watching the martian

Just finished watching The Martian movie with Matt Damon whilst Moonbase Junior is asleep!

I liked it a lot.

One of the reasons I liked it is that no-one actually dies. More to the point no-one has to sacrifice themselves in order for the rest to live although they did try to!

I find this an unnecessary trope in many space movies such as Gravity or Mission to Mars or Capricorn One. I know space is brutal but why is sacrifice such a common sub-plot? Maybe I'm just soft!

Having said that I do like all those films too, especially Capricorn One! Its an excellent story.

Which space films do you like readers?  Marooned maybe, Outland perhaps or any others? Does everyone live in them!?

toy hammers on the brain

I was obsessed with hammers a little kid.

My Sisters tell me that I drew them on my parents' home's wallpaper!

Hammering began early with fabulous creative sets like Nail-On Tiles by Spears, who, along with Merit, were a dominant play force in my childhood.

Earlier still was the sheer simplicity of bashing wooden pegs on a cobblers bench with a hefty wooden mallet.  These were everywhere when I was a young basher.

Bigger jobs required more complex tools and I adored plastic hammers and screwdrivers like these old sets. I can still almost feel the plastic handles in my industrious mini-hands.

I have a memory of even more realistic tool sets within my reach. I can see a small metal saw with an L-shaped handle and small wooden handled claw hammer. This may have been in a tool box or even a small tool cupboard that opened like a wallpaper table.

Tools and art went together back then too and the most memorable Sixties picture was Soulet's little urchin with his shouldered hammer. This hung [or is it hanged?] in our stairwell when I was a small malleter.

My teeth took a hammering too as well as a sawing and a wrenching. All my fave tools were available in chocolate in sweet shops! Yay! they looked like these, rough and ready but quite delicious. hand tools never tasted so good!

Did you have any hammers or saws or spanners as a kid readers?

SOVIET TOY MOONSHIP

My eagle eyed chum and fellow SWORD fan Arto up there in Helsinki Base spotted this fascinating gem recently online on Ebay.

Its a tinplate MOONSHIP.

But this one is RUSSIAN!

Can anyone translate the Russian?

I assume its Soviet era. Correct?

I also assume that the paper note depicting a girl holding what appears to be a bear came out of the toy's box too. What is it?

This tin toy looks more or less the same as this Chinese version we've featured since the start of the blog. The only differences are the rear fins. The Chinese version has engine nacelles. The markings are different too.

The Russian box is different as well.

There are two versions of the Chinese box.

This one seen here flattened.

and this one, which was presumably anglicised for the English -speaking market

Have you got a toy Moonship?

A Hike Round Birch Grove Park Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, USA

American reader Brian took a hike round Birch Grove Park in New Jersey and shared these atmospheric images.

Here's a styrofoam Halloween decoration skull! Some kids must have stuck it there.

It was a Blair Witch moment for sure!

Brian, NJ

waiting for the moonbase baby

Its chucking it down here.

Positively pluvial.

Just waiting for Moonbase Grandson to arrive. 

He's driving over in Starman's Tesla!

There's tons of plastic and wooden toys waiting for him to explore here at Moonbase.

Its a weekend of childminding for me and the Missus.

Whats happening at your end?

Long Island Aerospace History Site and the ANT

Project SWORD Annual readers may recall the ANT.

Its a multi-stage space vehicle that features in its own story in the book. Its based on a real Sixties design.

The excellent Long Island Aerospace History site has some interesting stuff on this design. 

It includes this wonderful picture including a model of what Project SWORD called the ANT to the right of the image 
[ I did have trouble loading this image readers ].

http://www.longislandaerospacehistory.com/Select/LM/XXX-LM-PROJECT/LM%20project/DESIGN/design-1.html

If it doesn't load then try this Google search and the image should be one of the first, Grumman Lunar Landing Concept 1962.

I wonder what happened to that model?

A large prototype ANT, the Grumman MOLAB, dangles from an American ceiling.

It's hanging from the ceiling in the Red Planet cafe of the Cradle of Aviation Museum, Mitchel Field, Long Island, USA and advertised as part of their children's party space offer.

The picture is shown with kind permission from it's taker, Gary Agranat. 

You can see it on Gary's flickr album here.

Anyone been?

Have you seen an ANT model or prototype?

did you mirror write?

I was recently talking to someone about backwards writing.

You know, writing that's written as if its in a mirror.

My mates and me loved to mess with this when we were kids in the Sixties. Its was a sort of code. Not only did some of us write it but it was spoken as well.

It began with our names.

Mine was Sdoow Luap. It could have been Luap Sdoow if I reversed in the same order, which some kids did, but strictly speaking the true mirror name was Sdoow Luap.

My mates included such gems as Yllredda Nibor and Nossac Nhoj!

These could read normally by placing a mirror at the end and reading the names in the mirror.

There are some difficulties in describing mirror writing though. Is it actually reversed or is it flipped i.e. on its back?

Similar problems arise with objects in a mirror. When looking at ourselves its hard to describe what we see as reversed. Left has become right and so on. I'm not sure what the term would be. Half turned?

Back to writing, there were other styles too like upside down writing. Typewriters added another dimension too.

What do you think about mirror writing and were you any good at it readers?

Mazinger Z's Jet Pilder

Woodsy,

Here's a maybe for Moonbase Central. Something called a Jet Pilder from a Japanese anime TV show called Mazinger Z. Goofy little thing...

Rob C

USA