FRANK BELLAMY

We're all familiar with the excellent stylised artwork of Frank Bellamy who drew the Thunderbirds strip in TV Century 21 from 1966 to 1969.

As a point of interest I've dug out  some  examples of his work principally dealing with science fiction subjects,  prior to, and during his Thunderbird work. Frank wasn't a fan of science fiction but you wouldn't know it by looking at his work.

As many of you will know, Frank spent a year working on the Eagle  Dan Dare strip, starting at the end of 1959 when he, with assistance from artists, Don Harley and Bruce Cornwall  finished off the Terra Nova story. This was followed by Trip To Trouble and Project Nimbus.

In 1963 he illustrated the second Brett Million story, The Ghost World in Boy's World comic.

In 1966 he began his stint on Thunderbirds, however he did find time to do  illustrations on several of the front covers of TV 21 for the Captain Scarlet strip. This one from August 1968.

He also did the cover of  the first issue of Joe 90 Top Secret at the beginning of 1969.

His drew his  final Thunderbird strip in TV21 & Joe 90 comic beginning  September, 1969. There were four installments with the last two  drawn in black and white.

Of course, Frank is also remembered for his contribution to the Daily Mirror newspaper strip Garth, which he took over in 1971. These two examples are from the second story he illustrated  called The Cloud of Balthus.

Frank sadly died in 1976, and for a man who wasn't particularly keen on science fiction I wonder what he'd think about being best remembered for illustrating some of the best British sci-fi  comic strips!

SUB TRACTION

Ever since the C21 stingray submarine aircraft carrier surfaced in 2008 and became a blog legend, I've been hooked on futuristic toy submarines.

 

 

So I was chuffed when I came across these images of a really cool new one. This is a Greek submarine made by Solpa.

 

 

I love its sleek lines and space-rocket looks. The colour red with a splash of yellow is really attractive. Amazingly it's battery operated too.

 

 

 

The orange missile pair remind me of some I've seen elsewhere. Manta Force maybe? [pictures: ebay]

 

 

Anyone got any more plastic submarines?

ZEROID ZOBOR

While on the subject of robots, I couldn’t let the week pass without including a post dealing with the Zeroids - probably the best robot toys of the late sixties.

This is Zobor, one of the three original Zeroids released, the other two being Zerak and Zintar. These were later joined by Zogg, who was initially part of an action set, and Zemo, who was made up of parts from the original three.

Compared to today’s toys the Zeroids didn’t do that much. Once the separate electric ’Motorific’  motor was clipped underneath and the batteries were fitted the robots could move forward or backwards. They came with a plastic yellow base piece which when driven over would flip a switch underneath the toy and reverse the motor.

They also came  with  two additional hands, one was magnetic so the robot could carry small metal objects. The other was a missile launcher using the robot’s spring loaded arm.

The storage cases of the three original Zeroids had other uses.  Zobor had a ’Cosmobile’ used for transporting light objects.  Zintar had a Lunar Sled, and Zerak had a control station.

Made by the Ideal toy company, the original Zeroids were  released in 1968.

Here’s a short film showing Zobor in action.

UNDER THE RADAR

There's something iconic about a radar transmitter. The silver dishes ooze a cold war in space. Naturally there are many cool radar toys.

 

 

My favourite is the Spacex Apollo Tracker seen here in its original orange, together with a custom purple version both from Bill's collection.

 

 

 

 

The mighty Crawler by Imai is another favourite; articulated, battery powered and missile firing. This example is on You Tube.

 

 

 

 

Last but not least is the Thunderbirds Transmitter Truck, which formed part of the TB2 pod fleet. This one is courtesy of our very own Scoop and his diorama workshop.

 

 

 

Can you think of any more radar toys readers?

Noodle

 

Fab 1 Hi-Way

Noodle

ALIEN GOLFER

Had my usual game of golf this morning and this little chap was looking for a partner.

He used telekinesis to lift the ball onto the tee.

He hit the ball straight down the fairway and pretty much got a hole in one every time using mind over matter.

I didn't play that well, though - I think he put me off a bit, and I don't think he was a member!

BOOK ROADS

When I was a kid I used to lay books flat along the floor and whizz my superfast cars over them! I have no idea why but it worked really well!

The best 'book road' was one made up of annuals, which more or less where all the same thickness. The flatter the road the better the whizz!

For extra thrills I used to add flyovers and ramps by angling the books. These needed an extra smooth flat surface for maximum run up. Boy, did those die-cast fly over those annuals!

It seems strange looking back that I bothered with book roads. There was plenty of track around from my Hot Wheels and Corgi Rockets sets, so why did I do it? Maybe it was easy to do and a tons of fun, important stuff to a seven year old!

Did you build book roads readers?

Japanese book road courtesy of You Tube

PROJECT SWORD PHASE 2:08/06/68