Dinky's Lady Penelope's Fab 1

To compliment my previous Thunderbird 2 post, here is Dinky’s first Gerry Anderson series inspired die cast, Lady Penelope’s Fab l.

These were produced between 1966 to 1977 and like the Thunderbird 2, was a very popular model.

 

My version, one of the later ones was produced from 1973. By then Dinky had dropped the box and card display stand in favour of the card plinth and clear acetate cover.

 

A fairly accurate and attractive model, its features were a front firing missile, four harpoon type missiles at the back, and a sliding canopy.

The figures of Lady P and Parker were pretty good too considering they’re around 1/43 scale.

Elegance, Charm and Deadly Danger.

DURHAM: Princes Amongst Space Toys

Durham Space Glider

courtesy of Arto

Durham Nova II

Ebay 2011

Durham Nova III

Ebay 2012

 

 

These vintage spaceships made by Durham of the USA are as beautiful as they are rare. Durham and Tarheel were synonymous toy brands and virtually interchangeable with the same toys being produced by both companies. This is the case with the NOVA series of three rockets and the Project SWORD Space Glider, although the much rarer Durham version, owned by are very own Arto, is lime green as opposed to Tarheel's grey.

 

 

The interchangeability of Tarheel and the rarer Durham versions of toys leads me to some intriguing questions - does anyone know the answers?

 

 

1. Is there a lime green Tarheel Space Glider?

2. What does the Durham Space Glider box look like?

3. Are there more Durham SWORD vehicles as there are by Tarheel?

4. Is there a pink Durham Nova 1 like the Tarheel version pictured below?

 

Dinky Thunderbird 2 & 4

To get me, and anyone else who's going to RAF Cosford at the weekend, in the mood for Thunderbirds I thought I'd revisit an old favourite of mine.

 

The Dinky Thunderbird 2 is a must for any Anderson fan. It was released with the model number 101 in 1967 and continued more or less in this form until 1973.

The July 1967 edition of the Meccano Magazine carried a feature on the newly released Thunderbird 2  die cast with it's little plastic passenger, Thunderbird 4.

The back page had an advert for both  Thunderbird 2 and the Fab 1  models.

This is my Dinky Thunderbird 2 which I’ve had since the early seventies. I'm amazed it's lasted this long, more or less intact.

 

I always liked the way Dinky and Corgi provided a nice display backing for some of it's models.

 

 

The little legs are in scale but they struggle to keep the aircraft up. When Dinky gave the Thunderbird model (106) a facelift in 1974 the legs were made a bit thicker.

 

Thunderbirds are Go!

 

 

 

 

 

　

　

　

　

　

Hats Off To Peter Pan and All His Glorious Games

 

If space toys were the turkey at Christmas then games were the cranberry sauce. I loved them as a kid as did my four older brothers and sisters and I collect them now simply as beautiful things. Games by Parker Brothers, Milton Bradley, Ideal and Waddingtons were all staples of Sixties' Christmases and provided baby-boomer families like ours with hours of wholesome fun around the living room table where Dads wore tank-tops and kids slurped tupperware beakers of sarsaparilla.

 

 

These scenes of domestic mirth were often beautifully captured on the box art of games - like this Hats Off by Peter Pan Playthings. This was a updated version of Spears Flying Hats utilising the white-hot science of spring-loaded launchers sending the plastic hats whizzing through the air. There's something charming about the washed-out pastel colours of this box art and like the gleeful boy on the lid of the Century 21 Zero-X their faces shine with the optimism of the age.

 

 

What were your favourite games?

Flights of Fantasy

Glenn Field is a hive of activity as preparations are being made to Zero X and her crew as she prepares to make the trip to the Flights of Fantasy event at the Cosford RAF Museum at the weekend.

Anyone else attending this Anderfest?
http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/cosford/whats-going-on/events/cosford-flights-of-fantasy/

Iain McClumpha's Fantastic Bryce Thunderbird 1

 

Last week I blogged a fabulous piece of Zero-X art by CG artist Iain McClumpha. With Iain's kind permission here is another of his artworks appearing for the first time online. Iain explains:

 

 

"They are computer generated images, using 3D models.  I use software called Bryce which can produce a very airbrushed look to the artwork rather than photo-realistic. If you look at my site, on this particular page you will see most of the Anderson-based images I've done so far... this site needs updated really badly! It's the bottom half of the page: http://www.cosmicbento.com/aboutus.html 

I have also attached the best of my other Anderson images which I haven't put on my gallery as yet.

All the best

Iain"

Ron Turner On Speed

These are some more examples from my on going study of artist, Ron Turner.

The final ten issues of Speed comic each carried a full page reader request article dealing with famous names associated with various forms of speed. Starting with jet engine pioneer Sir Frank Whittle in issue dated 23rd August 1980, and ending in issue dated 25th October 1980 with Reginald Mitchell, the designer of the Spitfire.

Ron illustrated each one and I think they're worth mentioning as they're little different from his usual fantastic visions of the future.

Yuri Gagarin's, Vostok 1 has that familiar Turner look, as does the Fairey Delta jet.

But I'm not so sure about judo star Brian Jacks on a bike, or  El Cordobes  the bullfighter.  

 

 

Although, Ron's work in black & white is always excellent.

 

 

The above examples were on the inside covers so no colour tones.

 

These last three have a nice sense of movement. 

 

 

'Charlie Brown'

These are some photos I took of the Apollo 10 command module at the Science Museum which I though might be of interest.

Some of us have toys and models of similar things but there’s nothing like seeing the full size in - your - face real thing.

Although the hatch is removed and a clear Perspex cover separates the general public from the module’s cramped environment you can still see the controls and the joysticks.

 

 

The three astronauts would have spent eight days working, eating, sleeping, washing, shaving and doing all the natural things that us Earthbound spacemen do in this cramped world, with the odd scramble into the LEM. It takes a heck of a lot of guts to travel a quarter of a million miles in this tny spaceship and crack on it’s great being a astronaut. The Apollo 10 mission couldn’t even land on the Moon, so not even a chance for two of them to stretch their legs.

    

The original polished silver look of the spacecraft is darkened following it’s return through Earth’s atmosphere. You can see the heavy scorch marks on the heat shield.

             Here's a close up of the heat shield.

And if, by some stretch of the imagination I’d got a chance to travel to the moon and back in a capsule that’s smaller than the cupboard under my stairs!

Would I go?

In a heartbeat!