MOONBASE CENTRAL

Sunday, 28 June 2009

EXPLORER 12 AND THE DIE- CAST SPACE SERIES

I first came across the nifty space toy range Explorers 12 in the early 1990's when I picked up 2 picture books based on the toys, very much like PROJECT SWORD! Sadly, I no longer have them but I remember that they were published by BHS, the great British Home Stores (my old Mum's favourite shop!).So I was chuffed to see the above appear on Ebay the other week. Looking at them now it's like a SWORD/SPACEX hybrid. Great box art too. Anyone got any?

And keen-eyed blog follower John Sisson spotted this brilliant but simple die-cast SPACE SERIES on a US auction site a while back. Would fit well with Spacex vehicles. The far left one is a ROBBY Car copy minus Robby. There maybe a vehicle missing too. Anyone know this set?

Project Apollo

LP SPACEMEN

Blog reader, the Philosophic Toad, has drawn our attention to a recent VECTIS auction of LP Spacemen on unusual cards, which was covered in the latest issue of Plastic Warrior magazine. The description given was 'L & P [Hong Kong] - 1/32nd Scale Spacemen, comprising: 3 x Spacemen in White Space Suits in various Action Poses, marked to underside of bases - "LP Made in Hong Kong". Near Mint overall, strung on an illustrated Space Themed Card. Also, as above but in Silver Space Suits, slightly different poses & 1/72nd Scale. Near Mint overall, strung on an illustrated Space Themed Card.'

Don't forget, you can still get the 2 Spacex/ Golden astronaut issues from One Inch Warrior with the free LP Spacemen photocopy article. See the Blog Exclusive 8 in the side bar. Hurry while stocks last!

Saturday, 27 June 2009

SEARS 3- STAGE SATURN ROCKET TIME LINE

In the 1964 US Sears Christmas Catalogue, which was probably available Autumn 1964, the fabulous Sears exclusive 3-Stage Rocket appeared for the very first time. As blog reader Darth pointed out last year in his bloglet, this pre-dated the Century 21 SWORD Apollo rocket by 3 years. Exactly the same, the Sears version was bigger, had smoking engines (cool!) and a huge gantry.

Then in June 1965 an Apollo rocket appeared in this TV21 ZOOM competion advertisement. The toy is clearly the Sears version from the year before as it lacks the chequered neck-band, which adorned the later Century 21 rocket ( previously posted courtesy of Jim Lewis).

Then in 1966 we see the Sears 3-Stage rocket again in their Christmas catalogue. This time it's joined by Moon McDare and friends and the price has risen by a dollar! The amount of space related toys is starting to increase as the Space Race kicks in. I can't find any further Sears catalogues for the 'Space Race' years between 1967-1970, so I can't be certain that the Sears 3 -Stage Rocket continued to be advertised. It will take the UK until 1967 to catch up and launch it's own Saturn rocket toy via Project SWORD.

Friday, 26 June 2009

THUNDERBIRDS DART GUNS

This highly unusual THUNDERBIRDS dart pistol - above - appeared on Ebay in the last week, being sold in Belgium. It's clearly a knock-off of the officially licensed 1960's Lone Star Rocket Firing Space Gun (below, courtesy of http://www.vintagethunderbirdstoys/). The flagrant copying of the TB2, both at the top and bottom of the card, are clearly visible and you can almost see how they have simply slapped a Dalek over the TB3 picture! But, do you know, I love this knock-off. The dark space background is wonderful for TB2 (and unlikely as I'm sure that TB2 was earth-bound) but what really makes it for me is the juxtaposition of a Dalek and the TB2 in one place! This is very unusual and reminds me of a DC/Marvel Superhero crossover where Batman meets Spiderman! Both contemporaries in the swinging Sixties and regular neighbours in TV21, I'm sure they never actually came together on TV or moreover on any other toy? It's strange how the toy is simply called ROCKET GUN AND THUNDERBIRDS, opting to miss out on the selling power of Dr. Who in the title. The black and white drawing of the space boy in the bottom left corner is also odd - sort of reminds me of the motif in the Dr. Who Disintegrator Gun comic advert. I must admit I had a bid on this but it was a reserve item and remains tantalisingly unsold!

There is another knockoff of the Lone Star gun, the PILEN PISTOLA ESPECIAL from Spain. I can only find one image of this similarly wondrous derivative, on the marvellous METROPOLIS TOYS site. The image is copyrighted so please view it on their site. Pilen avoid any mention of Thunderbirds but have slapped one of the Tracy brothers over a space-scape patrolled by a more plausible TB3. However, it is still the Dalek version, which does it for me!

PS. Steve from www.vintagethunderbirdtoys says "Interesting. The Pilen dart gun is significantly smaller than the Lone Star version. I wouldn't give the Pilen one house room. I assume the Dalek/Thunderbirds one is a re-card of the Pilen".