Moonbase Junior's Space Explorer

The spaceship blasted through the black hole at the speed of light. 

Words, model and pics all by Junior age 6.

An Annual Event

The Grandson Moonbase Junior is a tough nut to crack when it comes to Thunderbirds. He's a big fan of the modern Thunderbirds are Go animated series. He's not such a fan of the puppet version, the original TV show we grew up with. I have tried to get him to watch but he got bored! 

To coax Junior into the old stuff I'm leaving vintage Thunderbirds annuals out in his room.

Not sure if this substitute will work but Brains said give it a go.

Any other ideas? 

Airfix Kits in Thunderbirds on You Tube

Here is another video from Matteline 1967, looking at various kits, mainly by Airfix, and how the parts were used on various vehicles and buildings in Thunderbirds.

Most of the kits are from the Airfix Trackside range, such as the Footbridge, Travelling Crane, railway Signal Gantry, and others; along with the SR.N1 Hovercraft. There are also a few US kits by Revell and AMT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN77RPBVUjY&t=19s

Paul Adams from New Zealand

Thunderbirds in the Garden by Orbital Wings

I've blogged it afore but I do like Orbital Wings' homage to Thunderbirds so much that here it is again. Its so well done!

Hope you like it too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-WpjA8F_RE

SIXTEEN 12 DRAGON'S DOMAIN

 As Sixteen 12 Collectables are currently offering a limited 24 hour offer on their excellent Dragon's Domain episode set, I thought I'd share some of my own photos of the finished set.

https://mailchi.mp/ceeea62b27d7/news-update-13760893?e=d8fba15908

My New Book by Robin Cook

I'm sat in the shade and just about to start the novel Toxin by Robin Cook.

You'll know his work, mostly medical disasters. I first came across him via a film of one his early books, Coma.

I adored Coma and still do. Michael Douglas et al. Richard Widmark gives it some old Hollywood class too. A fabulous flick and the scene where we first see the hundreds of coma patients hanging from the ceiling at the 'institute' was and is truly scary.

Have you seen Coma? Have you read any Robin Cook novels? 

A Little Husky: Paul's Studebaker Wagonaire T.V. Car

Here are a couple of items I picked up at the winter Auckland model fair. First up is the Husky model of a Studebaker Wagonaire T.V. Car, with a rotating camera and cameraman in the rear.

Husky was a line of small, Matchbox-sized die-cast models made by Corgi, exclusively for sale in Woolworths shops. The line first appeared in 1964, and once the exclusive deal with Woolworths ended, Huskys became Corgi Juniors from 1970 onwards.

The Wagonaire TV Car first appeared in 1967, as number 15 in the Husky line. It later became a Corgi Junior. There was also an ambulance version, which was number 30.

The T.V. Car came in various shades of yellow, blue, metallic turquoise, and metallic lime green. The windows in the rear part of the body are tinted. The original plastic wheels were later replaced with low-friction Whizz Wheels, to compete with Hot Wheels, and Matchbox Superfast.

In the world of model railways, backscenes are used to add depth to a layout. Printed backscenes can be either paintings or photographs.

This one is by the German firm Busch, and it comes in two sections. It is double sided, with the same scene on each side, but one is daytime, and the other is night.

The box says Day & Night Hinterland. The scales given are HO/N/TT, so it is suitable for 1/87th, 1/160th, and 1/120th, but it will work with just about any scale.

The length is given as 198 cm, which is for both sheets combined, and the height is 34 cm. The copyright date is 2004, but I do not know if they are still available, since I bought mine at a fair.

Four different styles are shown on the side of the box: rural with fields, forests, and a river; or urban town/city scenes.

As I was photographing the models I got at the latest fair, I decided to try out the sheets. Having been rolled up for an unknown number of years, they wanted to roll back up again.

It may be necessary to glue them to a rigid backing sheet, but that would prevent them being switched from day to night. I did have problems with reflections on the night side, but the day shots seemed to come out well.

Hope you like them.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

Hand Me Downs. Or Not!

I had a discussion with a friend recently who has some of his childhood toys still. He's 75 so we're talking about the 1950s.

It transpires that none of his children or Grandchildren want his old toys, which I found quite sad. 

Do you think this may happen to you readers, that your well-stored collections will be unwanted by family or friends one day?