VINTAGE ZERO-X MODEL ON JAPANESE TV

Vintage Japanese Imai Zero-X and Thunderbirds TV adverts

You Tube

MIDORI GREEN SLIME ESCAPE SHUTTLE

Will Schwartz sent me this photo that one of his friends found on line of the Midori Gamma 3 Escape Shuttle from the film The Green Slime. Note, one version can be used as a bath toy.

Woodsy sent me this photo of some bagged Mach Boat toys which look a little similar to the shuttle.

PROJECT SWORD IN CANADA

Project SWORD toy display from 2010 at the Canadian Air and Space Museum [pictures: Randy McDonald].

HERE

Emotional Rescue

Small, but perfectly formed, the R6 Rescue craft is an unusual little craft in many respects. While a lot of the second series Spacex toys were considerable larger than the originals, the R6 is probably one of the smallest across both ranges. That said, it has a lot going on, including a detachable fuel tank and spring launched escape pod. The only failing for me was the previously discussed Airfix Saturn V J2 engine which had been used on the back.

The mystifying card back shows a completely different engine and a kind of sphere, neither of which feature with the released model. For a rescue ship, it is very diminuitive, so I got to thinking if it would have a larger booster section for long haul trips. With this in mind, I recently scored a Rosenthal 'Macs Car' turbine part on ebay and due to its size, was immediately put in mind of a standalone spaceship.

 My original R6 was really play worn and dilapidated, so I decided to take the ridiculous Airfix engine part off and replace it with something more reminiscent of the card back. Then, I took the intake off the turbine and reversed it. A Multimac cabin part, complete with small golden astronaut pilot, sat on the back completed the ensemble. It still needs a little work to clean and complete  the project, but overall I am happy with the piece and it is only minimally held together should I change my mind!

SECRET PILE OF VINTAGE TOYS

Vintage toy stockpile discovered in old boarded-up toy shop.

I've blogged  this before but I love the idea that there are hidden hoards like this!

What can you see?

Full story here in the Daily Mail.

TERRAHAWKS READ THRU AT ANDERCON:2015

On the very rare occasion  I ever find myself watching Terrahawks, there's a couple of things about the series I don't particularly care for. One is the grotesque looking puppets, and the other is the cringe inducing scripts.

Okay, I know a lot of you do like the show, even I enjoy the models and special effects. A young Steve Begg was just starting out, working with a minuscule budget, and look where he ended up.  Plus,I'd rather see practical special effects, good or bad, over CGI anytime.

Anyway, at Andercon last year the audience was treated to a live read -through of a Terrahawks audio adventure, which I believe was specially written  by the friend to puppets everywhere, Stephen La Rivière.

Playing all the parts were Jeremy Hitchen, Robbie Stevens and Richard Long, with Nicholas Briggs providing the sound effects (Matt Zimmerman appeared at some point, but I'm not sure why)

To be honest I can't remember anything about the plot, apart from the fact that everyone did seem to enjoy it. So for anyone who feels the urge to relive the experience here's a few photos.

Moonrise over Preston

A couple of months ago, I spotted an odd ebay auction for a "plastic moon". At first I passed over it, trying to get something else, but as I lost a couple of bids in sucession, I went back to cheer myself up, with some cheaper novelty. Looking at the listing again, it was hard to know exactly what the item was, as the list didn't go into detail and the picture was from a distance and even included the sellers fluffy slippers and pet cat. 

Curiousity got the better of me and I put in a covering bid of about a fiver and waited. A couple of days later, I won and after some back and to with the very pleasant lady selling it, arranged to collect it from Preston, rather than risk the vagaries of the royal mail.

When I met the lady selling it, at the railway station, she handed me a football sized bag and explained it had been her fathers, a space enthusiast who had wanted to call her 'Neil' after the moon explorer. She also said it originated in Hong Kong, where they had lived and dated from the seventies.

Its a delightful piece, hard blown vinyl with lots of relief detail and mapping annotations in coloured dots which seem to identify russian and american probes and landings. Overall its almost museum display quality and originally had a stand too. Im not sure how accurate the dots are, I've tried to correlate them with various lunar atlases and maps, with varying results.

ATRAGON TEASER

Surly a few of you will remember this Japanese movie from 1963. Atragon which featured a fabulous flying submarine with drill attachment.

I first watched this movie at one of the Saturday morning matinees I used to go to as a kid. When I got  home I quickly made some sketches of the boat to retain a memory.. The 'Mole-like' drill, which was obviously pre-Thunderbirds, and the fact that the Atragon converted into a flying missile had me hooked.

The filmed also featured undersea cities ,subterranean invaders and the obligatory undersea monster.

I'll do a more in depth feature later.