Kenneth Kendall 1924 - 2012

I read that the former BBC newsreader Kenneth Kendall has died at the age of 88.

He had the distinction of being the first newsreader to appear in vision on BBC TV in 1955.

I mention his passing here on the blog as he appeared in several film and TV sci-fi productions including a cameo in one of my favourite sci-fi films, 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as one of my favourite B movies, They Came From Beyond Space.

 

Hover Moon Base Set

Ever since I saw this Hover Moon Base set on Ebay years ago I've been in love. For a start I've never seen another one and I find the simple box art and design really appealing. It'd be great to get better pictures of this. Most of all, though, I adore the small Scramble Bug. What a beauty! Does anybody have or previously own one?

Dinky Eagle

This is my Dinky Eagle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although the colour is right I did what most people did at the time and crossed an Eagle Transporter pod with an Eagle Freighter body.

The first Transporters were green with yellow navigation rockets, red engine bottles and chrome take off thrusters and engine bells. The white pod came with self applied water slide red decals to create a medical Eagle.

The first Freighters were white with red navigation rockets, red engines and take off thrusters and chrome engine bells. The winch pod was red.

The second versions remained green and white respectively but all had red navigation rockets, silver engines and red take off thrusters and engine bells.

The Freighter had a final makeover in that the main body was painted blue and the winch pod came out white.

 

The Dinky Eagles’ were released in 1975 and ceased production in 1979. They were excellent die cast reproductions, and a fitting end to the Dinky company’s long association with Gerry Anderson’s televised series.

Dinky UFO Interceptor

The Dinky UFO Interceptor. A lovely die cast representation of Shado’s first line of defence - if you ignore the colour!

Like most of Dinky’s output, the Interceptor went through some changes. The missile started off in white and orange but that changed to yellow and black, and combinations of the two. The legs went from orange to red. The chromed parts were eventually dropped leaving just plain red plastic. The canopy went from plain clear to a blue clear plastic. And, I read that the early versions of the model used the figure from Joe’s Car as the pilot.

I got mine in the early seventies. The box is long gone but I did manage to hang on to most of the card display.

There’s still burn marks round the nose reminding me of when I used to put caps between the missile and the model's spring loaded hammer for that added special effect.

The Dinky catalogue and Meccano Magazine for July 1971 both featured the UFO Interceptor, the latter using the card display artwork with the addition of Moonbase

 

The box artwork as seen on this advert which I first remember seeing in Countdown comic.

A promotion for the Interceptor with Oat Krunchies and Puffed Wheat breakfast cereal. If I remember rightly Oat Krunchies carried some features about the UFO TV series on the back.

SPECS FOR SPACEX

My call for readers' specification sheets resulted in this charming beauty from my friend Paul Vreede. It's a technical drawing of the MEV2 from Tri-ang's SpaceX range.  Its really excellent and bodes well for what might come!

Now Where Are Those Specs?

I've often wondered what a technical manual for SWORD and SPACEX would look like. The sort of thing that Chris Bentley has done for UFO. There's even a Haines Guide for Thunderbirds, which would make my old Dad laugh thinking about getting under the bonnet of TB2 and spraying some WD40 on the plugs!

 

 

Anyway, as you know I love to dabble with the basic PAINT program. I find the simple shapes and bright colours very easy to use and the whole process is very relaxing. Here's my Booster Rocket from both side and front views. I'm sure that the graphic artists amongst our readership can do a much better job. Has anyone else attempted any technical drawings or spec sheets for SWORD, SpaceX or any other toy?

Dinky Shado 2

The Dinky Shado 2 Mobile came out in 1971 and went through a few changes before Dinky ended production in 1979.

Mine was bought in 1971 and has a green body and roof, brown rollers and grey tracks. Sadly the box has long gone.

The next versions all had black tracks with green rollers followed by black rollers. The roof was eventually changed to black, and the body colour changed to blue.

The last version had a curious combination of four large drive wheels and eight small middle wheels.

The only gimmick was the missile launcher which was concealed in the flip-over roof.

Here's some pictures showing some of the variations and in particular the wheel arrangement.

 

 

 

The Service's Secret: Where is the Gabriel Car?

Scoop's beautiful article about the Secret Service Ford T Gabriel got me feeling curious as to where the original car ended up. My first mistake was thinking that it was a real car as such. "Wag Evans manufactured a full-size and two miniature versions (the last of differing scales) of Gabriel, fitting the larger car with belt-driven electric motors, a folding roof, upholstered interior, and a remote control mechanism" [Wikipedia].

 

 

So where are these models? Well despite a good old search around the net I couldn't find the whereabouts of the miniatures but I did come across this photograph of the large-scale vehicle from 1999. It appears to be on display for Busseys, who are an East Anglian car leasing firm. Whether its still there I can't say. Anyone know any more?

 

 

An interesting aside I came across whilst looking for Gabriel was this page of  Secret Service locations on the Avengerland website. They don't mean a lot to me but I can appreciate the effort it will have taken to track down original locations. May be of interest to readers.