THE SPACE TRAVEL COMMAND CAR BY EHRI

 

This tinplate roadster caught my eye.

A Rocket Commander sports car.

Made by EHRI of the GDR, the former East Germany.

What do you think?

How Very Porsche!

 I cleaned up my recent car boot purchase, this nice Super Kings Formula 1 Porsche trailer. It came up well.

I've added a cab you may recognise!

I just need some racing cars now! 

Bob McCall's Jet-Pack Puzzle

 

We've seen Bob McCall's art used on toys and games before, not least on the box art of the Century 21 Toys Nuclear Ferry and here's another one, I think which is new to the blog.

It's a Spanish puzzle on Todocollecion's auction site showing the artist's iconic jet-pack astronaut and the lunar domes we've seen many times. 

The cubed puzzle can be re-positioned into other pictures, all non McCall.

Do you have any Bob McCall art, pictures, toys and games?

A LOOK AT THE FAIRYLITE STINGRAY WATER PISTOL

 

I recently got this 80’s re-issue of the old Fairylite Stingray water pistol, will go well with my 80’s re-issue Fairylite Fireball XL5 water pistol.

While the original blue 1964 Stingray Fairylite pistol might be a little harder to come by, the reissues which come in yellow or red plastic turn up more frequently.

The original blue version has a black bung at the back, and the word Stingray moulded on each side, moulded into the plastic. The water jet comes out of the nose.

The re-issues have either a whitish or pink bung, no wording on the sides, and the water jet comes out of a red or white oily plastic directional spout protruding from the hull.

Obviously, in spite of the differences between the re-issues and the original blue Fairylite pistol, plenty of collectors are happy to pay out a lot less, and simply clip a replica header to a re-issue for display purposes.

The original came in a clear plastic bag with a header card, The red and yellow  obviously have their own generic header cards. There are also  red (and possibly yellow) examples sealed in a carded bubble pack. 

TV21 competition  to win one from 1965.:

PAUL'S VW CREATURE

Last year Max's Models had a Group Build devoted to Kit Bash models. These are models made by combining parts from several different kits, usually to create a fantasy design.

My Kit Bash entry was a tracked Volkswagen. There really are some tracked or half-tracked Volkswagen out there, but nothing exactly like my model.

The basis is the 1/32nd scale Airfix Volkswagen, with the tracks from the new 1/72nd scale Tiger I tank kit. I did have to lengthen the tracks to fit the VW, using parts from a second Tiger kit.

This did not mean I had to rob two Tiger kits just for their tracks. The Tiger I includes two full sets of tracks, a fast assembly version of just two parts, and a more detailed multi-part set, so I can still build the Tigers as intended. I also have a set of four Volkswagen wheels left over.

The Volkswagen is rear wheel drive, so drive sprockets are now at the rear. I also ignored the fact that the Airfix VW is right-hand drive.

Things did not go exactly according to plan, and the underside is a sorry sight. Strength took priority over realism.

I created a fictional history for the vehicle, to explain why a Volkswagen is sitting on top of a set of under-sized Tiger tracks.

*

A totally fictitious history of 'The Creature'.

The hero of our story, Wilhelm Von Frankenstein, worked in a Tiger tank factory during WW2. He was therefore familiar with the suspension of the Tiger, and its interleaved road wheels.

After the war, Wilhelm bought himself a Volkswagen saloon. But he lived in an area of Germany prone to heavy snowfalls, and wanted to improve the mobility of his car in the snow.

Tracks seemed the obvious answer. Putting his wartime experience to use, he fabricated a set of tracks for his VW, based on the design of the Tiger. This explains why the suspension looks like that on a Tiger, but is considerably smaller.

Today, members of the Von Frankenstein family can still be seen driving The Creature around the family estates.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

A BOY WITH ANTLERS AND SHARKS IN PARIS

Watched a few things of late on the telly. Here's a few thoughts. Wonder if you've seen them?

1. Travellers - the Missus and me really enjoyed this, like we did Manifest. A longer box set challenge with lots of episodes, the central premise of time travel was really interesting. Its talky for sure but the characters are worth it. Quite an old series now, pre-Covid.

2. Eric - this is a recent production. A sort of adult Sesame street set in a dingy 1980's New York, its quite a sad tale of loneliness and decay. Not everyone's cup of tea, we sort of enjoyed it, if that's the right word. The 1980's American sets and props were fabulous though and the acting was brilliant.

3. Sweet Tooth - our current watch, a long series about a boy with antlers. A sort of dystopian viral fairy tale, we'll see how it goes. Enjoying it at the moment.

4. Under Paris - a film. The title should have been Sharks in the Seine because that's what it is. A novel idea but a complete Jaws rip-off [can a shark movie be anything but?], even including yellow barrels being dragged forcibly through water. Having said that, the Missus enjoyed it.

5. DC - my own late night telly watching when the Missus is in bed are currently DC flicks. I do love the modern Superman trilogy. For some reason I'm re-watching it in reverse order. Zack Snyder's 4 hour epic The Justice League is simply phenomenal; Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice in the middle is a real diamond and the film I'll watch again next week, Man of Steel, is goosepimple perfect. My favourite Super Hero trilogy.

What are you watching readers?

LINEMAR'S FUTURISTIC VAN

 

I adore this!

I saw it online the other day.

Wholly new to me. No idea what it's called.

By Linemar.

What a tinplate future we had!

Do you like it?

THE INCREDIBLE RESIN STINGRAY -

 Some photos I’ve taken of my resin Stingray kit.

It’s based on a vintage kit I’ve been trying to add to my collection for quite some time, the Airfix Stingray model, which was available way back in 1965 as a mail-away from Lyons Maid.

In spite of it’s perceived rarity aspect, more than a few have ‘surfaced’ over time on eBay, but like many before me I always seem to get pipped to the post at the last minute.

I did send away for one at the time, or rather my parents did. All that was required was three Sea Jet ice lolly wrappers, and 6/- postal order.

I remember assembling and attempting to paint it. At the time I thought it was a perfect representation of the WASP super sub! However, thinking about it now, it would have probably been covered in finger marks from an over use of plastic cement, and the paint job would have owed more to abstract rather than accuracy!

Nowadays, the nearest I’ve got to an Airfix Stingray is the resin model in my photos, which is cast from an existing kit. Naturally, any imperfections were carried over to the casting, and the whole thing needed a fair amount of preparation to get it to look something like. Some of the parts were actually little more than blobs of resin!

It’s certainly not perfect by any means, and not a project for the inexperience modeller, but it worked out reasonably well in the end, and it’ll have to do me for now, until I hopefully one day get my hands on the real thing.

As for the fabled Airfix Stingray, most Stingray fans will remember the advert for the offer which appeared in several UK comics at the time. I’ve seen the ad in TV Comic, and Valiant, and most notably TV Century 21 which carried the advert every week, from issues dated July, 21^st 1965 until September 4^th 1965.

The offer closed on October 31^st 1965.

A nostalgic look at a couple of Lyons Maid Seajet and Super Seajet adverts