NUCLEAR FAMILY

Its all systems go down the Woodsies Nuclear Hangar. The team are readying for full MoonBase evac to Titan. 

But what food and drink should we take?

Tinker Tailor

 Further tinkering today. Oh what joy! I feel like Tony Stark! 

I re-chromed my Kenner SSP's pipes and it's steering wheel and finagled a long rip cord out of tree ties from the shed. 

We'll see if it works once dry!

Next up was Junior's old and dead VTech transforming chopper. Suffering from battery corrosion, I cleaned the rusted contacts, WD40'd the area and bingo! It sprang into life!

What a great feeling it is when things re-animate!

Then I moved onto a second red coat for this old die-cast tender. The paint's not Humbrol standard though, which could be an issue.

Last but not least and my best success of the day, this old Transformers Galvatron just wouldn't work. The metal contacts had fused to the ancient leaking battery. 

I cut the wires, removed the old battery and bought a new stud contact pad from Amazon, which I added to the existing wires. With a new battery, it worked a treat. Lights, sounds, tranny action! 

With a new chrome pen I've also re-chromed three areas of Galvatron. 

Just need a laser now for his head!

THE TARHEEL COVER: MAKING AN IMPACT

The recent revelation that was the American Tarheel Project SWORD dealers catalogue I've been pondering the possible origin of that strange and huge disco ball on a stand to the right.

More to the point, I've been pondering the spidery base it has and I believe its this... the surface lander baseplate of the Moon Prospector concept shown here in 1961 in Newsweek a cover painted by Jo Kotula. You can just see half of it behind the Prospector.

Here's a much clearer NASA concept drawing, where the baseplate is very distinct, the legs spread out like a spider. NASA called it an Impact Absorber, a device to assist in landing the Prospector - the Roving Vehicle - on the Moon as part of the SURVEYOR programme. It would have made a great toy accessory [anyone care to make one?]

The bendable legs are even clearer in this related 1960 NASA  concept, the Stationary Packet, where the Prospector has yet to disengage from the plate and rove. 

The bent legs are almost a mirror image of those beneath the big 'disco' ball on the Tarheel SWORD cover above.

I can't ID the Tarheel disco ball and its lollipops but I think this explains their spidery base.

What do you reckon readers?

THE SPIRIT OF THE HORSE

 Picking up a Breyer horse at the Diakonie in Germany brought back lots of memories.

I think it took me right back to seeing an Aurora Black Fury box in Andy Foley's TV Toy Zone catalogue when I first started collecting.

I adored those early printed catalogues and I still have them, essential reading as they were on the otherwise boring 7am bus to Morley for work circa 1990. Its were my excitement for old toys was forged.

Seeing the Breyer was like seeing Fury.

Here's a built-up Aurora Black Fury kit as seen on auction. Black Fury was a 1950's comic character, a wild horse doing good deeds in a hostile world [is Black Beauty an older character?]

I think older memories stirred as well. My old Action Man horse was a real gem when I was a kid, standing tall in the imaginary parade ground of my bedroom.

Here's one seen on auction. It was larger then either the Breyer or the Aurora horses. What a beauty!

About a year ago I saw a similar Sindy horse in a Wetherby charity shop, like this one in an old sale. I regret not getting it.

Sindy also got a second horse with that familiar bent knee.

Funny how one thing can bring up so many memories like a pebble in a pond.

As a footnote to this horse's tale I've now identified my Breyer. Its called Valegro and is not as old as I thought, around 2015. Still, its vintage to me.

Have you found something that brought back memories readers?

Have you Driven a Ford Lately? Asks Rob C.

Woodsy,

After some discussion with Paul Adams, and some good fortune on eBay, I decided to try a modeling challenge.

First, I purchased a 1910 Model T Ford model by Airfix, 1/32 scale, one of their earliest releases, from the late 1950s.

Next, I purchased a 1912 Model T Ford, also originally produced by Airfix, but released in the US by MPC in 1971, as one of their “Wild Drag” series, marketed as “Build Stock or Wild Drag!” These kits featured the original Airfix model, plus “custom” chromed parts to make a hot rod “Drag” version.

In building the MPC kit, I discovered what any unfortunate modeler from the time would have discovered, that the custom Drag parts really didn’t fit the original model well at all, and in fact had to be kind of slapped on any way you could do it.

Still, a comparison of the two models illustrates what a company can do with an existing mold to try and “jazz it up!” File under the “You can put lipstick on a pig…” section.

What do you think?

Rob C

USA

IN KEV'S GARDEN

 Kevin's garden beauties!

Tinkerbell

Today at long last I tinkered.

I cleaned this old tender ready for painting.

Moving on, these spare vintage figures from Wotan Bill made for really neat replacements in my old plastic Mattel Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I got last year.

Just missing Truly Scrumptious!

I'll fettle the grille and the rest one day.

Moonbase Junior bought me this vintage Kenner SSP Sidewinder last week, a charity shop bargain.

A bottle top sharpied-up black made a decent replacement fixed tyre.

I just need a ripcord now. I may look for a thick tree tie and try that.

Have you been tinkering?

MY NEW RED TRAILER

 A few shots of my new car boot red trailer. It's a neat fit for the JR21 Land Rover. I couldn't easily find my JR21 Thunderbird 2 so my Dinky stood in.

Not sure what's in the container? Any ideas?

Your garden toy photo's welcomed!