TARHEEL TASK FORCE 3

I  was lucky enough to get this  lovely looking Tarheel Task Force 3 off eBay not so long back .The Eagle-eyed Woodsy pointed it out as I hadn’t seen it.

Two more or less identical examples were up at the same time, so I put in a modest amount  on the cheaper one and was absolutely amazed I got it, expecting a few crazy O.T.T. bids from e-snipers to come in at the last second.  Thankfully they seemed more interested in the other one for some reason.

Although this Tarheel version would have originally been carded in a bubble pack, Woodsy who is the proud owner of an SL version of the TF- 3 kindly offered to do a scan of his SL version  box.

After printing it out and doing a couple of nips and tucks I  must say I’m really chuffed with the end result.

APOLLO MOON EXPLORING AND FRIENDS 2013

2013 has been a great year so far for LP or Apollo Moon Exploring collectors. There's been loads of bagged and boxed vehicles and sets on fleabay. Here are just a few that I managed to spot. I wonder if there is a list anywhere of all the LP toys and model numbers as many of these do have numbers on the boxes and headers. Did anyone win any of these beauties?

ARGENTINIAN MOON PROSPECTOR ADVERT: NEW FIND

On one of my regular regular forays into the cyber wastes I found something interesting if you like our friend the Argentinian Moon Prospector, Explorador Planetario. This cool SWORD clone from South America has featured many times on the blog and with its beautiful box art [discussed exactly one year ago - spooky!] is a great addition to any SWORD collection.

So I was thrilled to come across this black and white trade advertisement page for BICHI toys including the Explorador Planetario pictured neatly at the bottom of the ad's arrow motif. Cool or what!

Close up we see that the Prospector is flanked by two other toys, EXPLORADOR ESPACIAL, a space boat and MURCIEL LANCHA, a bat boat. All three would seem to be BICHI's sci-fi range.

We know that the Prospector came with a yellow sticker around its collar just below the radar slot. It reads "EXPL.PLAN.CHIBI XV8" with an atomic symbol in the middle. There is also a BICHI version of the sticker and both are show here.

Looking at the sticker on the space boat [below] you'll see that it's a very similar design. It says "PLANETARIUM BICHI XV9" along with that atomic symbol again. Since the Prospector is numbered XV8 I think its safe to say that its the space boat's buddy in the range. Seeing the space boat box would be cool but I haven't been able to find one yet.

The bat boat, below, doesn't have the atomic symbol but is nevertheless a fine looking toy and box. BICHI/ CHIBI produced a whole range of different batmobiles, which aren't shown on the advert page I found but a quick peek in google images should reveal more. Try 'chibi juguete batmovil' or the same with 'bichi', as they appear to be interchangeable and could in fact be one in the same toy company. But I'm not sure!

all toy pictures: ebay

CELEBRATING SCOOP AND HIS FANTASTIC DIORAMAS

It's Scoop's birthday so I wanted to celebrate one of his many talents, which we've all enjoyed, his fantastic dioramas and photographs. Scoop has been sharing them since the very start of the blog way back in 2008 and his first diorama was the SpaceX Moon Base seen here a few pictures down. So without further ado here are a handful of Scoop's fab creations. Enjoy and Scoop, thanks for sharing and happy birthday!

 

 

 

 

Synchronous Orbit

Well It doesnt't seem like five minutes since we welcomed Mike 'Scoop' Burrows on board as team member on the blog, in fact it was six months ago! The blog has benefitted tremendously from Mikes submissions, from the obscure intracacies of TV21 and other publications to his fabulous models and lavish dioramas.

For me, it was a special pleasure to meet Scoop again, as we had a very brief (but for me memorable!) encounter way back in the early eighties at a comic fair. I bumped into Scoop in the Bluecoat Gallery in Liverpool and we got talking about Anderson, Matt Mason and most importantly, Spacex toys. At the time, Scoop told me he had around 8 models, including the rare pink Roxy Moon Transporter. We quickly exchanged snail mail details (we're talking pre-internet here!) and I busied myself in the crowds, trying to find that months issue of Micronauts comic.

Some years later, I was having a resurgence of interest in Spacex again and I wondered if Scoop might still be in possession of those same spacex toys. As it was worth the price of a stamp and I was then working in Scoops home town of Southport, I mailed him. Time passed and there was no response, so I put it down to myself being hopelessly optimistic and carried on with other things. Then many more years later, Mike surfaced on the blog, with various comments and submissions and I recognised the name. Surely it must be the same guy ? To cut a long story short, when Woodstock was visiting Marsbase about a year ago, I arranged for Scoop to join us. It then turned out that Scoop had actually got the letter, but a long time after he had left that address and his dad had picked it up! It also turned out that the spacex toys in question had ended up in the hands of his son and had gone the way of all fragile playthings!

Now we don't leave years between meeting up and I have enjoyed a regular pint with Scoop in his local, along with one of his pet cats and discussed everything Anderson and space related and been granted access to Glenn Field itself, which I can assure you is pretty awesome.

Scoop is currently hard at work producing a new scene which involves some iconic and pivotal concepts from the world of SWORD! So watch this space!

oh - and Happy Birthday old timer!