NUCLEAR FERRY SHUTTLE BY RAUL MINA MORA 1972

You know, you just can't get enough Nuclear Ferry! It's by far the most beautiful and futuristic of all the SWORD fleet. So I was thrilled when the mighty WOTAN posted that he'd spotted these fab SPACE BASE book illustrations by Raul Mina Mora on John Sisson's marvellous Dreams of Space Blog earlier this year. John kindly agreed to let me post them again here for you. From 1972, my favourite is the cover art with the small Ferry shuttle cab glimpsed in the lower left corner.

If you enjoyed these pictures look further on John's wonderful site and blog. There is also a fascinating interview with him too.

MIDORI SCORPION FROM SEAN

From reader Sean, cool or what! Ta for sharing!

INVESTO DYNA SOARS

I recently came across this cool image of two Dyna Soars zooming past an atomic ship. I love the bright cartoonish colour scheme. It's part of an old Australian card game called INVESTO. I have no other information about this I'm afraid. Australian collectors are also seeking information about this if anyone can help - here. I'm unsure where I found the top two pictures so if they are yours then hope you don't mind - I've had them in my archive for a while.

bottom picture: collectors/qilich

COMAN FEEL THE TOYS

I love this short YouTube Ad for Comansi's COMAN BOYS ESPACIO from Spain. There's even a little TB1 in there too!

THE MANTA FORCE IS STRONG IN THIS ONE

I recently acquired this small collection of boxed MANTA FORCE. It's not a toy-line I'm overly familiar with and as such it's in the same mental folder as STARCOM and MASK. By Bluebird in the 1980's, they really are massive vehicles with hidden craft, accessories and neat miniature figures. And the boxes are HUGE! Those lucky 5 year olds back then would have been able to get inside them! A thought popped in my head, were they the SWORD/SPACEX of their day? Well, I was amazed when I read the backstory on Wikipedia, it's so similar to PROJECT SWORD! See what you think:

"Manta Force was a toyline produced by Bluebird Plc in the 1980s. MANTA was an acronym for Multiple-Air-Naval-Terrain-Assault Force, which referred to both the "good guys" and their spacecraft, searching the galaxy for a "New Earth". Their foe was called Viper Squad, who traveled in a spacecraft called Red Venom. The back-story involved the sending of a spaceship to find a "New Earth" for colonization by the World Government, given the overpopulated and polluted state of Planet Earth. The Viper Squad aimed to take over MANTA and colonize the New Earth themselves.

The plastic toyline consisted of small toy soldiers and much larger spaceships, as well as a "battle fortress". Several of the guns were capable of launching plastic projectiles, including the infamous "Zip Gun", a hopper-loaded, gravity fed. crank handle operated design that launched 5mm plastic spheres at an extremely high rate for a distance of around eight feet.. There was a series of books as well as a cartoon strip in the Eagle comic.

Bluebird Plc. also produced the Polly Pocket toyline, for which reason the company was purchased by Mattel.

Later the two opposing sides joined forces to fight off attacks from an alien known as Karnock who was served by an army of robots. Another enemy emerged as well in the form of Stinkhorn who lead the 'vile' Stenchoids who appeared to be either another alien grouping or the native dominant lifeform on New Earth." (Wikipedia)

Stenchoids! I love it!

 Inside one of the boxes was this cool leaflet in French.

and also these other as yet unidentified toys

What do other people think about MANTA FORCE? And for that matter STARCOM too?

IN DEEP, FAR OUT

Woodsys earlier post about the Ice Fountains of Enceladus and the seas which may exist on the moons of the gas giants got me thinking about the kind of submersibles that might be used to visit these hidden seas. Recently, I followed a blog about a prototype robotic probe which was being tested in the deep sinkholes or 'cenotes' in Venuzuela. The robotic device is a testbed for equipment which could be used on a probe which would venture into the seas of Europa.

The blog is very interesting - although the field tests are now over: http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/projects/depthx/ and shows the cool saucer like vehicle.

I love a good submarine and inspired by the DEPTHX, i decided to make a few minisubs of my own. The top pic shows a couple of rough scratchbuilt subs made of playmobil parts, scrap kits and gum capsule lids. Below are a pair of Matchbox Mega Rig Rescue subs and a pilot figure.
Next we have a slightly larger two man sub, made from a sweet premium toy.
Below is an american mail away minisub - possibly on offer from a cereal. Anyone any idea which one ? Its called a Sonar Sub and is battery powered and came with instruction sheet, which sadly reveals nothing about the maker.

Finally, a little scratchbuilt ROV (remote operated vehicle) - a litttle like Big Geek in the Abyss, a Kinder Egg Deep Diving suit and our friendly Matchbox pilot.

THE ART OF MIKE TRIM

I've not got Mike Trim's book but it looks great in this promo. Anyone got it? Any reference to SWORD or Century 21 boxart?

CATCH OF THE DAY: LUCKY JIMSON

Today's catch at the local boot sale is shown above: Lucky Fire Tender, Jimson Flour Truck, FK Missile Launcher (like the Spacex Cricket), VW Breakdown Van, Red Cab, die-cast Renault and battle-damaged DINKY (Ta Sean!) SPC (did they come in black?) together with a VHS Video of Thunderbirds Are Go and a couple of Big Box VHS Video's, which I collect. Not a bad hawl.