Action Man Polar Explorer Done!

 My home made Action Man Polar Explorer is finished and already on the plastic glacier!

See what you think.

The sled accessories:

Rear wheel; tiny view master

Lamp: a real little one

Map case and map: a rubber tube and a bit of newspaper

Chest; existing Playmobil toy

Sextant: home made from an old plastic bike

Rope: wool

Clock: my Missus' Grandma's watch from the 1940's.

Medallion: tiny antique cufflinks

Sled: existing Playmobil sledge with home-added handles and side-bars.

There's are loads more extras for this outfit like snow shoes and even a tent but I had to stop!

Action Man Polar Explorer: Percy Sledge

 My polar sledge is done. Not a replica, more an impression.

To the ice!

Next up, the man himself.

THE WHITE WITCH PROTOTYPE

 Years ago I found this book at a boot sale, The White Witch, a Droid Adventure.

The White Witch is the ship.

Only this year did I discover that the White Witch was prototyped as a toy by Kenner!

Here's a closer shot I saw online of Kim Simmons, the famous professional photographer from Kenner.

Its a gorgeous thing! and so rare!

Anyone ever seen it?

Action Man Polar Explorer: Setting Off

Now the Grandkids have gone home I've started my next home made Action Man outfit, the Polar Explorer.

I recently picked up some original Palitoy polar boots, which was sort of the spark. Bill gave me a KO white rifle and a small ski, also sparks.

So I broke the ice and got stuck in, first staining and old doll smock orange. I prefer the orange mountaineer colour to the red explorer.

I then stained some Modern white Hasbro slacks blue.

I borrowed the Missus' old nifty hole puncher for ski stick guards.

And inserted them on double pen cartridges.

This Hasbro mask was cut down to make the explorer ......

Visor

And finally, for tonight, I rescued this Playmobil sledge from my scraps box, a no brainier.

Till tomorrow.

Yorkshire, We Don't have a Problem

 After offloading all my Action Man odds and sods onto Woodsy, to accommodate his latest obsession, he very kindly returned the favour with this gorgeous Showa era japanese candy premium. Thanks to the wonders of Google, the larger text reads 'Space Exploration Apollo Programme' and the model is a small representation of the Saturn V on a small gantry.

As you can see from the back of the box, the model fits together in a puzzle fashion, with pieces interlocking on the gantry and rocket and held in place by twisting a central column, which locks it into place. its made from hard solid plastic pieces and the box even features some cool period graphics on the inside too.

It straight away put me in mind of the 1970's Kellogg's Sugar Smacks cereal promotion for 'Space Age' models.

R & L of Australia made these tiny kits, which also featured a launch pad with an Atlas rocket and tiny Mercury capsule. The European release consisted of six models, whereas the international series also included an Astronaut figure and a radio telescope. 

The diminutive size of the models means they are hard to find intact, but they occasionally appear still mint in packet. My favourites were always the Rocket Transporter and the Rocket Car (which we will recognise as the Molab from Spacex).

The Space Station is clearly based on an original NASA design from the early sixties and the series includes a small stylised LEM and Apollo Command Module, which can dock neatly together. Both the LEM and Apollo have tiny crew members behind opening hatches too. 

The LEM is tiny and especially delicate, due to its frail legs, here it is next to a small Hot Wheels Action Set Lunar Module from 1998.

Job Centre 2050

 A friend, Reka, is a future consultant to business. 

She published a card game of future jobs.l, Future Journey 

Here are a few.

What do you think?