Nuclear Ferry Movie

This Project SWORD Nuclear ferry animation didn't work out as expected! 

Birthday Jollies: a Jolly Seven XL5 Update

It's been a tradition of mine to do an update on the toy rifle range I call the XL5/ Tommy Buster/ Jolly Seven family tree each bloggiversary. All previous updates can be found clicking the label below. 

Here's another short patch.

This is, if memory serves, a box new to the blog for the Leizer 200, the Greek clone of the Japanese Tada original. A some package with illustrated box art and to my mind a very handsome effort by Alpha.

And so back to where it started on here,even more glorious that the Lone Star Captain Scarlet rifle, the incredible Fireball XL5 toy rifle, the king of Anderson's toy armoury!

And as if we needed more plastic glory, a real TADA! moment is seeing it's likely origin, the lustrous Tommy Kick by Tada of Japan. 

Tada!

And with further browsing, I found some real sound of one of the family tree's toy rifles. This clip on Facebook allows us mere mortals to actually hear the Lone Star ricochet toy gun. How cool is that! 

https://www.facebook.com/100057185301301/videos/james-bond-lone-star-ricochet-gun/484588009026717/ 

That's this update. There'll be more I'm sure. If I had the money I'd collect these toys! Anyone got anything like this?

Moon Ranger Movie

 A little messing with video makes a Tarheel Moon Ranger go!

Birthday Quiz!

Well it's our 17th birthday and that means a quiz! These are similar words for sci-fi and horror film names ( and one war). For example, World of the Primates would mean Planet of the apes. Easy! 

1. Rip in the globe
2. Males in Ebony
3. Phantom biker
4. Armageddon this minute
5. Creature ruler
6. Non-dependent 24 hours
7. Plane journey of the mapreader
8. The mislaid planet
9. The unlit gem-growth
10. Shaver-blade rear
11. The home on cursed mountain
12.  Skirmish of the biggest gods
13. Cross crimson world
14. Cottons
15. The blade in the rock
16. The time after day prowler
17. Luna Null couple
18. Scheme after eight from non-inner room
19. The Noble of the circles
20. Powerful Biden youth
21. Early internment
22. Not living and dug in
23. Shriek and shriek once more
24. The female in pitch
25. The temporal thieves

A Bloggiversary Special: Arto's Plastic Space Bird Get-Together

Here are my Space Birds.

But which one of the birds came first? To me the Hoover blue bird with its illustrated box comes across as the elder. Or maybe both were released simultaneously. 

I'mIt is interesting that the Hoover toy has the logo alongside the item number on its hull, while the Hover one has the number only. - What do we know about the Hoover / Hover connection?

Toys that have all the same distinct perpendicular side wings, first seen on Fireball XL5 and then on the Submarine Aircraft Carrier with C21 ( Century 21) logos on them, and on Space Birds with SB 6 markings, is a lovely feature, which gives the toys their aura.

Funny also that the both the Submarine Aircraft Carrier and the Space Birds are extremely rare. These toys should have been mass-produced, so why the scarcity? 

Never seen any other SB's on the net except for these two examples. It was a lucky strike of a lifetime that I chanced to visit Sandown Park in 2016.

Or maybe one day the doors of a forgotten storage will be opened and there will be a flock of Space Birds flying around the net, just like what happened with the LP Space Motorcycle this year!

Arto

Helsinki Base

Probe Force One Movie

Tarheel's photo-box art is crying out for motion! 

Eh voila!

 

Birthday Spotlight: JR21 Commer Vans

 Ever since I started collecting Project SWORD toys I've been interested in other Century 21 and JR/ JR21 toys, especially less well-known ones.

One such range is the Merehall/ JR fleet of plastic friction commer vans.

I thought it would interest readers to see a good few of them. Some I own, many I don't (all images from eBay/ Vectis/ Worthpoint). There's always at least one on eBay UK. 

Other brands did Commers too like Hoda and Petrel. 

They're all plastic copies of Corgi die-casts.

JR marked vehicles came in Merehall branded boxes. There is no reference to JR toys on the boxes.

 Many of the rear end canopies where interchangable and many colour variations exist. 

It would make a fantastic collection if you could track them all down. 

Two series, I and II. 

Do you like them readers?

*

Series I

Milk Van, Pick-Up, closed rear van ( there maybe more, rear ends are interchangable, as are colours)

Series II

Fire, Police, Ambulance