Doppelganger

Did Colonel White morph into Liam Neeson? What do you think?

Any more puppet lookalikes out there?

Project Spaceman Redux

A while ago, I put out a request for readers photos of vintage spacemen figures and we received a number of unusual shots. There are quite a number of figures available in various sizes, but a particular favourite of mine, partly because they arrived in Kelloggs cereal, are these six spacemen. They were given away in 1962 in Rice Krispies and were produced by Crescent Toys for the cereal giant. Each of the six figures were clad in a classic suit and came with a detachable helmet. Just this week, I was incredibly lucky to score a lot of plastic soldiers on ebay, which included 6 of these spacemen, one of each type and one duplicate. Im just missing the guy with the UN 'lollipop' flag.

The Kelloggs Crescent figures represent quite a modern take on the classic astronaut figure, the transition from fifties Archer style spaceman, through the LP or basis for the Golden Astronaut common in Spacex, to the Crescent spaceman, shows a distinct change in style of dress.

Amazingly, in the lot of soldiers from ebay which included the Kelloggs toys and a some Lone Star soldiers, I found a single lead based figure - none other than our very own Dan Dare!

Dinky SPC and MSV

Following on from the SPV, here are my examples of Dinky’s Spectrum Patrol Car and Maximum Security Vehicle.

My Spectrum Patrol Car is a later version which I bought from new in 1973, and remarkably it’s still in it’s bubble pack, although the acetate is very brittle.

 

 

The screaming turbo sound mechanism is sadly no more, and being a later model it has only one Spectrum roundel.

It’s a lovely looking model, though.

My MSV is an earlier version which I picked up from eBay a long while back to replace my battered play worn original.

 

 

No box, but it does have the crate of radioactive isotopes.

An article from the May 1968 edition of the Meccano magazine shows prototypes of both the SPC and the MSV.

Dinky Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle

Just as popular as  Dinky's Thunderbird 2 is their version of the  Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle. This wonderfully crafted model is must for any Captain Scarlet fan.

 

I know we’ve featured it from time to time here, but I always think it’s nice to be reminded of this smashing piece of die cast engineering.

It was released in 1968 and continued following several variations until 1976.

 

 

The first five versions, which culminated in 1973 went through several changes, some having blue bases and others having black bases, different wheel detail was added , while the decals lost some of their colours.

The final two versions are easily identified by their black bumpers.

 

I have examples of an unboxed second version and a boxed fifth version.

Like Thunderbird 2, the SPV has a nice card display stand showing the model firing a missile with the Spectrum Patrol Car and an Angel Interceptor in the background.

It’s a great model and certainly one of my favourite dinky toys.

　

Supersize Spacex Nova Revealed!

Kevin Davies awesome scratchbuilt Nova Rocket. 'Nuff said!

The completed Nova Rocket with its inspiration, the Triang Spacex Nova.

The supersize Nova stands ready for blast off on the Spacex Major Mobile Launch Pad.

Looking at Kevins marvellous models, I could easily have dropped through an interspace wormhole to and alternative reality of 1969 and be an excited 8 year old once more, comprising his xmas list from a Century 21 website!

Spacex Nova Workshop Stage 2

Modelmeister Kevin Davies continues his show and tell on the production of the Spacex Nova Rocket!

Read Stage 1 Here

"Next stage with the model was to add chrome parcel tape to the SRB's to give them that chrome look. I then added a bit of black paint to some raised details and some slight weathering. 

 Having sprayed the nose orange, I did some weathering by scribbling on a post-it note with a 2B pencil, then laying the note against the model and rub off some pencil with a finger. This then needed sealing with spray lacquer. 

The SRB's were then glued in place and the nozzles for the main engines were easy, they were aluminium bezels from some old lights I'd bought years ago for another project. They fitted perfectly and just needed glueing in place.

I added detail to the rocket with black biro lines, letraset, metallic parcel tape, car striping tape and decals from old kits. Thus, I finished it! However, it is now too dark to photograph it! I hate the Winter!"

Supersize Spacex Workshop

Spacex toys have always been a special favourite of mine, just as Sword is to Woodsy, so when professional model maker Kevin Davies contacted me with the news that he had begun a project to produce a 'realistic' model of a spacex craft, I was beside myself with excitement. So far Kevin has built a small fleet of some of the signature craft from the series and has promised more. In the process of showing us his creations, readers have asked for a little insight into the process. Kevin kindly took some photo reference of his latest build and has provided us with a step by step guide to the creation of the Nova 1.

Kevin describes the build in this three part article:
"I started off by choosing an approximate size that would be good for display, trying to keep it the same length as the others (after all, the toys are roughly the same size, regardless of scale). This meant searching my boxes of bits for some suitable diameter tubes. By chance, they were both perspex. I cut them to the right length.

The conical section that joins them came from an old metal desk lamp shade, cut down. It seemed to me that the only way to make this one look realistic (and not like a lipstick!), was to add a lot of detail. I used plastic strips to add ribbing like you see on the SaturnV.

I glued the two tubes and the metal cone together with araldite. It looked to me that the side boosters were dead ringers for space shuttle SRB's, so I bought a couple of suitably sized model kits off ebay and assembled the boosters.

More detail went on in the form of plastic strips. I left some gaps to put in pieces of old kits to represent such features as braking motors, vents, umbilical connects and ullage motors. The nosecone came from one of the shuttle kits main fuel tanks, which by fluke was the exact diameter!.

The lower bulkhead was made from a disc cut out of plasticard, with a hole in it, backed with more card.

Amazingly, it was warm and dry enough to spray outside today (winter is a real problem for me when it comes to making models, no light and not warm enough to spray paint), so I got some paint on the body."

Part two to follow shortly...

SUPER SWORDCAST EVENING!

Well it turns out that if you have a couple of hours to spare this evening from 18.30, you can kick back and enjoy Woodsy and Wotan as they wax lyrical about Outer Spacemen, Matt Mason and other stuff on Bill Everatts Underground Edition, then roll straight into the first part of the Saturn Probe serial on Dave Carringtons Squaring the Circle. Then the final part of Saturn Probe - Fire and Ice airs live at 20.00!

Just head on over to http://www.celticaradio.com/ and choose your preferred listening mode from the different players available. Celtica Radio is available worldwide, so theres no excuse to miss out!