BLAKE'S 7 SERVALAN TV SCRATCHBUILD BY KEVIN D

Just completed this scratchbuild of the little tv seen on Servalan's desk in Space Command HQ in the first half of Blake's 7, before she stages a military coup and declares herself President, which, presumably merits a bigger telly.

Keep watching,

Kevin D

UK

AN OLD FLAME: FIRING AND PUFF PIPE

 This was the kind of cheap spy rack toy I loved as a budding agent. The Bullet Firing and Puff Pipe by Woolbro. I think I saw this on Etsy so saved a pic. The grey plastic ammo looks a lot like the stuff you got in Redbox spy toys too.

And look at that header art! I'm shaken and stirred!

You?

THE TOMY SORA-Q MOON ROVER

This oddball appears to be a Tomy space toy that will be actually ...... sent to the Moon!

Its called the Sora-Q Flagship.

With a rather clunky wobbly motion, it seems to be able to wiggle across a dusty surface like the Moon's.

Here's  a promo from its home country Japan.

What do you think readers?

MANIFEST: BUT IS IT SCI-FI?

The Missus and I are watching a US TV series called Manifest.

If I've read it right there's 4 seasons, which means a lot of episodes. We are up to episode 7 season 1.

Essentially its about a lost passenger flight, which re-appears after 5 years. The series is about what happens to the passengers who return. Factor in visions, voices, fate, destiny, memories and murky Government agents.

It's verging on Sci-Fi but not quite there yet.

There's a lot of small talk, lots and lots of relationships and not much action but for some strange reason its watchable.

We've got it on right now! Yep, daytime TV! well, Netflix actually!

I'll let you know if we stick it out. Are you watching Manifest?

THE NEW SUPERON

I've always been interested in the lesser vehicles sketched in the Project SWORD Annual like this Superon/ Yellow Fox lookalike.

The Superon/ Yellow Fox has appeared on Moonbase many times, for example, in 2011 here:

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2009/11/plastic-toys-used-in-thunderbirds-city.html

It's clearly a fan favourite because UNCL have released the Captain Scarlet Yellow Fox as a new kit, one of a number of new ones.

If you get one and make it then do send us pictures!

Here's UNCL's built model.

image: Toy Heroes

I don't think its ever been released as a toy like a die-cast or a Pod vehicle. Has it?

GETTY ANDERSON

 Getty have some interesting images in stock concerning Gerry Anderson. 

'Our' Gerry is mixed in with a few others of the same name.

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/photos/gerry-anderson?assettype=image&family=editorial&phrase=%22gerry%20anderson%22&sort=best

There's video too and I liked this taster of Phil Rae's prop collection.

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/video/london-cms-gerry-anderson-intvw-sof-there-is-nothing-on-news-footage/1402709821?adppopup=true

Searching Thunderbirds shows a few items too.

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/videos/thunderbirds-tv?assettype=film&phrase=%22thunderbirds%22%20tv&sort=best&license=rf%2Crr

See anything interesting?

CLEMENTONI MOON

I don't often like modern space toys but this one impressed me when I saw it online. The NASA Space Exploration set by Clementoni, made In Italy.

Have a look. See what you think.

https://amzn.eu/d/adGWw4t 

NATURAL SCIENCE INDUSTRIES ANATOMICAL KITS BY PAUL ADAMS

While looking for some information on Palmer kits, I discovered that at least three of their educational kits were also released by another company. These being the Dissecting Frog, along with the Mastodon and Brontosaurus skeletons.

The company was Natural Science Industries Limited, of Far Rockaway, New York, 11691. So this adds another name to the list of companies making anatomical kits.

I have never heard of this company before, and they are not listed on Scalemates as far as I can see. There is no mention of any re-issues for any of these three Palmer kits by NSI, or anyone else.

I found a Natural Science Industries still listed, in New York City, which looks as though it may be the same company. This is a maker of mainly educational and science sets for children, and various craft sets.

Anatomy kits would have been a natural extension of their educational range. I do not know if NSI actually made these kits, or if Palmer Plastics just made a batch of the kits for them.

There do not appear to be any dates on the boxes or instruction sheets that I can see. My guess would be 1960s or 1970s.

The NSI issue of the Dissecting Frog has been re-numbered from 800-198 to No.78. The Mastodon and Brontosaurus, numbers 110 and 111, kept their original Palmer numbers.

The Palmer issues had the retail price as a suffix to the numbers, which was common with US kit makers in the 1950s and 1960s, but the NSI kits did not have any suffixes. No scale is given on any of the kits, as usual for Palmer, but the length is mentioned.

Some of the kits appear cleanly moulded, while on others flash looks to have been a major problem. The plastic used for the prehistorics ranged from white to a creamy bone-white; while the frog was white with a clear plastic outer shell (the Palmer version had a transparent green shell).

The NSI boxes are not as common as the Palmer boxes, and they are hard to tell apart as NSI just used the existing Palmer box art. There is just a small NSI logo in one corner.

There appear to be three versions of the box. Palmer name and logo; Palmer logo and NSI name (at least on the Mastodon); and finally NSI name and logo.

The Palmer Dissecting Frog have already been covered.

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2022/11/palmer-plastics-dissecting-frog-kits.html

Four photographs from Worthpoint

Paul Adams from New Zealand