Strange Observations about Captain Scarlet

I was looking through Getty Images when I came across a picture I knew, a well-known crew Century 21 crew shot, featured in the first year of the blog. In fact it was very kindly offered as a colour print by its taker, Alan Shubrook, former Century 21 model maker.

So when I saw this picture I was confused by two things:

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/the-production-crew-of-gerry-and-sylvia-andersons-news-photo/101240711?adppopup=true

First, it credits it to Larry Ellis and not Alan Shubrook. Who's Larry Ellis?

Second, its states that the five at the front were 'actors who play Scarlet in live-action inserts'. I had thought they were members of the pop group The Spectrum, who played the Captain Scarlet theme song. 

Any thoughts readers?

The Stars of Orion

As the Orion spacecraft is now safely on its way to the Moon, I took this photo of its namesake in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey in three different kit versions - Airfix, Aurora and Marusan. 

Have a great flight!

Arto 

Finland

Anyone else got these kits?

THE SPOT-ON PHANTOM V ROLLS-ROYCE

The Spot-On range by Tri-ang was fairly short-lived, only lasting from 1959 to 1967. All the Spot-On models were to the same scale, 1/42nd, which was unusual in the world of die-casts, where larger vehicles are usually made to smaller scales.

Model number 260 was the Royal Rolls-Royce, which was released in 1963. 

It was a Phantom V limousine, with a tall roof, and glass (clear plastic) rear section so that the occupants could be seen when on parade. Figures of the Queen, Prince Philip, a driver, and footman were included. With a Royal flag on the roof.

The model had a maroon body, and light grey baseplate.

There was also a Royal Occasion Gift Set, number 806, which included the Royal Rolls-Royce, six British Foot Guards in bearskin caps, and a little boy called Tommy Spot. This came in a much longer box, which converted into a model theatre.

Did you have anything like this?

Paul Adams

NZ

Images from Worthpoint

PRIME CUTS: THE BBC SOUND EFFECTS OF DEATH AND HORROR

As a teenager I was nuts about monsters.

Films and comics were my main course and the grislier the better, so when the BBC Radiophonics Workshop issued its first Sound Effects of Death and Horror in 1977 I was thrilled to add grisly sounds to my menu!

I was 16 when the record came out, my secondary school days nearly over but my love of monsters as strong as ever. The LP cover was a absolute cracker, as gory as anything past like those gruesome Witches Tales comics covers. To be honest I'm amazed the BBC had the courage to release it at all!

There's so much going on on the cover art, something for everyone! Back then it was always the circular wasp woman in the round window that mesmerised me, a bit like those hypnotic port-holes on the Led Zep III LP cover.

Humorously released as Volume 13, Mike Harding and those clever chaps and chappesses at the BBC Radiophonics Workshop didn't pull their punches when it came to content. I clearly remember being shocked by some of the titles, especially  number 2 'Arm Chopped Off.' and number 4 'Sawing Head Off'. I recall reading that it was actually cabbages that were being chopped in half, thank God!

My own copy of this LP was sadly lost in time but I was re-united with it about 10 years ago when my daughter got it me for Christmas, which I promptly framed and hung it on the wall pride of place over the stairwell, so I could see it every morning. My Grandson, Junior, likes it too, although I don't dally as we descend.

In 1979 the Beeb issued a second bloody helping, 'More Sound Effects of Death and Horror'. 

I never owned this second album but was lucky enough to pick up a copy at a car boot sale a few years back, along with a music cassette version of the first record, which was fun!

There was a third 'Even More ....' record in 1981 but I've only ever seen this online and by then I'd left the country and parked my monsters for a bit.

Researching for this post I've discovered that a new generation of 90's horror fans were treated to the first two BBC records on the new-fangled format of CD. Titled Essential Death and Horror, its a fair crack at the old cover art but I'm afraid I need a twelve inch square to get my blood moving.

If the CD wasn't enough bone-crunching progress, in 2016 Demon Records, in a fit of utter nostalgia, re-released the original LP, this time in blood-spattered coloured vinyl for a whole new generation of boys and ghouls! Or maybe it's just for us oldies!

Did you listen to BBC sounds effects of death and horror readers?

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All images from Ebay and Amazon

Lobster this Sunday: Superior Plastics Deep Sea Lobster

Superior may not have made many kits, but they were certainly a strange bunch. This kit was a life-sized Deep-Sea Lobster, moulded in red plastic. 

There is no mention of the kit having any interior detail. Kit number 4400-400. This looks to be a complex, and very delicate kit, with lots of long, thin parts that could be easily broken. 

However, Superior Plastics advertising does boast that their kits were of 'Sturdy Construction - Designed for Use as Well as Display !'.

It was billed as a 'Fun-to-Assemble Model Kit', and 'Another Superlon Science-Series Project! Amazingly Life-Like ! Moveable Claws, Legs, Antennae, and Tail!

Molded in Beautiful Lobster-Red Superlon Plastic for Easy Assembly & Painting!

Model 15" Long, Illustrated at 8/10 Actual Size.

