RANDY REGIER: AMERICAN TOYMAKER

I'm surprised I hadn't seen much of his work before but Randy Regier is a stunning toy maker. In Maine and Kansas USA he creates faux toys of exquisite quality. 

His Impending Future Bus is a good example.

I mean, Wow!

For more amazing toys done the Randy Regier way check out his neat website yourself.

https://randyregier.com/portfolio/

What do you think?

Jubiloo

It's Jubilation all round at the mo in the UK and beyond. Even Paddington Bear had tea with the Queen.

I've got my sore foot up. It's traditionally chucking it down. The coffees hot. BBC News is wall to wall pomp and pageantry. The Queen's in Windsor Castle feeling unwell. Ed Sheeran is warming up for his big palace gig. I'm hoping they show the James Bond cars that are lined up in London somewhere. No sign of Cliff Richard yet. Brian May appears to be the new national treasure. Queen Liz herself remains the main event of course. I can't imagine being 96, never mind being a monarch.

I remember some things about the Jubilee in 1977. I was 16 and probably in the midst of my summer O-levels in the 5th and final year of high School. It had been a terrible year, the worst of all years for me and my family, as our mum had died suddenly earlier in the winter.

Im surprised I bothered with the Jubilee that year but as someone said, life goes on and l went to see what was going on where my big sister lived in Adlington near Chorley.

I remember that my girlfriend at the time, Janet, came along and I think the festivities were in Adlington Fields. The portable toilets had been named Jubiloos by some bright spark. There were lots of punk rockers at the event with God Save The Queen ripped t-shirts on.

I also remember that my nephew came off his push bike that day, flying over the handlebars and landing on his chin. I can well imagine that he still has a scar where he hit the deck!

Do you remember the 1977 Jubilee readers?

Are you enjoying the long Jubilee weekend? Did you see the big concert last night on TV?

MATSUSHIRO MULTI 08 SPACE GUN

Matsushiro. We came across their toy guns earlier in the year. Here's another one, the Multi 08 Space, which I'm sure other firms released as well.

The smiling boy on the boxart looks happy!

THE FLYPAPER

Today I saw a shocking TV play in the series Tales of the Unexpected on the box. I was gobsmacked by the subject matter and I'm unsure of they'd even attempt it now. 

More like a public safety broadcast the episode was called The Flypaper, based on a story by one Elizabeth Taylor [not the actress]. It was first shown in the August of 1980. 

Here it is on You Tube, although it's not pleasant viewing.

https://youtu.be/tqa0abn9Tb4

I didn't watch telly that summer as I was in a rock band, which took up all my time.

Seeing it now, The Flypaper reminds me of other gritty and spooky TV dramas from the 70's, some of which I saw at the time and some I've discovered later including some with the help of Moonbase readers. Murren, The Photograph, the Stone Tape, those public safety adverts for kids, Thriller episodes and thanks to Tone K, the brilliant Vampires.

A few years back I had a go at making a handful of spooky shorts on my phone, starring Moonbase mutt Blue and the local fields. Great fun, although I'm glad no-one saw me doing them. They'll have thought I was a complete nutter!

Can you recommend any more gritty TV dramas and plays from the 1970's readers, preferably with a little spookiness thrown in?

DRIVER DAN ON TRACK

Hello,

Driver Dan should have looked overseas rather than to the future!

Terranova47

LOFT IN SPACE

The Moonbase loft ladder collapsed today with me on it! I didn't half land with a bang and I spilled across the landing flat on my back into the bathroom!

I'm OK but my foot's dead sore. No slam dancin' in the mosh pit for me for a bit!

Have you ever fallen off a ladder or out of the loft or even through the loft ceiling readers?

HAS THE LESTER DEMON SUPERMARIONATION SITE GONE?

 What has happened to the Lester Demon site?

Its vanished!

You know the one, the amazing encyclopeadia of Supermarionation facts and models and toys by the Dutch archivist.

I've tried every which way to find it and its gone from the net.

It would seem that yet another great and comprehensive Anderson website has been removed.

THRUSHBUSTING: A TRUE CORGI REUNION BY BILL EV.

So, a few months back, I came across a few more of my old Dinky and Corgi toys. These included a 1966 Man from Uncle Thrushbuster. As is the case with all these beloved old toys, this had been played with and was extensively toybox chipped.

The wing mirrors on the original were broken long ago, and the periscope was missing. The original tyres were perished. Replacement parts were ordered from eBay.

After drilling the rivets out, I found that the remaining plastic components were in good condition and not broken or cracked. They just required cleaning with warm soapy water. The Perspex component was polished and the whole lot bagged up and put to one side.

The next bit proved intensively frustrating. Having received a limited response to my requests for the correct colour blue. I found that the small can I'd bought was chemically incompatible with the clear lacquer required as the final coat. This meant that the days of spraying primer, drying, topcoat, drying and applying the waterside decal, were ruined when I put the clear lacquer on, as it all turned into crazy paving!

This time, I visited Halfords, with an old friend (who actually remembered playing with my exact same car when we were kids) Wayne, is a professional photographer and fine artist. We found a pretty much a perfect match at Halfords, and all the paint was fully compatible.

So, it had to be soaked in paint stripper and the whole painting process undertaken all over again!

First, the grey primer, followed by some silver, airbrushed onto the front grille and rear.

Then the silver areas were plugged with blu-tack and the beautiful metallic/pearlised dark blue colour coat applied.

Lastly the application of the Man from Uncle decal. The original was a paper sticker. But, there were some aspects of the toy that annoyed me as a child, like the paper sticker, and the excess of sliver paint on the front and back.

The decal was created by scanning the original sticker at high resolution and then worked on using photo and graphics software. Then shrunk down to actual size and printed on white waterside decal paper using a laser printer. The blu-tack was pulled out from the front and rear grilles, and the waterside decal applied. As all the paint components were chemically compatible, the clear lacquer went on without any issues and it was just left to dry.

The last bit was really fiddly, but the internal pieces were fitted back into place, and the hardest part which was riveting the baseplate into position, without screwing up the finish. The next time I'll do one of these I'll use small capscrews.

The end result before a final polish.

And now ready for the Jubilee!

Bill Everatt

UK.