FROG MAN

The pond at Moonbase is looking good this Spring. It's what estate agents would describe as 'frog ready'. I'd like to send a toy Stingray across it and a few 007 skin divers! Anyone else got a pond or water feature?

Scarlet Mystery

This mystery spacecraft was on Yahoo Japan recently. Old Captain Scarlet is piloting. is it based on something from the show?

SMALL V: THE NEWLY DISCOVERED MINI APOLLO SATURN

As you know I'm a bit of a Mini SWORD nut. I recently had the good fortune to, with a lot of help from Terry H, to acquire the above small green Saturn rocket along with the cool yellow and red robo-tank. To my utter amazement, the Saturn rocket turns out to be another in the miniature SWORD series from Japan, which Wotan and Terry first discovered in 2010. Talk about thrilled! I was proper apolloed! Examining the rocket I saw that there was a number on the undercarriage as there is with the others already found. This Saturn rocket is numbered 6 or 9 [hard to say which]. This takes the toys Wote and I know about to six, as follows [name and model number]:

Dyna Soar  - 2

Apollo Saturn - 6 or 9

Task Force 2 - 11

Task Force 3 - 14

Probe Force 3 - No number

Scout 2 - No number

Now I had thought that the model numbering might follow the order of appearance in the SWORD Manual but I can't get these to fit at all. If there are actually another 16 of these miniatures making up the 19 in the SWORD range, then 13 are still missing! The number 14 on the Task Force 3 bodes well as it's suggests there's at least 14 miniatures! If anyone has any idea what the numbering might relate to, if anything, I'd love to hear from you.

In the meantime I've taken some snaps of my new diminutive green machine along with a medley of the Japanese miniatures discussed above [far left, three rockets], Takeuchi SWORD erasers [from red Space Glider to yellow Scout 2, six in all] and a blue Weeto's Saturn V gantry to set the scene.

I started getting excited and took a few snaps pf a Spacex Nuclear Ferry cab and a mini SPV from the 1990's Captain Scarlet Board Game, which I recently found online on a spare parts site.

And by way of a finale, Wotan kindly helped me photoshoperise a full fantasy set of mini SWORD, a heady cocktail of Japanese minis, Takeuchi erasers, Weeto's Saturn and gantry, Mexican Booster [Wote's], Imai Prospector, Aoshima Moon Crawler, Marx Dozer, custom Scout 3 [Imperial Battle Cruiser] and party favour OX and PF1. One day, one day!

More Exploring

Continuing the current Apollo thread, here are a few sets and items from various sets in my photo archive in the style of Apollo Moon Exploring. Part of this post appeared back in 2009 and the subject has been popular ever since the blog started in September 2008 [ use Search to find more]. Any more pictures of variants or sets welcomed.

Above - Interspace Vehicles - Woodsy Collection 2010

Above - LP Space Exploring Set - Arto 2011

Above - LP Space Exploring Set - Toy Tent 2010

 Above - LP Boxed Set Ebay 2010

 Above - L'il Jacks Ebay 2011

 Above - Greek Board Game Ebay 2010

Above - Boxed Set Ebay 2011

Above - boxed sets - Ebay 2009

Above - Ebay 2008

Above - Carded Apollo Moon Exploring sets - Mark Mcllelan collection

Above - Carded Apollo Moon Exploring and Spacex/ Golden Astronaut - Darth collection

Above -  Apollo Moon boxed variation [LP?] with Spacex - Ebay circa 2007

 Apollo Moon Exploring bagged variation by Multiple Toymakers - Ebay Circa 2007

 Above and below - Exploring The Moon boxed set [LP?] variation with loose Spacex - Ebay circa 2007

 LP Boxed Set - Mark Bergin Toys

LP Boxed Set Liveauctioneers 2009

Below Loose Apollo Exploration Items - Various Listings Ebay 2009/10



TONY P's APOLLO MOON EXPLORING TOYS

Hi Woodsy,

Further to your blog post about the Apollo Exploration Set and the Apollo Moon Exploring Series, I note that I have an Apollo Exploration Set somewhere but it's caught in the old time/space warp (miscellaneous shed or cupboard!) so it's not available for a photo. However I would guess that Mike B's set has a lot more in it than mine - he seems to have at least 2 of everything - just the thing to conquer a parallel universe!!

What I have been able to track down is my collection of Apollo Moon Exploring Series - pics are attached.

A few interesting things to note about these:

• the front of the blister packs suggest that there are "12 sets" to collect. Mike B's pic shows 5 sets and as far as I can tell my pics show another 6 different sets so there must be another undiscovered set out there somewhere;
•  
• the front of the blister packs also allege that "they really work" - presumably this refers to the models, although as far as I can tell they really don't work! They're very cute but all they do is sit there and don't actually fly to the Moon!!! I doubt that in the 21st century the advertising laws would allow such an optimistic claim (one can almost hear the year 2012 voice-over disclaimer: "Please note: Toys do not actually travel in space.");
•  
• as may have been noted before on this blog, a lot of the little "extra" toys in these sets are miniature copies of Major Matt Mason toys including the following: Space Crawler, Reconojet, Rocker Launcher, Satellite Launcher, Cat Trac, Space Sled and even approximations of the Firebolt Space Cannon and Astro Trac. I'm not sure if Mattel went after Imperial Toys for nicking their designs - maybe Mattel were fooled by the cunningly-placed wheels on these little toys (but they didn't fool me!!);
•  
• there are some variations in the same sets - for example, the 2 sets in my pics containing the red "mission control panel" (on green backing cards) have different Major Matt Mason knock-offs accompanying them. Similarly, the the 2 sets containing the white rocket ship with the red tail (on yellow backing cards) have the Major Matt Mason knock-offs accompanying them but the knock-offs are in different colours;
•  
• the accompanying astronauts are, of course, our little Golden Astronaut/SpaceX mates.

