Once in a while I feel the need to escape the madness of modern life and find peace of mind amongst old toys.
ACME Toy Company in Erdington is one such haven of vintage calm. The shop has a classic TARDIS design... small on the outside and surprisingly big on the inside... and more importantly for me, it's crammed wall-to-wall with old toys from bygone times.
The TARDIS effect doesn't just stop with the dimensions of the shop, but also extends to its ability to transform a ten minute visit, into two hours worth of nostalgic chat with the keepers of this cosy vintage toy time capsule.
Thanks to Pete and Colin for allowing me to snap and share a few pics of this rare old place.
After a first step out into the big wide world yesterday afternoon for a few hours I was happy to breathe fresh air and be among family and friends.
By early evening I wuz bushwacked, back on my sick bay sofa watching You Tube. By the way, thanks for all the hot tips about films to watch guys. All noted for the cinema of the settee for the week ahead!
Late last night I decided to watch some old short videos made by fellow collector and all-round Gerry Anderson expert Modmart.
My recent acquisition of what are probably Century 21/ JR21 Toys SPC missiles and a suitcase got me researching which other Century 21 Toys vehicles had missiles.
Having watched Modmart's excellent footage of his comprehensive collection it would appear that besides the three Project SWORD Scouts, which I have [picture: Ferryman] .......
.... the only other C21/ JR21 toys with similar white red-tipped missiles are the three Captain Scarlet vehicles issued by the company.
These are the Spectrum Patrol Car, Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle and the Angel Aircraft, shown below from Modmart's film and none of which I actually own.
As far as I know these Captain Scarlet toys were all available worldwide in the late Sixties.
You can watch Modmart talk about these three vehicles yourself and its well worth a look:
It still seems odd that C21/JR21 bothered to produce two different sizes and shapes for what were essentially the same missile.
The Project SWORD Scouts had the longer ones with the longer bottom plug [below left] whilst the the Captain Scarlet vehicles had the shorter one with the shorter bottom plug [picture: Arto].
Having tried both types of missile in my SWORD Scouts successfully I am still perplexed as to why the two types were manufactured.
Before I fell ill I made a bid on these bits and bats on the Bay.
I won!
I was after the three white red-tipped missiles, which eagle-eyed Bill B recognised straight away as Century 21.
Not sure what the rest of the stuff is.
I had thought the missiles were the correct ones for my three Project SWORD Scouts, which currently have longer versions inserted in them.
It turns out that these three new shorter missiles are the perfect fit for my small Scouts spring-loaded holes but were actually issued for other larger Century 21 toys like the plastic Spectrum Patrol Car!
It does seem odd that the small Project SWORD Scouts were released with longer missiles** when the shorter ones are a better fit, at least on my toys.
What's your experience?
Have you any Century 21 toys' missiles and did you get them with the original toy?
** Arto pointed out this very thing on the blog back in 2016
