REPRODUCTION GERRY ANDERSON VINTAGE BOARD GAMES

Things just got a lot easier - or harder - depending on your viewpoint - for the UK vintage board game collector.

I was in a small shop called Something Different in Wentworth, South Yorkshire today and spotted a game I recognised.

It was Blast-Off by Waddingtons, the classic space game from the 1960's. With its iconic box art its unmistakable and one which found a welcome home in our house when I was growing up.

But there wasn't just one Blast-Off in the shop, there must have been twenty, all neatly displayed in rows in a special shop display base!

They were reproductions! 

The box, plastic parts, the lot! All for £11 each!

I couldn't believe it. I spent £10 just on a single original spare part last year, the white plastic moonscape!

Blast Off wasn't all. Next to it were the same number of Z Cars and Lone Ranger Board Games! They were all made by a company called West 11.

Looking them up online this afternoon I was staggered to see that they have also reproduced both the Captain Scarlet and Thunderbirds Waddingtons board games from the Sixties! Alas, these trade items are sold out.

Well blow me down! If your'e after original parts then be careful what you are offered. If you want an inexpensive copy then track down a shop that sells these clones.

For further repro surprises check out West 11's full wholesale design range:

http://www.west11designs.co.uk/all-products

What do you think readers? Are these for sale in shops near you?

*

PS. the small Blast Off plastic moonscape or moon I refer to above is pictured below [not to scale]:

SWORD NEWS: NEW PINK RUBBER

 I've blogged the Project SWORD UFO rubbers many times.

Here's another bundle I saw online this summer. Whilst none of these are actual SWORD vehicles the UFO backing card is the same.

The four craft remain a mystery to me to be honest. They could be generic space designs but then again they could be specific to a Japanese anime.

The pink vehicle is wholly new to me.

Anyone got any ideas what they are?

WHAT'S YOUR LATEST COLLECTABLE?

What's the latest collectable that's found its way into your humble abode readers?

Mine's two things: 

a Rosko Charlie Weaver bartender toy, which I'll do a post on at some point and a stack of vintage trashy horror paperbacks from the 1980's, which I adore! You know, Guy N. Smith and Shaun Hutson et al! 

I blame my Mum and those creepy Pan Herbert Van Thal paperbacks she read in the Sixties!

So what's yours readers? Or what will it be when you get chance?

VINTAGE TOYS AT TODAY'S CAR BOOT SALE

Today's mega boot sale in Fitzwilliam was extra ginormous and positively Californian. It was so damn hot, at 28 degrees, almost too hot to bother with the boot sale! Getting in and out was a nightmare too!

I picked up a couple of old Star Wars mini - vehicles but walked past loads of stuff as usual as I find it difficult opening my wallet these days saving for retirement!

Walk pasts included these loose nuggets:

1. Cherilea Action Man green armoured car [huge!]

2. Strike Force Action Man green Truck with tarp, beige Jeep with Trailer and beige Armoured Car

3. Hundreds of Dinky and Matchbox cars

4. Two dozen loose MPC astronauts

5. Various types of plastic Thunderbird 4 inc. the modern movie version

6. Merit Metal Puzzles set

7. Robo Force Motorbike

8. Joe 90 VHS Video

9. Blakes 7 VHS Video

10. A stack of SHOOT comics from 1971

Would you have gone for any of these readers?

The most interesting walk past was a Blue Box Laser Wars set, a toy wholly new to me. It looked quite interesting and space-age'ish: like Manta Force/ M.A.S.K. The box was a bit battered. The vendor said it was 1974 [?] and priced at £35. 

Below is a picture off Ebay of the same set in a much better box. Anyone know Laser Wars?

SWORD NEWS: TARHEEL PROJECT SWORD TASK FORCE TOYS

You don't often see the Project SWORD Task Force ships made by Tarheel of the USA.

These two of the three popped up on Ebay this summer.

The obvious differences with the original Century 21 toys are colours and livery: the original number 3 is red and not white and the engines of number 1 are black and not green.

Some lucky owner now has these two of the three Task Forces.

ROLL ON LUNCHTIME

ICE-CREAMED!

I recently had the pleasure of visiting a well-stocked ice cream vendor in St. Davids, West Wales.

You know the sort. There's a large glass cabinet with tubs of different ice-creams and a display of cornets on top.

Getting my double scoop cornet reminded me just how many more flavours there are these days. Literally dozens and dozens at the vendor I was at.

When I was a kid in the Sixties the range of flavours was tiny in comparison. The main one was what all soft ice cream tasted of, the Mister Softee taste. Its hard to describe. Cold, white, milkyness. I suppose it was vanilla maybe.

Other hues included chocolate, mint choc chip, butterscotch [or was it toffee?], the ultra exotic tuti-frutti and my personal favourite, raspberry ripple.

There was another one in the supermarket freezer aisles, Neopolitan, but this only came in blocks so your parents could look swish at the dinner table! I think it was coloured like the Italian flag.

My Missus's current favourite when in Europe is Sahne Gries, that's creamed semolina! It is quite delicious I must say.

If they can make semolina work then maybe the two bete noirs of my schoolday dinners might make it. Can you imagine, sago and tapioca flavoured ice-cream! Yuk, all those little balls!

What's your best ice cream flavour readers and is it the same as when you were a kid?

DINKY THUNDERBIRD 2 & 4

In the final look at my Dinky die-cast toys based on those that featured in Gerry Anderson's TV series I come to the ever popular Thunderbird 2.

Dinky's Thunderbird 2 first appeared in 1967 as model number 101, and remarkably for Dinky the earliest issue was a nice shade of green just like in the series. 

Unfortunately, the metal base was riveted to the top section which meant that if the thin, spindly legs snapped , they couldn't easily be replaced. However, later editions did have screws for easier accessibility.

Although that was a good idea, Dinky soon replaced the original colour with a metallic green, presumably to improve sales.

The model comes with a 'dinky' little Thunderbird 4 submarine which looks more or less to scale.

These versions of Dinky's 101 model would continue to be produced until 1973. The final edition omitted  the Century 21 wording from the base of the pod.

Dinky produced a whole new retooled Thunderbird 2 which began to appear around 1974, and with it a new number -106. (the number which formally belonged to Dinky's  Prisoner Mini Moke)

This was bigger and blue!

The legs were much more solid and a definite improvement. The first versions had die- cast bases which were painted blue.

Thunderbird 4 looks even more in scale.

However, further cost cutting measures at Dinky meant that later versions had die-cast tops and black or white plastic bases.

Production ended in 1979.

Comparing the two versions.

The early display boxes. Note the addition of Gerry Anderson's name on the later one.

The second version of the outer box along side the window box which appeared during the production's final year.