RED ALERT! The Dinky Maximum Security Vehicle by Jim L.

If anyone is asked to overview Gerry Anderson merchandise it is very difficult not to touch upon the output of the Binns Road based Liverpool legend DINKY TOYS. From THUNDERBIRDS through to SPACE:1999 Dinky created some of the most collectible and loved toys ever produced relating to the incredible works of the Century 21 team. The Maximum Security Vehicle was perhaps never as popular with viewers as the sleek and sexy Spectrum Patrol Car or indeed the more famous Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle. It was however utilised extensively on-screen particularly in early episodes of CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE MYSTERONS. Meant to be used to transport important passengers or cargo the car is described as 'Tank-Like' by many and is often seen at Spectrum road blocks in the show so it was clearly meant to be a sturdy machine. The toy is sturdy too!

As always very close to what anyone who has watched the show would expect to see aside from one of the classic Dinky paintjobs. No real explanation can be given for the choice of colours used but I have heard personally from staff of Century 21 at conventions and meetings that certain colours were regarded as unpopular with children. So from this we can glean that in the 1960s children were apparently averse to silver grey? I know I wasn't. However as children were watching the programme in black and white many were never exactly sure what the cars and craft were meant to be anyway I'm sure. The inclusion of the radioactive isotope is again something of a puzzle but added to play value for youngsters as it allowed them to fully appreciate the gull wing doors which set this car apart from others in the range.

I have also included in my piece images from a 1968 edition of Meccano magazine. This particular edition really is a must have for 'SCARLET' enthusiasts as it features glorious art on the front as well as a colour ad on the back cover. Inside there is an extensive review of toys in the range as well as a three page article on the making of the show. Meccano magazines association would continue into the 1970s with a SPACE:1999 'Eagle' cover with the craft being made from the well-known building product Meccano were known for. In this 1968 edition there is also a review of the Airfix Angel Interceptor kit so fans everywhere need to keep their eyes open for copies when they do show up.

Jim Lewis

Hippo Exploration

Being a Spacex nut as well as a Swordhead I've long been fascinated by that US boxed wonder, the Miniature Apollo Exploration Set. You can see it here, unboxed, in the US Montgomery Wards Xmas catalogue for 1970 priced $4.77!

This boxed set pictured below recently sold on Ebay [for £50 +]. If you look in the top left corner you'll see an orange Spacex Space Patrol1. I'm sure that's not part if this set. And what is the missing vehicle that went on top of the blue stand? Here's the seller's description:

Miniature Apollo Exploration Set #48-24392 and it's original box. Box measures approx. 12" long. Marked, Hippo Toys, Made In Hong Kong. Fabulous original vintage set is complete sans a small space capsule that sits on a small blue platform (platform present). Has a couple extra pieces that were found with the set. All of the original pieces are in fantastic, unbroken, appears unused condition. 7 plastic parts bags are still factory sealed. Features: Astronauts, Monsters of Outer Space, Rocket with Friction Drive, Space Tank with Friction Drive, Space Vehicles with Rolling Wheels, Craters, and accessories.

But the biggest mystery of all remains, for me at least, the toy manufacturer. Hippo Toys? Now just who were they? Did they produce anything else?

Probe Source One

In an attempt to distract myself from the economic woes filling the news I have rekindled my search for possible origins of SWORD art. As you know I was over the moon when found the Randy Rayder LP graced by none other than Probe Force 1. Exciting as it was it is just a copy of SWORD box art appearing after Century 21's line of toys.

So tonight whilst browsing Google Book's library of Popular Mechanics covers I came across this from September 1956 and thought, hmmmm, that's also a little like the Probe Force 1. It's actually a Convair B-58 lifting plane with piggy-backing jet bomber. Nice...

...but not as nice as this! It sent a frisson of joy up my back! [well I am excitable] - maybe, just maybe? - and it's from November 1959, a good 8 years before Project SWORD. Described as a 'pickaback plane', it's possibley by Britsih artist G.H. Davis based on designs of British aeronautical engineer Dr. R.R. Jamison.

The mini-gallery below makes comparison with the Probe Force 1 box art easier. There are some points if similarity: the finned wings, the small foreplane wings, the red nose-cone and the overall arrowhead shape. Is it possible that C21 box artists had old copies of Popular Mechanics around?

