THE WHEELS OF THE IMAI THUNDERBIRD 7

Today's fascinating discussion about the LP Moon Explorer Car tyres reminded of the mysterious wheels on another model I have, Imai's Thunderbird 7.

Its the orange ATV in the middle of some of my toys lined up here, next to the red LP Moon Explorer Car.

Here's the white version close-up, in which you can see the 5 spoked wheels inside the tread [image: akasikogouru]

They aren't the same as the other pod vehicles by Imai such as this Mole [image: akasikogouru] All the others lack 'spokes'.

Now it may be that the origin of Thunderbird 7's tyres lies in its own origin as a vehicle, namely the Snow Train by Eric Eden in the TV21 Summer Extra 1966

or the heat-shielded version of it, the Beetle, in the 1968 Project SWORD Annual. 

What do you think readers?

LP MOON EXPLORER CAR WHEELS: POSSIBLE ORIGIN BY ANDY B

Hi Woodsy,

I have always liked the LP Moon Explorer Car you featured recently , which was the Spanish version this time.

It led me to wonder about the inspiration for the LP wheel system. It is pretty definitely a WW2 German tank, either a Tiger or Panther. 

I wonder if the wheels were copied from the much smaller Roco Minitanks Panther model pictured above?

Andy B

UK

*

LP Moon Explorer original pictured below for camparison.

THE MODELS USED IN THUNDERBIRDS BY MARC J. FRATTASIO

Years ago I used to correspond with a Marc J. Frattasio. Mark was an early online authority in the 90's on the models used in Gerry Anderson's TV shows. 

Marc knew about the die-casts which appeared, the model kits bashed and the actual materials used for the shows' vehicles.

All of his findings were originally on the TV21 and the SuperM websites.

Here's a taste of his old Thunderbirds observations on SuperM.

http://lester.demon.nl/superm/technology/sfx/tbirds/models0.html

What do you think?

THE MANY COLOURED LAND

Continuing my daydream into glacial and polar lakes I remembered posting this photoshoppery I did years ago on the blog; the great Mars Explorer OX traversing an ancient ice hollow on the red planet.

Discussing submersibles voyaging through polar seas also reminded me of a novel I read as a 17 year old some 40+ years ago, The Many Coloured Land by Julian May. It was the first book in the Saga of the Exiles and at least one other was called the Golden Torc.

What I recall more than anything is a passage describing a spaceship zooming through the icy seas of the Pleistocene. It was a a fabulous image and the book's ice-age roots were hinted at on the beautiful cover it had back then in the 70's with the central motif being a Mammoth's skull. I imagine this cover has changed many times as the book was reprinted over the coming interbellum.

Do you remember this book?

GLACIAL DREAMS

The new Lake on Mars has be mesmerised.

Its not so much the science more the science fiction that's sweeping through my mind whipping up fast eddies of new hope.

For some reason the thought of a large body of clear water on another planet close-by almost brings a tear to my eye, which is sort of fitting really. A martian tear so to speak.

What gleaming craft, what chromed propellers would glide through that crystal pool, piercing its untroubled surface and breaking through the icy crust like a marlin!

It is the stuff of dreams, where glacial waves lap shores of frosted Martian sand and the distant sun glints on the virgin sea, warming it's currents like an invitation to life.

But therein lies the rub readers. How do we enter such an ancient off-world lake without changing it forever?

TERRANOVA47'S FIDEL CASTRO DOLL

So here he is.

Sold as a Fidel Castro doll, I purchased him in Havana, Cuba, July 1959.
This is not Che.

His moustache fell off years ago but otherwise he is correct including the made in Cuba label.

The badge on his left arm, 26, refers to July 26, 1953 when the Castro lead revolution began. The date became the name of the revolutionary movement who in January 1959 succeeded in ousting the dictator, Batista.

so, the back story: 

My mother had family in Cuba she had never met. As children under 12 could travel half fare back in the 50's and my 12th birthday would be September 1959 that summer my mother and I went to the US and Cuba.

July 26 was a great national Holiday that year, the first since the end of the fighting. Every one was for Fidel at that point and he was on TV live, giving a speech that must have lasted 24 hours.

There was no hint yet of either communism or American boycott, this was a time of National rejoicing. A few years later all my Cuban cousins, aunts and uncles would be in the US.

It was the end of this trip on the return to the UK on BOAC that those ridiculous paper aeroplanes of mine you blogged came from.

Terranova47
NYC

THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE

I saw a phrase I hadn't seen before the other day. It was 'ghost site'. It refers to a dormant website on the net. I had seen the phrase 'ghost sign' before and indeed I live across the road from one, an old Hovis Bread sign fading slowly on an old shop wall.

Ghost site sums up perfectly that strange thing you find online, a site that hasn't been updated for years and despite still existing on the net its been more or less abandoned.

Dormancy like this can be for many reasons. There maybe nothing new to say. There maybe nothing new to find. There maybe be personal reasons on the part of the author not least of which could be getting on with other parts of their life.

The first ghost site I came across was the much-missed Stingray Museum. It was alive and swimming when I first hooked up to the net. I even corresponded with the site creator back in the 1990's. After some time though it became dormant and even worse disappeared altogether. Fortunately its ratemaster was still whirring and it resurfaced on that portal to lost worlds, The Wayback Machine.

I have met with many ghost sites since then and lament the passing of many others into the ether. The Gerry Anderson Complete Comics History or GACCH was such a work. Comprehensive and monumental, it vanished completely only to again fortunately rise in some form on the Wayback Machine, fast becoming the web's official ghost town.

Ghost sites worry me. I know that one day Moonbase Central will be such a one. OK, its rather maudlin' to think like that I know but as we fast approach the tenth anniversary this Autumn I do wonder how much longer it can run. I suppose what is most on my mind is whether I still have anything new to say. My co-authors still do but personally my own collecting days are largely over and without new stuff to play with its hard to stay fresh.

Yes, I do still have a large space toy collection, especially Project SWORD, but how many more times can I talk about these? Virtually all the research that is possible has been done into this line with new material few and far between these days. Being a blog Moonbase Central relies on newness. Readers have been brilliant these last couple of years, providing many articles and titbits to bolster the effort of the three of us at MC, for which I am eternally grateful as it has indeed helped keep the blog fresh and relevant to its audience.

I dunno. Those ghost sites are on my mind. Any advice on what to do with ghosts?

SOVIET BOOSTER SPACE TANK

Hi Woodsy,

Found these while trawling the 'net. 

Although it's from 1950, can't help thinking of 2001 when I look at that space station image.

Also, perhaps the strangest "take" on the booster rocket yet?

all the best,

Andy B