RAMBO SUPERMAN!

I read today that Chris Reeve beat a few others to the job of being Superman in the movies, namely Sly Stallone, Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood.

Blimey!

Imagine a Sly Stallone Superman or Bob Bedford or Clint in the famous costume!

What do you think? How would it have been?

Light Entertainment

A few years ago, I came upon this lovely counter box of pocket torches or 'Sparkle Novelties' as Ever Ready named them. I vividly recall going into a bike and hobby shop in the sixties and seeing these on display in the shop and taking a shine to the rocket version. Despite droping several hints, it didn't appear in my christmas stocking that year!

Still, decades later, here they are. Some had been sold before the box had been put away in a stockroom, to make way for other glitzier fare, but the contents were, apart from a little dust, as good as new. Two types are included, a clown and a simple rocket and inside each is the instruction sheet and a plastic sleeve from an Ever Ready HP7 battery. HP7's were the forerunners of todays 'AA' size, so all the torches work perfectly with a new battery.

Pressing the red engine or the clowns feet, makes simple contact with the circuit and the pea bulb in the front lights up. Classic simple fun for an xmas morning.

Of course the grandaddy of 'torch' toys is the Merit Space Pilot gun, an elegant, deco styled pistol, with changing colour lights, sound buzzers and trigger action.

Kevin Davies recently picked one up at auction and decided to build himself a full size version of the pistol too!

Here we can see the original and kevins mighty upgraded version! Shine a light!
 

TELSALDA SWING WING

 

We've seen this before. Here's another Swing Wing Strike Fighter, this time released by Telsalda.

I've chosen to keep the landing gear pic from anold auction because its the same one as the Century 21 Project SWORD Scouts I seem to remember and a good replacement.

Its the same box art we've featured before too.

The one I have is by SL.

Have you got one?

SOAR POINT

 I like this new box art for the AMP Dyna-Soar kit.

It has an appealing glow from a hot re-entry.

The X-20 was and is one of the most accessible of the X-planes and its no wonder that Project SWORD was graced with one back in 1967 as pictured below. You'll notice that is has a much bigger cockpit blister and a shorter pointed nose than the AMT kit and the original, artistic licence on the part of Century 21 Toys I imagine.

Do you or did you have an X-20?

AMT MAN IN SPACE MODEL KIT

Hi,

At a fair last year, I picked up an AMT Man in Space kit, containing all five American manned space rockets from the 1960s. This had already been started by someone else, but what a great kit. All in 1/200th scale. According to the Scalemates site, this kit dates from the 1960s sometime (obviously late 1960s). 

It was re-issued in 1999 under the AMT-Ertl name, then again in 2013 with the original box art and as an AMT kit. My example has 'AMT Made under License in New Zealand by Tonka Manufacturing Limited' on the side of the box. 

I am not sure if that means the whole kit was made locally, or if the kit was moulded in the US, shipped to NZ, and boxed locally. The instruction sheet and decal sheet also say Printed in N.Z.

The rockets are designed to be assembled in to separate Stages, just like the real thing, so they can be taken apart. Very educational. Some of these parts have already been cemented together, so full disassembly is no longer possible, and I do not want to damage the models trying to separate the Stages.

The five rockets are:

Mercury Redstone - built, only needs a tidy up

Mercury Atlas - mostly built

Gemini Titan II - unbuilt

Saturn IB - mostly built

Saturn V - mostly built

The two Mercury rockets and the Gemini come on one sprue; the smaller Saturn on one sprue; and the big Saturn on two sprues. Then there are two small sprues which are identical, and cover the Apollo Command and Service Modules, and the Lunar Modules, which fit on top of the two Saturns. All moulded in white plastic. The box is big, but it is packed with parts, even in 1/200th.

Originally there was a cardboard stand, with a launch tower for the Saturn V, and the other rockets posed in front. This was missing from my example. Only one fin from the lower Stage of the Saturn V seems to be missing, and that is easily replaced with plastic card. The only other problem is how dusty the parts are.

They clearly need a good and careful wash in warm soapy water before any further work is done. Old joins and blobs of cement will also need to be attended to. Then I will have to make a suitable stand for them. Sounds like fun. I have a few other models I am working on, or which are in the 'to do' pile, so it will likely be a while before I get around to finishing off this set.

The Saturn V was also available on its own. Not sure about the others. I could not find a mention of these being available as separate kits, which seems odd, as AMT already had the moulds for them. AMT also do a 1/200th Space Shuttle, so you can display the entire US manned space programme, even on a fairly small shelf.

