A POCKET FULL OF RYE

Hello there Moonbasers!

We'd visited the village of Rye about twelve years ago and today, we dropped in for 30 minutes on our way to Sissinghurst Gardens.

Toys were a little thin on the ground but I saw a die cast US space shuttle with a UK maker mark tampoed on it's plastic underside.

The Antique shop was shut, but these die casts in the window were approaching Australian silly prices!

And just to prove sometimes you can go home, I'd remembered a neon Toy sign and it's still here! Interestingly on closer inspection, it seems to be 50s or 60s, judging by the stick and ball feet on the bottom. 

Sadly the toys upstairs were nowhere near as vintage! It was all Barbie, Star Wars Lego and plastic assault rifles in a bin by the cash register!

Looey

Oz on tour

Is it a car? Is it a truck? No its Supervan!

Sometimes it can pay off when you casually check out 'Sellers Other Items' on ebay, after a choice find. Here is an excellent example of something which I doubt I would have discovered ynder normal circumstances - a Zylemex Supervan.

From around the mid 70's, it was part of a short lived run of 'Supervans' innthe diecast car range, the others being more standard hot rod or custom affairs. This one is a George Barris creation and was the star of the film 'Supervan' - a thinly veiled roadshow comedy with a large section of the run time devoted to a custom car show.

Its a small model, a shade smaller than the average Hot Wheels/Superfast models, but nicely turned out apart from the awful stickers on the side windows, which I managed to peel off with lighter fluid.

Its very reminiscent of the Superfast Strecha Fetcha ambulance or the 1970 Freeman Intercity Commuter.

There are no action features on it, such as opening doors, as Zylemex were very much the economy end of the diecast market.

Testors made a very nice model kit of the van and here is a youtube clip if Barris' real life creation
 https://youtu.be/oRpMmC4a_5E

DROKK... STOMM... DREDD and Femo!

Grud on a greenie, Woodsy... following your mention of Femo, I've attached a couple of snaps of a comic-book style Judge Dredd figure I made from Femo, approx 32 years ago! 

His early stony-face career was spent enforcing decor laws in my kid's rooms. Once our juves grew up and moved out, Dredd was reassigned to the cursed earth of my garden shed. 

Last year, Judge Death or some other perp tracked Dredd down I guess? I discovered his head on the floor, with a chunk broken out of the helmet plastic visor and a chipped badge... Drokk! Other than that, he's survived quite well, hidden and protected for decades beneath layers of radioactive dust and cobwebs. 

I'm not a model maker and Dredd was my first and only attempt to sculpt a Femo figure. 

 He's still recognizable, a little out of proportion and a tad battered, but after the passage of thirty plus years, I can relate to that!

Hope you like it.

Tony K

UK

BULLMARK TOY PATROL CAR

Here's another plastic car from the iconic Japanese Bullmark brand. 

With a similar rear fin to the blue car I posted recently I assume this is based on the TV series Ultra Seven as well.

Like it?

SF ZIGGURAT'S SCI-FI FLICKR FOTO FEST

Woodsy,

I finally got around to opening a Flickr account, to store photos of my Japan SF models. 

I figure it's as good a place as any to save these images for posterity - especially since I no longer own many of these models. I invite Moonbase readers to visit and look around:

www.flickr.com/photos/sf_ziggurat

The best way to view the pix is through the Albums tab. Comments/suggestions appreciated!

SF_Ziggurat
Rob C
USA

WHAT A FIGURE!

This auctioned crate of action figs was bursting with goodness when I saved the pic.

Anything catch your eye in there?

KEVIN'S BLAKES 7 SCRATCHBIULT PROP DISPLAYS

Courtesy of Kevin D,

UK

Little Green Men

 I saw a Ben 10 figure recently. I. Fact I saw about a hundred loose ones in a box but this particular one was transparent green.

It reminded me immediately of the much older X Ray Man from the Adventure People by Fisher Price.

Inspired?