And Then There Were Three

It's been another summer of SWORD at Moonbase. I've continued to plug the gaps in my collection and one major step forward for me was a boxed Tarheel Probe Force 3 to complete the trio. Apart from Probe Force 1, which appear to be the least scarce of all the Tarheels, acquiring other Tarheel SWORD has been a very slow process indeed [far harder than Century 21] and the PF3 has been no different. Having discovered it and it's stablemate Probe Force 2 for myself, in the mid-1990's, I have been looking for them ever since. After a wait of more or less 16 years Ebay US came up trumps this June. I was and am thrilled as it completes my collection of the three boxed US Probe Forces. That just leaves the Space Glider and the Moon Ranger now and on current form I should have them both around 2027!

As regards Tarheel's Probe Force 3 the box speaks for itself and features the same fab swirly galaxy box art. A couple of things to point out: 1. the Tarheel logo on the box is the standard T with the small red globe biult in [does it also exist with the T with kids logo as happens with the Space Glider and Moon Prospector?] and 2. there is no maker's mark at all on the toy itself apart from the phrase 'Made in Hong Kong'. I would be pleased to hear about any variations.

If you own a Tarheel Probe Force 3 or indeed any Tarheel SWORD I would be interested to hear how difficult [or not as the case maybe] it was to track them down.

Then suddenly out of the golden haze of the sunset came the vibration of guns, and a form of black shadows moving. Everyone struggled to the rail of the steamer and peered into the blinding furnace of the west, but nothing was to be distinguished clearly. A mass of smoke rose slanting and barred the face of the sun. The steamboat throbbed on its way through an interminable suspense.

The sun sank into grey clouds, the sky flushed and darkened, the evening star trembled into sight. It was deep twilight when the captain cried out and pointed. My brother strained his eyes. Something rushed up into the sky out of the greyness--rushed slantingly upward and very swiftly into the luminous clearness above the clouds in the western sky; something flat and broad, and very large, that swept round in a vast curve, grew smaller, sank slowly, and vanished again into the grey mystery of the night. And as it flew it rained down darkness upon the land.

American Dyna

More beautiful Dyna Soar art from vintage clippings and pages seen on Etsy.

Valigursky Ship 1

Illustration by the late great Edward Valigursky. Could be from the pulp story 'Barbarians of Space'. Unsure.

Ed Valigursky was a prolific pulp novel and magazine artist, together with being a respected illustrator of technical books and magazines. Besides his classic Man and Space paintings, most likely pointing to future SWORD and SPACEX toys, there are countless spaceships gracing his covers, many of which are very SWORDesque. I hope to feature more of them from time to time.

Reader Nyrath kindly pointed out this clearer version of the same picture shown above. From a Russian site. We can see now it's called the Empress of Mars.

Suction Crew

In my ongoing search for replacement LP astronauts [HO, gun-metal grey] and aliens for my Apollo Moon Exploration set I came across a great set of rubber suction versions in a shop called Tharp Sajik on Etsy, a really well laid out online marketplace for small craft objects. I was aware that the robot version of our friend WOTAN and his sidekicks appeared in rubber suction form but not that LP astronauts did too so I was very pleasantly surprised. The five aliens and four astronaut colours and poses are shown here [do any others exist?].

Therp Sajik, the shop owner, described how the little fellows were found, which I found really fascinating. Here's the item description in full: "Just made a deal with an old closed gum machine company here in Columbus. The owners found ME on the internet and contacted me to make me a deal I could not refuse. This is a toy originally placed in the display cards for the front of gum machines.

They all seem to have some paint on them to show details or for some weird unknown reason. If the paint is going to disappoint you, then maybe not a good item for you. There are four designs of the astronauts. You are buying ONE design of a random color. Buy more than one design and I start trying to mix colors for you. Here are the four designs and their measurements:1 HOLDING RIFLE 64mm x 20mm, 2 CANISTER ON SHOULDER 70mm x 20mm, 3 BOX PROBE 70mm x 20mm, 4 LEFT HAND UP 70mm x 20mm."

Set to Fade

Having just returned from the former GDR I am brimming with whispered impressions of an almost-faded Soviet past. I found this painting on Dark Roasted Blend which sort of depicts the sense I have that the once-lofty ideals of the GDR 'Plan' can now only be found in hidden corners, fleamarkets and crumbling tower blocks before slowly dissolving into distant memory.

