MOONBASE CENTRAL

Saturday, 18 April 2020

JET PATROL PROGRESS

A bit more done on my home-made Jet Patrol.

The basic shape has formed with cut plastic and card and the dome is half a deo roller ball coloured yellow.

The red barrel ends are old toy bits from my parts box.

I now need paint. Its on order!

JET PATROL FROM SCRATCH

I've started making a Thunderbirds Jet Patrol model from scratch!

Pictured above is the start - a Hermesetas box and a telephone splitter.

I'm using the Bandai Jet Patrol toy as my inspiration. There don't seem to be many online. I could only find one, on Ebay!

Was the Jet Patrol a Thunderbird 2 pod vehicle?

More soon!

CANDY ANYONE?

Hello Woodsy,

Possibly one of your readers can identify these characters.

This tin of sweets is about 3'5" across. It's on a chain, printed front and back with a paper insert.

The candy is still sealed in a plastic bag but since I think I bought this in the 1970's I doubt that its edible!

Regards from a wet Connecticut,

Terranova47

BIG FANS OF CENTURY 21 TOYS

When I took this garden shot of my new JR21 TB2 the other day it reminded me of something....

... this brilliant piccy that appeared in TV21 of this proud Captain Scarlet fan and his fleet of Century 21 toys, mostly Project SWORD. I'm unsure if its grass he's kneeling on or concrete.

Have you any similar fanned-out fleet shots?

YEGGI AND FREE 3D CAPTAIN SCARLET

There are some interesting 3D models from Captain Scarlet here on Yeggi
https://www.yeggi.com/q/captain+scarlet/

also on Free 3D
https://free3d.com/3d-model/captain-scarlet-vehicle-collection-768.html

A LOOK AT THE CENTURY 21 SPECTRUM PURSUIT VEHICLE

When it comes to Captain Scarlet toys one of my favourites has to be the Century 21 Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle, something I enjoy seeing in a suitable diorama.

It’s certainly an accurate looking toy, and a good size something like 1:32 scale, around 10”.

Bearing in mind this is a friction drive toy and not a scale model, it does have stickers in place of some detailing for the front lights and intakes.

It has several features, some that were seen in the series.

The driver door opens revealing Captain Scarlet facing the rear.

Inside the cabin the drivers console is very nicely detailed with what is supposed to be a forward facing T.V. screen. Any Captain Scarlet fan will tell that being seated facing the rear of the vehicle when you’re busy ramming something in front is better when it comes to health & safety.

The roof intake houses a spring –loaded missie, and the top fin is the trigger release.

There’s an ejector seat on the passenger side covered by a hinged roof hatch. A Captain Blue figure sits in there. My Captain Blue actually came in a damaged Century 21 Spectrum Patrol Car courtesy of blog reader, Steve Davis who kindly offered to replace my missing one. Oddly, the figures in the SPV and SPC are actually slightly different scales which I hadn’t noticed before, so my Captain Blue is a little larger.

It should come with aerials; mine didn’t so I had to get a couple of replicas.

The detailed rear tracks fold down. This feature was never used in the actual series but explained in the Captain Scarlet annuals and used in TV21. Whether the principles involved would actually work is open to debate, but the design still looks cool.

Ron Embleton artwork from TV21.

There’s also a small put out drawer panel at the base of the sloped front that hides what is supposed to be a small dummy machine gun.

I do have the original box (minus the paper slip), but unfortunately the cover has begun to disintegrate, but as it is original I’ll stick with it rather than get a replica.

Although it’s fairly robust, there are a few parts that are obviously susceptible to damage. The roof hatch is usually the first to go, along with the loose Captain Blue figure. The roof fin is likely to break (I discovered mine pushed inside its slot) and the missiles are bound to go missing, along with the aerials. Thankfully, I’ve noted a few enterprising folk springing up who do replica parts of varying quality and price, and with the advent of 3D printers these part should become common place.

Although I’ve had mine for several years now, naturally, these toys are getting harder and harder to find nowadays. As it’s a vehicle it generally going to more popular and sought after than a game or a sticker book with Anderson fans. I tend to avoid the word rare, as some people overuse it to jack up the price, but it might be apt in the case of the Century 21 SPV.

GI JOE AND THE SECRET OF THE DARK LAGOON: THE FLYER

Hello Woodsy,

Many years back I bought a 5" figure from the GI Joe range that I repainted as Dan Dare. I just found this insert from the packaging, a small flyer that may be of interest.

Regards,

Terranova47

USA