FAB1 AND THUNDERBIRD 2

Seeing the size of FAB1 against Thunderbird 2 on Thunderbirds Wiki it struck me that FAB1 could have easily driven into the TB2 pod.

So did FAB1 ever go into the TB2 pod in the TV series or did TB2 ever lift FAB1 and drop it off? Anyone know?

PAUL'S CUT-AWAY AIRFIX NORTH AMERICAN MITCHELL MK.II

Last year I finished my cut-away Airfix North American B-25C Mitchell medium bomber. 

All the interior detail is included in the kit. The only things I added were extra crew figures - the kit only includes the two pilots. This is a really great kit, with a lot of interior detail. It seemed such a shame to hide it all away, so I built it as a cut-away model. 

That meant cutting out various areas of the nose, fuselage, and engine cowling to show off the detail. Just like the drawings you see in books and magazines. The edges of the cut-away areas are often out-lined in red, so I did that on the model too. 

With so much of the forward fuselage cut away, there was very little room for nose weights to keep the model on its landing gear, so I build it 'gear up', in flight. That also meant cutting off the propeller blades, and just using the hubs. Then I had to make a cradle for the model from bits and pieces. This was my first attempt at a cut-away model. 

I did make a mistake with the US star on the starboard side - it should be pointing straight up, not on its side. 

I did not spot that until it was too late to correct. I used the RAF boxing of this kit, but you get all the parts needed for a basic US B-25C (with plenty left over for the spares box), so it was just a matter of finding some suitable markings.

What do you think?

Paul Adams from New Zealand

Can you Help Brainache?

Local resident alien Brainache is slouchin in his coupe. The stars are out and he's dreamin of home. But what's the name of his planet. Any suggestions?

MY MANTIS IS A MUTO

 Having watched The Deadly Mantis, 1957, I'm getting an overwhelming sense of Kaiju again. Have you seen it?

Despite its lower place in the 1950's creature feature rankings, I enjoyed Mantis a lot. 

Like many fine B-movies it begins in the Antarctic and the woken monster then takes its business straight to the States.

Deadly M goes to Washington. 

It scales the Monument and crushes vehicles as seen here. But are they toys?

Its progress to an American city reminded me of the MUTO in Godzilla.

Having escaped from the nuclear dump it stomped across the land to meet Honolulu's elevated train and its larger mate decided to play the tables in Las Vegas.

I must say I adore the MOTU, perhaps my fave Kaiju. Do you?

Just a thought, can an American monster like the Deadly Mantis be classed as Kaiju?

From Musk till Dawn

The day began with Musk and ended with it.

Reading the online news this morning, a link took me to Elon Musk's predictions. One that stood out was that a million people would live on Mars by 2060! Personally this feels unlikely. It's 2023 in 2 months and manned mission to Mars seems like a helluva long way off, never mind a million folk getting up there. What do you think?

I was musked again sat watching fireworks. Well actually watching the firepit. My Son in Law is a keen astronomer and pointed out a moving light high up in the night sky. I thought it was a plane but no, it was a satellite from Elon Musk's Star Link set up. You can't get away from him. 

To be honest it was Jupiter and Saturn being pointed out that actually did it for me. They out-musked Musk and I was mesmerised. My Son in Law uses a mobile cosmic app map called Stellarium. I was so impressed that I downloaded it 

I've just ID'd  Vega!

I felt like staying up all night and tracking the sky till dawn!

Have you got Stellarium?

PRUSSIAN TROOPS BY RON EMBLETON 1966

 Sometimes you see something online that takes you right back.

This is what happened when I saw this artwork for sale at the Book Place.

Its Ron Embleton's Prussian Troops from 1966. I mean, wow!

https://bookpalace.com/acatalog/info_EmbletonRFPTroops.html#SID=170

I so recall this illustration. It was in the fabulous Book of Battles, which Ron illustrated throughout with wonderful depictions of warriors, soldiers, battles and skirmishes from across history.

I adored that book and as soon as I saw one second hand I snapped it up.

One day one lucky person will have Ron's Prussian Troops on their wall. Hope its me!

Do you remember the Book of Battles?

LUNAR ROVER ON FILM CASSETTE

 

I'm always intrigued by old film stock, in whatever form. You never know what might be on there! The Beatles' last concert maybe!

We can be sure that these two films are Lunar Rover and Mt. St. Helens.

I had projectors as a kid with Thunderbirds and Looney Toons but these circular cassettes are much later and more advanced I would say.

Did you have anything like this?

Transports of Delight

It’s a very rare occurrence lately to find any Spacex II models, so when one made a brief appearance on eBay, I had to snap it up. Although the Lunar Transporter was among the first of the models that I came across in the early seventies, it has probably faired the worst at my overenthusiastic hands.

Original illustration hacked out of the backing card

Like the Nuclear Pulse, the LT-10 originally appeared on the card illustrations as a blue version, so when I eventually got one and saw that it was gaudy orange, I thought it would look so much better if I painted it. So in my infinite teenage wisdom, I set to with a tin of Humbrol Gloss Black enamel. Needless to say, it looked a mess and destroyed the decals into the bargain. It would remain so for several decades, until I figured out a safe way to get (most) of the paint off. Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to remove it all, as it had bled into the joints and looked messy. So I resigned myself to the fact that I had ruined a rare toy and did not deserve to have such things again.

Original painted Version

Original Stripped and Restored Version

The rarity and scarcity of the toys means that prices, when they do appear, are invariably stiff, so I was very pleased when a 90% complete model appeared with a Buy it Now tag of just £20. The only defect was the chrome engine nacelle was missing and the canopy had a little paint on i

New Model with Chrome Engine Replaced

So when it arrived,  fetched out my old version and it the engine cover on the new one, making a very respectable complete model. A little elbow grease and some WD40 took care of the stray paint.

This now left me with the old model looking pretty dilapidated without the engine, but Woodsy arrived to the rescue, with a Crest toothpaste lid, which painted chrome, makes an excellent replacement!

Hot on the heels of the Spacex model, I came across the Matchbox Skybusters ‘Dream Chaser’ - a real world design for a reusable shuttle replacement, designed by Sierra Nevada Corporation, with a proposed crew capacity of 7.

It’s a fine looking die cast model, slightly larger than the average Skybusters plane. It has no moving parts, or features, but is extremely accurate for its size. Matchbox previously released a tiny X-33 Lifting Body in their standard car range, which is much smaller.

Addendum: Kevin pointed out last night, the similarity to the original BBC 'Star Cops' shuttle prop from the series! Photo courtesy of Google