AT THE VANGUARD

I mean Wow! This is vanguard heaven! Look at this bad boy from Japan! What do you think? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oov7GBNfr6A

Drivin' Saturday

Driven to a car boot this morning. Not a bad haul of Superfast for tidying up. Some old Hot Wheels and Yat Ming too. Not sure about the action figure. 

Any good?

Ant-Ecedent

While we are on the subject of Ant's and the model which never made it into the toy line, here are a couple of examples of custom attempts to bring the toy to life. The first one is a mock up box, made with artwork from the 'Wee Willie Winkie' strip in Ranger comic.

The illustrations were clearly based on the published photographs of the Grumman concept vehicle itself.

A long while back, while bemoaning the fact that no actual toy existed, I set about cobbling together a couple of models from plastic gumball capsules. The black and white version used one of the Kinder Maxi egg capsules, which are about 3" long, Capsela wheels and and a piece of capsela Spacelink for the rear module.

The second, earlier version is a gumball capsule, with Spacex MEV wheels and a Lego brick.

The closest we can actually get to a toy version is the little space rover in the Comansi Coman Boys Space Set. The wheels are a similar sprung suspension design and the body is a nice capsule like shape.

ANT-TASTIC: A MODEL OF THE ANT

There's a fine image on this Long Island Aerospace History page of a model of an ANT in 1962, a Grumman Lunar Landing Concept. A real life working prototype is also pictured from 1964.

The ANT made a one-off appearance in a strip in the 1968 Project SWORD Annual. Alas it never made it to the toy workshop.

Is it a vehicle you like?

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2018/02/long-island-aerospace-history-site-and.html

Hot Wheels Otto Redux

 Having found a standard purple Custom Otto some months back and then receiving a gold Target exclusive version recently, I was delighted to get another Target Exclusive in green, with racing decals.

The very generous Terranova, who is resident in New York, spotted this new iteration and very kindly sent it to me. US store exclusives are very difficult to find in England, as they only ever appear on the secondary market. However, not content to wow me with the slick green racing machine, he also included another surprise - a Worlds Smallest Custom Otto!

These tiny cars come in a large blister, inside a special classic style micro packet. The inside pack is hard plastic, with a small hatch in the back to pop the car in and out.

I was tempted to keep it pristine, but I was able to open the outer blister without damage and examine the tiny vehicle closely.

As you can see, its a pretty accurate little car, even at less than an inch long! It even has free running wheels too.

A classic motor indeed and one which will take pride of place in my collection!

Ready to Rummage

Looking forward to a Saturday car boot tomorrow. Hopefully we'll find some nice things. Maybe some old Playmobil and Big Jim in a box.

Will you be car booting this weekend? Maybe even a toy fair somewhere?

MOLAB PROTOTYPE

Check out this amazingly colourful and clunky MOLAB prototype from NASA's archive.  What do you think?

Like two Action Man astronauts scrapping in space I thought!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf4ZObW2wtk

Days of Disaster

Bill Pullman was the president in Independence Day. Me and the Missus are enjoying seeing him again in a TV series called the Sinner, in which he plays a retired detective visiting a remote American island.

I liked his role in Independence Day. The straight presidential arrow at the heart of the crisis. The film caught a moment at the time. A bit like Deep Impact. Impending doom? I'm unsure now what that moment was. I enjoyed the film and always associate it with Deep Impact, Twister and Dante's Peak. 

Armageddon is another disaster flick from that era but I prefer ID4 and Deep Impact for some reason.  

Do you like those films readers? Did you get any toys or collectables?