A few more shots of my WAVE Skydiver.
Saturday, 23 April 2022
A MORNING OF THE UNEXPECTED
After walking the family dog Blue I watched an omnibus of Tales of the Unexpected early doors this morning. It was on the telly. So strange to see it again, those quirky Roald Dahl morality tales. Oddly enough I'm reading a set of his short stories at the mo called Kiss Kiss, which is unexpectedly old-fashioned in a way and I understand formed the basis of some of the 'Tales'.
Anyways, the first tale this morning starred Shane Rimmer no less. Yep, Scott Tracy's voice in a salutary account of psychopathy across the decades, not unlike something you might find in an EC comic but without the grue. His victim is played by Cyd Hayman, a beautiful actress who I don't know at all but her TV credits feature everything from The Persuaders to Space 1999 to Jackanory!
Another Tale starred the ever-reliable George Sewell, well-known from Get Carter and playing Alec Freeman in UFO and one Bryan Marshall, who readers will know as the friendly Sergeant in Quatermass and the Pit or the corrupt Counsellor in The Long Good Friday. Again Dahl's pithy moralising seeps through again demonstrating that crime doesn't pay. Or at least in this one it didn't.
Yet another yarn dealing this time with the forgery of paintings starred Richard Johnson, who I remember in one of my favourite Sixties horror films, The Haunting. Checking IMDb he also featured in Space 1999 and a slew of other films and TV programs.
You can't watch Unexpected without wondering who the dancer is at the start. I had to look her up now we have Google. She's one Karen Standley and did the routine on her day off!
Were or are you a fan of the Tales of the Unexpected readers?
THE VISIBLE PIGEON
I thought you might be interested in a look at one of the odder kits in this line, a Pigeon. I am not certain, but I think this kit was later issued by Marusan in Japan.
Renwal Products Inc. of Mineola, New York, was an American kit company. Their most famous products were a line of 'Visible' kits. The outer shell was moulded in clear plastic, allowing the interior to be seen. Kits included engines, and various living creatures, including humans.
One of their odder kits was a 1:1 (life-size) Visible Pigeon kit, released in 1959. It was kit number 812:398, the suffix meaning it sold for $3.98, fairly expensive for 1959. The kit remained available well in to the 1960s. The pigeon is posed standing, with its wings folded, and comes with a small base. Some kits had the internal organs moulded in pink plastic.
This was from a period when US kit companies were heavily promoting the educational value of their kits, with several models tailored specifically to this market. Kits often included a booklet giving background information on the full-size subject, many written by noted experts in their field.
The box top of The Visible Pigeon Assembly Kit states: An Accurate Anatomical Model complete with All Vital Organs, Skeleton, Transparent Skin - assemble - take apart - re-assemble. Oddly, the Renwal name does not appear on the box top, only on the ends of the box.
An introduction to the World of Birds - Includes a 12pg. illustrated Booklet written by Wendell M. Levi, A.B., Ph.B., J.D., foremost authority on pigeons.
Here is the Scalemates entry for this kit.
Oddly, it seems this was not the only life-size visible pigeon kit available. Marusan of Japan also produced a kit in 1967, as number 860. The illustration on the box top suggests this is a different kit to the Renwal model, as the bird is shown with its wings open. The release date given by Scalemates is somewhere around the time the Renwal model was retired, although it is listed as a New Tool.
Illustrations of this model are in short supply, but I did find a sales listing for it - and I now think it is same as the Renwal model. Certainly the base on which the bird stands seems to be the same. Reinforcing this view is the fact that Marusan also did a Visible Boxer Dog, which looks to be the same as the Renwal Visible Boxer.
This site is in Japanese.
It would seem that neither kit has ever been re-issued, unless the Renwal and Marusan kits are indeed the same model.
From the Box Art Den, a copy of the 1966 Renwal catalogue, which still lists this kit. However it is not listed in the 1969 catalogue.
Photographs from Worthpoint.
Paul Adams from New Zealand
Lightyear - the return of space toys?
