THE DILLYPUFF: TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION!

Recently I had the opportunity while visiting Baltimore, Maryland to visit the B&O Railroad Museum which appropriately enough is centered in and around a roundhouse.

Now, growing up in the UK, as a child of the 50's I had a number of Toby Twirl picture books. One of the memorable images from those books was an eccentric railway locomotive named The Dillypuff. It reappeared in a number of stories and had a very distinctive appearance, a parody of a traditional American 4-4-0 locomotive.

Imagine my surprise when in the B&O Museum I encountered PIONEER. Clearly this was the artist, E. Jeffrey's inspiration for Dillypuff. It's hard for me to believe that this locomotive really exists, yet it does. A case of truth being stranger than fiction?

Terranova47

USA

KEVIN'S SHORTS

Here are some small videos I've done:

Matchbox motorway

Lunar loop

Nomura dc9 airliner

Enjoy!

Kevin

UK

Forget Brachiosaurus, Here Comes Dreadnoughtus!

If like me you grew up the Sixties then you were probably mad on dinosaurs. They were everywhere. Extinct but everywhere.

The big three vegesaurs back then were the massive saurapods. You'll be able to name them: Brontosaurus, Brachiosaurus and of course Diplodocus.

Much more recently BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs shows us what the Brachiosaurus might have looked like. I'd have loved this as a kid!

I thought that they were the biggest land animals ever. Wrong!

There are new sauropods on the block and they're even bigger!

With names like Titanosaur, Argentinosaurus and the fabulously named Dreadnoughtus!

Here's some somewhat ponderous but somehow hypnotic 'footage' of Dreadnoughtus in Malta!

Some of the these giants have only been discovered since I was a kid so I wouldn't have known about them in the 1960's.

The 'biggest' seems to shift depending on who's telling you. Theses guys slug it out for the top spot continuously.

You can read more about these vege monsters here on Brittanica 

https://www.britannica.com/list/titanosaurs-8-of-the-worlds-biggest-dinosaurs

Did you/ Do you like dinosaurs?

DRAGSTER DAY, DRAGSTER NIGHT

Me and Junior were watching his new fave Hot Wheels TV cartoon on the telly the other day. 

I then remembered we'd cobbled together our own little film a month before the Pandemic struck back in 2020, when he was a mere 3 years old. Here it is again for old time's sake.

A Moonbase Central Short Film starring Junior's fave HotWheels car!

Enjoy!

Have you any short films you've made? Send 'em in!

CHASING DOVES

I just saw this spaceplane, the Dream Chaser. 

The view of it hanging vertically during testing reminded me of the Eurosec Dove from Doppleganger!

What do you think?

Looey

Oz Base

Mutant Takedown Batman by MJ

https://youtube.com/shorts/iHSRnOUWUKM?si=Lf9DLpNUWCKv7fWa

Late night, Gotham city and Batman is on the prowl!

Enjoy!

MJ 

Southcoast base

KING ZOR! COR!

I just came across this 1960s TV commercial for a toy called King Zor, made by Ideal. It is a battery-powered dinosaur, that came with a dart-firing pistol (which looks to be a cross between a Luger and a Mauser).

When you hit a disc on the tail, the monster spun round - slowly - and fired small plastic balls at you. A toy that shoots back.

When the protruding tongue of King Zor hit an object, the dinosaur turned away, and headed off in a different direction. It came with five missiles (plastic balls), and five darts - batteries not included.

Power was provided by two D Cell batteries, housed in the bottom of the toy. Copyright date on the box is 1962, Ideal Toy Corporation, Hollis, New York.

Some of the guns appear to have been all-green, others were two-tone, assuming the guns are original to the sets. The boxes look to have been fairly flimsy, and not many have survived.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ATMPDF7b9s

There was even a board game, although this does not appear to have involved firing actual projectiles. This is also dated 1962, Ideal Toy Corporation.

Four photographs from Worthpoint.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

JOINT MONSTER? YIKES! IT'S OK, IT'S EXPLORER 12!

Love this toy with it's obvious Explorer 12 chops: two multi-wheeled vehicles ready for extreme terrain.

But the name! Joint Monster! That's such a rubbish name! What were they thinking?

Have you got anything like this?