HONG KONG PHOOEY: RE-PACKAGING THE CENTURY 21 TOYS NUCLEAR FERRY

As the loan period of 'my' Century 21 Nuclear Ferry draws to a close I have placed it back in its box for the final time. As this is quite a complicated business I thought I would blog each stage, in case you find yourself having to do the same!

Making sure that there are no batteries in the remote-control, you begin with a pile of the cardboard inner packaging removed from the box.

1. place the flat two-slot base in the right hand side of the box

2. Insert the remote into the small card tray and place into the middle of the box snug against the two-slot card base.

3. Practice the lay-out of the 3 main card pieces as shown. Each piece fits snugly onto the 3 main parts of the toy with the two steel braces in place.

4. Gently slide the toy and the card pieces into the box. The remote should be now beneath the rear wheels and its cable neatly below the main toy. The rear wheels of the passenger cab should be sat in the two slots on the card base. All inserts should be flush with the box's top edge.

5. Insert the bulbous toy part into its 2 card pieces so that it is suspended above the passenger cab. The fragile blue plastic side-antennae and black front aerial should not be touching any card.

6. This final piece of card should be all that is left

7. Insert this in front of the exposed spring-loaded mechanism on the main body with the blue plastic push-rod pushed firmly in place on the spring

8. Insert the rolled paper Manual, wrap the badges in tissue and secure below the red engines and finally place the top lid onto the box. Eh voila!

SCOOP INVESTIGATES TRACY ISLAND PART 1

Now that some supermarkets and toy shops have begun to discount the Vivid Tracy Island following Christmas I thought it was time to invest in one.

The first thing that hits you is the size of the box – it’s big, very big, around 6.5 cm x 5.0 cm x 2.2 cm.

Inside it’s full of various components protected by cardboard, the largest being the base.  

As this could be considered a moderately complicated snap-together construction kit I don’t suspect   many youngsters will be putting it together, and if that turns out to be the case then the average adult should allow a couple of hours to make sure everything clicks into place properly.

Applying the self –adhesive stickers needs a lot of care. Ham-fisted dads need not apply, although here’s a tip – they are a little easier to apply if you use tweezers.

Here’s the finished thing which I have to say does look a little more detailed than the old Matchbox Tracy Island from the nineties.

Any young TAG fan (and some older ones!) should be happy with this replica of the ‘real’ thing.

The Tracy lounge, kitchen and apartments have detailed stickers covering them which look great in close up.

The Roundhouse uses one long curved sticker which needs a lot of care when applying. I got a couple of air bumps in mine but it doesn't look too bad from a distance.

Looking at the cliff detail you can see the seams where the more pliable sections of plastic are joined together. These have to be pulled and eased into place. This can be a bit of a pain as they can tend to try and revert to their original distorted shape.

In part 2 I’ll take a look at what hides behind the island and the secret part of the base.

PROJECT SWORD TIMELINE 1965: THE OTAKI GREEN MONSTER CAR KIT DATED

Proof positive that the Otaki green Monster Car kit was released in 1965. It appears on the back of this Japanese magazine [name?], the brown car bottom left next to the sleek racer. This Otaki kit was the forerunner of the Project SWORD Probe Force 3 toy space jet. The year is on the magazine's spine!

Result!

IMAI ZERO-X: THUNDERBIRDS MARS EXPLORER OX: ORIGINAL ISSUE KIT FROM THE SIXTIES

Continuing my series of pictures of Anderson collectables on loan to me, here is a quality item and one I have certainly never seen before in the flesh: the superb and original issue model kit of the Imai Zero-X called THUNDERBIRDS MARS EXPLORER OX from the 1960's.

I first came across this kit listed in Dennis Nicholson's brilliant Anderson Merchandise Guide in 1994. I never thought I would get to see it. If its not the biggest model kit of the OX it must be close!

From the 1960's, the kit's box is BIG and the box art is simply superb and compares with any that Centurry 21/ JR21 released in the UK. It is also a huge model kit, nearly twice the size of the Century 21 Zero-X toy, which I have shown here, along with my small carded Bandai OX for comparison.

The 3 boxed OX's lined up, the big Imai kit in the middle. Note the similar box art on the two boxes.

Both box lids removed

The pale blue Imai wings next to the Century 21 OX wings for comparison.

The two basic OX bodies next to each other, the bigger one being the Imai. The small carded one is the Bandai.

and finally, the Imai OX box alongside its contemporary, the Century 21 Toys Nuclear Ferry box. Both toys are being returned to their owner soon so its the last chance I have of blogging them. Hope you enjoyed it.

PROJECT MOON

rubber SWORD 

on battery-lit moon 

[thanks Bill!]

TINNED STRAWBERRIES

When I was a wee laddie I was fed something so delicious, so delectable, that I believed it to be the food of the Gods,

Yes, it was ambrosia and was made by Smedleys I think.

I am of course talking about tinned strawberries.

Raw strawberries were fabulous in summer but tinned strawberries were amazing all year round. Something happened to the fruit during canning. It softified and got sweeter than sherbet.

It may have had something to do with the fantasticly slurpy syrup the strawberries swam in. It was easily the sweetest, bestest soft drink in the world.

Smedley's tinned strawberries were super-duper on their own but they could be even betterified by adding more gorgeous stuff.

Said stuff could either be:

1. carnation evaporated milk

2. Birds Dream Topping

3. Ice cream

My own favourite was number 1, the carnation milk and strawberry special, the nectar of champions and the only reason for tea time.

Did you like tinned strawberries readers?

NEW VIVID THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO TOYS IN THE PIPELINE

It look likes TAG fans wanting a decent sized Thunderbird 5 will be getting their wish granted this summer, as Vivid has exhibited a prototype toy at the London toy show.

This exclusive photo taken by iRMG gives a glimpse of what's in store. More exclusive pics from iRMG show a supersize Thunderbird 3, that's larger than the Thunderbird 2 version, which comes with extending arms, a nose drill and smoke!

iRMG have also taken some photos of a great looking 5 in 1 Pod Assembly set.

Thanks for sharing iRMG

FANCY GOODS ANYONE?

The term Fancy Goods is a strange one. It featured heavily in my Sixtiies childhood as my Dad ran a warehouse stuffed with them. But I'd forgotten the term.

Yesterday I remembered it when I saw several shops in the Todmorden and Hebden Bridge area selling. yes, Fancy Goods. Even more, the term was advertising those goods on the shop title boards, which ran something like 'Fancy Goods: Electricals: Toys' [are toys not fancy goods?]

The windows were crammed with all-sorts of boxed paraphernalia, which you probably don't need or even want: plastic candles, steel ash trays, shiny serving platters, multi-coloured beakers and a plastic church.

This is just how I recall my Dad's warehouse, which stocked shops like this fifty years ago! Glorious tat the lot if it and stuff which powered an entire generation! 

One name stood out back then in the Fancy Goods stakes: Pifco. Pifco were everywhere and were the Kings of plastic: electric hair dryers, car coffee makers, electric blankets, Christmas lights. You name it they made it. Pifco even made a plastic space pistol called the Zeta ray gun.

Fancy Goods then. It's funny how many memories can be stirred up by two words. What do they mean to you in your part of the world readers? Have you got the equivalent?