HOVER GOOD FLIGHT!

 

For Hover fans, this their cool BA Boeing 747 with transparent roof.

Have you anything like this?

CHRISTMAS TELLY: BAH HUMBUG!

Despite purchasing a Radio Times I've yet to catch-up on Christmas spooks on the wireless, which I'll do in January when everything's calmed down.

I have though been watching TV and keeping an eye on the mainstream scheduling. I have to say its been a bit disappointing so far.

For me and possibly I'm mistaken, the yardstick for top class UK TV listings between Xmas and New Year is a screening of Jason and the Argonauts or at least one of the Harryhausen monster epics.

Nada.

Nichts.

Yes, there's been Alistair Sim's Christmas Carol, Bill Murray's Scrooged and the classic Its a Wonderful Life to jingle our nostalgic bells .... but C'mon!

The high point for the Grandson was the new Aardman Wallace and Gromet movie shown on Christmas Day. Alas, I was close to the soft glow of the Christmas tree on a corner sofa and fell asleep!

I still love 'normal' telly here in Blighty - the Beeb, ITV and the like - but I cant help thinking the glory days of Christmas are over for them. 

The glut of cheapo Freeview channels churning out the same stuff they do every day, endless re-runs of Man V. Food, Wives with Knives etc etc - no change for Christmas! - doesn't lift the festive doldrums on the small screen either.

The exceptions are of course those UK freeview channels - Rewind, TalkingPicturesTV - that cater for aging boomer babies like us showing the delights of the Sixties and Seventies like Thriller, Space Patrol, Department S, Stingray and more.

Maybe all of this is academic in the days of streaming, Smart TV's, Sky, Netflix, Prime, Disney+, You Tube and millions of online videos. It must be a worry for 'normal TV' bosses.

Young people probably don't even watch the Beeb, ITV or any of those old dinosaurs. Not just the young either, a not-so-young friend of ours only watches You Tube videos for her entertainment. Nothing else. My 80 year old Sister is transfixed by TikTok, so what do I know!

I wonder what will be left of terrestrial telly in ten years when I'm 74?

What did you watch this holiday readers in your neck of the world? Is online TV taking over? Was Christmas represented on your telly schedules?

HO HO HO REPAIR SHOP BY ROB

Not sure if this is too far off-topic for the blog, but I wanted to share this latest model with you. It’s an HO scale repair shed from Pola of Western Germany, circa 1965, and I think it came out pretty nice. I even tried a little light weathering on it. A nostalgic kit from my childhood, redone!

Rob C

CT

USA

PAUL MADE THE COVER!

I just got an update from Diecast Collector Magazine – the cover and contents of the February 2025 issue (I know, it is still 2024, but magazine publication is weird).

I have two articles in this issue – two pages on Star Car Monster Trucks, and one on the Wonder Woman Invisible Jet. Plus I made the cover. So I am a very happy owl!

Paul

Auckland

NZ

Hold the Line

 I had one if these as a kid I reckon. A toy payphone.

We had lodgers at our home in the Sixties. They worked for the GPO or GTO, not sure which. Telephones in Preston. One of them, Ray, got me one of these I'm sure.

Did you have a toy phone?

Xmas Surprises

A snapshot of some of my xmas gifts, excluding the drinkable and edible portions! I'm sure you won't want to see hand or foot cream, aftershave and the other necessities of daily life, so here is most of the fun stuff.

Star Wars is always on my xmas list, so it's 'Battles that Changed the Galaxy' and a cool Bestiary. Then a lovely Taschen edition of the Stanley Kubrick Archives, with excellent coverage of 2001 and a Clockwork Orange, two of my favourite films. Woodsy kindly showered me with gifts as usual, including our collaborative book and some vintage space books from Germany. These alongside a super rare mini jigsaw with the John Schoenberr Moon Crawler on! As always Hot Wheels put in a good show and a fabulous transformer like Crab toy.

A special gift from the ever generous Arto arrived early, in the form of a super delicate R&L cereal premium in the shape of a German Albatross biplane!

To top it all off, I also got some camera rig bits, a new runic necklace and some cool fake book storage boxes. It's been a lovely xmas all round and I am extremely lucky. I will show some of the highlights later next year on the blog, just need to recalibrate the man-cave to fit it all in!

Also treated myself to a couple of late action figure purchases, which I hope haven't got lost in the xmas rush!

Best wishes for a great 2025 everyone, from Marsbase Central!  Bill

 

THE 1978 STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL

 

It just wouldn't be Christmas without one showing of the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special!

Festive Wookie family fun and the first appearance of Boba Fett. There's cosmic prog rock and it even has Princess Leia singing Jedi carols! 

You know you want to watch it! I don't even think this is on Disney +! One and a half hours of vintage first trilogy Star Wars!

[viewers at the time on November 17th 1978 were expecting The Incredible Hulk on CBS but they got this instead!]

Enjoy and tell us what you think!

[this YouTube rendition by DJameyson]

POOLS VERNE: NEMO'S RC NAUTILUS

Wow! This RC Nautilus model by Essential RC really does submerge! Check out this clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB1cPRzpLsk

What do you think?