The difference in size is amazing. I knew the Saturn V was big, but it is not until you actually hold one in your hand that you realise what a monster it was, especially compared to the little Mercury Redstone.

This You Tube video looks at various Round 2 kits, and shows the parts still on their sprues. It also has a different (?) cardboard display base to the original.

OOBReview: Five Kit Review from AMT/MPC - YouTube

I sent Max at maxsmodels the box photos, and he used them in one of the Viewer's Builds, even though I did not build the models.

I have scanned the instruction sheet.

Yours Sincerely,

Paul Adams from New Zealand

COULD YOU COOK WHEN YOU WERE A KID?

I have to admit I could probably cook better as a teenager in the early Seventies than I can now!

I enjoyed it back then.

My dishes comprised of basically a few easy things.

Steak Canadienne - these were super thin slices of unknown meat that required as much frying as a gnat [not that I ever fried gnats]. After a second's cooking they were ready! I slapped them on buttered bread and away we went! Yum.

Crispy Pancakes - wow! I loved these folded envelopes of joy. Filled with genius concoctions, my favourite was chicken and mushroom, which went perfectly with the shallow fried breadcrumb pocket. No need to garnish them. Just plate up and scoff!

Tomato Omelette - my own take on a classic, I would make a plain omelette first. Then I would cook a few tomatoes in a pan and mash them up. This scarlet mixture was then poured over the omelette, which was folded over for the final touch. Add salt. Serve!

Egg Bread - known to posher folk as French Toast - these were slices of white bread dipped into beaten eggs and shallow fried. Depending on taste you could fry for longer to give the egg a tan. I preferred a lighter hue and sometimes I even sprinkled on some sugar! Wow!

Bread and Milk - the nectar of paupers, I defy anyone to not love this on first tasting. Basically buttered white bread was cubed and chucked into a pan of milk. Sugar was added and brought to the boil. Simmered for a bit, the milky posset was served hot in a bowl. Oh my God! Delicious! Known to others as Pobs I think.

Before I describe my signature teenage dish there are a couple of notable mentions:

Vesta Chow Mein and Vesta Beef Curry; I could rustle these up faster than Hong Kong Phooey; Deep Fried Chicken Balls - these were small spheres of deep fried battered chicken and truly scrumptious. Easy. Now extinct.

OK, the big one, my Fifth Concerto.

Imagine. A Saturday afternoon in 1974. My folks are out. A couple of hairy mates arrive. Heavy rock is blasting on the music centre, Budgie, Rush, Zep. Relaxing in denim and ready to feed I serve these hungry headbangers a veritable steaming feast.

Chicken and Mushroom Pie [from the chest freezer], home made deep-fried chips done to a T, marrowfat peas and a final swirl of my special meaty gravy made with my own roux [but I didn't know it was called that back then!] and your friendly neighbourhood Bisto.

Glasses of Vimto or Tizer and voila! Saturday afternoon's made in Heaven!

What did you cook when you were young readers?

A McFarlane Batman with MJ's Custom Paint Job

hi woodsy, another custom YouTube short for MC.

Hope you like it!

Regards

MJ

South Coast Base

https://youtube.com/shorts/xa3bVGnnRvg?feature=share 

CASEBALLS: BUT WHY?

I recently came across some medicine balls at work. I remembered medicine balls from being a kid and I recalled them as being huge things. These modern ones were not too big but really heavy and squashy and apparently called splat balls.

Not being sporty whatsoever at school as a kid I have no memory at all of actually doing anything with medicine balls. I just knew they existed like most sports equipment. Seen but not experienced as I did everything I could keep a low profile in PE.

One thing I couldn't avoid was football at school. It was mandatory to join in the beautiful game. Like now some kids are obsessed with it and some, like me, detested it. One of the many reasons for my dislike of what was once called soccer was the ball. They were caseballs.

Now if I recollect correctly a caseball was basically a cowhide stitched into a sphere. Air may or may not have been injected. It could have been a solid ball of leather as far as I was concerned. It certainly felt like it. Caseballs were like rocks with laces. They weighed a ton and absolutely killed when you kicked them. Not even my George Best Stylo Matchmakers could soften the blow.

Even worse was heading them. You may as well have nutted the school gates!

Yes, caseballs were the bane of my life. Give me a nice soft beachball any day or one of those cheapo plastic inflated jobs you got in toy shops. Why couldn't we have had those?

Were you a caseball casualty like me readers or an absolute  whizz on the pitch?