Philip's Luna Spaceship Diorama

Woodsy,

First of all, thanks to everyone who commented on my miniature LP Hong Kong Mercury Capsule diorama. The kind words are appreciated. I am more of a model builder instead of toy collector, but Woodsy has graciously invited me to share some space modelling subjects that some of you may find interesting or entertaining.

Phillip G

Finished Photos of 1/48 Scale Luna Spaceship Diorama From the 1950 Movie Destination Moon

Photos of Masterpiece Models1/48 scale spaceship Luna diorama from the 1950 USA Movie Destination Moon. 

 The movie told the story of mans first attempt to reach the moon by rocket and it was the second major motion picture made about manned space travel. 

 Honestly, the acting in the movie is poor and the story line is weak, but the science behind the space flight is based in fact (for what was known at the time). 

 It is pretty entertaining and won an American Academy Award for Best Special Effects. Most importantly it gave us a very cool rocket design named Luna, which looks pretty much like a glorified German V-2 missile. 

 This is a very large kit with the rocket being 37 tall. This is the same size as the two main miniatures used in the movie. The kit consisted of only six resin pieces, with one of those being the lunar base! The astronaut figures are 3D Printings I purchased from Shapeways.com. 

 All the miscellaneous exploration ground equipment was either scratch-built or came from my spare parts stash. The lunar surface and astronauts were given a multicolor paint finish to match what was seen in the movie. 

 The finished product is simple but still eye-popping due to its size and attractive lines. I am not 100% sure but I believe the French Tin-Tin Spaceship books and products are based on the Destination Moon spacesuits and Luna spaceship design. 

 The last photo shows me kneeling beside the diorama to show how large it is. I hope you enjoyed the photos.

You're Badgering Me! Space Pins and Badges

 Talking about the Project SWORD badge ranks the other day reminded me of the one rank that SWORD shares with SpaceX toys ...

... Commander.

I often wondered if SpaceX meant to release further ranks?

It's not a badge I own - I don't think I had one as a kid either - but I do really like it's simplicity.

Ranked space badges were a kids' staple in the Sixties and Seventies.

I wonder if they reflected reality in NASA, USAF and the RAF?

Tudor Crisps had both a neat Astronaut and a fab Space Captain. Maybe there were more?

There were lots of individual astronauts as a result of the space race like this repurposed agent pin, the Junior Astronaut.

Some badge ranges were even more ambitious than Project SWORD's like these beautiful Lyons Maids, which included every conceivable rank possible!

Perhaps the most accomplished series, not in range but sheer variety of merchandise, was Wall's Sky Ray.

Not only did they release lovely Moon Fleet and Captain badges but they issued a whole gamut of stuff like collectors albums and a super cool space vest, which I know Bill had and has posted about here in the past.

Did you or do you have any space badges readers? 

(All images from auction sites)

It's a Card Life!

This morning I needed a Newborn Baby card. 

We carry a stock of cards at home, some new, mostly vintage and an assortment of Christmas cards.

There's Retirements cards, Anniversary cards, Thank You cards and Birthdays. 

No new babies though! I must have used the last one sometime!

Hmmm.

There's always something you have to go and buy from a shop isn't there, which as I get older I like doing less and less! Spot the Grouch 🫈

Oh, and a stamp too! We'd run out of those! Blimey.

Do you have a stash of greetings cards and stamps you rely on readers? 

Ed's Colony

 Moonscape and more from Ed.

Marky Bats' Starship

Hi Woodsy,

as promised some more Lego custom Sci-fi, all my own builds, Gemini ai was used for backgrounds and NaukNauk for the motion graphics.

(Video sent yesterday.)

Regards MJ

Southcoast Base

Ox Rocks! Kevin's Scratchbuilt Zero-X

Hi,

Here are some shots of my Zero-X scratch build.

Cheers

Kevin

With a Badge to the Stars

 I've noticed a few Project SWORD badges turn up on eBay this summer and Autumn, which is always good to see. As with everything, the prices have gone up but then again they're not things you'll normally find at the local car boot.

To remind you the three standard badges included in many of the Century 21 Toys were these -

There was a fourth White Supremo badge found only with the boxed Zero X and not one often seen.

I loved these badges as a kid and along with the paper manual I always thought they made great additions to the play value of the toys themselves. It's a pity C21 didn't issue a full SWORD uniform of sorts to go with them.

Having discovered the American versions of SWORD toys by Tarheel in the mid-1990's I always thought that a badge would have sat well with those toys too. If not SWORD then perhaps a Tarheel badge.

I had a look for a Tarheel toys badge but couldn't find anything.

There were probably lots of space related badges in the world in the 1960's and 70's. 

What was your favourite space badge readers? 

Marky Bats' Lego Starship Custom Clip

YouCut_20261004_145305999.mp4

More to come of the Starship.