Hi Woodsy.
Saw a new toyline in the local toyshop this week from the upcoming Disney Pixar CGI science fiction animated movie 'Lightyear' that is due out in June.
The movie is about the Buzz Lightyear character from Toy Story but in the film he is a 'real' astronaut rather than a toy.
Supposedly it's the 'real' science fiction movie that Andy in Toy Story watched that made him want a toy Buzz. The trailer has the great Bowie Starman track. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwPL0Md_QFQ
Anyhow, Mattel have brought out tons of toys from this movie and as well as figures and robots in different sizes there is a range of 6 to 7 inch size spaceships in their Lightyear Hyperspeed series -the XL-01, XL-02, XL-07 and XL-15 ships, plus a larger Zurg Fighter that is 10 inches long. There are also Lego of the ships coming out too.
https://www.nda-toys.com/images/wholesale/disney-pixar-lightyear-hyperspeed-asst-wholesale-76561.jpg
https://www.nda-toys.com/images/wholesale/disney-pixar-lightyear-hyperspeed-asst-wholesale-76565.jpg
https://www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/toys/action-figures-and-playsets/lightyear/disney-pixar-lightyear-hyperspeed-series-zurg-fighter-ship-and-zurg/p/206552
The ships remind me of a cross between Star Wars and the Project Sword Re-entry Task force series.
Given the popularity of Buzz Lightyear toys, hopefully the new movie is a massive success and space toys may be on the way back.
Keep up the great work on the blog.
All the best,
Yorkie.
Friday, 22 April 2022
LEGEND OF THE SEA DEVILS?
Having been abroad over Easter I missed British telly. I see that there was a special called 'Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils'. Was this a documentary of the old classic Seventies run or something in the new fangled series? Being an erstwhile Sea Devil fan I'm curious.
SOME MUSICAL MEANDERINGS THIS FRIDAY NIGHT
A complete aside from all things toys as is my occasional want here are some recent observations of the musical persuasion.
Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull. Now first off I'm a Tull fan and I adored certain LP's in the Seventies. Alas there just wasn't time to listen to all of Tull's prodigious output when I was a teenager and like many bands I have had to catch up with them later.
Thick as a Brick was one of those missing albums, omitted from my knowledge like a lost jigsaw piece. I did, I sat it out.
So, I have just listened to the whole thing on You Tuber. What can I say. I was sorely disappointed. Apart from the title track, which is classic Jethro, the rest is a mess. It sounded discordant and lacked the Tull sense of melody I found on Stand Up and Aqualung. Am I being thick?
Save a Prayer by Duran Duran. Being a greasy hippy rocker I was at sea when it came to the New Romantics at the time in the 80's. It seemed like glorified pop but over the decades all things punk and post-punk have grown on me enormously to the point where I'm now very nostalgic about most of it.
I recently heard Save a Prayer and thought, hmm, that opening two-note keyboard motif really reminds me of a sci-fi film melody I'm sure. Its so very John Carpenter. It's also very Terminatorish so I'll plump for that, John Williams' Big Arnie theme tune as my Save a Prayer soundalike. Why do I do this? Tunes just get stuck in my lobes and they absolutely will not stop!
Suffer Little Children by the Smiths. Or is it The Smiths. Probably. This is the song I think another song sounds like but that one's title evades me. With me so far? To be specific its the opening Johnny guitar jangle that I'm on about. There is another song by a later artists with the same opening riff I'm sure. I even said to the Missus 'Hey, Missus, Its The Smiths!" as we listened to Smooth Radio but Lo! it wasn't the Manc shoegazers at all. If only I could remember. Frankly Mister Shankly I'm losing it.
