LOOEY'S DARK SUN REAPER DOODS!

Hi Woodsie, as always a mad rush, but me and my my latest 3D printed Art Toys made it to Melbourne for the opening of a new toy store.

These are my Dark Sun Reaper Doods* (it's Dutch for dead!) A love letter to all those 60's skeletons in space helmets! I took a lot of effort to get that transparent pill bottle yellow colour to match the old Major Matt Mason space visors.

And they glow in the dark!

How many references can you spot, Moonbasers?

Cheers, 

Looey

OZ

PARTY POLITICS

We're chucking out some old kids' party books.

This one's from 1980! Good old St.Michael!

Looks like great dancing fun on the cover, though the little 'un sat down seems mightily miffed with John Travolta!

Just look at those hula-hoop trees for scoffing at the party table!

and boy! such great 1980's kids' nosh! What a spread! Would kids still eat grub like this?

and as it's 1980 and the world's still in the grip of Star Wars fever here's a cheeky Kenner/ Palitoy C3PO guarding the rocket cake!

I bet Star Wars toys were at every birthday party back then. Our daughter came along later so the fever had receded.

Did you have birthday parties like this? Have you seen Star Wars or other space toys at parties?

THE HAUNTED STAIRCASE

 Seeing this modern TV-related Moon and Me toy, which my Granddaughter watches, took me right back when I saw it.

Its that staircase!

Bam! It's so similar to the fabulous stairs in my beloved Haunted House board game from the 1960's.

You remember! a marble hurtles down the stairs and knocked over your plastic playing person, with a large framed portrait of a smiling witch watching!

Denys Fisher's Haunted House was a key ingredient of my spooky childhood. I adored playing the game with friends and family or just on my own! One of my mates called it 'Drop it down The Chimney' on account of a marble being ... well, dropped down the chimney to get the ball rolling!

Everything about the game feels iconic to me; the box art, the art style, the actual cardboard house and board, the plastic accessories, the wonderful mid-walk plastic playing pieces and maybe top of the cauldron, the playing cards with the names of witches on like Glenda the Good! 

When I started a vintage toy business back in the day I played with designs for business cards using the Haunted House cards as the basis. In the end I opted for something whiter so it could be read easily, but the veneration was there!

Haunted House is a game that went around the world. Cooked up first by Milton Bradley in the States, it became Haunted House in the UK with Denys Fisher and the same with Toltoys in New Zealand. In Germany it was Spukschloss and in Italy, Castello Incanto.

Milton Bradley really did start something when he dropped that first marble down the chimney!

I've written about Haunted House and other creepy board games - like Ghost Castle, Scream Inn, Creature Castle - before, because I used to collect them.

Out of interest I checked Amazon to see if any have survived the ravages of time and lo and behold, the IDEAL clone, Ghost Castle has made it. Brand new and for a fresh generation of spooksters, here's the modern haunted staircase.

As good as it is, alas, it just don't cut the nostalgic mustard for me, so I'll stick to dropping Denys Fisher's vintage marbles down my mental chimney and leave it at that.

Did you play Haunted House?

DAVID BOWIE'S IMAGES

When I wuz a youngster I was nuts about Bowie.

I had all his albums including this, Images, a double Deram LP of his very early stuff from the Sixties. Like a beefed up and really fab version of rather drab looking The World of David Bowie, which I think was on Decca.

This double had a gatefold sleeve and fantastic little cartoons for each song. Brilliant.

Uncle Arthur was my favourite. He follows Batman! Other lovely tunes included There is a Happy Land, London Boys and Sell Me a Coat.

I adored this record so it still grieves me that I lent it someone along with many others and with the passage of decades and moving countries I never got it back.

That's forty years ago and it would be churlish to go after it now.

One day I may treat myself to another original copy.

Is it one you know?

THE GEYPER TRAVELLER

This Spanish vintage toy is crazy, the Traveller.

By Geyper, famous for their own Action Man in Spain, this is the vehicle of tomorrow and appears tp be a tube-like craft that rolls down a plastic slinky!

How cool is that!

Have you ever seen one readers?

JEFF BECK RIP

I've been lamenting the death of guitar guru Jeff Beck this week, who sadly passed away on Tuesday aged 78. 

One of the top rock guitarists ever and a pioneer of British blues and hard rock, even the likes of Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton were in awe of his skill and talent.

Most people will have heard of his band's hit single Hi Ho Silver Lining in March 1967. 

Less well known is Jeff and his fellow Yardbirds' appearance playing at a club in the David Hemmings cult film Blow-Up, which was released in the same month in the UK. It showcases Jeff's guitar skills and also his dramatic guitar smashing on stage! Here it is courtesy of You Tube.

As an aside and to add some context to Blow-Up at the height of the Swinging Sixties, here's the film's release date along with a few more dates in the pop culture world at the end of the decade.

• Blow Up released UK 16 March 1967
• 
  
• Captain Scarlet air date September 1967
• 
  
• Hong Trades Project SWORD toy display May 1968
• 
  
• 2001 A Space Odyssey UK Release date May 1968
• 
  
• Project SWORD expo at Hatchett's Night Club June 1968
• 
  
• Joe 90 air date September 1968 UK
• Scream and Scream Again filmed partly at Hatchett's Night Club 1970

Rest in Peace Jeff. The guitar stays on.

AIRFIX RANGE 2023

 Reader Paul Adams from NZ sent me this clip from Airfix. 

Enjoy!

and a review from Paul too:

Here is the Airfix 2023 range. Lots of re-issues of recent kits in new boxes, but there are some new models, and several interesting re-issues in the Vintage Classics line.

The 1/32nd Bond Bug is back. I know you said a friend of yours had one of these. I will certainly be getting one.

Airfix are producing their third Aston Martin DB5 kit. Previously they did the James Bond DB5 in 1/24th scale, later changed in to a standard DB6 (unavailable for decades), and a 1/32nd scale DB5. Now a 1/43rd scale Starter Set. There are some other new 1/43rd scale cars, including a very early Series I Land Rover.

Vintage Classics include one of the Dogfight Double two-plane sets, the Fairey Rotodyne, Auster Antarctic, and the Brewster Buffalo - I had one of those decades ago, and the Bristol Bloodhound missile.

The Quick Build range of Lego-type kits is also expanding.

https://uk.airfix.com/new-2023?xnpe_tifc=4IPsxdxXx.op4fndbfnJb9psafeWaeiWhFWXbMU3b9Psa9QLhkeAVlB9afeWaG8.adJSbInpb.bJhk4.huYph.nj41TT&utm_source=bloomreach&utm_campaign=Airfix%202023%20range%20launch&utm_medium=email

Nothing new in the way of small scale armour models, but the planes will keep me busy.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

SCALEXTRIC FAB 1

 Scalextric have announced they plan to release a 1/32 scale Fab 1 slot car. 

It's expected to be available Spring, 2024, and as is common nowadays, it's open for pre-order,  and will retail for £53.99.  

Here's the link to Scalextric for more info:
https://uk.scalextric.com/products/thunderbirds-fab-1-c4479