MOONBASE CENTRAL

Tuesday, 19 July 2022

IN THE MOOG

I saw this old LP cover and thought, what is that toy robot?

Its on tracks and has a peculiar holed protuberance at its base.

Anyone know?

Monday, 18 July 2022

KEV'S COMET MINIATURES SHADO LUNAR MODULE

Hi,

Been sorting out a lot of my stuff for display in my, hopefully improved model room. Dug out this, which I've had for years. It is a Comet miniatures mini metal model of the Shado lunar module but with a rare gold-looking finish. Never seen another.

Anyway, it is getting its own little box frame.

Positive track,

Kevin

BOATERIFIC 'WHIRL-A-WAY' RUNABOUT

Before I start to prepare my blog report on yesterday's splendid Smallspace 9 Event (Which I should add has a rather good blog-related aspect to it!) here's some photos of my Ideal Boaterific 'Whirl-A-Way' Runabout boat.

As with the others it comes in a plastic display case, plastic moulded base and carded backdrop showing a painted ocean scene . No spring clip holding it in place, unfortunately.

Note the backdrop has had a slight alteration. In the top right hand corner the wording has been blanked out. I'm assuming this was done at some point during late into the production so backing cards didn't need to match what was in the box. In this case the backing card is actually used for the Boaterific 'Barracuda' Sport Fisherman boat.

The 'Whirl-A- Way' is one of six, which was later increased to eight 'Marine Classics' motorised toy boats brought out by Ideal during 1966/67 using their unique removable electric motor also used in their 'Motorific' Cars and 'Zeroid' Robot range.

The motor and the batteries are stowed below decks in the deep hull. This also houses the 'automatic bailer' which is designed to pump out any water resting at the base of the hull, or bilge, so the motor and batteries are protected from shorts.

As I've said in my previous Boaterific posts, the toy boats have lots of delicate chromed detail which is unsurprisingly prone to being damaged, and my Whirl-a-Way is no exception; in fact its had more than it's fair share of knocks.

It's missing its mast and bow flag pole, and some it chrome is peeling off, but, in spite of that, it's still in reasonable shape.

Another small point I noticed is the Whirl-a-way is flying an American flag this time, unlike my Barracuda and King of the Sea, which both sport Union Jacks.

Sadly, that's the last of my Boaterfic posts for now, shipmates, as I'm currently missing the remaining two in the set - The 'Sea Wolf' Diesel Yacht and the' Marlin Tower' Fisherman, but hopefully some of you have enjoyed seeing this old seadog's marine collection.

SOME DOODLES

Johnny Lightning Twin Blast concepts

Flash Gone

Carrier

Do you doodle?

Sunday, 17 July 2022

Moonbase Alpha Airlock: The Scratchbuild

Hi,

Another quick scratchbuild, a Moonbase Alpha airlock sign.

No pressure,

Kevin

ROB'S GLENCOE MARS LINER

Woodsy,

It’s been awhile! Believe it or not, this is my first model build of the year. The Glencoe Mars Liner, a 1990s reissue of the legendary Strombecker Kit, “Disneyland Rocket to the Moon,” from 1955.

This iconic rocket ship was a main attraction at Disneyland in California for about twenty years, and there are several webpages devoted to this great vehicle and its history.

Disney also had the famous “Man in Space” program, with many groovy spaceship designs by Wernher von Braun and others.

This kit was pretty crude to begin with, being basically a toy, and the repop was still quite rough. Lots of sanding! As you can see, the worst part were the crummy ink jet decals, but I did the best I could.

Still, a fun example of the golden age of impossible spaceship design...

Rob C

USA

BOATERIFIC 'PT 204' PATROL BOAT

Here's some photos of my Ideal Boaterific 'PT 204 ' Patrol Boat.

This one of the two later additions to the Boaterific Classic Marine fleet.

Mine didn't come with a backdrop, although my guess is assuming Ideal didn't do one specially for it, it may well have come with the 'Mighty Blaze' backdrop, but I really don't know for sure, as I've only seen other examples in later generic packaging. It might also explain why some backdrops had the specific model's name blanked out.

The 'PT 204' is one of eight 'Marine Classics' motorised toy boats originally brought out by Ideal during 1966/67 and 1970 using their unique removable electric motor also used in their 'Motorific' Cars and 'Zeroid' Robot range.

The PT 204 toy has lot of delicate chromed detail which is unsurprisingly prone to being damaged. My PT204 relatively unscathed considering, and looks to be just missing it's bow flag.