The Corgi Dick Dastardly Racing Car

The Corgi Dick Dastardly car recently came up, so I thought it was time for a quick look. It was part of a series devoted to film and TV related models, some of which had Corgi Comics on the boxes.

A few were original models, such as The Beatles Yellow Submarine; while others were based on an existing Corgi toy, with a few changes, and the addition of a plastic character figure. This allowed a 'new' model to be produced very cheaply, using a retired die-cast, as the only new items needed were some plastic figures.

This is usually described as a Wacky Races model, but I am not so sure. Wacky Races originally aired in the US 1968-69, while the spin-off show Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines was on 1969-71.

Both Dick Dastardly and his sidekick Muttley the Dog are wearing WW1 style leather flying helmets and goggles, so I think they are actually from the latter show. But driving a racing car.

The Corgi Comics 809 Dick Dastardly Racing Car was released in July 1973, and was available 1973-74. According to The Great Book of Corgi, 117,000 were sold.

Now we come to something odd. The Great Book of Corgi says 'This car was originally designed for the Qualitoy's range which had long been discontinued'.

The Qualitoys line was introduced in 1969, as a range of simple, sturdy models aimed at younger children. The models were all trucks, and shared a large number of components, which kept costs down.

There were no cars in the range, and I can not find any other Corgi models that look anything like the Dick Dastardly car. So was the Racing Car intended to be part of an expanded Qualitoys range, that was never actually produced ?

I have no idea, but looking at the Dick Dastardly car, it seems to be a dragster or dirt track racer which has been modified to turn it in to a Character Car. Everything which follows is pure speculation on my part, with no evidence at all to support it.

Having the rear-mounted engine enclosed within a cage seems very unusual – was this originally intended for the driver ? The large, plastic Dick Dastardly figure then going where the engine might have originally gone ?

Muttley the Dog is clinging to the top of the vehicle, and looking very unhappy (I would be too). This figure often seems to be missing from models being offered on-line.

The underside of the model says Corgi Comics, Dick Dastardly Racer (although the box says Dick Dastardly Racing Car), and Made in Gt. Britain. 

The model came in the usual 1970s Corgi window box.

Four photographs from Worthpoint

Paul Adams from New Zealand

I've Got it Taped

 I've been in the attic this afternoon now it's warm up there.

It's been years since I looked at my old VHS video collection, so I got them out of their crates and had a look, cleaned them up and formed a plan to put them on shelving. I guess I have around a hundred. 

Mostly 1980's big box VHS, there are some clamshells too, along with a group of slipcases. Quite a few are pre-certification. There are a very small number of Betamax. I'm only half way through getting them out.

Do you have any old videos?

Remember these?

Rob's Amazing Model Moguras

Woodsy,

In response to your recent "Driller Thriller" post, here are pix of two Midori Moguras models I have built. 

The smaller, yellow one is Moguras Jr., and the larger, orange one is King Moguras, the cousin of the toy version you've shown. 

There is also a larger model, called "Big Moguras," which I have never run across.

Rob C

USA

There's a Mole in Ed's Yard

Woodsy,

Here's my lone mole from Lincoln Intl. It's a nice little beast and goes well with many of my other smaller sized space toys.

Have you anything like this?

Ed

From Vegas Base

Combat Picture Annual 1962

 

I picked up a non-jacketed hardback copy of this interesting book tother week, in a garden centre of all places (South Milford), which often seem to have a few second hand bits and bobs in a corner these days (do you visit garden centres?)

It's an unusual book, at least to me, as it's a novel sized hardback full of black and white army comic strips dated 1962. I assume it's a digest of comics or?

This example I saw online and had it's dust jacket is rather smart indeed.

The strips include (courtesy of LetsGoCommando)

* 

Addendum:

You can read much much more about this book online by an enthusiast, nothingbutafan.

https://nothingbutafan.wordpress.com/2016/06/20/another-pleasant-valley-sunday/

Speaking of Batmobiles .....

Have you guys ever seen this one?

A pink 1966 Batmobile! 

Ed

Batcave Vegas

The Secret's Out: My Custom Topper Secret Sam Rifle and Attaché Case

 As a young agent I adored my Secret Sam attache case by Topper.

The black plastic case contained all the parts to make the secret rifle, together with a high scope, a message missile and camera.

The camera and toy bullet-firing pistol could be operated even when the case was shut! 

The camera actually took real pictures! 

One of the best toys I ever had, the rifle put together was a thing of beauty.

Here's the 1960s black and white TV ad.

https://youtu.be/5DkYTRYB6tU?feature=shared

After having so much fun on the Golden Sniper, I thought I'd have a crack at Secret Sam. 

I bought a suitable toy rifle on eBay for a tenner.

And I dropped on with this old Delsey briefcase for just £2 on eBay.

So, after a good few hours tinkering, sawing, glueing and painting, I came up with this:

The spirit of Secret Sam: scope, orange bits, chrome discs: I tried to get them all in. 

A car booter gave me two black plastic pipes earlier in the week and I just had to use them as a massive silencer. I know it's outside the 'scope' of Secret Sam, but hey, it's junior espionage! 

You can see the DIY orange message missile below the barrel.

I was going to saw off the stock to replicate Topper's detachable one, but it would have meant cutting through good battery wiring in the rifle, which powers some amazing light and sound effects, so I opted to leave it as is.

Besides, the rifle was a fit for the case, albeit very snug.

For the sake of completeness I made a white case tray and a small Sam pistol and added some toy bullets and an instamatic camera courtesy of my late Father in Law.

Oh, and that DIY message missile, which I forgot to put in.

Hope you like it.

Case closed!

W.A.S.P. HELICOPTER AS SEEN IN STINGRAY

 Some photos of my W.A.S.P. Helicopter model.

While I've done several models of the W.A.S.P. Arrowhead fighter, and the Spearhead Bomber, I've  overlooked the W.A.S.P. .Helicopter, which I planned to do for a while to complete my W.A.S.P. Airforce.

I modified an Italaerei 1: 32 scale Kaman H-43B ‘Huskie’ plastic kit, which is pretty much identical to the kit used in the Stingray TV series.

The model makes a couple of notable appearances in the series,( Pink Ice, Titan Goes Pop) being used as a V.I.P. transport to and from Marineville Airfield.

The model doesn’t veer too far from the look of the actual H-43B ‘Huskie’ , although the distinctive twin intermeshing rotor blades which make a tail rotor superfluous has been modified to just a single blade for practical reasons to accommodate a central support wire. There is also the addition of an extended tail fin, which was used to fix the rear support wire.

Although we don’t see the inside the control cabin, or the pilots, we do see one of the crew escorting Comr. Shore off the helicopter. He is dressed in a Marineville security guard uniform minus his helmet. With that in mind I decided to paint my pilots in the same uniform colours. As the kit doesn’t come with pilots, I used a couple of Britains 1: 32 scale tractor drivers.

I added some detailing in the rear cargo hold, two bench seats and a control panel.

The W.A.S.P. Helicopter as seen in the Stingray series.

The ‘Huskie’ kit also makes makes the odd appearance in Thunderbirds. In the episode, ‘Brink of Disaster’, a Pacific-Atlantic Monorail helijet checking the monorail track is hit by lightning and crashes into a bridge causing part of the track to collaspe – cue International Rescue.

The H-43B ‘Huskie’ first flew in April, 1953, and was designed for aircraft firefighting and search and rescue. It saw action during the Vietnam War, and was retired from military service during the early 1970’s.

Some info on the 'Huskie'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaman_HH-43_Huskie