Are Car Boot Sales Dead?

Well, it was Fathers Day here in the UK yesterday so before the festivities, along with the Missus I treated myself to visiting two Car Boot sales. We haven't been to any for ages and as always I was full of excitement. My wants list is never extravagant, perhaps a bit of old Hong Kong plastic and a Big Box VHS video from the early 1980's. At the very least I looked forward to a good rummage through boxes of loose Thundercats, Ghostbusters and He-Man figures.

No such luck! The pickings were as slim as a bad day in the Gobi desert and I have to say that the standard of most of the stuff on sale at both boot sales was very poor and verging on grubby. Vintage stuff was scant and old toys [1980's backwards], apart from one specialist dealer stall, virtually non-existent. Where have all the vintage toys gone? Are they now locked away in private collections having been ebayed several times during the last 10 years? Are they gathering dust in old toy shops or are they the sole preserve of Toy Fairs?

 

I did manage to find one piece of interesting Hong Kong plastic, a small DUKW shown above, but I can't help thinking that the golden years of car booting are well and truly over and Ebay is what we have in their place.

Do you agree?

Gerry Anderson on Den of Geek

There'a an interesting interview from 2009 on the Den of Geek site: Gerry Anderson talks about the spaceships in his TV shows.

ALONG CAME A GLIDER: CENTURY 21, TARHEEL, HOVER, SPACEX AND ALL THE TOY SPACE GLIDERS

Century 21 UK

Century 21 rare orange version

[Woodsy collection]

Tarheel USA

[Darth collection]

Tarheel rare red star box

Durham USA - rare

Only known green Space Glider toy

[Arto Collection]

Hoover

[Ferryman collection]

above/ below

Mego Space Tract

Day-f-Ran

2001

red and white versions - remote controlled

SpaceX NASA Glider or Lifting Body

[Paul Vreede collection]

SpaceX Rescue Craft R6 - uncarded

[WOTAN collection]

Hover miniature

Japanese miniature - unknown make

Takeuchi - rubber UFO miniatures

Yellow, Red and Green versions

Space Voyagers miniatures - modern - 2 lifting bodies

Wooden Model

Resin models - various

Example: Anigrand [instructions only]

ANY MORE TOY SPACE GLIDERS?

Pictures and info welcomed!

Where is the Century 21 Lunar Climber?

Back in the mid-Naughties this beautiful and rare Lunar Climber by Century 21 Toys graced Ebay for a while. I did have a flutter on it but missed out. I'll never forget Wotan's advice when I said I'd lost: 'You should have put the ton on it!'.He was right as it sold for just over £90!

Part toy, part myth, in the late Sixties the toy trade press considered it to be part of the Project SWORD toy range. Sadly this was a case of mistaken identity but a tantalising notion nonetheless: The SWORD Climber! I'm surprised that SpaceX never had a crack at it.

Many years have passed since that day on Ebay and I'm sad to say that I have never laid eyes on the Lunar Climber again anywhere. To this day this image remains the only one I have ever seen of the actual toy and box. Can anyone help with more? Just where is the Century 21 Lunar Climber?

Captain Scarlet in Seattle

We've known for ages that Century 21 was also the tag-line of the 1962 Worlds Fair in Seattle. The Space Needle really did look like something out of the Anderson Universe and has always reminded me of the Car Vu design from Captain Scarlet 1967 pilot episode, pictured below, by Mike Trim. The Space Needle is the one on the right [but which is taller?]

[pictures: Askart  and Belatednerd]

So I was amused earlier when I saw that the Fair also had its own theme song called Rhapsody 21. Are we sure that Captain Scarlet didn't have a hand in this event?!?

Out of interest, did Rhapsody ever have her own song or music in Captain Scarlet?

MMM: MOONLANDING MYTH MODEL

I saw a great old episode of the US show Mythbusters this week on TV. The team basically bust the myths surrounding the 1969 NASA Moonlanding. There are so many myths I was amazed! The slanting shadows, the illuminated astronaut, the fluttering flag, the boot print and the slomo hop to name just a few [the wiki page on the subject is vast!]

One of the great parts of the show was the LEM diorama they biult to prove that shadows can be at different angles at the same time. I also learnt a new word - rigolith - the dust covering the moon's surface. the way they made the lunar surface out of a sheet of wood, plaster of paris, grey paint and sand must be the basic way everybody makes it. I had a go a couple of years back complete with SpaceX LEM - see below. Maybe I should try to bust a few myths with it!

Have you biult a lunar surface before? Piccies welcomed.

HIGH SPIRITS DOWN THE MARS BAR

EARLY SUMMER CAPTION COMP

So Swordies, what are these two SpaceX pilots saying or thinking?