DINKY INTERCEPTOR ON POSITIVE TRACK: A RESTORATION BY BILL EVERATT

What amazes me with these restorations is how quickly the progress from

original toy box chipped to completed project!

Back in 2005, some readers may recall me mentioning that I saw a beautiful

Product Enterprise SHADO Interceptor, when I visited Whitley. I decided to

pass on the purchase, because I thought £28 was too much to pay. 

Stupid me!

However, I do have the Dinky version, although for many years it languished,

lost, tucked away in a box in the attic together with a Corgi Cadillac

Ambulance [which curiously has the original tyres, un-perished!] - But I

digress. 

When in 1971, I unboxed it, I was horrified that the people at Dinky

had decide to pain it a lovely shade of Metallic Vomit Green [perhaps they

called it bronze], but I HATED the colour... What planet were they on??? 

A year later, I disassembled it, and sprayed it white. Unfortunately, at the age of

12 I lacked the skill and expertise to do a job that would do this beautiful

model, otherwise, justice. 

So there it languished, boxed up, surviving four

house moves, essentially lost, as I had unsuccessfully looked for it before.

Until I was up in our attic a little while back, and decided to look in a different

location. AND THERE IT WAS!

So, a few days before the Jubilee, I set about disassembling it and soaking

the two fuselage halves in a strong paint stripper for several days.

This was part of the end result.

On Saturday the 4th June, I began spraying all the metal components, the upper

fuselage was just primed with Grey and the lower one had the vinyl skids

bound with masking tape as I planned to keep the original colour there. I still

want this to resemble the toy I had all those years ago.

The next bit proved a little tricky as I needed to spray certain sections silver as

per the original model. I used some very thin masking tape to ensure I kept

the razor sharp lines and the rest was then bound up with ordinary masking

tape, and off I merrily went.

Once all the fuselage masking came off, this was the end result...

The next bit was to print off the waterslide decals, creating them from some

original photos on the Italian UFO fan site was fun. Applying them wasn't, as

some kept on ripping or ending up not quite straight.

After several HOURS [!] I had finished, this was last night, the 10th of June.

With the outside light fading, I completed the last bit of clear lacquering, and

sat down to watch some enjoyable telly.

When I got up this morning I checked the completed vehicle, the clear lacquer

had hardened and it was ready to have the skid masking removed and re-assembled.

Finally some Matt Black, and final assembly, complete with a reproduction

missile. I still have most of the original missile, but it had cracked and the

nose cone was missing. All the screws tightened nicely, and it still works just

as it did when I disappointingly unboxed it in 1971.

Ready for interception of UFO on positive track!

As a footnote, I did notice that the canopy has a small crack in it, so at some

I'm going to replace this with a reproduction. But no rush.

Bill Everatt

Wales

Cabinet Meeting

Yesterday the Missus and me went on tour. We stopped off at three charity shops before walking along the Leeds Liverpool canal.

In one cabinet were a couple of original Optimus Primes at £20 each and very pricey He-Man figures around £5 and £10 each.

I took a pic of the cabinet.

In another cabinet there was action figure of the late Steve Irwin wrestling a crocodile!

I picked up this bundle from these cabinets. A fiver.

And a couple of Light Sabres in another charity. Two squid.

At the local boot sale today these nice die-casts came my way too.

What do you think?

THE MODERN MULE FOR THE LUNAR PROSPECTOR: JANUARY 1969

 

Old space mags are always a great source of info.

I'm sure toy designers thought so too.

Here's an article on our old friend the Moon Buggy a la SpaceX!

As an aside the SW in SWORD stood for ... Space World!

THE MARX MAN FROM UNCLE FIGURES AFFAIR

 My set of  painted 6" Man from UNCLE Marx figures.  This is how I received them a long while back and the paint job and lacquer on them has been done to a very high standard.

The pose, fine detailing and likenesses are pretty good considering these would have been cheaply sold in corner shops or dime stores back in the day.

Figures like these first appeared in 1966, and were just  plain  plastic like the two unpainted examples I have of Solo and Thrush Agent No.1. I'm fairly sure there was no proper packaging, not even a tag. The base of the official UNCLE figures have the UNCLE logo and the character name stamped into the plastic along with the copyright date(1966) and MGM Inc. I've not discovered what the original plastic colours would have been. It's highly likely that my two plain examples are recasts from Mexico using the original moulds, which appear to use a variety of different coloured plastic, but apart from that there's absolutely no difference between those and the originals.

Anecdotally, I've heard unconfirmed reports that Illya was originally a flat grey, and Napoleon was a light blue. All the bases of my painted ones look to be a flat grey.

Although the figures were sold individually, they were also part of a (mail order?)shooting game, which featured a set of simple cardboard buildings with flat roofs to place the figures on, only to shoot them off using the suction cup dart gun that came with the set. I'm not sure, but this may have been an offer only available in the States.

