Beans, Grits and Tracy Boys

I always have a look at the odd NOVOLINEA Carretas set on Ebay. I  assume this is a re-mould of Comansi figures, hence Novolinea, New Line? As for this box I thought it was just a nice half-kilo of cowboys and indians. But then I saw the side of the box and wow! spacemen!

But not just any spacemen, THUNDERBIRDS! What a great surprise beneath this box! But what are they doing those Tracy boys? And why cowboys and indians? Is this a temporal rip in the fabric of the Universe? Or just a mix up? Anyone collect Novolinea and Comansi?

PS. I love how these sets are measured in half kilos! Can I have half a kilo of cowboys please! Reminds me of a pint of prawns!

UPDATE: As the blog is a few years old now I forget what's been covered. Here's an earlier entry about Comansi/ Novolinea Thunderbirds showing the Thunderbirds half-kilo box with the right figures! [shown below] [does the title mean a half-kilo of space?]

and the rear of these boxes depicting Thunderbird 3 appears to be a detail of a bigger picture on a Comansi set called El Alunizaje shown below [picture: todocollecion auction site].

I am familiar with these Thunderbirds figures being referred to as Guardianes Del Espacio [Guardians of Space] but El Alunizaje means 'moon landing'. So Thunderbirds landed on the moon! Even stranger is a line on the box side, Guardianes En La Luna or Guardianes on the Moon. Sounds like UFO! Fab!

A Window into Childhood

I've blogged this still from some 1969 film footage before [British Pathe] but seeing as it's a long holiday weekend I thought I'd blog it again. You can buy this still from British Pathe, uncropped and without any watermark, for £20. Check here. The Spacex Superset looks simply awesome [wish I'd had one!]. What else can you see? This time round I've seen something else.

 

On the back window hangs one of my favourite books as a kid, the Finding Out Book of Battles. It has a sort of yellow cover picturing charging horses. I absolutely loved the artwork in this book and still do. I had no idea back then that it was by one Ron Embleton. I think I'd recognise his style anywhere just from thumbing though this book a gazillion times in my bedroom. Anyone else got a favourite book from childhood?

And if that's not enough British Pathe for you have a look at this 1964 footage of all manner of battery toys and dolls! Fascinating! http://www.britishpathe.com/video/1964-toys-on-show/query/london+toy+shop

I am the god of hellfire!

Recent aquisitions to the Wotan Archive have included a few Thunderbird kits, mostly from the Imai Rescue Set series, which include two simple kits. Previously, I posted the small Excavator with came with a small three inch Mole. Since then, I managed to find a partially complete box set of the Firefly and TB4. Both kits are very simple, with a maximum of about 10 parts in a model. The partial kit was missing the windscreen and rear fin from TB4 and one of the tracks from the Firefly. The tracks were one piece moldings with no moving parts, so it was no great loss to be missing one. As the body of the Firefly was quite nicely made and generally detailed, I decided to cannibalise an old Bandai diecast Mole model that was missing its tracks. The wheels on the Mole and Firefly are very similar, so they fit the new body quite well. The only remaining problem was the actual rubber tracks, which were missing from the mole and on the model. I managed to find a single track from a old JCB toy, but had to substitute the second track with a black rubber band. This done, a minimal paint job to reveal some of the body detail was all that was needed. After I had painted, the back of the model still lacked something, so I found a small external tank and added it beneath the 'roll cage'  on the back to flesh it out. 

The model itself is greatly simplified due to size, but also doesn't follow the design of the tv original exactly either, but does make up to a nice, toy like model.

Zero Eggs At Easter

Last week I blogged the Zero X cutaway in colour from the SWORD Annual. Reader Mike B has kindly sent in the original black and white specification sheet, along with some other gems from the TV21 Thunderbirds Spring Extra. Very topical as it's Spring and Easter. They just don't do kids' comics like this anymore I imagine, stuffed full of space-age craft and fururistic machines. But I might be wrong. I'll have a look in the newsagents tomorrow! Anyways, thanks Mike!

Despite what my droll title may say, I do hope the Easter Bunny brings me at least one choccy egg today!

More Marx Moon Base

Hi Woodsy, the Marx vehicles are named in this picture from an old toy mag.

CS

Woodsy says: thanks a lot CS. Coincidentally, Toad recently shared the whole article with me, which was fascinating. Here's a piccy of the relevant issue, #35 from 1995 in case anyone wants to track it down. It would appear from the Plastic Figure and Playset Collector Magazine Website that back issues are still available!

Eastertime

Happy Easter everyone. For me, it always brings back a flood of memories of past times with my Parents, now long gone. The holiday was a springtime basket of of mass, egg finding and rolling, hot cross buns, family meals, visiting sisters, picnics on the park and to top it all off, Disney Time on TV! I do still try to keep some of these old traditions going.

What does Easter mean to you and what is it called in your neck of the woods?

LEMme See

Spectrum Steve kindly stepped in when I requested photos of the 4D Puzzles in the posting No, It's Not Time ...

I wasn't too impressed by the Command Module I bought from Hobbycraft, but the photos Steve sent show the LEM is a much nicer model.

Thanks, Steve. And apologies for the delay in putting them on the blog (a little holiday being the reason).

Rockets and Stuff

Flotsam from recent voyages through Noppin, the Japanese Auction service site. I particularly liked the small silver badge which looks a lot like a Probe Force 3!