THE ASTRONAUTS OF TREVOR S

Hi Woodsy

I'm attaching photos of my astronaut collection, which is 250+ and counting. If you like, you can post them on your blog. Love your site BTW. I'm 60 and it brings nostalgic tears to me rheumy old eyes.

Regards,

Trevor S

Part 2 to follow!

My Favourite Martian(s)

Long overdue from the blog, two of the best toy aliens ever made, Mattel's Callisto and Scorpio. The first picture is my original 1970 figure, battered and well loved, suffering multiple breaks in the wires and a partial paint touch up. Secondly, the 1981 figure, discovered in an old newsagents in Liverpool, along with all the first series accessories. Naturally, Sod's Law dictated I had only enough cash to buy Callisto and a Sgt. Storm, but subsequent visits after borrowing a few quid, got me one of each of the suits too.

Scorpio is an anomaly, falling between Matt Mason and Captain Lazer size. He has a rubber body inside a hard plastic carapace and a bulb in his head to make his sparkly eyes light up! Scorpio was a gift and arrived about ten years ago, without arm and leg shields or weapon. Ebay came to the rescue with repro shields (hence the greyish paint) and a second hand weapon, covered in silver paint. Having spent a few years tucked safely away in a box, Scorpio and Callisto emerged today sporting a coat of mould and mildew, so after a quick wash, they've been placed in a new dry home!

PROJECT SWORD TOY NEWS

2015 is moving along nicely already and there are a few things to report from the worlds of Project SWORD already this year:

CENTURY 21 REPLICA TOY HOVER TANK: MORE IMAGES FROM KEVIN D

Hi Woodsy, I've done the body of the C21 toy version. It uses a much brighter red than my version, but that doesn't come across in the photo, oddly. I thought it would be a bit more toy like. I still need to chrome the headlights, complete the turret and put the labels on it. Nearly there!

Take care,

Kevin

Below: new pictures of the completed 'toy' and Kevin's own SWORD Annual scratchbiult models.

FIRST PICTURES OF IMAI'S ORIGINAL UFO MOONBASE SWORD MODELS

I've waited six years for these! Browsing the Japanese web I chanced upon these stunning images of Imai's original UFO Moonbase model kit. For the first time on the blog we can see the trio of Project SWORD models included in the kit in all their glory: Moon Prospector, Moon Crawler and Scramble Bug. They're more gorgeously colourful than I had ever imagined.

The above images are from the Japanese blogger Godzitoraman.

Below are close-ups of the three SWORD vehicles.

and here's the instruction sheet.

GLICO WOMBAT

I love this little Wombat style craft by Glico recently seen on Yahoo Japan. It adheres well to the Wombat design by Mike Trim done for the Thunderbirds' Duchess Assisgment. It was sold at Bonhams:

There is an amazing scratchbiult model of the Thunderbirds Wombat at the fantastic modelling site of Keith McNeill. Anyone got any wombat collectibles?

MY MAKER'S MARK

Going through some old papers recently I found a wedding name-plate for me at my brother's wedding. He'd written it and inside he'd written 'here's to the next project!'.

My close family always kidded me about my love of 'projects' and I realise now that they have been a feature of my entire life.

More often than not these 'projects', a furious love and study of something, were sparked off by the prevailing kids' crazes at the time and all of them began in the Sixties and Seventies. In other words my projects were my childhood interests and they've never left me.

Now I'm in my mid Fifties I know I'm being driven by the same interests, an enthusiasm for which I've sustained all my adult life.

I don't like dividing up my life into categories but with my 'projects' its easy so, in the name of science and in chronological order, here goes:

1. Space and space toys [leading to ......yep, Moonbase Central!]

2. Dinosaurs and monsters [and a everything about them: books, films, mags, toys, the lot!]

3. Kung Fu [really began the day I saw Enter the Dragon in 1972: lead to a love of Japan in particular]

4. Heavy Rock [the soundtrack of my youth and best music ever invented!]

5. Fantasy books and art [really began the month I read Lord of the Rings in 1977]

6. Nature and animals [really began the year I lived on a Nature Reserve in 1979]

7. Films [cinema, movies, VHS]

I have flirted with some minor projects, which alas, did not last:

1. Leeds United Football Club [the strangest of my childhood fads as I'm not a soccer fan at all really]

2. Army [I loved to play war and battles as a kid but I'm not keen at all on it now. I think it morphed into my Kung Fu phase]

3. Birdwatching [I still do a bit but no longer take notes and have binoculars with me everywhere I go!]

Not sure what it all means but the list above of 1 to 7 is more or less me now! If I were a toy they'd be my makers' mark! Scary really!

Do you think that your real interests were formed during your childhood readers? Is it the same for everyone?

DESTINATION MOON

Italian Poster

Courtesy of Flickr

LOST IN SPACE ROBOT DESIGNER DIES

More sad news in that the designer of the 'B9' robot and the spaceship, The Jupiter 2 from TV series Lost in Space, Robert Kinoshita has passed away aged 100.

While some of you might not recognize his name you'll almost certainly remember another of the designs he had a hand in, the iconic robot, Robby from the classic sci-fi film Forbidden Planet.

Another of his robot designs was Tobor the Great.

In tribute to the late Mr Kinoshita here's some photos of my B9 aka YM3 or simply 'Robot', I took a while back.

'Danger Will Robinson!'

RED RAY BOARD GAME

Hi Woodsy,

Thought this might be of some interest. A firm called retrocards is producing wrapping paper with a great space board game, including Robby the Robot. I enclose an image from their site.

I suspect it has a slight SWORD connection, as it mentions a character called "Red Ray" -I think I'm right in remembering this featured on the Blog with a Red Ray record which featured Probe Force 1?

Regards,

Andy B.