The New Project S.W.O.R.D Toy Manual by Bill B.

This is my 2024 colour update of the original Project SWORD toy manual which was included with every SWORD toy back in 1967.

Created specially for Project SWORD Day, my new 24-page Technical Manual is intended as an unofficial update to the late 1960’s Project SWORD line, bringing together images of all toys produced for the line and speculating on how the series might have been extended, using existing designs from Century 21 publications and adding in models which fit well with

the SWORD ethos. 

Credit is given where possible and the manual is intended

as a fan publication only.

Enjoy!

Bill

FOR ARTO IT STARTED IN EDINBURGH – WITH A SCREWDRIVER!

Soon after my toy collecting began in 2002 and whilst browsing the internet wonderland, I stumbled upon a Project S.W.O.R.D. Checklist compiled by one Paul Woods. 

I was instantly smitten with the colourful fleet of concept space vehicles, and with the fervent enthusiasm and good humour evident in the toy depictions by the checklist’s author.

July 12th, 2003. Edinburgh, Scotland. On the previous day at the Hamilton Toy Museum in Callander, we were given a tip about a toy shop worth visiting in Edinburgh. It was called Now and Then, at 7-9 West Crosscauseway. On the street we were greeted by a simple a-frame sign with a word “TOYS” written on it. Very promising!

The shop itself was a set of adjacent rooms connected by narrow passages, brimming with all sorts of antiques, including the best collection of old toys we had seen so far. Although most items were placed in display cabinets, there was an air of sweet disarray which added to the magic of the place.

The shopkeeper Alan and his girlfriend Hetty were very friendly, helpful and infinitely patient with my endless questions about toys related to Century 21 and Gerry Anderson’s output. I was such a newbie! As our discussion turned to Project Sword, my friend remembered catching a glimpse of a red arrow-like toy plane in the shop window.

There it was, the Re-Entry Task Force 1 in all its sleekness! My first-ever Project Sword toy contact was true! Alan was not aware that the plane with simple “T1” decals was part of the Sword toy line, so I was happy to reciprocate at least that bit of information.

But there was a downside to this discovery. TF1 was missing its rear exhaust. Huge disappointment! Suddenly, Hetty remembered that there should be another example of the same toy somewhere. Having located it, we were able to see that its nose was broken off – but the black rear exhaust was there.

Solution? Alan handed me a small screwdriver, with which I moved the exhaust of the broken example to the incomplete but otherwise fine TF1. My first-ever Project Sword toy, mended by myself! I was overjoyed, paying £50 for it plus three chosen C21 annuals. Hetty gave me a green Clarks shoebox where this prized possession travelled safe for the rest of our journey. (Still have the box too.)

From there on, I would continue to augment my Project Sword collection through eBay purchases. It would take six more years until I made another significant contact, with one Paul Woods, our Woodsy, through the Moonbase Central Blog he had just started in 2008. The rest is (personal) history!

Arto

Helsinki Base

'Project SWORD' Excerpt from my travel diary   

MY MOONBASE PROJECT SWORD TOYS COLLECTION

 This is my Century 21 toys Project S.W.O.R.D toy collection hangered here at Moonbase. These are all the known Century 21 SWORD toys. It excludes the books and comic strips.

On this Century 21 table you can see from LtoR:

Probe Force 3, Booster Rocket, Probe Force 1 [elevated], red Task Forces 1,2 and 3, Scout 1 [yellow], Scout 2, Scout 3 [behind], Space Glider grey, Space Glider orange, Scramble Bug, Moon Ranger, Moon Bus and Apollo Saturn Rocket [behind].

Scoop 2014

This table below, from LtoR:

Moon Prospector, Dyna Soar [tail], Cape Kennedy Set [in box], Zero-X, Probe Force 1 [elevated]

Scoop 2014

Same table at the end, from LtoR:

The blue Nuclear Ferry [kindly on loan from Salim], Probe Force 2

Scoop 2014

This table is of North American Tarheel SWORD and various knockoffs and is by no means exhaustive.

Back Row From LtoR:

Tarheel Probe Force 2, Tarheel Moon Prospector, Tai Hing/ T in a Circle Moon Prospector, CHIBI Moon Prospector [Argentina]

Scoop 2014

Front row, LtoR:

Tarheel Probe Force 1, white SL Task Force 3, Tarheel Probe Force 3, Behind: yellow Tarheel Task Force 2 and a carded red Tarheel Task Force 1 [custom card], Redacted 'Tarheel' Moon Ranger  for the Italian market], Hover Probe Force 1, Hover Probe Force 3, NaSa Probe Force 3, SL Task Force 3 box and Hover Booster Rocket.

