN

One area that is sadly missed out in the SWORD range is the submarine, despite the annual covering the deep sea recovery vehicle, Diver 1 and the Hovercraft Sea Sword, there were never any toy manifestations of these designs.

A little known company Europa, came up with a rare toy called the SF Jet Boat Mk1, possibly in the late sixties, but probably the early seventies, judging by the box artwork. Theres an Art. 7220 number featured on the box and Patent pending - Hong Kong on the wing.

The toy itself is a really unusual design, resembling a jet fighter, but functioning as a hydroplane using a propellor mounted inside the hull, drawing water through two large vents at the front. Unfortunately, although the engine nacelle lights up, the motor refuses to run. As the build is especially good, I cant get the hul lopen to fix it! Cosmetically, the model is very reminiscent of a SWORD toy in terms of basic design and also in the gorgeously illustrated box art. I havent been able to find any other toy by Europa or if there were ever any other toys in this series - although I do remember seeing something very similar in a box/blister pack in deep blue and silver plastic, called an X-20 or similar which had a vaned engine and sleek fins.

WOTAN

LOCKHEAD CARGO CARRIER

From the the Wonderful DREAMS OF SPACE website.

T IN A CIRCLE BY ARTO

Hi Paul,

Congrats on the new breakthrough with the mystery of "T in a circle"! Let me just elaborate a bit on the "Toys Are Fun" case that you mentioned. A couple of years ago an Apollo Saturn -type rocket with "T" logo was on offer on eBay. I contacted the seller about a phrase on the box which I could not decipher from the photograph. The seller responded that the text was "Toys Are Fun", which I considered then more as a tagline than the name of the manufacturer. So Tai Hing may very well be that name if further evidence is given.

7

To me this "T" case is the most interesting unsolved issue around SWORD toy lines (even though there are plenty). It was exciting how you draw parallels between Tai Hing and Tar Heel (It was WOTAN that actually made this observation - Woodsy), the latter of which has a great motivation for its name, being based in Tarboro, NC. I regret that I have lost the original communications about the Apollo rocket, I'd love to check it once again. I have never since seen this same item on offer, and I remember passing on it because of the condition of the box (though given a second chance, I would strongly reconsider...).

7

Cheers,
Arto

I agree Arto, T Toys are really excellent. Anyone else seen Arto's T Rocket? Woodsy

Tar Heel Books

Nice one Wotan!

These are both on Ebay. I love it - a book actually called T is for Tar Heel. All we need is T is for Tai Hing and we've cracked it!

'T' in a Circle Company Mystery by WOTAN

Reading the background on the Tai Hing company and having seen the logo itself, a subtle similarity struck me this morning - Tai Hing and Tar Heel! Looking into the etymological background of both names, it would appear that Tai Hing has no direct translation or actual meaning, it is pretty much as Paul Vreede suggests, the chinese equivalent of Smith or Jones. Tarheel on the otherhand is a name given to the inhabitants of North Carolina and is believed to be both a reference to the states' production of Tar and also because during the American Civil War the soldiers of North Carolina "stuck to their bloody work as if they had tar on their heels", and when General Lee said, "God bless the Tar-heel boys," they took the name.
7
So i wonder if there is any direct connection between the two companies, apart from their first letters and a similar sounding name ? A lot of toy production facilities were based in China and it occurs to me that perhaps Tarheel was an anglicised version of Tai Hing to make the company a little more acceptable to western buyers ?

MOONBASE DIARY

Work is drawing to a close on the Moonbase! All the biuldings are biult and just need a few decals. The crew and Lunar Roving Vehicle pictured above have arrived from Sword Base North West courtesy of Commander WOTAN. The lunar surface is complete too and strangely this was one of the most enjoyable things to make. It took me back to railway days as a kid, making hills and mounds from papier mache and painting them green. This time it was grey. It's not brilliant but it'll do. The craters came out well. As you can see from the top piccy of your bespectacled host I'm pleased with the results so far, as is Jigger, our pet guinea pig, Batman as well, who popped in through the attic window and Godzilla too, who temporarily broke off from wrestling Thunderbird 2 to say hi!

Just looking at those white, yellow and silver LP astronauts, it reminded me of how a toy dealer years ago tried to sell me some as actual Project Sword Moonbase astronauts! I said, so where's the moonbase? Well, soon we'll have one!

STOP PRESS! WOTAN'S BLOG

From this Tuesday evening the blog will be administered by guest blogjockey extraordinaire and all-round good egg, the mighty WOTAN, as I will be on my hols for 6 days in Sunny Whitby on the beautiful East Yorkshire coast re-charging my run-down battery cells with fish and chips and rolled-up trousers in the surf! Give WOTAN a boost and send him lots of your own comments, which makes the blog a LOT more fun to do. So give a big hand to WOTAN, blogmeister from Tuesday.