Overall these are lovely little models but they are cruder and less well-detailed than the Golden Astronaut/SpaceX models. Nevertheless, they're yet another set of excellent late 60s - early 70s beauties!!

Cheers

Tony P

Next Train to Coolsville

A recent prezzy from Germany, a lovely plastic Bahnhoff or Railway Station. All aboard!

The Shores of Titan

After the brief pass by icy Rhea, the crew of the Heimdall were ready for the next and possibly the most exciting encounter yet, cloudy Titan.  Astrogator Tori Varr had images of the mysterious moon pinned up all over any available space in her cabin, spending the long hours between activity poring over the data. Now it was time to put that information to good use, as the vast ship approached the enigmatic moon and the course she had plotted was put into action. She and Nascha had argued about the most promising landing site, as the surface was largely clouded and the only available maps were based on sensor data. Nascha had suggested that the best place would be near the shoreline of one of the titanic seas or mare, the largest being at the northern pole, Kraken Mare. The large sea had an island land mass at its northern end and although the liquid the sea contained would not be liquid water, the greatest possibility for finding signs of life might be in these areas. As it turned out, the deciding vote was cast by Skarvalds wife and mission Exobiologist, Inga Skarvald, a tall imposing woman who knew more about the moons climate and makeup than anyone else. Inga had quietly pointed out that the shorelines of Kraken Mare may be too soft to venture onto using the rovers or Molab, but the island itself had a more solid outline and should permit close observations of the ethane seas. The initial landing was to take place using the Gungnir, while the second shuttle Bifrost would rendezvous with one of the cargo rockets to transfer fuel and supplies to the Heimdall. The two secondary shuttles would perform mapping operations of Titan, while the cloud cover was at its thinnest, so that further excursions could be planned. The Heimdall had arrived during Titans seven year summer season, so the heavy clouds of hydrocarbons were slightly less dense and there was less chance of severe flash floods of methane during their stay on the surface.

Tom piloted the Gungnir into the upper reaches of the atmosphere as Nascha, Inga and Tori carefully watched the readouts on the sensor arrays. Tori made slight amendments to the trajectory as the shuttle hit the cloud layer, the thick atmosphere buffeting the ship as they slid through the gloom. Inga readied the atmospheric probes she had prepared, instrument capsules attached to gas filled balloons that would inflate and drift in the cloud layers sending back information to the Heimdall. Suddenly, the Gungnir dropped abruptly as it hit a layer of lighter air. "sorry." grunted Tom as he hunched over the controls, levelling out their descent. Just then, the viewport bloomed with yellowish light as the shuttle emerged from the lowering cloud above a landscape of low mountains and gleaming lakes. "wow, look at that.." whispered Tori, but the two other scientists were still restrained to their couches and unable to see directly through the main port. Tom grunted his appreciation and hauled back on the controls, bringing the Gungnir into a circling pattern over the proposed landing site. "landing in six minutes! Sing out !" This was Toms instruction to Nascha and Tori for confirmation of the landing sites suitability. Already they were checking the sensor readouts and Nascha quickly confirmed the practicality of a soft landing. The retros cut in and as the lowered gravity made it easier to handle the ship, the actual touchdown on the surface was delicate and smooth. Once more Nascha was the first to unseat herself and was heading for the cargo bay. Tom and Inga would follow on in the Molab, but Tori and Nascha were to be first to set foot on the surface.

Tori joined her companion at the airlock and stepped in. As she cycled the lock, Tor Skarvalds voice crackled in their ears across the intercom: "now remember," he rumbled "no sightseeing!" Nascha looked across at Tori and smiled. Then the lock cracked open and the bay was bathed in eerie, buttery light. Flakes of waxy snow fluttered in, turning into oily puddles immediately. They stepped out onto a rocky plain, the light from the sun washed away by the glow from Saturn, bathing everything in rich golden light, petering down through the clouds. Before them, the land tumbled away, scarred by craters and rilles, vast patches of ice spread across their view and just beyond sat a long gleaming expanse of liquid - ethane, colourless and torpid stretching away towards the horizon. The flakes drifting around them turned to sleet, heavy drops replacing the large flakes as the heat radiating from the ship warmed the frigid air around them. The drops streaked their suits with greyish fluid, particles contained in the fluid leaving trails on the heavy woven material. "look!" said Tori breathless " a rainbow.." and they both watched as a golden arc of light lifted silently from the far edge of the sea, its colours alien and ethereal in the strange light.

Mike B's Mint Imperials

Last month I had the pleasure of meeeting up with fellow SWORD and SpaceX fans Wotan and Mike B. One of the topics we discussed was the Miniature Apollo Exploration Set [pictured here courtesy of Mike B.] A beautiful set both full of SpaceX lookalikes and its own attractive vehicles and features like the orange rocket. I have been trying to complete a set for some time and one of serious matters we looked at was a full and comprehensive list of the set's contents. We agreed that the rather blurry box art doesn't really help particularly with the smaller items like the various astronauts and aliens. We had a look at the list in Playset magazine, which may indeed be the definitive one. In the meantime Mike has kindly supplied these snaps of his set, which is in super shape and complete with its moonscape play-mat. Does anyone have their own version of the box contents?

Mike has also included this gallery of his nifty Apollo Moon Exploring carded sets by Imperial 1970. Does anyone else collect Apollo Moon Exploring, Apollo Exploration Set or any of the many varitions? Pictures and observations welcomed. Do you think that they compare well with SpaceX?

 

Thanks Mike!