Super Sonic Toys

From the desk of Paul Vreede:
Since the SST is now more on topic, I've taken some quick iPhone snaps to show the two Boeing 2707-100 toys I have. The large one is a really lovely craft, some 25cm/10in long, and bearing the "USA Supersonic" livery seen in contemporary illustrations. It has friction drive and variable-geometry wings (linked inside so they move together). It doesn't carry any markings at all, but comes in a box from our old friends Hover. The box side has a Salco trademark however (and the nr 319), so presumably Salco is the real manufacturer in Hong Kong.

The smaller diecast SST is from Zylmex and is some 11cm (4in and a bit) long. It's in Panam livery (though the fuselage stickers have gone) and is clearly marked underneath with aircraft type and manufacturer. The wings can be folded out separately, which has resulted in paint flaking off and it's also lost its landing gear. Neither of these toys connects with any other range of toys I'm interested in, but the 2707-100 is a lovely design (sad it never flew for real) and the large Salco/Hover toy is such a beauty that I just couldn't leave it be. :)

12 WHEEL SCRAMBLE BUG A GO GO

What could be better than one Scramble Bug? Several joined together of course! Here's the MULTI USE 12 WHEELS MOON TRANSPORTATION! No brand name visible but it really is an intereseting toy. I know there are other artics around but I like the Century 21 Bug colour scheme - yellow, red and black - on this one. And the lego pieces are called GO GO BRICKS! Now that's one cool bit of rebranding. With Go Go Bricks you could biuld an entire Carnaby Street just for you! Currently on Ebay.

PROBE FORCE 1 BOX ART: THE SEARCH BEGINS!

Wote's post today of Paul's (Vreede) truly amazing discovery of the SST/PF1 connection is inspirational! Well done Paul! As you know I'm trying to tie-down the original box art sources for the C21 SWORD toys and this is a massive leap forward as to where to look for the PF1's. I've had a quick look to see who else produced SST in plastic. No other toys as yet but there are kits.

c/o wings900.com

Here's the LINDBERG SST (above) from the early 1970's. Amazingly the original artwork survives here and the site author is also searching for the artists's name!

c/o Gasoline Alley

And above is the MONOGRAM version again from the early 1970's.

The above shows how artists handled the engine plumes but our C21 and Maruman PF1's are earlier. Certainly the C21 PF1 we can date as 1967. I thought it would help if both boxes were shown together. I've flipped the PF1 box and SST artists impression so that they at more or less the same angle as the Maruman kit. I would say that the PF1/Maruman boxes have the basically the same artwork with some differences. The clincher for me is the inclusion of the brown cratered moon in both. So my feeling is that Maruman copied Century 21. But who did Century 21 copy? Paul's (Vreede) SST discovery offers a number of artists impressions including the one below - it's not the basis I don't think but there is an artists name on it (bottom unflipped picture). Can anyone make it out? Follow Paul's links to Dark Roasted Blend/Flickr to this and more in their source.

c/o Dark Roasted Blend

Probe Force One - Origin ?

Paul Vreede shed light on the Probe Force One origin -

Seeing the Probe Force 1 kit once again provoked a feeling I'd seen something like it before. Still can't put my finger on where exactly, but one of the American SST designs is what I thought. A google revealed that what I had in mind was the Boeing 2707-300 design, which has that distinctive tail and the four engines in a delta wing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/avi_abrams/506508651/sizes/o/

I then discovered that apparently it was NASA that did a lot of the initial work, using a design called SCAT-15F (Supersonic Commercial Air Transport) which they continued to test until the early 80s. That had a much longer wing (though a smaller tail) again with the four engines in round housings.

http://lisar.larc.nasa.gov/IMAGES/MEDIUM/EL-2001-00400.jpeg

As you can see from the pictures, it's very likely that some depiction of these craft will have inspired the looks of Probe Force 1. If you do a google on "scat 15f" (between quotes to get the exact expression) then there's a lot to read about it. And Dark Roasted Blend has a nice collection of SST pictures.

