PATRON ZERO SAT IN THE BATMOBILE

Greetings and a belated Happy New Year Woodsy !

Thought you might enjoy a snippet of this boomchild's memories of brushes with greatness. A local Ford dealership had the TV Batmobile in 'storage' for it's appearance at an auto-show, my cousin's father knew of the owner of said business so he arranged a behind-closed-doors visit for us boys.

What is attached [above] is the surviving Polaroid of a set of ten or so taken that evening, I'm the little geek in the hat and glasses should you care to know.

Oh, aside from it's many touted features the Batmobile has one practical unannounced accessory, damp-proof seats, as while allowed to sit behind the wheel, the Bat-Phone was made to light and buzz unexpectedly, let's say I found the experience beyond mastery of my bladder!

 

 

Patron Zero

PS. Love the blog, loved the Chevrolet Astro One Corgi feature immensely, actually have one in my collection that survived the years of play, storage and adult life's perils.

"I carry the dust of a journey that cannot be shaken away....."

QUIRKY QUIZ

Another quick Quiz for readers. To keep the old grey matter active!


1. Where did the word Robot first appear?
2. Who were Rocky, Skip and Ace in the world of action figures?
3. In 1976 several employees of a renowned US toy design company were shot by a designer. Which company?
4. Which vehicle which looks like a SpaceX toy features in a Japanese Sci-Fi movie?
5. Which toy company made the famous Atomic Disintegrator?
6. What did Luke Skywalker's 'parents' farm on Tatooine?
7. Which SpaceX vehicle connects Triang, Remco and Codeg?
8. Name the odd one out and say why: SMERSH, THRUSH and S.H.I.E.L.D?
9. What was Action Man/ GI JOE called in Spain?
10. What was the Project SWORD sign-off in SOLO comics [like FAB in Thunderbirds]?


ONE answer per reader left in the comments please. ONE per reader. Good luck!

SNOW TRAIN IN A BLIZZARD

Reader Joe Murray has sent in these brilliant shots of his recently constructed card Snow Train. Joe made it from scans of the Century 21 Make A Model book and its the first time I've ever seen it made up.

 

Joe says "in the polar regions of this planet, the Snow Train has been trudging along. From the center of the blizzard in Connecticut, U.S.A".

Ray Cusick - Designer Of The Daleks

I read today that the designer of the iconic Dalek, Ray Cusick has sadly died aged 84.

Dalek from 'The Dead Planet' 1963

During an interview in 2008 as part of a BBC Three Doctor Who Confidential programme , Mr Cusick explained that the shape of the design, rather than being inspired by a pepper pot was based around an operator sitting inside the prop and  building out from that.  Sounds simple - The hard bit is making the finished design  look so good it captures the public’s imagination and endures right up to today.

Supreme Dalek from 2008. One of the several  variations from the new series which, in spite of it's modern look isn't too far removed from Ray Cusick's original design.

Dalek designer Ray Cusick  1928 -2013 

Planet Scouting

The 20p Matchbox Planet Scout I picked up at the weekend has benefitted from a quick redeco. Drilling out the rivets beneath allows the body to be popped open and the glass cleaned and body resprayed. A coat of orange auto paint brings it into the realms of Spacex! I'm still keen to find a Gorgo minilunar version to complete my trio.

Gog left an very informative comment with attendant website which does indeed show many colour variations!

ORANGE RESPRAY

AVOCADO VERSION - PRE-RESPRAY

GORGO MINILUNAR

STANDARD GREEN

SWORD GARDEN

 

Last summer Bill and I spent a pleasant afternoon in my garden drinking a beer or two and reading up on vintage toys.

 

In a couple of books, Dennis Nicholson's The Gerry Anderson Memorabilia Guide and Collecting The Space Race, we found stuff that had been right under our noses for years like an Apollo Moon Exploring carded console set [above right - Space Race].

 

And years before we knew about them, Dennis's book had had pictures and descriptions of the Morinaga Zero-X premiums, in both normal and deformed styles, all along!

 

Dennis had also made mention of Project SWORD in Toys International years before we came across the actual article yonks later. It just goes to show that it pays to read a reference book properly the first time round! The description of the Imai Project SWORD Moon base model set always raised my pulse rate and Bill and I hotly debated what it might look like and whether there are any left anywhere.

 

 

It must be related to the Imai UFO base sets and double-checking the description of the SWORD vehicles included it sounds a lot like the Imai UFO Moon Base Set later re-issued by Aoshin. The Imai Project SWORD Moon Base Set is indeed a mystery and one as elusive as the Century 21 Moon Base itself. The search continues and any opinions are welcomed!

 

 

One more surprise was to be found in an old Action 21 comic which re-printed even older TV21 comic strips. Lo and behold, one strip included the fabled Crash Tender from the SpaceX range, which Vreedey brought to our attention first back in 2009. The strip is by the brilliant Frank Bellamy. The SpaceX toy itself remains as yet undiscovered. Roll on Summer!

Armchair Audio

A little tribute to H G Wells from the two Bills.

Mysterious Flying Saucer

I recently acquired this rather nice bump ‘n’ go flying saucer toy.

Here it is landing in my back garden!

I've seen examples of this toy quite a few times on several auction sites but so far I’ve not seen anyone give the makers name.

Generally it seems to be referred to as a NASA flying saucer presumably because of the NASA logo sticker on it.

It's around 5" across and the only markings on it are ‘Made in Hong Kong’ and ‘T29’. 

Has anyone else got one of these with maybe it’s original box or packaging?

Any info on it would be most welcome.