DOWN TO EARTH

Seeing Woodstock having fun in the warm evening air with a few choice toys in the garden, reminded me that i'd done the very same thing a few years ago .

When I was at school and used to smuggle Spacex into class, the playground had a couple of small holes in the tarmac which always reminded me of craters. On the back of the Triang Spacex cards, were ltitle photos of the toys in a background setting and the Prospector, MEV and Cricket all seemed to have been shot on a coloured, rocky landscape. I used to love trying to re-create these scenes in the playground.
Messing about with a Prospector in the soil in the garden then got me thinking about the scale of the settings and whether the fine soil might look a little like moondust, so I fished out my Sword Prospector too!
As id been customising a few spare spacex in the fledgling Wotanic Workshop, I brought them out too for a photoshoot, together with a few other bits and pieces. The Mole was a natural choice along with a die cast Xabungle Galliar robot and a Firebat fighter.
Neighbours probably thought (and still do) that I was barmy, but it took me back to those sunny days in the garden and in the playground! Priceless!





Pics - top: Iron Legion/Majorette Firebat, Xabungle Galliar, Manned Prospector, Lunar Command Vehicle, Long Range Needle Probe, Galliar, die cast Mole, Sword Prospector and Lunar Recovery Vehicle MK1 with escape pod.

SCARY MONSTERS & SUPER CREEPS

Way back in 1970, I read a lot of comics on a weekly basis. To offset this and possibly to keep himself amused, my dad bought me a mag called 'Tell Me Why'. It was a Look and Learn style magazine, large format with lots of historical stories and nature articles. Being a fan of space and stuff, I found it as dull as dishwater. I'd dutifully scan the pages under his watchful eye, feigning interest until one weekend, I spotted something that stopped me in my tracks.

At some point around this period, id seen George Pals 1954 film, 'War of the Worlds' and been scared witless by the snakelike arm that emerged from the fallen meteor in the pit, thrumming and pulsing before unleashing the deadly heat ray. Seeing Pals saucer like war machines and cyclopean aliens, I assumed that this was how H.G Wells had envisaged the invasion and that the film was an accurate depiction of the rather stuffy looking book. However, Tell Me Why had been running a series called 'Great Books' which contained a serialised version of classic novels, illustrated at salient points in the story. In January 1970 they began a five issue run of the story, two pages each week with large illustrations.
What caught my eye from the first glance was the big, colourful painted panels depicting key moments in the story and one of the first paintings showed a baleful, glistening creature resting on a nest of tentacles in the pit. Suddenly, I was attentive and reading. This wasnt the comic book style interpretation i'd been lead to believe was right by Mr Pal, here was someting much darker and sinister. The aliens shown here were malevolent and truly 'alien' and also closer in look and feel to one of my favourite toys - Teachers Pets, small rubber monsters that were available in plentiful supply from most shops.
What I found most striking though was the look of intelligence on the faces of the martians and the implacable intent of the marching tripods. The illustrator was never credited and ive never come across the illustrations anywhere else, even though War of the Worlds has been depicted in many books and other media. The loose, almost abstract style of the paintings had a profound effect on my artistic style of the years and I struggled to capture the same kind of drama and tension in the rough strokes in my own paintings.

My two favourite panels have to be the long panorama of the Martian Handling Machine painstakingly digging in the pit near the house and the aggrieved expression on the leathery martian in the foreground. Second to this would be the awesome mechanical tripod looming over the figure as it crests the hill. The black, windowless body elicits the same thoughts that Gigers Alien did when it first appeared; eyeless, yet all seeing and relentlessly deadly.

The Spielberg movie steered the story in still another direction with its big budget treatment, making the tripods actually appear menancing and powerful, but mired in a plot so full of holes you could shoot an asteroid through them. The Tell Me Why picture will always stay with me as being the definitive interpretation of Wells novel and as an artistic inspiration toboot.

Stop Press - Thanks to Mavericks sharp eye it seems that the mystery artist is probably the late, great Terrence Cuneo. Famous his D-Day art and the glorious paintings on the Triang Hornby catalogues (thanks again Eviled!).

AMERICAN CHRISTMAS WISHBOOKS

Sears Christmas Book 1964

3-Stage Rocket with gantry and astronauts $7.89, the US basis for the SWORD Apollo Saturn Rocket.

Only the Japanese Nichimo original Moon Ranger is older.

