Mars in an Afternoon

The Brooke Bond Race Into Space cover always fascinated me. The huge nuclear shuttles heading for Mars were an unusual design. The same design appeared in the two part poster 'Space -Forward to 1988', which was given away in the first issues of Countdown.

Because it was a modular design, with large cylindrical sections linked together and driven by a NERVA engine, it looked like an easy model building project. Consequently, when the kids came in with a couple of sherbet fountains in white and black plastic tubes, I saw my chance! An afternoon in the garage with 3 tubes, some scrap from the bit box, a little silver paint and a few leftover decals and voila! I was off to Mars!

THE ICING ON THE CAKE

Cakes are big business in the UK. Everyone seems to be baking. Although I'm a non-baker myself, I do ruffle through old cake decorations when I see them. Despite finding spacecships and the odd rocket, I've never found any LP spacemen like those distributed by Culpitts.

Are there any old space cake decorations, particularly astronauts, in a market near you? 

FANTASY POSTER: PROJECT SWORD IN JAPAN

sources:

Rakuten and Wotan

Tanks For Everything

Hot on the heels of Woodsys Star Trek Astrotank and other toys from Remco, I have just received the original Hamilton Invaders version of the tank. The Mosquito Jeep, which gives the Spacex Cricket its distinctive shape, still eludes me, but the tank shares a lot of features, such as cannon and bubble canopy.
It needs a little tlc to bring it up to speed, but just wanted to flag it up!

SUITS YOU, SIR!

There was no shortage of Space Suits at Alpha:2014. 

I really want to try that helmet on!

Model maker, David Sisson works on Maya's suit

Maya's helmet, which due to a missing part could not be connected, hence one of the suits doesn't have the helmet attached. 

There were four 1999 suits on display, and I was told by master model maker, Chris Potter that this was the first time they had been displayed all together.

There was also what remains of the suit used by Cathy Schell in the film, Moon Zero Two on display.

Here's a video featuring the suits.

Modelling Apex

The Apollo Moon Exploring series have been a perennial favourite of mine alongside Spacex since the sixties. Amongst these simple toys there was always a staple inclusion in almost every boxed set, the little orange and white rocket. Almost every example is identical, apart from the more recent (and frankly ugly) long necked version and a rare blue and white instance I once saw on Ebay.

I have had countless examples of this little toy pass through my hands over the last 45 years and I still love it today. Consequently, when modeller Kevin Davies began creating the reimagined Spacex fleet, a thought crossed my mind... Just prior to our recent SWORDCAST interview, I sent Kevin a shot of the rocket and asked him if it was practical to scratch build one for me. When I arrived a few days later, to do the interview, there, sat on the table was this magnificent beast!

Shortly after, Kevin kindly shared some diorama shots of the model at the Spacex Flight Test Centre and its triumphant landing on the Moon!

So once more a huge thanks Kevin, I am officially over the Moon!

Sixth Birthday Card Models!

New Project Sword toys are almost impossible to find. After the revelation of the Nuclear Ferry, the only extant design we have yet to see is the almost mythical Moonbase itself. So, it is always exciting to see a Project Sword craft brought off the page and into the third dimension.

The Project Sword Annual and the Sword Make A Model books both carried unusual vehicles which have never made it into toy form. The first Model book held punch out card models of the Beetle/Snow Train and Hovertank and the second, the Survey Vehicle/Sand Flea and Scramble Bug. The nomenclature is slightly confusing, as the Snow Train/Sand Flea names only appeared in a TV21 article which predates SWORD proper, but both vehicles appeared in the annual using the same cover artwork, but with new names.

We were contacted some time ago by master modeller Joe Murray, who was keen to build the card models of some of the craft. After completion, Joe kindly sent us photographs of the models, including the Beetle/Snow Train making its way across the snow covered Conneticut landscape!

Not content to stop there, Joe embarked on the Scramble Bug too!

Most recently, he sent me shots of one of my favourite unproduced vehicles, the Survey Vehicle or Sand Flea! Amazing!

Now if anyone fancies making a scratchbuilt version of this or the final model, the Hovertank....

NICK TATE AT ALPHA :2014

Some candid photos of Nick Tate aka Eagle pilot Alan Carter.
First time I've seen Nick in the flesh, and I've got to say I found him a very entertaining  and charming  bloke  (even if he did tell me I had a bit of a pot belly!).
He's extremely popular with the fans and a real genuine  fella.