The initial UNCLE six figure set all featured the name of character and the UNCLE logo on the base.

Illya Kuryakin holding an UNCLE Special;

Napoleon Solo holding pistol and radio;

Alexander Waverly holding pistol with one hand and pointing with the other.

Thrush Officer holding pistol:

Thrush Agent No. 1 aiming THRUSH Rifle:

Thrush Agent No. 2 holding pistol.

A further six more generic 'Secret Agent' figures were also released by Marx, intended as additions to the UNCLE set, but with no UNCLE logo or copyright on the bases.

I don't have any of those figures, but here's a check list of what appeared.

They are:

A man in a hat, pointing a pistol:

A man holding the muzzle of a pistol above his head:

A man with a goatee beard holding a gun with telescopic sight, barrel and handle butt extension:

A man wearing a cap, holding torch and a pistol:

A man running, holding a briefcase:

A man looking at his watch, holding a radio and a pistol

THE COLONIAL THRONE

 

I had to chuckle when I saw this online shot of the Mattel Colonial Warrior aka Captain Lazer!

Now c'mon readers! That's just bursting with comic caption potential!

Go!

WILL'S SIZZLERS

Some Sizzlers! 

I have a particular fondness for redlines and Sizzlers as Mattel was based around Rushden and Wellingborough in the late '60s and early '70s. 

The reason for this was for them to gain access to the UK market back then, they had to purchase an existing UK toy company. This was Rosebud of Raunds, who sold out to Mattel and became Rosebud Mattel. 

I’ll send some more pics soon if readers are interested. 

Regards. 

Will O.

UK

DAVID NIGHTENGALE AND THE SUBMARINE AIRCRAFT CARRIER

I have re-posted this post I did in 2009 as it was the very first time that David Nightengale was mentioned on this blog. 

David was one of the very few people who were lucky enough to own the elusive and wonderful Century 21 Submarine Aircaft Carrier toy. This article considers whom the box artists might have been, along with some other box art. 

Enjoy and let me know your thoughts as these box artists remain unknown to this day.

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JR21 SUBMARINE AIRCRAFT CARRIER: RON EMBLETON?

Continuing my look at JR21 / Century 21 toy box art I must admit I have been fascinated by the imagery on the JR21 Submarine Aircraft Carrier (pictured above) ever since I saw it for the first time when David Nightengale auctioned one on Ebay earlier this year. 

With its SWORD- like yellow side-bar and list of features, the illustration is beautifully composed. So who might the box artist be? The original comic strip was drawn by the late great Ron Embleton. I've posted three of these below, with pemission, as they appeared reprinted in the 1980's fanzine Action 21  by David Nightengale's Engale Marketing, where back issues are still available!

I contacted Ron's brother Gerry to see who he thought the box artist might be:

"I was never terribly involved with Anderson products, it was Ron's thing. The box artwork is certainly his. I did some annual work, some fill- in strips at holiday time and some colouring etc. all a long time ago. Gerry Embleton."

The last person to paint an official version of the Submarine Aircraft Carrier, in the 1993 Stingray comic (Issue 12), is renowned illustrator Graham Bleathman. I asked Graham for his ideas on the  JR21 box artist:

"This and other Project SWORD box art paintings were probably done either 'in house' either in Hong Kong or the UK, or by someone at an art agency given the task of packaging the Sword range for the manufacturers. 

They could have been done by a freelance artist operating alone (the equivalent of someone like me, for instance) of course... I remember doing quite a bit of Anderson-related packaging illustrations for various companies as a freelancer in the 90s! Looking at the Submarine Aircraft Carrier box art, I personally would not have said it was by Ron Embleton...its too sketchy to my mind, while Embleton's art is more controlled and precise!..

...There isn't much I can say about the Submarine Aircraft Carrier illustration that I did for the Stingray comic in 1992 or 3. With Alan Fennell's approval, I suggested doing the cutaway of the craft because the Ron Embleton Stingray strip was being reprinted from TV21 in the comic at that time. 

All of the interior was, as far as I can remember, made up, simply based on research into submarines and aircraft carriers, with a nod to any interiors that Embleton created. The toy predated the original strip, I would think, and I wouldn't be surprised to discover that Embleton was asked to include it perhaps as marketing gimmick that was - in hindsight - never followed through; after all there were no adverts in TV21 for the toy as far as I can remember! 

I first came across the toy itself at Dave Nightingale's house around 20 years ago prior to doing the illustration in the Stingray comic, although I have no recollection that there were pieces missing from it (the two Conning Towers)."

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JR21 THUNDERBIRD 1: PETER ARCHER?

