Bagpuss' Professor Yaffle from Scratch by Kevin D

Another rush of blood to the head and I've made a scratchbuilt replica of Professor Yaffle from Bagpuss!

Still, I needed a bookend!

Kevin

Prototype Dinky SPV, Century 21 Props and Lunar Bug die-cast Toy Development by Gerald A. Wingrove MBE

I stumbled across this great site the other day, Film Props and Toy Development by Gerald A. Wingrove MBE.

There's lots for the space toy and Anderson fan to look at. What do you think?

http://www.geraldwingrove.com/Other_Models/Gallery-2.html

Have you come across Mr. Wingrove's work before readers?

where tanks and dukws lie abandoned

This caught my eye, where military vehicles go to die. In Lincolnshire just south of me at Moonbase.. Rusting hulks have a strange appeal. I don't know why.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2509208/Britains-rust-belt-Vehicle-graveyard-runway-closed-RAF-station-features-military-vehicles-machinery-dating-World-War-Two.html

Have you a space/ missile/ rocket or vehicle graveyard near you?

quatermass in motion

Continuing Scoop's recent thread about Quatermass I was amazed to see that Monsters in Motion of California stock a Mego-like Quatermass action doll from the Quatermass and the Pit movie [it appears to be sold out]

They also stock similar figures from the earlier Quatermass Xperiment

These figures look like Mego for sure and I appreciate the retro packaging. They are also Xpensive but as I don't have any I can't comment on value for money. 

Monsters In Motion stock many limited edition collectable figures like these from lots of different classic sci-fi and horror films.

https://www.monstersinmotion.com/cart/index.php

What do you think?

Have any of you got any of these figures? Has anyone been to the California store?

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POSTSCRIPT

IT! The Terror From Beyond Space

US Reader Brian found this in Wildwood. Brian says its not Mego but more in scale with Star Wars figures. Looks like it has an extra face!

monsters on the loose: kong and calvin

Pounding my Amazon Prime membership to death I've watched two 'blockbusters' this week that I missed first time round at the flicks, LIFE and Kong: Skull Island.

I enjoyed them both but as its just a sleep away since Kong finished, like Bishop in ALIEN, I'm still collating.

There is much that could be said about both but for now I shall let the ape's great roar fade from my earlugs before I say anything. 

red planet recall

OK, I've finished watching the movie Red Planet on Amazon Prime.

Overall I enjoyed it and in particular I liked the focus on hardware especially that from previous Mars missions, both American and Russian. The idea of upcycling old machinery in space appeals to me greatly and I can see it being a realistic proposition for future astronauts. Does it feature in many other films  do you know?

The more fantastical elements were less appealing for some reason. The algae-chomping weevils seemed an after-thought and poorly realised. At least in Apollo 18 the rock insects were the whole story and not just a brief scurry in the plot.

Similarly Aimee the bad robot seemed adrift in a droid strop but to be fair bad robots in flicks are hard to pull off. Think of DARYL, Saturn 5, Hardware to name a few rogues. Terminator did it but then again they had Arnie not Aimee.

Finally, the human element. Its always tricky. It either works or it doesn't. Carrie-Anne Moss's competent Captain was convincing enough bringing the mothership back from the brink. Not a sweaty, hard working Lt.. Ripley by a long chalk though but there can only ever be one beleaguered ship like the Nostromo and that's ..well, the Nostromo.

Val Kilmer was annoying. I'm not sure he can be taken seriously with his permanent grin. He was serious in HEAT though so he can do it. His fellow HEAT actor Tom Sizemore did a much better job as the double PhD geneticist trying to figure out where the algae had gone.

The rest of the crew, Stamp, Baker and Bratt, were just ballast and never given the time or the space to develop I felt. It was obvious that they would be toast.

All that said, I enjoyed Red Planet. Did you? Was there any merchandising?

american readers: are you watching the eclipse?

I'm keeping up with the total eclipse on the telly here in the UK.

I'm very envious of our American readers who will hopefully be able to see it in its totality!

Are you watching over in the USA?

Watch out for the Sun's atmosphere, the Corona.

Someone get a Project SWORD or Golden Astronaut toy in a photograph with the eclipse please!

Shuttle Service

August continues to be a favourable month for vintage plastic for me as quite by chance I spotted this lovely red shuttle recently. Its another chicken and egg situation, as this and the many variations by Blue Box and AHI among others, seem to depend from the small red shuttle in the Imperial and Apollo Moon Exploring toys sets. As to which toy is the earliest, is hard to say, however this red friction version has some very interesting details. 

Firstly, it has a swordesque sticker on the hull reading 'Payva'. This could be either spanish or russian, but seems to suggest foreign manufacture. Although there are no makers marks at all, the manufacturer seems to have made an effort to distance the toy from its other iterations.  

Most notable is the double exhausts on the rear as opposed to triple on the small toy and all succeeding versions such as Blue Box. This panel design on the upper hull has one large rather than two separate squares, a design which AHI neglected to change on their purple chrome version. Unfortunately, that and the carded rocket left the Wotan archives during a cash flow crisis and ive only got the old auction photograph left.

The Blue Box version, which is considerably more easy to find has a different styling again on the top and also opts for slim nacelles on the wingtips to either avoid copyright infringements, or to just modernise the toy slightly. However, I much prefer this odd red version which matches the cleaner lines if its smaller cousin and sports an interesting new engine layout.