Excerpts of Exeter

 Not much charity toy action in Exeter but here's a few things.

Whilst looking for Action Man knitting patterns, I saw this old cardi knitting pamphlet. What's that big toy plane?

This Airfix Bismarck caught my eye.

I got these three comics on the way down in Tewkesbury. A squid each.

And given my current run on the gee gees I couldn't resist another Sindy horse, this time a white one, along with a very snazzy squirrel.

Anything you like here?

SPACE ATTACK ATE MY THUNDERBIRD!

 When I saw this Space Attack thingy I thought, that monster's eaten Thunderbird 4!

I thought it was the Spanish Comansi TB4 that looks like this one.

These Toy Island Space Attack toys were "the best in electronic sound toys" at the time. I remember the figures being called Voice Raiders. They've featured a few times on MC.

Paul from New Zealand provided more pictures of the line. I think the TB4-like vehicle above in the mouth of the monster is the green one on the left. The exhausts must be movable, they appear retracted in the package here but extended in the monster's mouth.

Anyone got any of these vehicles?

ED'S HAULERS: Pyro Small Army Flatbed Truck w-Auto

Here's the last of my Army transporters,

Like the Banner transporter, this Pyro truck is quite small. 

Pyro made quite a nice series of small-sized Army vehicles that also included a couple of boats. Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, they never made an appropriately sized contingent of Little Green Army Men to go with them.

From Camp Vegas

Ed

USA

Horse Trials

 Just trialling my new horse with Ken the shoeless Mountie before I enter my Household Cavalry into full service, when he's fully made, in a couple of weeks.

Bill Ev's Thunderbirds Memories

Hi Woodsy

Reading through your Blog resulted in a cherished memory resurfacing!

When I was a kid, we didn't have much spare cash, and many things from the Gerry Anderson Universe were out of reach of my family pocket.

So one Christmas, I had to make a choice of either Thunderbird 5 or an International Rescue uniform. I chose TB5. But my Grandmother was a very talented and qualified Tailor (in those days women were called Dressmakers) - and surprised me Christmas 1966 with a perfect copy of the uniform, because I understood about the lack of money and had been such a good child.

My Gran (Kittie) had sourced pretty much the exact colour material of the IR uniform, and when it was finished, there was a small amount over, which she put aside for other odd projects.

In 1967/68 I went Zero X mad, and as I had an Action Man, I managed to convince my Gran to make a Zero X uniform for Action Man, as the material was the same colour as the Zero X uniform! - about a week later she produced this really faithful reproduction complete with Nehru Collar. It was designed to fit over one of the red jumpsuits so Action Man looked completely authentic, and ready to pilot Zero X.

Somewhere in the vast collection of photos from my childhood I do have a picture of the Zero X suit worn by my 12 inch high friend...

As regards my own IR uniform... I still have it, and its in pretty good nick, but a tad too small, so no cosplay for me!

FAB!

Bill Ev~

Comin' Right Up!

There's no point me denying it, I like McDonalds.

I've been eating their fries and burgers for decades. It was a go-to place to take our kid daughter growing up and the plastic Happy Meal toys were collected with gusto. She still has them somewhere. She's 40! 

OK, the plastic toys have gone, a sign of the times, and prices have gone up but the food remains the same.

Now me and the Missus are busy Grandparents, in Thackley and Shipley every week, two eateries have become important stops for quick tasty grub.

McDonalds for their breakfasts - who can resist a sausage and egg McMuffin - hash brown combo? We relish this after dropping the two Grandkids off at two different schools first thing. The coffee is top bean too 

The second is our Granddaughters favourite, which she calls Shipperleys. It's actually the market cafe beneath the famous clock tower in Shipley, where Lil Miss enjoys a small plate of beans on toast and a milky PG Tips! The friendly owner always gives her a KitKat as well, a nice gesture. We all enjoy going in between charity shopping round the town centre. To finish, Miss feeds the pigeons.

Do you like McDonalds or another food outlet or cafe readers?

TWISTERS with an S

Later this month a new disaster flick hits the cinemas, Twisters. 

You'll recognise the name from the Nineties guster, Twister. They've just added an S.

The old Twister starred the late great Bill Paxton, who is best known to Sci-fiers of our age as the jittery private Hudson in ALIENS. I remember clearly Bill chucking a shed load of small balls up into a tornado in Twister. I think they were trackers. I wonder if the new Twisters film has balls?

Twister was part of that Nineties disaster triple that defined the genre for the decade in my mind: the other two flicks being Dante's Peak and Deep Impact.

You could shove in Independence Day, Armageddon and Lake Placid as well, but they seem outliers to the main hat-trick of disasters.

All three had there peaks and cracks but I recall them all fondly. 

Memorable bits for me were: the balls of Twister, the pyroclastic cloud in Dantes Orak and probably the most memorable bit among many in Deep Impact for me was early on when the astronomer Dr.Wolf checks the kid Beiderman's floppy disc, says something like 'now were you going in such a hurry little fella?' and drops his slice of gooey pizza when he sees the end-point! I love that scene! Dunno why! 

Did you like Nineties disasters readers?

Devon Help Us

Anyone know of any decent old toy shops or flea markets in South Devon? Any good car boot sales? Is there a toy museum down that way?