The painting by the way, 'Space Workers', is by Russian artist Gennady Golobokov from 1973. His whispy style reminds me of a teenage favourite of mine, Jeffrey Jones, whose beautiful work graced the pages of the 1970's art tome 'The Studio' [similar to Roger Dean's book Views], where he was joined by Bernie Wrightson and MW Kaluta. You can see Jones's style on his own website.

"Is that glass bulletproof ?"

"SHOOT!"

DIE........!

"WE CALL IT THE FREAKSHOW"

Theres a no-prize for guessing the film! More holes than swiss cheese and more gung ho machismo than a lorryload of Brut aftershave. Spawned some of the most unposeable 'action figures' ever made..

MEVOLUTION

Some time ago we saw how Ed Valigurskys art influenced the design on the Tri-ang Spacex MEV 2 vehicle. Possibly one of the best of the series of small plastic toys produced in the late sixties.Paul Vreede pointed out how the design for the flexible wheel had been developed by NASA and various engineering companies to overcome the strange conditions which may have been found on the lunar surface.

The original toy appeared in the Spacex and Golden Astronaut toy lines and as it was such a distinctive shape, was probably difficult to copy and manufacture. Roxy/Clifford Moon Traffic lifted the design almost wholesale and modified the body slightly, adding a small nozzle under the grab arm too. One thing which always perplexed me as a kid was the direction of travel. The MEV2 has one of the tiniest silver figures inside the small dome, the figure being about half the size of a grain of rice. I automatically assumed that it would move with the grab at the front, but Valiguskys painting shows the astronaut facing the direction of travel.

SPACEX MOON EXPLORATION VEHICLE

GOLDEN ASTRONAUT PROSPECTOR

ROXY/CLIFFORD M5

Next up came the Futuristic Space Vehicles, a blatant attempt to copy a number of spacex toys which all came in gaudy vacuum plated paintwork and really shoddy plastic. Possibly the weakest attempt to cash in on the spacex line.

 

Until recently, I had assumed that this was the sum total of the MEVs appearances until a chance encounter by Mr Woods turned up yet another incarnation of the familiar shape on Ebay...A nail biting session on ebay US secured me a rare European toy, the Sitap Mini Space Moon Buggy. A completely new discovery, the small vehicle came in an open card display box with a hard plastic dome over the toy and two small figures.

SITAP MINI SPACE MEV AND FRIENDS

SITAP MINI SPACE PACKAGE

 Tacked to the inside of the card base by a strip of foam are what at first glance seem to be our old friends the Golden Astronauts. The figures had suffered the rigours of time and lost a limb and don't have any makers mark, but the similarity is strong.

SPACEX FIGURES (LEFT)  SITAP FIGURES (RIGHT)

On the back of the pack is an illustration of other toys in the line. One of which, the space ship appears to be a lift from the Spacex Nuclear Freighter as well. The other two vehicles, the Moon Car and Moon Bus seem to share a common body with the 'freighter' and one even has my favourite multi dish radar! I havent managed to find any pictures of these two remaining toys yet.

SITAP SPACESHIP

I've not managed to add this model to my collection yet, but running alongside the Sitap MEV was the Moon Turtle, which I also managed to win.

SITAP MOON TURTLE

MEV ARTICULATION AND OPEN CAB

 Both toys are amazingly delicate and made from a combination of hard and vinyl like plastics. The MEV is articulated at the centre, has a moveable arm and removeable dome with seat and control panel which once more indicates the the front of the vehicle is the cab and the arm sits at the rear.

MOON BUGGY (LEFT) MOON SAUCER (CENTRE)

The strange Moon Turtle seems to be an offspring of the Spacex Moon Buggy and the Apollo Moon Exploring 'saucer buggy'. The dome lifts up to deploy a folding ladder. The big cup shaped wheels are almost identical in shape and design to the Moon Buggy.

ALL ABOARD THE SPACIOUS INTERIOR

SITAP MEV AND PILOT

Possibly the oddest thing about the toys is the solid plastic dome that covers each toy, presumably intended either as a protective cover or a play item, it makes the packaging very distinctive,