MOONBASE CENTRAL

Wednesday, 20 December 2023

Ed's Chinese MF-030 Universe Tin Rocket

Woodsy,

The Chinese MF-105 Jetliner reminded me of this. It's my MF-030 Universe Rocket. Back when I got this, these things were either being sold in sad shape or selling for outrageous prices but fortunately mine wasn't horribly priced.

There is a story behind this: It's obvious this this disassembles for placement into the box, YET the box and the plane were placed separately into a much larger (huge) cardboard shipping box - pretty much unceremoniously dumped in there with a LOT of packing material. I was lucky that nothing was broken or damaged when it arrived from NYC!

Being a variation of the classic 'pointy tube with wings' spaceship design, there's enough differences to make it stand out from others. First of all, it has a cockpit. Most pointy tube spaceships forego any cockpit design and so one can believe this was intended as an Earth-to-orbit type vehicle taking off from a runway.

There are two canards (those tiny wings just behind the cockpit), two main fins aft, and four smaller fins further aft. There is no shortage of fins on this but the overall effect is nice. It could have ended up looking clumsy but the restraint in size of the fins I think helps balance it out.

There is a large front wheel and larger rear wheel friction motor. The wings are detachable and are placed on 'stubs' jutting out from the fuselage and that long nose needle retracts for storing into a shorter box.

The needle does not latch in place though and care must be taken when placing the toy in the box. It measures 12" (30.48cm) L x 5 5/8" (14.28cm) W x 2 1/4" (5.71cm) H.

Anyone else got one?

From Vegas Air Field

A FESTIVE CARD FROM WOODSY

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT THIS YEAR,

WOODSY

CHRISTMAS POD

Hey there! Just an update on the Space Pod for my next project...

It's tough work using CGI, but I think it's mostly done now so I can look at printing it out and finishing it in the real world...

Cheers,

Looey

Oz Base

ONE LAST TRUNDLE

At the last car boot trundle of the year there were highs and lows.

I'll get the low out the way first; we lost the Missus' purse. We were told it had been found but was never handed in. Ah well, someone has a Christmas windfall, around £90. Should buy a decent turkey.

Now the highs.

I managed to find this fab big Hot Wheels Construction Site set from 1979/1982 for a fiver.

Standing on two levels, it folds together like a carry case.

The crane can move up and down its slope. I've added the cars.

There's a yellow tipper skip and a blue hopper.

I'm unsure if its complete. I'll have to check. I just think its such a clever foldable set!

My other find was an old Crescent mobile crane like this one online. With some paint loss and in two parts, mine looks pretty good too. Not bad for two squid.

What do you reckon?

More Small Steps

Continuing the theme of Airfix Astronauts, Kevin has kindly sent me his set of spacemen, all professionally painted in NASA livery! To accompany them, he also has the slightly larger Revell Lunar Module kit, bathing in Earthshine!

THE SHADO OF CHRISTMAS

Took a few shots of my studio-scale Shado Mobile scratchbuild.

Cheers,

Enjoy

Kevin

Did you get a SHADO 3 Mobile one Christmas readers? Pictures welcomed!

Tuesday, 19 December 2023

US AGENT AT THE YORKSHIRE TRADING POST

I had to look twice in a local store, where I clocked US agent on a bubble card no less!

Released by Kenner, I think this maybe the first time the Agent gets a stint on the toy shelf since Toy Biz's 1994 release as part of the Marvel Super Heroes figure line.

Is the US Agent an Agent you know?