SPACE SHIP X-5

Ebay Top, Hakes Bottom

Back in the Spring of 1990, still in my 20's, just!(the sound of yearning can be heard) Me, Mrs.Moonbase and the 6 year old mini-martian went to Bali on the coast of Crete. It was our first family holiday in the Med, one which we were to repeat many times during the '90's. Whilst on one of our many days out we went to a quaint coastal town called Rethymnon and stumbled across, of all things, an old toy shop. An Alladin's cave of Greek plastic and boxed tin toys, it was heaven. The old store keeper didn't know what had hit him when I started to pile up boxes on the counter. Dusty stuff from the top shelf! Amongst the booty was a lovely boxed Modern Toys Spaceship X-5 like the one pictured above. Not the rarest of the rare or even that attractive really, I have a soft spot for the X-5, probably because it reminds me of that old cool toy shop on Crete. It's only looking at the box now that I realise that the little jet at the bottom left is a Fireball XL5 of sorts. The name X-5 obviously completes the connection! My own X-5 was one of the first items I ever sold on Ebay in 1999 when it first kicked off in the UK. I remember friends used to say to me "Ebay. what's that then Woodsy you wierdo?"!

DON'T FORCE IT!

I might be onto something here I reckon. My little X-Planes book by Jim Winchester has turned up the HANDLEY PAGE HP115. Anigrand have made it in kit form - below - looking very PF1'ish with its strikingly similar sweeping delta wings this time done as a single triangle of plastic.

And here's a model (wooden?) currently on Ebay by myasainart. If we could add the antenna'd tailfin of the BAC 221 we would have a sort of Probe Force 1 maybe? Just those pesky exhausts to find now!

Ebay myasainart

THE FORCE IS STRONG

Ever since WOTAN and me acquired our Maruman Probe Force 1 model kits (thanks Terry!) I've been feeling the force. With WOTAN's biult up model hitting the PC screen yesterday the force is strong! I've been probing the depths to find any other similar toys or indeed actual aeroplanes. One possible contender is the 1960's XB-70 VALKYRIE, which seems to be quite a popular plane amongst kit biulders and model makers judging by the number available including this rather nice wooden statuette and kit both online.

There are some similarities to the PF1 but too many disimilarities to ignore. So looking further what about the BAC 221/Fairey Delta I hear you ask. There's definately something about mary that tailfin which is like our PF1's for sure.

Wikipeadia

Still, not enough for a match. We need those tubular PF1 wing exhausts ID'ing folks. Get those X-files opened!

To be continued......

PS. There's an interesting article on X-Planes and Century 21 in the latest Andersonic fanzine. Well worth a read and amazing value for money. SWORD even gets a look in!

FEEL THE FORCE

Its shaping up into another great year for SWORD, this time in 2009 we saw the elusive Nuclear Ferry gracing the blog and here we have another scoop from the far east. Courtesy of our resident coolhunter and benefactor Terry, we have the actual kit of the Maruman Probe Force 1.

Previously spotted at auction in a fleeting glimpse last year, Terry managed to lay hands on an actual copy of this super rare kit. Near mint in box, the kit is more accurately described as a buildable toy and mirrors its larger C21 cousin almost exactly. Apart from the different box art and slight cosmetic differences, it is basically a smaller version of the PF1 we all know. Made by Maruman, presumably a company based in Osaka, the kit came bagged complete with glue, decals and friction motor. Its almost impossible to date the kit, as it is pristine. The slightly immature style of packaging is hard to place, but a best guess would place it contemporary with the Century 21 toy - or possibly earlier. This is a definite chicken and egg scenario - did this kit give rise to the toy, or was the toy lifted from the kit ? Another strange clue is the inclusion of stickers with 'SB' on them - does this refer to the Space Bird series of toys ?

Either way, it is a gloriously beautiful toy as you can see from the photos. Simple construction is held in place with slot headed screws and the decals are self adhesive as opposed to waterslide. Even the wheel and moulding arrangement echoes the C21 toy. A thing of wonder.

On the last picture you can see the comparative scale compared to the remains of my very first Project Sword toy, the PF1 itself.