This time of year, with Xmas fast approaching, nights getting darker and a chill on the wind, it's easy to let my mind drift back to the heady days of childhood. Even now, as I dress the tree in anticipation of another modern xmas, I still wish that one of my carefully wrapped gifts might contain a space toy from 1969 again. Aftershave, socks and novelty undies really don't have the same thrill as those early morning forays into the pile of presents to find Dinky toys, Spacex, board games and kits waiting for me.
One classic toy that I always put on my xmas list back in the day along with the Johnny Seven, Zero-X and large Rosenthal SPV was Spacenik. Oddly enough Santa always seemed to forget this and I used to drool over pics of it in catalogues instead. The 1969 Tri-ang catalogue had it sat alongside the Moonmobile and Jump Jockey, but despite it riding high on my notes, I never managed to get it until many years later when I found an old newsagent had dusted off a load of old stock from an attic storeroom and along with a Marx Dalek, some old Aurora Dinosaur kits and what seemed to be the whole first run of Major Matt Mason cards, I found a boxed version.
Spacenik, although boxed and sold by Rovex Tri-ang is actually a Tomy toy. The ship itself has a tomy logo on it and it was sold in a similar set by them called Grippidee Gravidee.
The basic idea is a battery powered ship which runs along a toother trackway, upside down, vertically and back again after being re-directed by automatic turntable. Spacenik 2 added a second ship, the Freighter and a crossroads to avoid the two ships crashing into each other!
Its a fiddly set to put together and after the track starts to get over a foot in length, becomes quite unwieldy as the craft are heavy with large c cell batteries inside. Consequently, I didnt risk putting mine together for a photoshoot in the kitchen last night!