JC Penney's Christmas Book 1966

Bell Helicopter $4.44, which I'd like to think is my beloved TARHEEL Rescue Helicopter but is most likely the MARX Chop Chop version.

FAO SCWHARTZ Christmas Book 1967

DINKY Thunderbirds die-cast - Christmas Stocking toys North American style!

JC PENNEYS CHRISTMAS BOOK 1970

Golden Astronaut Set $8.88 complete with YELLOW Space Patrol at the front (Reconnaissance 1 in the SPACEX range) and BLUE Nuclear Pulse.

FROM THE WISHBOOKS ARCHIVE

JR21 BEDFORD VAN

JR21 BEDFORD VAN

JR21 BEDFORD VAN

JR21 BEDFORD VAN

PROJECT SWORD SPACEX ROBOT: THE ESTRELLA ROBOCOM - NEW DISCOVERY

Just when I thought it was safe to go back in the water, up pops another new totally exciting discovery! Whilst browsing through a book sat in the garden before a torrential rain shower sent me packing I noticed something remarkable. The book is the excellent FUTURE TOYS by Antoni Emchowitz and Paul Nunneley. On page 75, plate 107 is a picture of the 1960's Brazilian ESTRELLA ROBOCOM, a plastic TV robot with a box and illuminated screen. Not having my camera handy, I found similar pictures online as you can see below. What's remarkable are the images on the box and, particularly, on the TV screen! On the marvellous ALPHADROME Robot Database, ROBOCOM is clearly pictured (below) along with the flattened TV screen roll at the bottom (The top one is from the similar ALPS Television Spaceman). On the left hand corner of the box is quite clearly a SWORD BOOSTER ROCKET!

 

But the real gems are on screen, both on the box and the real thing. You may just be able to make out on the box's tv a MEV Spacex style! I have zoomed in the two pictures down. This is a sort of 'screengrab' of what's actually on the TV screen proper as seen below. And what a feast it is! I have circled the SPACEX and SWORD elements I can see below as well: MEV, LESA (Moon Base), BOOSTER ROCKET and McCall's Astronaut.

Here are a few more online images of the robot showing various, albeit blurred, images of the TV screen. I would LOVE to see the ESTRELLA TV screen actually lit-up and moving but alas, there's nothing on YouTube. Can anyone help?

 

 

As mentioned earlier the Estrella Robocom was undoubtedly inspired by the Japanese TELEVISION SPACEMAN by ALPs as seen above. Far more famous than the Estrella there's lots of online info and footage of the ALPS original on YouTube. You can see the flattened screen roll above. The elements seem more Von Braunesque and I'm sure there's a DUX ASTROMAN thrown in there for good measure. It would be great to see the TV screen film clearly as well. Anyone?

An epilogue to this ESTRELLA piece is the mystery jet on the bottom right of the box of the related Estrella ROBO MOVIDA A PILHAS below (ALPHADROME ROBOT DATABASE). It would be too much to ask for a SWORD PROBE FORCE 1 surely!  just can't find a bigger image. Help!

Picture credits: Ebay, Alphadrome, ToyTent

CENTURY 21's ALL ABOUT CARS BOOK

 

Mentioned recently on the blog, Shaqui, with some technical help from the Toad, has kindly sent me these fabulous pics of one of Century 21's more unusual 1960's childrens' books, ALL ABOUT CARS. There's a mixture of wonderful concept drawings, Dinky and Corgi cars. They really were pioneers of product placement! I love the Astro 1 article 'Checkpoint 3'. Coincidentally I picked up this ASTRO 1 in a Whitby Charity shop over Easter! Very James Bond!

THE JR21 BEDFORD VAN - NEW TO THE BLOG

Well, it's another new one on me and the blog - the JR21 BEDFORD VAN. I was lucky enough to purchase this earlier this year. Friction drive, detachable rear canopy and about 5.5 inches long. The JR21 (Jack Rosenthal) maker's mark is clearly visible on the base plate in the bottom picture - the diamond cartouche with the initials JR*. Alas there is no model number so I can't add it to the numerical checklist unless someone has a box with the number on it? It would be great to know the proper name of this toy as well. Anyone?

* the initials are the subject of debate amongst collectors, as reported on the blog previously. My own preference is for 'JR' as in Jack Rosenthal. I imagine that these general toys were produced under the name 'Jack Rosenthal Toys' before the  'JR21 Toy' phase, which I associate with Gerry Anderson ( also discussed previously on the blog).