© Superior Plastics Inc. 1962, Chicago 12, Illinois, U.S.A. - Custom Molders and Extruders. Along with the usual Superior triple-diamond logo.

There is a scroll below the kit name, which says 'Educator Approved, Prestige Toy, 1962. Child Guidance Council Inc.'.

The box top artwork is simple, but attractive, showing the Lobster and some marine plants.

Scalemates entry for the kit.

Deep Sea Lobster, Superior Plastics Inc. (1962) (scalemates.com)

Model and box photographs:

1962 Superior Plastics Deep Sea Lobster Model Kit Prestige Toy UNBUILT w/ Box | #1807915053 (worthpoint.com)

DEEP SEA LOBSTER BY PRESTIGE FUN TO ASSEMBLE KIT DATED 1963 IN ORIGINAL BOX!!! | #2089827031 (worthpoint.com)

VTG 1962 DEEP-SEA 15" LOBSTER MODEL KIT SUPERIOR PLASTICS SEALED PRESTIGE TOY | #2020139006 (worthpoint.com)

Like many of the other Superior kits, this model was re-issued by Educational Products Inc., another Chicago company. 

 They used the same box design, with only minor changes, although all reference to Superlon plastic was removed. The wording in the upper right corner of the box top changing to 'Another Science-Series Project !'.

The company name on the box changed to © Educational Products Inc., Oak Lawn, Illinois, 60453. Oddly, the copyright date is still 1962, the same as for the Superior version. 

Usually, the dates on Educational boxes are later than those on Superior boxes. This may refer to the original kit, rather than the Educational issue, especially as the US did not start using ZIP postal codes until 1963, meaning a 1962 date is unlikely.

The Prestige Toy scroll also disappeared.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/educational-products-deep-sea-lobster--1264261

Educational box and model:

UNUSED AWESOME DEEP SEA LOBSTER MODEL KIT SCIENCE SERIES 1962 | #1950410371 (worthpoint.com)

According to this sales listing from Old Model Kits 'Claws open and snap shut due to clever internal rubber band action'.

Educatonal Products 1/1 Deep-Sea Lobster, 4400 (oldmodelkits.com)

VINTAGE DEEP SEA LOBSTER MODEL KIT 1962 KIT 15" long ,nice box.SOLD AS PARTS | #427113740 (worthpoint.com)

Vintage Deep Sea Lobster Plastic Model Kit Educational Products Inc | #1837937799 (worthpoint.com)

1962 VINTAGE Prestige Toy DEEP SEA LOBSTER Plastic Model Kit 15" NIB | #1889487067 (worthpoint.com)

It does not seem that this kit has been re-issued. Lindberg acquired many of the Superior/Educational kits, and re-released them in the early 1970s, including the Giant American Bull Frog, but not the Lobster.

In 2020 Fujimi of Japan released a Crayfish kit, which seems to come in different colours. No scale is given.

fujimi crayfish* - Scale Modeling Search (scalemates.com)

Fujimi Louisiana Crayfish White - plastic model biology creature kit 9 inches | #3838460767 (worthpoint.com)

Did you have a lobster?

Paul Adams from New Zealand

*

all images from Worthpoint

ITALIAN SAUCER

Being a long-standing super fan of T in a Circle toys, I was pleased to see this UFO online.

Its a gorgeous Sixties toy saucer.

Interestingly this one has a GIGI sticker on it as this one was marketed in Italy

Is it a toy you like readers?

I bet it made a great Christmas present back in the day!

THE LEEDS LIBRARY

Remember the scene in Harry Potter when he turns off the hectic shopping street and into Diagon Alley?

Well that happened to the Missus and me today. We'd booked a tour around the almost-hidden Leeds Library, the oldest subscription library in the UK.

Opened in 1758 Leeds Library is like a wooden-festooned time capsule stuffed with old tomes along hanging balconies.

We were gobsmacked by the contrast between the bustle of the busy city streets with the peace and quiet of this secretive Library.

So, entering a real wizards' alleyway, we saw spiral staircases....

Shelves of books from floor to ceiling.

Beautiful bookcases.

Thousands of hardbacks including familiar titles. Tales of the Unexpected!

Wooden ladders and high windows.

Marble mantles and clocks.

A basement like a labyrinth.

Stacks stored below the floor.

Old editions waiting to be rebound for posterity.

Serried spines as far as the eye can see.

Weighty folios piled in corners.

Then more familiar names. I saw the TV version of the Green Man only this Autumn.

Massive ledgers heaped to the rafters.

and then back upstairs to the public space.

Flecked with tables and chairs.

A place to unwind and read.

Alcoves and lecterns among the books. 

The Golden Bough, Frazer's famous writings about myths and symbolism.

Sit and leaf.

Where, in the reading room, silence is the norm.

And then back out of Leeds' own Diagon into the modern world and its surging storm.

Have you been anywhere startlingly different like this readers?

Morning from the Farside

The Artemis voyage to the moon has got me all nostalgic for space toys again!