CANADIAN TOY CATALOGUES

https://www.historymuseum.ca/canadaplay/introduction/catalogues.php 

This is an interesting website of Canadian toy catalogues. Lots of plastic boats and ride-on toys from the 1930's onwards!

Is there anything you recognise?

Starcom ...Again!

Hi Woodsie, I think Starcom figures got a mention at the Base recently. 

I'm just preparing for a Facebook challenge -an Alphabetic run down of toy robots.

I was looking really closely at my crowded display cabinets and wondering what this little guy was again...?

Cheers, Lewis

MY WAVE SKYDIVER BUILD

 Here are some photos I’ve taken of my completed WAVE Skydiver model skimming over the ocean’s surface.

It’s a good size, around 19”, and I believe the model first appeared around 1980. It’s made of vinyl, not the best material to use, as sections of the model arrive distorted and need to be reshaped using hot and cold water. Even after reshaping, parts will annoyingly insist on reverting back to their distorted form.

The hollow main bodies of Sky and Diver need to be filled with something to maintain the shape. Some people have use builders foam or gypsum plaster, with varying success. Overuse the builders foam and the model will expand beyond the desired shape, and using plaster means the model ends up fairly heavy.

For my photos I wanted the model to float, so plaster was out, and even though I have a builders foam gun which would give me some control over the amount of foam inserted I wasn’t sure how the foam would react against the vinyl. Eventually I plumped for tightly packed newspaper. It’s not as rigid of course, but it ticked the boxes for me.

Fitting the parts together takes a little patience as they need reshaping to fit properly. Sky’s wings needed reinforcing with pieces of thin MDF, and Diver’s rear hydroplanes needed additional fixing supports. However, In spite of my pursuit for perfection I soon came to realize that my vinyl modelling skills were limited, as was my patience, so I admit to the odd compromise when it came to putting things together.

When I tackle my next one I may decide to recast some parts in resin.

Unsurprisingly, some filling and sanding is required. I used A.K.  water based modelling putty and some light sand paper.

Vinyl doesn’t like too much sanding, and fine detailing can be easily lost. Like I said before, not the best material for this!

When it comes to painting, following priming I sprayed the model with its overall main colour of Halfords Ford Oyster Gold. Unfortunately, this colour has now been discontinued by Halfords, but luckily my local branch had one can left, plus I had some left over from painting a Skydiver Bandai kit. Any future Skydiver model I build will get a coat of Tamiya Titanium Gold as this looks to me like the closest match. The other colours used are various metallic greys, silvers, and shadow black with the finer details done by hand using different shades of Tamiya acrylic paint.

Next, I gave the model a coat of sealer ready for the application of the decals.

The kit comes with an impressive set of decals, some of which make up long strips over the curved hull, so it’s wise to use plenty of decal softening solution. I find Micro Scale is pretty good.

Finally, the whole model gets a final coat of semi-gloss sealer, and Skydiver is ready to launch!

Overall, I love it, so much so I’ve even bought another one to build thanks to my friend, Tony Freeman. It’s an excellent representation of what we see on screen. Its size is just about right for me, not too big and not too small, and the decals really help its look.

In spite of it being made from vinyl, for the reasonably competent modeller who’s done his or her homework it’s not a particularly hard build unless you’re looking for a total perfection.

SEARCH THE SKY FOR TRANSPORTERS

 

I love this spaceship. There's lots to like here. Dorsal fuel cells. Long sleek lines. And then there's that central ribbed ring, which recalls the same on the SpaceX Lunar Transporter LT-10. What do you think?

HAMMY HAMSTER LIKES WILE.E COYOTE

I introduced Moonbase Junior to a few old TV series I watched in the 60's today.

Astronut and his his buddy Oscar he found quite funny. It took me right back!

Roadrunner was a hit and he laughed a lot at Wile.E Coyote's constant flattening and falling off cliffs. It took me right back too!

Mr.Magoo was a damp squib. Junior just didn't get the daft situations he was always walking into. Needless to day, it took ....

Tales from the Riverbank: well what can I say, Junior adored this and was transfixed by the antics of Roderick and Hammy superbly voiced by one Johnny Morris. The theme music just swept me back to sitting in front of the black and white TV all those years ago!

Did you like any of these shows readers?

THE MARX SUPERCAR

The Mike Mercury website, a long established site by Dave Hobson, has some really fascinating Supercar oddities on it. They're well worth a look, as is the whole site.

Here's the link to a unique Marx prototype I've never seen before! It looks amazing! 

http://www.mikemercury.net/page3.html

And here's a link to more of the Marx Supercar and check out the internal link to its restoration!

http://www.mikemercury.net/page4.html

SAD SUPERCARS

 These shots of an old plastic toy Supercar appeared on an Argentinian sale. It was described as broken and ready for restoration. I think its a Fairylite. You can see the crack in the rear fin.

This is the underside.

Being broken it reminded me of a somewhat more damaged Fairylite Supercar that featured here a decade ago by early contributor Ferryman.

The damage was almost catastrophic.

In Ferryman's talented hands and some light Fairy dust this is how it turned out!

You can see how he did it here.

Is the Fairylite toy the best Supercar toy or is it the Plaston one or something else?

Have you repaired or restored a Supercar?

Have you got a Supercar toy? Did you have one as a kid?

BIRD BOX

We watched Bird Box the other night on NF. 

Its a sci-fi apocalyptic flick about global mass suicides. Not a pleasant premise at all but the mystery of the cause keeps its rolling along. All we see are shadows and breezes and then .... bam!

Sandra Bullock plays the lead along with two kids she calls boy and girl. John Malkevich is the unhinged neighbour. he reminded me of Tim Robbins's mad cellar dweller in Cruise's War of the Worlds.

Ms. Bullock plays a decent straight role again and holds our attention as she tries to navigate with her two wards through a ravaged lethal world.

There are similarities to M.Night Shiyamalan's The Happening, an older film, which first gave us the ominous wind, the harbinger of self-destruction. As i can't recall how it ends I can't the finales.

In the epoch of a global pandemic Bird Box strikes a sort of chord as the human tide slows to a standstill trying to figure out what to do next.

Have you seen Bird Box or the Happening? What about A Quiet Place or The Silence?

I imagine there are many sci-fi stories similar to these too. Do you know any readers?