You can read the whole 'Coast to Coast in 90 minutes' article about the 'pickaback' concept in this issue of Popular Mechanics courtesy of Google Reader.

What Alien Mind Was Influencing Them?

Take one Moon Base. Add one Ed 'SWORDFather' Valigursky cover [uncredited] and what do you get?

Moon Base by E.C.Tubb.

It's true! Woodsy and Wotan are alien slaves!

No really, from 1964, the plot runs thus:

"The cold war continues on the moon with the bases of each country carefully watching each other. Felix Larsen is sent to England's base to investigate reports of an attempted sabotage. What he finds is incredible. People falling a thousand feet with only minor bruising and someone with the inclination and means for suicide who is unable to commit the act. All inclinations point towards ABIC, the bases manufactured computer brain who is responsible for these events...but how and why is it doing it?" [Neil Morey]

Pedigree's JOE 90 Doll by Most Special Agent J.I.M.

Back in the Summer of 1970 I was taken to Jersey for a holiday. I still look upon it as perhaps the most lavish holiday I ever went on as a child. I had my own bed and we stayed in hotel. We went on a ship to get there too. Glamour indeed! Shame the weather didn't meet family expectations. How would a parent keep her kid happy for a few weeks in a hotel lounge (which is where we mostly spent our days!) My Mum took me to town and let me loose in a toy shop. This is a strong memory for me as I really didn't care how horrid the weather was because my Mum bought me this little fella! I also got the Century 21 Crack Shot set and a JOE 90 Colouring book too.

Yes during the Summer of 1970 I was quite the JOE 90 fan. I had grown up on the earlier shows and although I don't look upon JOE 90 as I do UFO, CAPTAIN SCARLET or THUNDERBIRDS it is still a favourite and the accompanying toys too and as a 6 year old was pretty obsessed by the show. As an ACTION MAN nut I grabbed this figure very quickly as he was kind of the right size when I used ACTION MAN as Sam Loover in table top or floor bound adventures. The figure is completely wired rather like MAJOR MATT MASON. He broke after a while and I lost the glasses. The badge remained however along with the sturdy but not TV authentic PVC suit. The style is of course very close to the design he often wore in the show but why use PVC? The long eyelashes and real hair too go toward this figure looking more like a girls toy than a boys but I loved him all the same back in 1970. This boxed example came into my collection about twenty years back and I cherish him and certainly won't lose the glasses this time which are near perfect replicas of the ones he wore in the show.

This figure gets a bad rap though from most collectors and for those interested you only need type in GERRY ANDERSON BIG BREAKFAST into a search YOU TUBE to see Gerry Anderson himself completely ripping into one of these figures when they showcased his programmes and related merchandise a decade ago. Perhaps not the quality of the CAPTAIN SCARLET doll or even the Fairylite THUNDERBIRD dolls it is still very collectible and a great example of classic merchandise from the period when Gerry ruled the airwaves, and toy shops, as far as most little boys were concerned.

Jim Lewis

TV21 Moonbase

Paul

In the same issue of TV Century 21, #41, that the Gem STINGRAY competition appeared in was this superb image. They had a whole series of real life NASA sort of stuff and thought this looked very close to the SPACEX set

Jim Lewis

Thunder Visions

Bad Bots

Me and Missus Moonbase are both full of cold at the mo and shambling round the house like zombies! Doused with a cocktail of paracetomols, vitamen c and vicks, I'm cramming for a rather important day tomorrow, whilst looking over the laptop with one sticky eye on the telly. Tim Burton's homage to Topps 1950's uber-grisly MARS ATTACKS! cards is on and the aliens are tak tak takking like mad. I love the scene when the master alien robot chases Grandma and Richie's van, whilst they play Slim Whitman's When I'm Calling You over the loudspeaker. Burton's robot is largely true to the original [above]. The Topps robot sort of reminded me of another big bad bot, the 'walking bomb' in the TV21 SWORD strip [below] from Issue 174 [GACCH]. I'm reading Asimov's Biccentennial Man at the mo and I can't help wondering where the 3 Laws went wrong with so many bad robots!

Picture courtesy of GACCH, where you can

Read about SWORD in TV21.