MOONBASE CENTRAL

Saturday, 28 January 2023

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WOTAN FROM WILL OS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILL FROM WOODSY AND MOONBASE!

Friday, 27 January 2023

THE MURKY BITS OF LADY PENELOPE'S FAB FLEET

We all know what FAB1 is. We grew up with the pink Rolls.

But Lady Penelope's other FABS are less well-known, certainly to me.

FAB2

Liking a good boat, I've blogged about FAB2 before, Lady Penelope's luxury yacht. Check the post labels for it.

There was another FAB2, which is news to me; the modern movie version, a movie I've not seen but I recall was disliked by Thunderbirds fans.

Here's its FAB2, a large pink whatchmacallit! Have you seen it before?

FAB3

according to sources on the net, was the Lady's Heli-Jet at her Australian Bonga Bonga Ranch. I don't know who piloted it, I assume Parker too.

I don't think it featured anywhere except on paper, including Graham Bleathman's cut-away, which you may have in your collection.

FAB3 was also the name of the Lady's racehorse in the strip 'Safe Bet', Redan Thunderbirds comic 58, October 2004. You can see it on the cover below.

FAB4

FAB4 features in fan fiction as seen here:

"When flying intercontinental, Lady Penelope chose to take the Fireflash airliner, which was able to accommodate the Rolls Royce, FAB1. The Creighton-Ward yacht, FAB2, was ideal for cruising around sea-bound locales in Europe, but for more out of the way locations, such as Tracy Island, the little jet, registration FAB3, was the preferred mode of transport. Another of Brains' designs, it was compact enough to carry six people in comfort while still having the power to fly through the air at half of Thunderbird Two's speed. Her sister craft, FAB4, resided in the States."

https://www.tracyislandchronicles.com/tb2/purupuss/purupuss_lodestarlost01_FULL.html

Do you know of any more FABS?

WILL O'S TV21 TIE-INS: LINCOLN STINGRAY AND ARM FINS

TV21 comics and advertised toys from Will Osborne's collection

Did you have either of these toys [both seen before on Moonbase, see the labels below]

Thursday, 26 January 2023

THE MATSUSHIRO SECRET 07 SPY GUN

Regarding the post on Matsushiro toys last year, I spotted one interesting looking item. The Secret 07 spy gun. The one with a boy dressed as James Bond on the box top.

The gun is clearly modelled on the WW2 US M3 sub-machine gun, which used .45 calibre pistol ammunition. It has the same telescoping wire shoulder stock, although the magazine is shorter.

The bar just ahead of the trigger guard is the cocking handle on the real thing. The toy has this on both sides, but the real M3 had it only on the right side. This was eliminated from the M3A1 version.

RARE JAMES BOND 007 SECRET 07 HARD PLASTIC MACHINE GUN MATSUSHIRO BOX JAPAN TOY | #1851287627 (worthpoint.com)

RARE Vtg late 60s Japan Matsushiro Toy Gun Secret 07 KO James Bond 007 | #3776008307 (worthpoint.com)

The real M3, on Wikipedia

M3 submachine gun - Wikipedia

Photographs from Worthpoint and Wikipedia.

Anyone got one? The Secret 07?

Paul Adams from New Zealand

CHUFF ME, STOP SWEARING!

Swearing has always been around. No doubt cave men swore when faced with a Mammoth.

I swore as a kid but I wasn't a career swearer. I never swore at home - my parents would have gone nuts! Maybe the odd bloody hell or bugger slipped out at home but that was it.

I didn't swear much at school either. There was a real taboo surrounding some high-value swear words, the C word especially. I wasn't a great effer and jeffer. I was more drawn to insults like pillock, prannock and dimmock and phrases like get stretched and the universal get stuffed. I never swore in public spaces.

Nowadays, with my time in education, I hear every swear word under the sun all day long every day and there are no taboos about using any of them at any time, in class or out, or in any type of sentence. It has become common currency in school despite the best efforts of the grown-ups there. I'm not going to effing Maths so you can F off is the rallying cry of the modern secondary schoolkid.

It is also a facet of life in general. I hear swearing everywhere from adults nowadays too; in the cinema, in cafes, in shops and in the street.

Kids are pretty much reflecting back what they hear themselves and sadly some of it will be in the home.

It all feels like its part of a wider rise in aggression in society, of aggressive language and posturing, of hostility toward each other in general, although this could be my age getting in the way there!

Is gaming making kids hostile? I dunno. I've never played a computer game in my life but its all modern kids do. Our generation had toys. We still talk about them here on this blog. We don't seem particularly aggressive. Did toys keep us happy and calm as kids?

Don't get me wrong about swearing though. I do swear - but its a private cursing that I do. Nothing in public.

But it seems that I'm old-fashioned in this regard. Having Grandkids has made me sensitive to public cursing, as I don't think small youngsters still shouldn't have to hear it.

What do you think?

A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUK

Aquarium ornaments have appeared on MC a few times. My contribution was a cast resin version of a WW2 Sherman tank that I found in a pet shop.

MOONBASE CENTRAL: Submerged Sherman (projectswordtoys.blogspot.com)

You asked if there were any real vehicles still down on the seabed. Well here is the cover of the May 1976 National Geographic magazine. It contains an article on the sunken Japanese ships in Truk Lagoon, in the Pacific. During the war, Truk was a major Japanese base, and was therefore heavily bombed by the Americans.

The cover shows a Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go light tank on the sea floor, now covered in marine life. It is probably still there. Thought it might be of interest.