Wicked Game by Chris Isaacs. This hypnotic howl has crept into the nerve-bundle of the Moonbase before and I heard it again recently on the Newcastle Ferry. Its wistful tremelo tip-toed round the decks like a stowaway and brought to mind a musical mystery we once covered, the elusive "Haunted by Two Loves" I think it was called, from the 1997 TV Movie Nightscream. The singer was never revealed. Its VERY Chris Isaacs and Wicked Game immediately jumps to mind. The closest we got to was that the film's music was composed by one Garry Schyman. You can see the film listed here https://garryschyman.com/credits/ As it happens I am having great trouble finding the film to view online so I can't play the song. Even scarcer is the song itself. It doesn't exist online! Now what is going on there? I'm haunted by two songs! Ow-oooooo [Isaacs-style wailing].
That's it. Stylus lifted.
Thoughts?
TAILWIND GLIDER
Voyaging back on the Amsterdam ferry recently I saw a kid and his Dad on the outer deck with a paper plane. Intrigued I watched and they launched the plane into the tailwind at the back of the ship. I have to say it was dramatic, the plane zooming into the spray and spiralling out over the sea before gliding into the water.
I imagine that the Dad and boy knew it would be good. Have you ever launched a paper plane from somewhere exciting like this?
THE VISIBLE DOG
US kit company Renwal made a range of educational anatomy kits in the 1950s and 1960s, featuring both human and animal subjects. The Visible Dog kit featured a pedigreed Boxer. It was released in 1961, and was later re-issued by at least two other companies.
The Visible Dog Assembly Kit - An Accurate Anatomical Model. Assemble...take apart...re-assemble. Complete with all vital organs - skeleton - transparent skin. Model number 806-398 sold for $3.98. Like the other Renwal kits, it came with an informative booklet - Introduction to the Anatomy of the Dog. The large square box showed both a boy and a girl reading the booklet, so it was clearly aimed at a wider audience than most kits, which were clearly aimed at boys.
The outer shell of the model was moulded in clear plastic, with the skeleton in bone-coloured plastic, and the internal organs in pink, although this seems to have varied over the years. There was also a black display stand. The finished model was over nine inches long, and around eight and a half inches tall. According to Scalemates the model was 1/5th scale, but Old Model Kits says 1/3rd.
Most references I checked say an adult male Boxer is up to 25 inches tall, but according to this site, that measurement is only to the shoulder, not the overall height. The head and neck add considerably to this, so overall height would be well over 30 inches. My guess is therefore about 1/4th scale.
This page from the 1969 Renwal catalogue on the Box Art Den emphasises the educational aspects of this kit: 'Biology students will find THE VISIBLE DOG a necessary adjunct to their high school and college courses; hobbyists in general will welcome this collection of "inside story" models.'.
This kit was still listed in the 1973 Renwal catalogue, again from the Box Art Den.
A good selection of photos from Mercado Libre, a foreign language site - just enjoy the pretty pictures.
In 1967 Marusan of Japan released what appears to be the same kit, although again there seems to be some doubt about the scale - 1/3rd or 1/5th. Model number 520. Scalemates do say New Tool, but this may not be correct. I could find very little information on this kit, beyond the Scalemates entry, which shows the box top. If this is the same as the Renwal kit, it was available in Japan in a Marusan box at the same time that it was still being listed in the Renwal catalogue in the US.
In 1994 a company called Skilcraft re-issued the old Renwal kit, as model number 74635. This seems to have been available in several different boxes, but lacked the original display stand ? The educational value of the kit is again being promoted, with the side of the box stating 'Study Anatomy as you Build your Visible Dog Model', and 'The Visible Dog is perfect for school assignments, Scout and 4-H projects.'. Skilcraft also did a number of other ex-Renwal Visible kits.
Scalemates listing for all Visible Dog kits. For further details of each kit, click on the one you want.
Totally unrelated to the Renwal kit, Revell have produced a series of X-Ray Anatomy Models. One of these depicts a German Shepherd, number 02093. This came out in 2012, and was to 1/5th scale. One side of the model is opaque, the other is clear, and all the parts come pre-painted. Again the educational value of these kits is strongly emphasised.
Photos are from Worthpoint, Pinterest, and Amazon UK.
Anyone got one, a visible dog?
Yours Sincerely,
Paul Adams from New Zealand
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