OF DINKY SPV's. MSV's, SHADO 2 and UFO INTERCEPTORS

Like Wotan I recently had a nifty gift from our good friend Captain Harlet; a small fleet of Japanese miniature SPV's and MSV's [and a lovely LEM toy too].

So, being fresh from the zest of receiving these delicious Scarlectables, I was pleasantly surprised to find these die-cast Dinky versions in an antiques shop's glass cabinet in the local hill country . 

We have the SPV above, priced £15 and below, the James Bond Moon Buggy, UFO Mobile, UFO Interceptor and MSV all priced £23 each. Loose of course. 

Being a Yorkshireman my wallet is permanently stitched up so the toys remained where they were. Still, I enjoyed peering and breathing on the glass! Are there any decent vintage toys in junk shops near you and has anyone got these Dinky toys readers?

From a Far Eastern Sky

Fresh from auction in Japan come the latest wonders from the oriental toy world. Originally spotted by Woodsy, these tiny Glico Captain Scarlet toys were netted by our specialist Scarlet aficionado Terry Harle, who generously shared his haul of these tiny vehicles.

As you can see, they are indeed tiny, but clearly recognisable as the Spectrum Patrol Car and Maximum Security Vehicle. It's likely an SPV is in the range, but none were present in this auction lot.

Each vehicle is a three piece structure and presumably of contemporary vintage as the show.

Just to completely blow my mind and add to the surprise, Terry also acquired this totally fabulous period space toy, judging from the design and condition, dating from 1967/68.

An odd combination of LEM and a Mercury style capsule, complete with inflatable flotation collar, the little vehicles combine magnetically and by connector.

Both the LEM and the capsule are highly stylised, but recognisable as craft used in the NASA space programme. The collar is about 2.5 inches in diameter and is almost impossible to inflate and get the tiny stopper in place!

ROXY MUSING

What does Roxy mean to me? Well, when I was a young glam-rocker in the early Seventies it meant Roxy Music, those art-school rockers who brought us 'Virginia Plain' and 'Do the Strand'. I used to stare at the inside cover of their For Your Pleasure LP for hours, admiring their glam gear but mostly savouring the fabulous medley of cool electric guitars, which were the be all and end all for my younger fourteen year old self.

Much earlier in my existence there was another Roxy connection, although I didn't know it at the time. I had the glorious Nomura Lunar Explorer tinplate toy, piccied above, one of my all time Big Four. It turns out that the Explorer is a dead-ringer for one of the Roxy Moon Traffic plastic vehicles. More on this later.

Around 1994 I came into possession of a Project SWORD Scout 1. Now this example had the wrong radar but it was only years later when I realised what the round dish was from.

top picture element: Vectis

And so to the Roxy Moon Traffic Project M8, a little pink number with, yes, a white dish antenna just like the one I had on my Scout 1. I had a loose one of these pink space cars in the mid-90's but I swapped it to Wotan for some miniature rubber body parts like a brain and lungs! You will be able to see now the similarity between this and Nomura's much larger tin toy.

TINPLATE JAMES BOND ASTON MARTIN DB5 TOY CAR

Like the Daiya police car I posted yesterday, here's my tinplate James Bond Aston Martin from the sixties. its another toy I found in some junk thrown out in a German street in 1981. it still works; front and forward motion, rear bullet shield and machine gun lights. but the coolest thing is the ejector seat - and boy does that bad guy fly! i think this was a Durham toy but I've never been sure as there is quite a fleet of tin DB5's. Only a ride in the real thing could be better!

Has anyone else got a DB5, toy or otherwise?

DAIYA TIN TOY POLICE CAR

This is my Daiya Police Car from the 1960's. It's made if tin and of Japanese origin. This one was made for the German market. I didn't buy thus toy. I found it in 1981 in a pile of junk and furniture left on the street in Germany - what they call Sperrmuhl. Its left on the street for people like me to root through! Very community spirited! This was in a battered cardboard box along with a very special vehicle and the most famous car in the world! More on that later. The Polizei car still works fine too! These two castaways were my earliest collecting finds by a long chalk.

Do people leave old junk and furniture on the street prior to collection by the City or Town Council in your neck of the woods?

RECONNAISANCE TANK: UGLY OR NOT?

I first came across this cheapo space tank on a trip to a country park called Shipley Glen in Bradford, Northern England. A small toy shop next to a funicular railway was selling them. I've never been able to decide if its ugly or not. There's just something about it that appeals to me. It comes in blue and orange colour variations. What do you think readers?

ROBOCOP DRAWS AGAIN!

Well, yet another classic Eighties movie has been dusted off, pumped up and remade. This time round its ROBOCOP. I saw the new film tonight at the Pictures.

New Robocop is a slick modern day western with our metal hero blasting his way through a million bad guys to get to the truth. Where the old Verhouven original is different is the amount of gore it contained. The new flick is a 12A in the UK and despite a substantial body count,  the extreme blood and guts have gone. 

Watching Robocop I couldn't help thinking that he looks like a beefed-up silver C3P0! But just what is Robocop? A robot? an android? a cyborg? a bionic man? What do you think readers?

It always amazed me how many toys were released around the original film. It was the same with Terminator. Surely those two films were too violent for kids back then? Still, they produced a slew of playthings, games and jigsaws and when I used to stand at toy fairs I sold quite a few, especially the 12 inch plastic figures and the boxed vehicles like this Robocop Tactical Field Ambulance.

Did you have any toys from Robocop, Terminator or Judge Dread readers?

NIGHT OF THE COMET: EIGHTIES SHELL-SUIT SCI-FI

I caught a flick I'd never seen the other night, The Night of The Comet, from 1984. I really enjoyed the opening half hour with the build up to the comet passing by and the immediate aftermath. The rest was a bit boring but....

the Eighties setting was iconic for that decade. Video arcades, shell suits, legwarmers and techno-beats abound and captures the spirit of the age really well.

The central device has been done a million times before: certain people are immune to the apocalypse because of where they where when the catastrophe hit, but its done with aplomb and the desiccation of the victims is a neat twist and reminiscent of the Andromeda Strain, taking it even further and turning everyone to dust.

The star billing of video arcade games is almost a sub-genre of Eighties films in its own right and Night of the Comet nudges right up to those other zapfests of the decade, The Last Starfighter, Tron and War Games to name a few.

With all the big hair, drum machines and padded shoulders, I can see why this film has a cult following and why it has its own fan site. Alas, I couldn't see any toys to speak of, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Has anyone else seen it?