Some photos
I’ve taken of the Sixteen 12 ‘Wargames’
Special Edition White Mk IX Hawk.
As most Space: 1999 fans will know, the original model Hawk props, designed by Brian Johnson and built by Martin Bower were originally painted white as per instructions, but following delivery to the studio it was decided viewers might confuse the Hawks with the white Eagles during the ‘Wargames’ space battle scenes, so the more familiar orange paint scheme was applied, although a few pre-publicity photos of the White Hawk did appear.
On screen the sleek, wasp-like Hawk only appears in the first season episode, Wargames, and is instantly recognised by Moonbase Alpha’s science expert, Prof. Bergman as the Mark IX Hawk! The intonation in his voice leads me to think that these craft are far more deadly than its assumed predecessor, the Mark VIII!
In spite of its single appearance, the Mk IX Hawk has certainly proved a fan favourite, and over time some magazines and comics have given the Hawk spacecraft various historical back stories relating to the Space: 1999 universe.
Probably the most notable came from the American ‘Starlog’ magazine during the late seventies/early eighties, which did champion Space: 1999 at the time. The magazine’s writers concocted an ‘imagined’ detailed history suggesting that the Hawk is a further development of the SHADO Interceptor from Gerry & Sylvia Anderson’s previous series, UFO, with upgraded Mark 10 Hawks stationed in the orbiting Space Dock, (Starlog writers christened the dock, Centuri ) until the Dock’s destruction, as seen in the opening 1999 episode, Breakaway!
While I don’t really buy into the UFO connection, I do like the idea that the Hawks operate and are despatched from a space station.
I visited a local car boot sale yesterday after a long boring hiatus. It was great fun to be outside and rummaging again.
Delving into boxes of tat I listened to the stall holders' chatter and sales patter and it reminded me just how different they can be.
My favourite kind of seller is one who keeps quiet whilst I pick though the boxes and scour the table top, only speaking when I ask about the price. Obviously a bit of banter is OK - the weather, the site, the price of potatoes - but I do like to get on with my search relatively undisturbed. It's more or less how I used to sell at toy fairs.
Of course there are toy dealers at car boots too. Some toy-based chat is often fun and if they're toy fair standers then informative too, especially now as toy fairs begin to re-open.
Then there are the car boot price-changers. A typical conversation about a crate of battered Matchbox might be:
"Everything in that box is a pound mate"
I pick up a Superkings truck.
"That's two pounds. Its bigger!"
Then there are the anti-hagglers, who simply will not bargain.
"That's a fiver"
I offer four.
"Nope, I'd rather take it home"
Four fifty.
"Its worth five"
I'm not sure why they sell at a boot sale if they can't haggle but hey, each to their own.
Yesterday I came across a new seller technique, one I'll call the tracker, because he tracked everything I did and commented all the time.
I bent down to rummage and he said everything is 50p in that box. I picked out a podless die-cast Thunderbird 2.
"I knew you'd pick that" said the seller with a knowing grin.
I stood up and picked up an action figure on the table and the seller said "Three". I picked up another and he said "two". One more confirmed the tracker's patter. "One". He wasn't a countdown either.
Bearing in mind I was simply handling these figures and not asking for the price, I found this particular technique off-putting and I paid for my Thunderbird and moved away. Maybe I'm over-sensitive to a talking price tag.
What kind of sellers do you enjoy readers and dare I ask, what kind of seller are you?
I saw this on Spain's auction site and thought it looked a fine sleek Chinese airliner. Not supersonic like the ones featured here last week but impressive nonetheless.
Have you got anything like this readers? Did you as a kid?
When I saw this Durham Super Serpent I thought it looked familiar.
