TERRANOVA47'S ORIGINAL DAN DARE ART

Hello Woodsy

in 1974 I purchased a page of original artwork, the second to last page drawn by Frank Hampson for Dan Dare. It was from the story Terranova which I used for my email name many years later. 

At some point in the late 70's I went to a book dealer near Crystal Palace in south London. He had bound volumes of Eagle that had been the publishers reference copies. He also had a large stack of original art boards from Dan Dare. 

These had all been thrown in a skip when the new publisher moved to a new building and discarded them! I bought some bound volumes and some original art.

Around 1990 I was in a comic book store in NYC with my daughter who was about six years old looking for suitable titles for her, she settled on Archie, at the checkout behind the register I saw a paperback volume of Dan Dare. 

It turned out to be the first of the Hawk Book reprints. I put myself on their mailing list and on future visits to the UK I would pick up the volumes as they were published.

The figure was a 12" Brian Bishop USAF Thunderbird action figure made by Dragon Models. He looked so much like Dare I couldn't resist buying it. I had thoughts of changing heads with the Day2Day one.

Terranova47

NYC

USA

THINK TANK MODEL FROM 'SHADA'

Another model on display at the recent Smallspace event was the Think Tank space station used for some of the newly created special effects scenes for the updated 1979 un-aired Tom Baker Doctor Who story, ‘Shada’. 

As most classic Doctor Who fans will know, Shada had a major make over last year, using animation voiced by the original actors, as well as newly filmed scenes, and was released in the UK on Blu-ray. It was also recently shown on TV in the United States, as part of the build up to the new Jodie Whittaker lead Doctor Who series which airs in the autumn.

Special Effects man, Mike Tucker who has the distinction of working on both the classic and updated versions of Doctor Who, was on hand to answer questions.  His company did the new model effects for Shada, and although no actual original effects footage exists, he was able to recreate the station from photos taken in 1979 in which he was able to identify kit parts from the Airfix Eagle Transporter and others, and scale it from them.

I’d imagine most Doctor Who fans will be fully aware of the Shada, and the story behind it, but for those who don’t, here’s a brief run down.  Shada was the intended final six-part story for season 17, and would have been the final story written for the series by the late Douglas Adams, the man behind The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Location filming and the first studio recording had been completed for the serial. However, before the second studio recording could take place BBC technicians went on strike. This meant that things were put on hold, and eventually shelved.

Selected scenes were used for The Five Doctors in 1983, when Tom Baker decided not to reprise his fourth Doctor role for the anniversary special.

In 1992, existing footage was used for a Home Video release with Tom Baker, filmed at the Blackpool exhibition, providing linking narration for the missing scenes.

HASBRO ROAD CREW

One of Moonbase Junior's new recycled acquisitions from his car booting Grandparents is this plastic Road Crew pick-up released by Hasbro in 2003 I think. Not really vintage but it'll do!

Anyone else got any Road Crew toy vehicles?

ZERO IN ON ZERO X...

Some old photos from 2011 showing the Aoshima Zero X

Rob's Redstar 8

Woodsy

Hope all is well. Enjoying your summer posts on Moonbase Central.

Scoop's a tough act to follow! 

Here are two pix of a just-finished model, Redstar 8, which is my retro paint scheme for the Pegasus "Apollo 27" rocket model. I wanted to make it look like it came off a 1957 pulp sci-fi magazine cover. Enjoy!

Rob C

USA

ALPHA TRANSPORT

A few ways of getting out and about  around  Moonbase Alpha...

The Eagle Transporter, Alpha's workhorse.

One of the Laser Tanks. The tanks were originally Lunar construction vehicles used during the building of Alpha Moonbase.

The Moon Buggy for those short trips across the surface.

HORNETS ARE AMONG US

Being off-world is a real buzz.

Much further south than Moonbase, the Missus and me are for the first time experiencing the company of Hornets.

There is a ragtag bunch of them outside. As yet they have stayed there, unlike their smaller cousins the Wasp, which I am ejecting from the cabin with the trusted glass and paper technique of old. In the past I've been stung by wasps more times than I care to dab savlon on!

Hornets are much bigger than wasps. Like that skinny kid on the back of American comics who had sand kicked in his face, these Hornets are like wasps pumped up on Joe Weider protein shakes. They're massive - but strangely passive.

I had thought that Hornets had pinched waists and teardrop-shaped abdomens with a mean hooked stinger but I was wrong. 

Filled with the wasp hordes of Seventies fantasy artist Rodney Matthews my imagination has run amok and wrecked the hive. No wonder though when I had stuff like this on my walls! I still have a poster like this rolled up in the attic! Did you or do like Rodney Matthews?

Maybe Rodney's things are actually wasps but to me they were always Hornets.

The real one's look like this, Hornets that is, at least here in England:

Confusingly, especially for the Hornet novice like us, there is also a Hornet Moth where we are in Norfolk. It looks a heckuvva lot like a Hornet!

Having read Norfolk Moths and the Norfolk Wildlife Trust's sites [from whence the two images have been gratefully borrowed] the main difference between the Hornet and the Hornet Moth is the waist. The moth doesn't have one!

Yep, no Victorian pinched-corsetry for this moth. Its one huge black and yellow bockwurst all the way to its head!

Armed with this new information we shall have to inspect our neighbours more closely and check their waistlines!

Thinking back I'm pretty sure I never had any wasp toys. I had a whole jungle full of rubber insects like flies, centipedes, crickets, all harried by frogs, snakes and even crocodiles. 

But no wasps.

Why was that?

Are we so scared of wasps that toy makers refused to make them?

Or do you have a different wasp history readers?

Do you have Hornets nearby?

INTO THE GLYDYR

When a younger me, the Missus and Moonbase Daughter lived in North Wales in the mid-80's we loved the dramatic scenery more than anything. It was awe-inspiring every day.

Studying at Bangor University I also did some group field work in the mountains and Glydyr Fawr was one of my favourite peaks; jagged, fortress-like.

The doodle I did this year was in tribute to the Glydyrs.

Here it is in real life, like Godzilla passing by!