SHOCKING FLOCKS

My parents were definately part of the plastic generation. Plastic was everywhere in the Sixties and even the garden wasn't safe. I remember plastic chairs, tables and tablecloths. But most of all I recall plastic birds like pink flamingos and herons stood high above the begonias! They populated the flower beds and always had there beady eyes on me whilst I was playing outside with my Action Men! 

They seem to have remained popular as here are some I found available online today! Did you have plastic stuff in your garden or yard as a kid?

 

SMOKING MONKEY TOY

A small novelty toy I remember having in the early Seventies was a smoking monkey. I find the idea repulsive now but as a ten year old it will have been fun to light up and show my mates.

 

 

They seem to be widely available even now on fleabay but I will have gone old school and bought mine using a postal order and getting it mail order from Ellisdons, the jokes specialists. I reckon most of my pocket money went to Ellisdons between 1970-72!

Were you keen on jokes and novelties like the smoking monkey readers?

 

 

RUBBER SOLE

Whilst visiting Doncaster Zoo this week I was reminded in their shop how much rubber toy animals were part of my childhood in the Sixties. There were loads of them in my life!

I remember clearly the thick clammy rubber that they were made of and the incredibly chemical rubbery smell they gave off!

I had really long snakes including a cobra, a crocodile, a fly, a lobster, a crab, a cricket, a centipede, a spider, a fish and my personal favourite, a big frog, which was a solid hunk of green rubber!

 

 

I imagine that my parents got them for me at Zoos and Safari Parks [now those were scary!] but I'm pretty sure they were on sale in toy shops like Zodiac too here in Blighty. Did they come in packets or where they loose in display stands?

 

 

Were rubber animals part of your life readers? And has anybody still got any?

AIRFIX STARCRUISER

Following on from Woodsy’s post about the Starcruiser Mission set, here’s the 1978 Airfix clip – together kit from Airfix .

As Yorkie’s comment pointed out  it was loosely based on an original design by model maker, Martin Bower, for an apparent proposed but ultimately ill-fated live action series created by Gerry Anderson and Fred Freiberger. However, aspects of the concept did survive as part of a marketing exercise.

The original design obviously took a little inspiration from spacecraft designs in Space: 1999 and The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity. (Martin Bower’s original model can be seen on his own web site)

However, to accommodate the commercial release of the kit Martin had to do several redesigns and prototypes. I’d imagine the Airfix toy differs from the original design so as to accommodate the clip-together aspect of kit.

Starcruiser, according to the accompanying instructions is a modular space ship made up of four sections – The Main Unit, the Command Module at the front, the Command Base  slung under the main unit, and the Interceptor Unit , a one-man gunship attached to the top of the main unit.

Aimed at the younger modeller, this 1/48 scale kit once all clipped together can separate into the each of the four sections.

My kit, which at this moment in time is simply clipped together until I can get round to do a proper assembly and paint job isn’t a bad looking toy, even if it is just a Gerry Anderson curiosity.  

I think the box artwork is very nice, although I’m not sure what to make of the crudely drawn ‘videoprint’ strip at the bottom. 

The back of the assembly instructions also contain a comic strip, A Starcruiser Typical Mission Sequence, drawn by the artist David Jeffreris  who drew the Starcruiser strip in Look -In.

And on a final note even though Starcruiser never made it to a TV series the Airfix kit does make a brief appearance during the additional scenes that were shot for the Space:1999 compilation movie,' Alien Attack' as a desktop model.

IS UFO'S SKY 1 THE SPACEX CRUISER 1?

 

Recently browsing the cool  Britmodeler site I couldn't help noticing the similarity between the UFO Sky 1 model by Imai [above] and my brown HG Toys Pleasure Cruiser kindly donated by Mr. Vreede last year [pictured above, top]. Is there a connection?

 

 

As far as I can tell the Sky 1, part of the larger SHADO Skydiver submarine, was designed by Derek Meddings around 1969. As Tri-ang's SpaceX only hit the shelves in 1970 the Pleasure Cruiser design could theoretically have been influenced by Sky 1, but there's no real evidence other than a superficial similarity in both look and name, Sky 1 and Cruiser 1.

