Boy with his Boat

 

This is yours truly with a toy boat. Not sure what it is. I seem to think it was blue.

Butlins, circa 1964 or 5.

Hex Bug Flight Deck

 Junior's on half term and setting up a Hex Bug zip line run.

The tower has Star Wars X-Wing Pilot colours! 

The zip line was then upgraded to a longer one with bugs able to carry loads! 

It so took me back to playing with my Air fix Flight Deck set in the Sixtie's. Now that was a toy! But did you upgrade yours readers? 

Here's a clip on You Tube I found of Super Flight Deck. Is that the original title? I thought it was simply Flight Deck.

https://youtu.be/V4vmsRIhn1E?feature=shared

A Tale of Two Mandarakes Part 2

Hello Moonbasers,

 I'm not sure if this exactly fits the MC mission statement, but it sure is purty to look at!

Manderake is a Fan Goods shop with an extensive range of vintage toys, manga, mooks (magazine/books) DVDS and other popular culture ephemera.

I found another of my Holy Grails there, a DVD of the original Toho movie, Gorath with the giant walrus scene intact!

Manderake Coo Coo is a different kettle of fish entirely. Although the layout is similar, the stock is almost exclusively soft vinyl (or Sofubi) figures for the serious collector. Some are genuine vintage pieces at extraordinary prices, but most are modern designs, again at top Yen!

The original pieces have a vibrant charm all of their own.

A nifty 1960s dinosaur at £100!

My first ever Japanese Robot, which my Dad bought for me as a souvenir from Japantown in San Francisco in 1976! I bet he didn't pay 50 quid for it!

Either an original 60's clothed Astroboy, or more likely a later reissue.

A Popy Godzilla, like my wife's Shogun Warriors version.

Modern X-ray Astros.

...and does anyone remember "Raidy and the Jipps"? One of the cheapest, nastiest knock off toys from the 80's? Now you can own one all over again for just £175!

" Tell 'em they're dreaming!"

So, as I board my personally reserved seat on the "Bullet Train Explosion" it's time to bid you farewell and, in the words of Woody Allen's Jimmy Bond, " Sayonara, suckers!"

Looey

Japan

Ed's Old Ashtray

Well Woodsy,

I found a decent enough photo of our old ashtray. The photo dates from Christmas of 1963 and I can see where my far-less-than perfect memory got several of the details wrong.

But there you have it anyway. You can just spot it standing to the left of our new, state of the art portable stereo unit.

The ashtray appears in a couple of photos from a few years earlier, but it's much harder discern in those pics.

From Vegas Base

Ed

Ed- couldn't help injecting a bit of colour back to your snap - old Polaroids tend to lose a lot of the blue/green pigment when exposed to light, so I took it into Photoshop and re-adjusted the colour! Voila its 1964 again!  Bill

Ed's Tiny Boat Fleet

Woodsy,

Lately I've been photographing my small fleet of tiny boats. Most of these little guys were the result of impulse buys, as they reminded me of the few I had as a kid. 

My memory isn't good enough to remember exactly which small boats I had, but I'm almost certain they were breakfast cereal premiums.

Have you any tiny boats?

From Vegas Shipyard

Ed

Bubble and Squeak

 Terranova47 sent me a link to a bubble bath auction. Mostly mice, there's also a 1990's SPV! Now empty, Spectrum is Clean! 

Have you any interesting toiletries like this readers? Soaps, bubble baths, talc?

Penn Plax DIY Skeleton

Waiting for the Grandkids to arrive I whipped up a home-style mock-off of the Penn Plax reclining Skeleton.

Making the paper-mache rock was fun!

The scallywag glows in the dark too.

A Tale of Two Mandarakes Part 1

One of my favourite stores that I have returned to each time I'm in Japan, is Manderake.

The store in Shibuya has remained unchanged over the years, apart from the stock!

Tobor the 8 Man, was a bit before my time, but I love this soft vinyl forced perspective figure with a Zero type Shinkansen!

Lots of 70's/ 80's period toys!

Some charming tin vehicles...

A large Astroboy hanging store display.

A 90's reissue of Tracy Island, £31 can you believe it?

Original Aurora POTA Cornelius £20!

A 1990's GI Joe for £7.50 and a 1/6 scale Dirty Harry for £35.

Joe is coming home with me as a background extra in my puppet film!

Next up is Manderake Coo Coo, the Collector's soft vinyl figure store in Akihabra! ........

Looey

Japan