Birthday Rover: Holiday Haul

Another find in the Cyprus toy store was this pair of Matchbox copies, presumably made specifically for the Jumbo store. There were four in all, including a small Shuttle and a NASA patrol jeep. Ive not been able to find the official version of the moon rover here, but I do have a rocket transporter version if the crawler.

Both are nicely detailed and well made, more biased towards plastic parts than is usual for Matchbox, with plastic bases rather than die cast.

The rover is quite light and has a nice open cab, which could potentially offer room gor customisation.

The crawler has an elevating radar scanner and english decals.

Blog Birthday Party Favour: JR21 Dart Pistol Update!

 Since first being made aware of the JR21. Dart Pistol with Periscope by a reader 16 years ago I've loved it. In fact it was a prize here for the blog's first birthday back in 2009!

 I don't own one but covet it's simple obscurity from afar. Yep, I'm a sucker for it!

As such I've updated sightings of it and it's clones/ forebears here on MC a number of times.

Well, in birthday fashion, here's another, an absolute dead ringer. 

The SA 17 Dart Pistol with Periscope.

It's all there, the gun, the target, the Sean Connery lookalike graphic. Just JR21 missing! 

Here it is in its auction bundle seen earlier this year.

Is it a clone or the original?

A final observation is the resemblance of the famous Japanese Sekiden toy pistol, a toy I adored as a kid. Me and bigger brothers had running battles with these things, the compressed powder balls flying everywhere. Daft really but that was the time. Did you have one?

Have you any toy dart guns?

It's Our 17th Birthday!

 

Birthday Bagpuss: Kevin's Scratchbuilt Mouse Organ and Gabriel

May I present, The Marvellous, Mechanical, Mouse Organ!

And there's more!

I made another Bagpuss model, Gabriel, the banjo playing, singing toad.

How did we survive?

Kevin

UK

For completism, here is my scratchbuild of Professor Yaffle, Made years ago.

Fiddlesticks and flapdoodle,

Kevin

My Rrrumblers Movie

 My Rrrumblers all revved up and coming to the birthday party!

AHI SUPER ROCKET PLANE MOVIE

 Azrak-Hamway's American moonship in orbit. Whoosh!

BRING SOMETHING BACK

This years holiday in Cyprus was mostly taken up with wedding preparations, but there was still time for a little fun. In one of the big department stores was a huge range of pool toys, such as inflatables, boats and diving aids. 

One such toy was a set of four weighted rockets or torpedoes, which were designed to be thrown in the pool and then retrieved. At only €2, I snapped up a set, not that I would be diving in the deep end to fetch them, but as they were perfect fodder for modelling! 

So after a few dips in the pool by the grandkids, I collected them from the poolside on the last day and popped them in my case to bring home to Blighty. The black and army green ones were very reminiscent of the German V2 rocket, so that informed my idea of what to do with them. 

A good spray of black primer and a little silver dry brushing hid the decals and soon had one of the torpedoes looking nicely rocket like.

Shortly after, I decided to take my spare Airfix Gun Emplacement parts and make a rocket test base. I had already made a start on the base earlier in the year, so I added a gantry and a couple of covers on the trenches, to make it look more like a bunker. 

As I was looking for some figures to put on it, I came across a 00/HO man in a business suit and another figure in pinstripes and a bowler - immediately, I was put in mind of Bernard Quatermass and the ‘man from the ministry’!

So the rocket became Q1, Quatermass original test from the rocket group and the bunker became a British Rocket Group Secret Base, somewhere out on the moors.

Some Corgi garage staff were drafted in as maintenance technicians to ready the launch.

I recalled the Matchbox Volkswagen Camper that Quatermass arrives in at the start of the Quatermass Xperiment with the radio set in the back in lieu of the engine! “Q1, Q1 Caroon, Green, Rechenheim - can you here us, over?”

 

The Airfix Gun Emplacement set as it should be and the 1/72 scale wooden version my dad built for me in the early Seventies.