Silver Machine

This is a neat and slick silver-coloured toy rocket from Poland I saw online. 

You may have a JR21 rocket which is very similar.

Anyone got any rockets like this? 

Are You Sitting Comfortably?

Some more flicks seen of late. Have you seen them?

The Island. A vehicle for beautiful young things Ewan McGregor and Scarlet Johannsen to shine in, this sci-fi actioner hit the spot and even the Missus enjoyed it. Basically about the evils of the super-rich, I won't spoil it, suffice to say there are whiffs of 1984, THX and Logan's Run.

The Invasion. Another platform for youthful beauty, this time the golden pair are Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. We had to rent this for £3.50 but it was worth it and pleasant enough whilst scoffing tea. The title is an abbreviated form of two other older iterations of the same idea. As I point my finger at you, my mouth agape, I won't spoil it.

Old. I've come to realise that M.Nite Shyamalan's first name is actually Marmite. Not M.Nite. You either love his films or loathe them. This phenomena can also happen mid-film and it very nearly did in Old. However, the Missus and me carried on and in the end, slightly older, enjoyed it. As you may have guessed the film is about wrinklies like us.

The Skull. I may have mentioned this already, but then again a Cushing-Lee horror is worth screaming about. They're the dogs b*llocks and I love their stuff. Think of Jonny Depp's 13th Gate, replace the grimoire with a skull and you're near the mark. Sort of like extreme toy collectors! What a film!

Horror Express. I often confuse this with the equally brill Creeping Flesh, as they both contain Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and a strange humanoid laid out on a gurney. Chuck in a trans-Siberian train, Rasputin and Telly Savalas and you come out with Hammer horror Kojak verses the Monster.

Rot. A low-point in the listings, this shoestring effort wasn't worth watching but I did and wonder why. There was something about the poster and the name, Rot, which appealed. Alas, the crew would have been better off simply filming a few rats at the local landfill for authentic decay. At least then they could have called the thing Rat.

What have you seen?

Tackle of the Planets

I know next to zero about Gatchaman. My mate used to collect Battle of the Planets and I guess they're related.

Part of a recent car boot bundle of cheap tackle were these two Japanese die-casts, which I've ID'd as a Jun motorbike and a Condor Attacker, mainly because that's what it says on them! 😂

Are these toys that you know? 

Get Set

I picked up this little Scalextric set, Starter on Rostrum, for a squid tother day at the boot sale.

 In poor shape, I've had fun in the sun untangling the arm string, re-gluing the chap to the rostrum (nearly the wrong way round!), re-attaching some fencing and best of all, ironing the box to stiffen it.

Those clever Scalextric folks made it so that pulling the string raises the arm. I wonder if he held a flag originally? 

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Addendum

Hi Woodsy,

          You just mentioned the Scalextric Starter On Rostrum set, pulling on a string raises the arm of the figure and you asked if he originally had a flag. 

Yes, he did, a black and white checkered flag.

Photo from Ebay.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

Rubber Soul

The silver rocket in today's Deep Purple Piles had me intrigued, so a bit of silver surfing took me to Buyee and Japan.

Turns out it's a rubber!

It seems to accompany gorgeous Thunderbirds vehicle moneyboxes. Not sure what the green bits are. You?

The Japanese love of all things Anderson knows no bounds! It's in their soul! 

Wheel Footage

There's not much video out there of Explorer 12 and it's global relatives, but here's a bit of blanket coverage on YT of the Argentinian multi-wheeler, Multiruedas by Galgo. 

Have you anything like this?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=KeUTx_-qkeY&feature=shared 

Deep Purple Piles

 My good friend Paul V has covered this in detail on his fab SpaceX toys site, but I thought it's interesting to see again the auction bundle a strange metallic purple Nova appeared in, as seen here deep in the middle.

Such a gorgeous little thing. It always amazes me the piles of stuff SpaceX and it's kin turns up in and often it's Apollo Space Exploring piles like this. 

There's a few extras here too, a silver missile, a grey Enola, a TB3 knockoff and even a sleeping Captain America!

Do you have piles like this?

Cover Story

 A couple of space theme record covers caught my eye recently.

The Moog Invasion. Not sure which robot that is buts it's part of a long tradition in the Sixties and Seventies to use toys on the covers. 

This is different, a space vision relying solely on the artists skill. It's Roger Dean's amazing cover for Rameses Space Hymns. 

A rocket-powered church steeple and so beautifully done. 

I first came across this in Roger's big softback Visions. 

What a talent.

Do you like Roger Dean's work?