WARP STAR ZERO!

If you're in London this coming May, you'd be mad to miss..

https://www.facebook.com/events/581933971970992/

AOSHIMA UFO MOONBASE: PROJECT SWORD MOON CRAWLER

Following on from Wednesday’s post on the miniature Shado vehicles, here is the first of three posts which spotlight on the final trio of vehicles from the  reissued Aoshima UFO Moonbase kit.

Obviously these  are all based on Project Sword designs and have no connection with the UFO TV series, but for some reason they were included in the small vehicles set.

However, in my opinion these little models are arguably the best of the bunch, and excellent miniature reproductions of two of the Project Sword toys, plus one, the Moon Crawler that only appeared in the annual, which I'll begin with.

The Moon Crawler (Thanks to Woodsy we now know it’s inspired from artwork by John Schoenherr and used for a 1961 Analog magazine cover) is a great design, but unfortunately never made it as an actual Sword toy and only appeared in a Project Sword annual strip story.

  It must have made an impression on Imai though, as they decided to include it as one of the additional vehicles in their UFO Secret Doom Centre, and their UFO Space Science series.  

The tiny model isn't exactly the same as the box art, as it has those large additional silver panels, but apart from that it is more or less like the illustration in the Project Sword annual.

As there’s no Sword toy to compare it with, I've placed it next to a Spacex Surveyor which obviously takes its inspiration from the Moon Crawler.

Coming in part 2; The Moon Prospector

BOXED NASA ROCKET TRUCK SET

I came across this Rocket Truck toy set on You Tube. The NASA rockets reminded me of the rocket in the SpaceX MLP set for some reason. Its a modern plasticy boxed set - 1980's or 90's maybe - but I don't know the make. The presenter's voice is rather quiet but quite hypnotic! The little fella at the end is funny!

https://youtu.be/zjO2mUgOW1M

YES M' LADY: THE FAIRYLITE LADY PENELOPE

Hi Woodsy, 

You're welcome to post the attached pics of my Fairylite Lady Penelope if you wish.

Best wishes, 

Tony K

LADY PENELOPE TOYS ANYONE?

Does anyone specialise in vintage Lady Penelope toys?

I ask because I imagine it to be quite tough to find them. I've never seen the elusive Sixties boxed JR21 tea set for instance. Come to think of it I've never seen any of the JR21 Penelope toys in the flesh.

Then of course there are the free gifts which came with the Penelope comic: bracelets and such. Are these the preserve of lady collectors or do they cross over into all Anderson collections and collecting?

I had the Fairylite Parker doll when I was a kid but not the Penelope doll, which my parents probably wouldn't have bought me because of defined gender lines around toys back then. According to my Folks, female dolls were for girls, pure and simple!

What is your experience readers? Have you come across any Lady Penelope toys?

AOSHIMA UFO MOONBASE - SHADO VEHICLES

As promised here are a few photos of some of the small model vehicles that come with the Moonbase kit.

The kit has the full complement of three Moonbase Interceptors (oddly,one has a slightly different shaped missile)

The Moon Mobile is a bit of a disappointment as it bears only a vague resemblance to its TV counterpart.

There’s two moon vehicles that were seen next to Dalotek’s base in the UFO episode, ‘ The Dalotek Affair’.

I’ve already shown the tiny Lunar Shuttle in my previous post on the Moonbase.  Although it’s small, the top half is a fairly reasonable representation, however the bottom half is blessed with a set of tiny wheels!

There's a fairly simple, but effective representation of a UFO

Three other Shado vehicles come with the set; however these are principally Earth-based.

The first is Sky 1 which I’m assuming is similar to the one that came with the Imai Mobile kit. Even for its size its reasonably detailed, sadly though it’s also cursed with a set of three superfluous wheels.

There’s a little Shado Mobile, similar to the one that came with the Imai Sky 1 kit.

And finally for now, here's a Shadair Tilt Rotor Helicopter.

I’ll cover the last three vehicles – The Scramble bug, Moon Crawler and Moon Prospector in a later post. 

NEW RADIO STORY BY WOODSY COMING SOON!

GALAXY AIRSUB: THE STAR COMMAND STARROID THUNDERBIRD 4 KIT BY CALFAX

A comment by reader Todd yesterday sent me off looking deeper at Tomland monsters.

This lead me to a Tomland figure line called Star Command or Starroids by Caprice/ Calfax.

This is one of the hardest toy lines I've had the pleasure of researching but I was so chuffed to find that there's a Thunderbirds connection!

Check out the 1979 backing card of Calfax's Star Command Interplanetary Starroid figure called BICO [ Morlock as was]. Yes, Thunderbird 3 and 4!

The uber-cool Plaidstallions noticed this connection as well in their Star Raiders section, but further mention of the significance of the Thunderbirds craft wasn't made.

Well, buried deep in my memory I recalled a Thunderbird 4 kit I couldn't quite place. Scouring my archive, success! Eh voila! The Star Command Galaxy Airsub aka Thunderbird 4, the very same featured on Bico's backing card!

Galaxy Airsub

So is there a Star Command Thunderbird 3 kit as well? A Galaxy Rocket maybe? If there is I certainly can't find one online.

The other Star Command toys, which are all radios, from 1977, are well documented online and often appear on auction sites as this sample shows:

Star Explorer

1-M-1 Starroid Robot

Aqua Star Air-Sub

There are many more Star Command radios and figures, even a toothbrush, and you can check out some Calfax ads at Golobthehumanoid and here are Calfax's various trademarks. 

Oddly there is no mention of the Thunderbird 4 kit or the possible existence of a Thunderbird 3 in this line.

Has anyone got the Star Command Thunderbirds kit/ kits?