 

 

About five years ago when many of the SpaceX toy origins were discovered by various intrepid blog readers, a more likely origin for the design of the Pleasure Cruiser was suggested by Toad as seen below.

 

 

 

 

It appeared in the Boys World Annual 1968 and is strikingly similar, particularly the top drawing shown above. So, there you have it. Boys World and Sky 1.  To remind you of what the Triang Pleasure Cruiser looks like here's Kevin's original toy and scratchbiult mega model seen recently here at Moonbase central! What do you think readers? Boys World, Sky 1, both or something else?

 

FAVE FOOD MEMORIES

I was recently reminded of Coq au Vin or chicken in red wine, which was a staple of Bistro's in the late Seventies. Going further back I remember certain foodstuffs from my childhood with relish and here are my top five from the Sixties and early Seventies:

 

 

1. Instant Whip pudding - in delicious flavours like butterscotch and raspberry. Not to be confused with Angel Delight or Dream Topping [couldn't find a single image of Instant Whip online].

 

 

2. Neapolitan Ice Cream - came in a block packed in a card box. the ice cream was coloured like the Italian flag I think. Similarly yummy was Tutti Frutti! Sundays were made for blocks like these!

 

 

3. Vesta Curry, Chop Suey and Chow Mein - like space food with spices for one person. Packets of dried powders, noodles and rice packed in a neat box. Everything had to be rehydrated and best of all were the crispy noodles, which had to be fried in super hot fat. Ssssssssst!

4. Steak pudding, Chips, Peas and Gravy - the classic chippy chip shop tea for eating on your knee whilst Scooby Doo, Thunderbirds or Marine Boy was on telly. The suet pudding was to die for and now a rare luxury for me as they do not exist in Yorkshire!

 

 

5. Old Fashioned Pop - like American Cream Soda, Sarsaparilla, Vimto cordial, Tizer and Iron Bru. I know you can still get most of these but for me they'll always be associated with my Sixties childhood playing with space toys and watching Doctor Who slurping burpy pop. Oh, and dandelion and burdock, of course! [ps. Lucozade was purely for when you were ill, basically a medicine! What happened!?]

 

 

What are your top five foods from yesteryear in your part of the world readers?

MISSION STARCRUISER

If you caught Bill Everatt's excellent radio interview with Gerry Anderson's son, Jamie, on Friday night you'll have heard a tantalising hint about a possible revival of Starcruiser in some form. Jamie mused about a new model kit even!

I never read Starcruiser in Look-In or at least I don't remember. However, in the blog's first year, 2008, I posted a picture of a toy, which in my mind is a bit of a blog legend now, the Starcruiser Mission Kit by Thomas Salter Toys. As an Anderson toy it seems unique to me as I can't think of any other mission set like this. Has anyone got one?

I've always loved Thomas Salter kits. I had an outdoor adventure set when I was a kid in the 60's, which included a neat water flask, a compass and a torch. The Mission Kit would have been right up my street if it had been around in the 60's.

 

 

I suppose the fact that Starcruiser remained basically a range of toys and comic strips rather than gracing our TV screens it makes it similar to one Project SWORD. So, with a new Starcruiser toy or model possibly on the near horizon I can't help but muse about what might be!

 

 

Picture: Vectis

UFO - The Case of the Missing Paper

 Since I recently posted Ken Holts follow up article, 'Beyond our Ken', with the old newspaper clipping of Kens secretary Roni, posed on the moonscape, I've received a number of enquiries about the paper. Most notable was from the owner of the long running UFO fansite, UFO Series. Marc Martin maintains a fabulously professional resource which is a must for any UFO fan. Marc has been trying to locate the actual issue that the clipping appears in, which according to Ken, is the Daily Mirror. The date on the cutting is November 24th 1969, but so far attempts to find the shot in a copy of the paper have proved fruitless. Has anyone else come across this clipping ?