SWORD for on the Wall

Sifting through Nomura Space Commander images online I came across a company which produces posters and framed pictures of the box art. This got me thinking about other examples of SWORDesque posters and prints available to buy on the net. Here's the two I've found - just click on the names for the websites [any more out there?]:

Nomura Space Commander: Australia

Analog Cover Art Moon Crawler by

John Schoenherr: USA

Long Sword 2

Never one to ignore a good bandwagon, here's my meagre photoshopped contribution to Wote's Long SWORD theme! I suppose the Apollo Saturn might fit together of you had three or four sets to try it out. The Multi-Bug is pure fantasy! Fun!

Nomura Space Commander: More SWORD than any other Box?

I've been aware of Nomura's 1960's Space Commander for some time and the use of small SWORDesque vehicles on the box art. But it occurred to me recently that with its' three SWORD craft pictured - Space Glider, Booster Rocket and Dyna Soar - then maybe it has the MOST on any non-SWORD toy box art? The recently discovered Flying Space Rocket only has two SWORD craft on its header art, TF1 and the Booster Rocket [admittedly they are perfect copies of Century 21 art]. Can anyone think of any with more?

Whilst posting the Space Commander pictures I realised I'd seen the little Dyna Soar picture before - on Martin Caidin's Rendezvous in Space book cover as shown below. Anyone got this edition? Does it say who the cover artists was?

Space Commander Pictures: internet Vintage Space Toys

Long SWORD

Pottering about in the Wotan Archive, looking for items to include in the Sword Trump set, I fished out the Booster Rocket. One of the first of the big toys that I got as a boy, the Booster Rocket suffered a major setback as I was playing with it on the floor as my grandad stepped on the silver rocket and crushed it. Years later, on ebay I managed to get a new one, complete with the remnants of the box too.While I was reliving the loss of the first silver rocket plane, it occurred to me that the main hull of each rocket could be joined together. I brought both hulls out and without the engine cover and nose cone removed on each toy, I could slip them together to make one rocket. As  a result, we have the Extended Range Booster Rocket for extrasolar missions beyond the farthest planets, by virtue of the double fuel capacity. I wonder what other toys could be simply combined or retrofitted ?

Five Songs To Take to Mars

Throw Down Your Sword by Wishbone Ash. Arthurian epic by the 'Ash, total masters of twin-guitar rock harmonies and creators of some of the best riffs of the Seventies. Totally of it's time when Ash fans like me were reading Undercurrents, discovering Lord of the Rings, watching the skies for UFO's and were as well-versed in Arthurian legend like Tintagel as we were in mung bean salad . Argus is one of the greatest rock albums of all time with monstrously brilliant tracks like Warrior, The King Will Come and the mighty Blowin Free. Check the whole thing out! The truth is out there!

The Carter Family by Carly Simon. Erstwhile wife of fellow songsmith James Taylor, Carly made this, her best album, in the early Seventies. It contains the smash single You're So Vain but I prefer this, the beautifully wistful Carter Family and probably as much, All Her Friends Were Fond of Robin and the other songs on the album, all beautifully crafted and sung from a teenage summer long long ago. The whole LP is recommended listening for romantic SWORDheads and thier pardners! Get the vino out and dim the lights!

Are Friends Electric by Tubeway Army. Essentially a Seventies rocker I was just young enough, however, to appreciate the birth of post-punk indie. I remember watching the Tubeway Army play 'Friends' for the first time on the well-respected Old Grey Whistle Test on TV and I was totally blown away by it's hypnotic synth-riff and robotic feel abley assisted by Gary Numan's creepy replicant looks! Cars would later capture the same spirit of androidal desolation begun by teutonic moogsters Kraftwerk.

Everbody's Gotta Learn Sometime by the Korgis. Every now and then a beautiful pop ballad came along during the post-punk period at the start of the Eighties, which stood out. This is such a one. By ex-Stackridge members, the Korgi's struck gold with this. Simple. Soft. Gorgeous and thankfully not yet relegated to simply supermarket muzak. The Passions' I'm in Love With A German Film Star is another one.

Solitude by Black Sabbath. I first discovered Sabbath when I discovered this album in my two big bruvvers' vinyl collection crammed down the side of the wooden music centre in the corner of our front room. Along with other LP's lurking there like  Nice Enough to Eat, Fill Your Head with Rock, Bumpers, Machine Head and Live Cream, Masters had an indelible effect on me and I have loved the Sab ever since. But Masters is without doubt my fave LP of theirs and more or less defined the hard rock sound, which would be later emulated by countless metal bands. Reputed to be the first 'stoner rock' album, Masters is chock-full of the heaviest of riffs and rocks interspersed with a couple of sumptuous ballads like Solitude. Listen to the entire album if you haven't already!

So SWORDheads, which 5 songs would you store on your iSWORD whilst zooming to Mars Base in the Nuke Ferry to see the Wote Meister?

UFORIC

I was so chuffed when Rocket Punch identified that mystery tank the other day, the UFO Lunar Missile Tank [or Rocket Launcher?] . Toadlarone even identified the UFO episode, the Cat with Ten Lives. Through the invisible force of You Tube we can all watch the missile tank in action on the moon here from the opening scene to around 2mins 40secs where it swiftly terminates marauding UFO's. It's such a simple yet successful design, basically a block with a laser gun on top yet done with such style. Is it a Mike Trim design I wonder? It's certainly popular with scratchbiulders as you can see on the cool Eagle Transporter Forum. It may even be the same model, which appeared at TV21 last October?

It would have made a great toy and would have sat brilliantly in the SWORD fleet. Not  to be confused with the unlicensed UFO MISSILE TANK.

Quizzoid: What's the SWORD link with the aforementioned unlicensed UFO Missile Tank?

Throw Down

Ladies and gentlemen, just a quick note to ask for permission to 'borrow' a few photos from the blog to use on the projected SWORD Trump set. Obviously, fellow bloggers collections will include items which I don't have access to and we have featured some fabulous pics on the blog from contributors, which would be ideal to use on the card set. Just to clarify, the Trump card set is purely for fun and will not be used for any financial gain or be distributed beyond the blog fraternity.

If its ok, I would like to borrow the odd photo here and there from Mike Burrows, Arto, Rocket Punch, Jim Lewis, Sean, Emily, Andy B, Toad and of course Woodstock. If anyone has any objection, just leave me a comment or drop me a line please. I will make sure anyone who has there pics used is fully credited. Ta!

Driving Me Up The Wall: The Century 21 Hurdler

I posted pictures of the wonderful Century 21 HURDLER earlier in the year on the main blog. I've still not worked out what it is that the Hurdler is driving over? Bright orange glass? Lava? Since getting it I have come across similar if not identical versions by Marx, all HILL CLIMBING and in civilian and military styles.

Marx also did a realted range of HILL CLIMBING trucks such as the DUMP and the WRECKER (below). This naturally begs the question, as hinted at in Project MOON toy ads, whether Century 21 did too?