SPACE THEMED RECORD COVERS

We're experiencing illness in the family at Moonbase at the mo so I'm staying with my daughter for the weekend. In need of non-taxing diversion we hit the charity shops of Shipley near Bradford, of which their are, fortunately for us, many.

Amongst the excellent selection of old and obscure VHS videos nestling on the shelves at 10p each, I also spotted what could be an interesting sub-genre of space collecting, space-themed LP records. In the space of two charity shops I saw two different ones: one I can't remember but it was children flying to the moon from the 1960's and the other was this Holst The Planets with a cool Apollo capsule cover.

Browsing cyberspace to check what other Holst covers there are I saw what has to be one of the kookiest! Check it out below, Flash Gordon meets Barbarella! I recognise the toy ray guns but can't put a name to them. Anyone?

So does anyone actually collect space themed records?

COOL CARABO

Following last weeks fanboy outing at the toyfair, heres the Corgi Rockets Bertone Carabo. Ive been a fan of this wedge shaped beauty since I got the pink Matchbox version in the early seventies. Corgi issued the same body in the Juniors Whizwheels series, but without the removable chassis. Its interesting to note the Rockets version opted for the green tone similar to the actual concept car itself.

He Ain't Heavy, he's my Bruder

West German toy maker Bruder have been making simple toy novelties for a long time, including farm machinery, planes, trucks and boats. Ive been lucky enough to pick up some of the smaller toys quite easily over the years, but just as easily lost them again. There are several nice space models, some of which I have retained!

But it I have recently made the aquaintance of a fellow Bruder collector in Brazil, who has an astonishing amount of different toys. Through his generosity, I was able to find a dealer in Germany who supplied me with four of the large Bruder Astro toys at a very reasonable price. Almost at the same time, I discovered the large space Whistle, pictured at top, on ebay. Although mising a spinning radar dish at the rear, the Whistle is a fine piece with spinning astronauts and moving cannons.

But my favourites must be my newly acquired Astro toys, four different in all.

Rare Green UFO variant

Original UFO

Space Dino-Robo

Robotic Probe Pod

Space Precinct-like Cruiser and Launch Pad

MYSTERY PLASTIC MOONSCAPE

 

This purple plastic moonscape appeared on fleabay over the summer amongst a group of SpaceX and Apollo Moon Exploring toys. I must admit the moonscape is a mystery to me. I had meant to ask the seller but I didn't bid and then forgot! Does anyone know what it is?

A BRUSH WITH HAWKS

SpaceX

Tarheel

Lindburg

Revell

Revell

 

 

Ever since I was a kid in the Sixties I've always loved the SpaceX Hawk and the art on the Tri-ang backing card. I've not seen the card art in the flesh since then so here's a gallery of Hawk toy and model art to whet our whistles.

STEAM TRAIN AT GOATHLAND

Continuing to dip my toe into video, here's a short that a friend of mine, Beate, filmed on my camera a few years ago in the North Yorkshire 'steam' town of Goathland. I've edited it a little and uploaded it here via You Tube. It's enough to make me want to get a toy train layout! Enjoy!

PROJECT SWORD FIRST SOLO COMIC STRIP STORY FROM 1967 NARRATED BY WOODSY

 

A little video experiment on my part, here's me narrating the first Project SWORD comic strip from SOLO comic from July 1967. I've uploaded it on You Tube first as it was the easiest way to then get it in the blog!

 

A bit of a laugh really! See what you think!

AVUNCULAR PIRANHA

Here’s a little die cast model of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. car by Husky.

And at three quid, another little bargain from the Bolton Toy Fair .

The original was called the Piranha, and was customised by Gene Winfield working  for American Model Toys Corporation's "Speed & Custom Division" shop in Phoenix, Arizona.  

Winfield had previously designed cars featured in other shows.

Apart from creating Star Trek’s, Shuttlecraft , he customised a car named The Reactor which turned up in a Star Trek episode as ‘Jupiter 8’, the Batman TV series as Catwoman’s car as well as episodes of  Bewitched and Mission Impossible.

He also designed vehicles for Ridley Scott’s ‘Blade Runner’, including The Spinner.

The Piranha had many dummy features which could be used during filming, including the usual flame throwers, machine guns and rocket launchers which were set in the gull wing doors.

The car however wasn’t popular with the actors using it. Robert Vaughn and David McCallum complained that at just under 42” high it was far too low and there was very little headroom. The car was altered with bubble type windows added to the top of gull wing door glazing which might have helped the actors, but didn’t do a lot for the car’s looks.

Because of these problems, and haphazard aspects of the car’s gadgets it appeared in very few episodes of both The Man from Uncle, and its spin off series, The Girl from Uncle.

A still from The Giant Moggy Affair perhaps!