My Japanese SWORD toys and kits - again not exhaustive. There are many more out there:

From top to bottom:

Maruman Probe Force No.1 'SB' model kit

YT Spacebird No.3 green canopy,

YT Spacebird No.3 red canopy [in bag]

Imai Thunderbird 7 model kit [aka the Beetle]

Hope you liked my collection.

Now onwards and upwards ....

PROJECT SWORD: THE DEBUT SOLO STRIP NARRATED BY WOODSY

Project SWORD began today 57 years ago!

It began its life as a comic strip in SOLO comics in 1967.

Over Half a century!

Most of the toys were introduced to us kids in issue 19 of SOLO.

Those toys and SOLO comics are still around today for us to enjoy again, which is quite amazing really.

To celebrate today here's the first Project SWORD strip narrated by ..... yours truly! Don't laugh!

Do you remember this strip?

SOLO ISSUE 19: THE BIRTH OF PROJECT SWORD, JUNE 24th 1967

 

This post was first posted in 2010:

Earlier this month I asked if any readers were prepared to share their SOLO #19 (cover above but PS isn't mentioned!) PROJECT SWORD comic strip, the VERY FIRST, with fellow bloggers. I have previously posted the toy ID charts courtesy of the Philosophic Toad but not the actual story. 

I'm pleased to say that blog reader John Croot has come to the rescue and sent in scans of the very beginning of PROJECT SWORD, it's origin in 3 short b/w pages, dated June 24th 1967. What a great year and summer that was, the same year that the Beatles released their Sgt. Peppers album! Big Thanks again to John for sharing. Enjoy!

There are many things that I find fascinating about this initial SWORD story. The Earth Base is in Australia ( is it explained why later on?) and we see Moon Base in a very similar picture to the one in the Official Manual - they were obviously planning the toy from the off but what happened to it? The Booster Rocket is called the ATOMIC BOOSTER (not to be confused with Atomic Rooster!) and it's front jet the DEEP SPACE PROBE sent off on a mission to Pluto. In fact the whole tone is Star Trekkish, to boldly go... and no mention of the mining element brought in later stories. 

I talked about the military might of the PROBE FORCE craft earlier this month and lo and behold, they are the 'protectors' of the fleet from the start, something which I never really grasped when I had them as a kid as toys. And Re-Entry Crafts 1 and 3 are personal spaceships - Company cars! - of the SWORD commanders, Sabre and Rapier (Swords, get it! Is there a Foil and Cutlass?)

I love how page 2 gives us some scale - the Nuclear Ferry and Booster are HUGE and the Probes are tiny! And just what is the 'scabbard'? Finally and discussed previously on the blog, the ID chart is hugely interesting - the Booster Rocket toy's fuel tanks look white ( the C21 toy's are blue) and the Re-entry craft look like mock-ups and not actual toys (had they not manufactured them yet?). 

Only the Probe Force Flights look like the real deal although the black stripe on the PF3 is a bit odd. There is no mention of these vehicles being available as toys in this story. Is there anywhere else in issue #19 or does that happen in a later issue? I wonder when in 1967 the very first toys were in the shops - an area to boldly go into I think. Well I've enjoyed reading this first SWORD story immensely. Thanks again John! Well, I have to ask, has anyone got the next 'exciting episode'?

For further in-depth reading about this issue and all the SWORD comic strips in SOLO and TV21 then go to the definitive website, the Gerry Anderson Complete Comics History by Shaqui Le Vesconte and Kim Stevens [Note; 2024 - now sadly defunct but readable in part on the Wayback Machine].

ITS PROJECT SWORD DAY!

ITS  PROJECT SWORD DAY!

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Today in 1967 SOLO Comic published the very first Project SWORD comic strip ever, nearly a whole year before TV21.

Join us today and celebrate with a look at Project SWORD and a few surprises thrown in!

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CENTURY 21 ZERO X- S,W.O.R.D. BY DEFAULT

 A few simple snaps of the Century 21 Zero X toy, seen several times on the blog, that managed to find itself part of the S.W.O.R.D. fleet. 

The box doesn't mention Project SWORD at all, and to be fair hardly mentions the film Thunderbirds are Go.

The toy does get a mention at the end of the accompanying  SWORD manual, and there's a SWORD badge, generally speaking a 'Supremo', but also, I've found on some occasions an Astronaut Badge is included instead. 

There also mention of Zero X in a couple of the TV21 Project SWORD text stories, and a  reprinted cut-away in the SWORD annual, reproduced in colour from the 1967 TV21 Spring Extra Thunderbirds Special. 

PROJECT SWORD DAY ON THE HORIZON

 As a prelude to Woodsy's Project Sword day, which takes place tomorrow, here's a few photos of my Task Force set.