MOONBASE CENTRAL

Friday, 7 April 2023

THIS IS RICHARD PETTY!

Hi, The name Richard Petty came up recently.

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2023/04/who-was-richard-petty.html#comment-form

Richard Lee Petty is an American racing car driver, in NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing). He was born in 1937, and is still alive.

Petty is one of the top NASCAR drivers ever, and drove cars that carried the number 43. These started out in plain blue, then had red or orange trim added, and ended up as blue with red sides.

His father, Lee Petty, was also a racing driver, and winner of the first Daytona 500 race in 1959. His son Kyle, and grandson Adam, were also racing car drivers. This led to Monogram releasing a Racing Pettys Combo, with cars 42 and 43.

There have been many kits and die-casts of his vehicles. Just typing in the name Richard Petty in to Scalemates turned up kits by AMT, AMT/Ertl, Jo-han, Lindberg, Monogram, MPC, Polar Lights, Revell, and Salvinos JR Models. The earliest seems to be a Jo-han kit from 1967. All in 1/24th or 1/25th scale, apart from a 1/16th scale Dodge Charger.

https://www.scalemates.com/search.php?fkSECTION%5B%5D=All&q=richard+petty*

Here are a few photos of various Richard Petty kits - I have not even looked at the die-casts, which are even more numerous.

Four photographs, all from Worthpoint.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

Associated Hobby Manufacturers of Philadelphia PA.

Woodsy,

I was on a nostalgia kick lately (what’s new?) so on eBay I got a cheap copy of one of my favorite catalogs from the 1960s - the 1967-67 catalog from Associated Hobby Manufacturers of Philadelphia PA.

While AHM was primarily an importer of model railroad trains and accessories, they carried some interesting other lines, and there are a couple I thought Moonbase readers might enjoy.

First up is their line of “MiniMen,” which turn out to be from our old pal, Airfix.

Next, AHM was known for importing a large number of (roughly) HO Scale military vehicles by Roco, under the brand “MiniTanks”. These were beautiful and (usually) highly-detailed models, and I had dozens of them back in the day.

Finally, AHM imported some great die-cast cars from Roadmaster Impy, one of the coolest (imho) makers of “budget” die-cast toys with working features.

Those were the days!

Rob C

USA

IT'S GOOD FRIDAY!

WE'LL SOON BE ROLLIN'!

Thursday, 6 April 2023

KITS, CARS, TEA AND TOAST

We had some very sad close family news yesterday, a bereavement, but so as not to dwell on it until I can do something practical I need to keep busy, so here's a new post.

As I said, the Missus and me went to Hornsea on the Yorkshire coast. A lovely quaint seaside town full of charm and character. We also visited a very wet Bridlington up the shore too, a much bigger and commercialised seaside town and its sister village of Old Town Bridlington, again a picturesque Yorkshire spot.

Here are a few things we saw in charity shops and antique centres. Taking reader Yorkie's advice we visited Cropper's Model Shop in Bridlington. Talk about timing, its more or less closing for good after this Easter weekend! 50 years of trading done.

This is what was left on Cropper's shelves.

I offered Mr. Cropper a tenner for some old loose Triang Space carriages but no deal. Ah well.

In other shops we saw:

These Matchbox rack cars caught my eye in a proper shop. I hadn't realised they were still going!

Anything you fancy or had as a kid?

RICHARD DIXON'S GERRY ANDERSON MODELS: SOME MORE

Thought I would send you some more....

1. Intergalactic Rescue - Puppet Set Jif Fruits Commercial....this went out at the Cinema with the first "Star Wars" Film,

2. also on TV.....The DELTA Beacon Space station from Into Infinity TV special,

3. STARCRUISER - original "3" miniature by Martin Bower...this turned out into an Airfix model kit...it was going to be a TV series but it never made it to production,

Hope you enjoy them,

Richard Dixon

Lancashire

HERE'S JOHNNY!

I had Best of the West Marx figures as a kid but I don't think I had a Johnny Apollo.

The design got around though.

Here's Marx's Kennedy Space Centre Astronaut. Is it that much different to Johnny or the same?

Mexico had its own Plastimarx brand of Johnny's too.

Here's Jane Apollo.

The box art has a much more inflated suit to the toy version. I do like the artwork.

Did you have a Johnny or Jane Apollo?

Wednesday, 5 April 2023

Per Ardua Ad Astra

Its a little after the event, but I picked up a copy of the space epic 'Ad Astra' the other day, originally released in 2019 and starring Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland. Its intended as a 'hard sci-fi' look at a future space mission, but with a real space bias, not unlike the science heavy 'The Martian'.

Visually, its beautiful, with sweeping vistas of space, the Moon and Mars, before visiting the distant reaches of the solar system and an orbit around Neptune. As eye candy, its flawless, especially the fast paced lunar rover pursuit on the moon surface, which looks every inch like legitimate NASA footage - at least until Pitt whips out a laser and dispatches a few moon pirates - bringing it back down to 'Moon Zero Two' territory.

The story itself is quite good, if a little light on plot and reasoning - Tommy Lee Jones has disappeared in deep space some years previously on the first Neptune mission and suddenly, pulses of anti matter energy seem to be threatening Earth with global destruction. Cue Brad Pitt, the only man to save the world, who promptly method acts his way through the film, soul searching and pondering his way though the narrative, but barely breaking into a sweat at any time, even when faced with freefalling from a power mast, battling blood thirsty baboons and climbing into a rocket via the engines during takeoff.

This for me is the weakest part of a scientifically plausible film - there are hundreds of Kubrickesque touches, which make it a solidly speculative view of near future space flight - graffiti on the walls of Mars base, signposts on the lunar surface and having to purchase an extra blanket from the stewardess while on the trip to the moon. Pitt spends too much time just staring off camera in reverie and thought, in clearly narcissitic fashion (as he co-directs the film) as he nears the finale, but is effortlessly out-acted by Tommy Lee Jones in his brief appearances as the wayward antagonist. If you enjoyed The Martian, Life or 2001, then Ad Astra is for you - just fast forward Pitts macho gurning episodes and cut to the action, as they are pretty arduous!