Supercollector Jim Lewis contacted the blog about the JR21 Thunderbird 1 box art:

"Paul, I think I have pinpointed at least one of the artists CENTURY 21/ JR21 toys used for the box art. A guy called Peter Archer was used for most of the cover art in the Thunderbirds paperbacks (2 1960's examples below. Ed) and his interpretation of the vehicles is very similar to that which is seen on the boxes of the (two versions of the )Thunderbird 1 toys (pictured below). Just something about the brush strokes and the use of colour that is very similar. I think he was only responsible for certain artwork too and not all of it - mostly Thunderbirds including the inner plinth for the Dinky Thunderbird 2 too (pictured below)"

I asked Graham Bleathman to take a look as well:

"Paul, I've never heard of Peter Archer, but the art styles are similar comparing the paperbacks and JR21 toys! I'd say there is a good chance that the artist is the same".

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CENTURY 21 MAKE A MODEL BOOK HOVER TANK COVER ART: 

CHRIS HARRISON?

Fronts

 Backs

The two Project SWORD "cut out and make a model" books by Century 21 (pictured above) are less well-known than the toys, but equally popular with collectors wanting the whole range. 

Being able to 'make' models from these books makes them a combination of the comic strips, annual and toys and as such may have had artists other than those drawing the strips. 

As is stands, the number one online Gerry Anderson comics resource, The Gerry Anderson Complete Comics History (GACCH), classifies the Make a Model books' cover artists as unknown.

Illustrator Graham Bleathman contacted me regarding the Hover Tank and one possible artist:

Make a Model cover

Annual

"Paul, I'm not convinced that the hover tank illustrations in the SWORD press-out book and Annual (both pictured above) is by Eric Eden. I'm not certain about this, but I think they may have been painted by someone called Chris Harrison.

Its the same person who did some of the covers for the very early Joe 90 comics, and also some of the Saturn Probe illustrations in TV21. Eric Eden tended to use an airbrush in his Dan Dare/Century 21 work; these pictures are far more 'painterly', for want of a better expression. 

I can't remember whether the Hover Tank appeared in TV21 or not...if it did, it would have been as a single b/w illustration for a text story by either Ron Embleton, Don Lawrence or Malcolm Stokes (or D. M. Stokes, as he signed his name in the Thunderbirds comic, the 'D' being Derek, I believe). 

Not sure that Chris Harrison did any Sword illustrations for TV21 as such, as he was by then doing Saturn Probe pictures and those early Joe 90 covers. On the GACCH website feature about the TV21 coderoom, the 'Ivan Quant' picture that is featured there from TV21, I was led to believe, is Chris Harrison." 

(pictured below with permission from GACCH)

I would like to thank Graham Bleathman, Jim Lewis, David Nightengale (Engale Marketing) and GACCH for their contributions to this article and permission to use certain images. All other images from the Woodsy collection.

2009.

David Nightengale and the birth of Fanderson

Despite not knowing him that well at all, the death of David Nightengale last winter - which I have only just found out about - has really upset me. David devoted his entire life to celebrating Gerry Anderson's achievements. Its tragic that he died so young. Just 66 or 7 I think.

Decades before I'd even remembered watching Thunderbirds and playing with my Project SWORD toys, David was publishing SIG, the original Supermarionation fanzine, with Brendan Sheehan.. What a labour of love that must have been, to actually put together a magazine and publish it regularly in the late 1970's and right through the 80's and beyond. David didn't just do this once, he went on publish the magazines Timescreen, Century 21 and Action 21, all fabulous in their own right. I have quite a few copies of the latter two at Moonbase and have always enjoyed re-reading them.

David also co-founded Fanderson in 1981, all of 41 years ago! How amazing is that. In 1981 I was 20 years old, strumming my guitar and jobbing round Europe! It would be another 10 years before I even remembered I'd owned a Dinky SPV as a kid, when I found a carcass of one in a junkshop.

So it was bitter-sweet for me to find the actual minutes of the very first meeting of what was to become Fanderson [in the Fanderon online archive] in that far off year of 1981 and how David's magazine SIG became the club fanzine. Its a fascinating read to see the kernel of the idea form, captured in these typed minutes with familiar names contributing to the discussion of how best to celebrate Gerry's work. Gerry himself is there too, eventually being made President at the close of the proceedings.

Another fascinating facet of the minutes is the attendance of Chris Leach representing Anderpup, another supermarionation club and fanzine, of which I have a few copies. These were very simple and stapled A4 booklets and represented one of two other clubs around at the time, the other being the Century 21 Appreciation Society or something similar.

Have a read of the minutes. Its fascinating to see these 'rival' clubs come together for a common cause and form the original membership of Fanderson, with David's SIG, rather than Anderpup, becoming its pioneering club fanzine.

Let me know what you think.

https://fanderson.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/810820.pdf