MOONBASE CENTRAL

Saturday, 3 October 2020

never seeing no-one nice again

THE JOY OF CHILDHOOD

Moonbase Junior is having his final sleep of his monthly 3 sleeps at his Grandparents. He's just gone to sleep and we're already missing him. Taking him home to his parents tomorrow will, as it always is, be hard for all three of us.

Watching Junior is an education. A lesson in how to enjoy things for what they are and just enjoy them. Pure unadulterated fun. I suppose that's the key, unadulterated; no adult problems, woes and worries, which totally get in our way when we try to have fun.

I can't really remember that feeling. Just whispers and winks popping up from my past like flimsy bubbles. Having said that, Junior is only just 4 and for me that's 56 years ago, so quite a lot has happened since to blur the rear-view mirror.

I can at least recall my teenage obsessions though but that's as far back as I can go to dig up the joy I see in Junior when he's playing with his cars or his play doh or messing with apples in the garden.

Being with him is like a second childhood!

I'm already looking forward to his 3 sleeps in November!

Do you remember the joy of childhood readers?

APOLLO SATURN ANYONE?

I liked this modern toy box cover image.

It reminded me completely of these Project SWORD Apollo Saturn toys.

Anyone got one of these?

MY FAVOURITE MARTIANS?

This is a mystery.

We've talked about the US TV series My Favourite Martian before.

So what's this cartoon, My Favourite Martians?

This is a VHS in my freecycle pile.

Friday, 2 October 2020

UNINVITED

Nostalgic Delinquency

Hi Woodsie, I was thinking about slingshots/catapults which are listed as an illegal weapon in Australia and I thought "Ah, when I were a lad I had one of those..." It's amazing the amount of stuff from our childhood that isn't permitted now!

I looked online to see if i could find my catapult, it was English made, from stiff red plastic with square rubber bands and a black polythene sling. But to no avail, this pic was the closest i could find.

My version was very rectilinear with reinforcing ribs on the back side.

Oh who's at the door?
- I can explain everything Officer...

Cheers, Looey

VIRGIN TRACY TRAINS

Hi Woodsy

By chance I came across an item on You Tube about a class of British railway locomotives named after the Thunderbirds TV series. Virgin Trains once operated a fleet of Class 57 locomotives for rescue (breakdown) duties. According to Wikipedia, there were 16 examples of the Class 57/3 version in total. The first 12 were ordered in 2002, and another four were added later. They were in service from 2002 to 2012.

From Wikipedia comes this list of names. The first 12 were all named after Thunderbirds characters, with the final four being mainly named after vehicles. Strangely, none were actually named after the Thunderbirds craft.

The nameplates had the Thunderbirds title on them, above the locomotive name, with the International Rescue winged IR insignia on a separate plate above the nameplate.

The locomotive number comprises five digits. The first two are the class number; the third is the sub-class number; and the final two the number of the locomotive within its group.

57301 Scott Tracy

57302 Virgil Tracy

57303 Alan Tracy

57304 Gordon Tracy

57305 John Tracy

57306 Jeff Tracy

57307 Lady Penelope

57308 Tin Tin

57309 Brains

57310 Kyrano

57311 Parker

57312 The Hood

57313 Tracy Island

57314 Firefly

57315 The Mole

57316 FAB 1

The firm Bachmann have modelled a number of these locomotives in OO (1/76th scale), if you want one for your model railway layout. Not sure if they have done the whole class or not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC3WzV6yCIY

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_57

Paul Adams

New Zealand