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I've seen a few of these stickers sets online. But who is Smokey Bear? Is he a ranger? Does he have a TV show?
Anyone know Smokey?
Some photos I took of the small 1:72 scale Mach 2 Kaman Huskie kit which I converted to a WASP Helicopter to use as background dressing for my WASP Spearhead and Arrowhead posts;
Following on from my WASP Spearhead bomber post, here’s some photos of my Arrowhead fighter aircraft, as seen in ‘Stingray’.
The kit used in the actual series was a 1:48 scale Aurora N-156 Freedom Fighter which was produced from 1962, and was just about available when Stingray was being made. I do have an unmade 1964 issue of this kit, however, for this project I used an old sixties cellophane bagged Airfix 1:72 scale Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter kit which actually came out in 1966, as I wanted it to be the same scale as my Spearhead bomber. (The reason for using an older Airfix F-5A kit was that I find later versions have thinner plastic and the detailing is less defined)
It’s reasonably easy for the moderately skilled modeller to convert the Airfix F-5A to a WASP Arrowhead. Generally speaking you simply swap the wings from front to back, fit the supplied under-fuselage pod on one one side, and scratch-build an identical one for the other side.
Naturally it does involve some cutting and filling, and forcing things to fit together that weren’t meant to fit together, but overall nothing too complicated.
The kit’s basic colour is aircraft grey and for quickness, I used chequered tape for the rear wings.
As the Arrowhead only appears in 3 episodes – Rescue from the Skies, Cool Caveman and Pink Ic,looking for fine detail reference isn’t easy. The ‘W’ on the tail fin and in the middle of the underside are fairly obvious, but for my photos and as a display model it needs a lot more, so using a little imagination I decided to add a few decals from the spares box, paint on a few black panel lines and apply some subtle weathering.
A final coat of matt sealer, and voilà, a WASP Arrowhead fighter ready to scramble!
In the Stingray series, Arrowhead fighters are generally used as escort aircraft. However, in the episode, Rescue from the Skies, Troy pilots a fast Arrowhead jet to quickly reach Lieutenant Fisher, Phones and Marina aboard the stricken Stingray which lies, immobilised below the ocean, with a bomb attached to her hull!
The real life the Northrop F-5, a development of the original N-156, is one of several supersonic light fighter aircraft. The two main models being the F-5A and F-5B Freedom Fighter and later they were extensively updated to the F-5E and F-5F Tiger II. The Tiger II was later developed into the short lived prototype, the F-20 Tigershark.
The F-5A had it’s first flight in July, 1959, and entered operational service in April, 1964 (The same year Stingray first appeared on TV)
Although it’s no longer manufactured or in front-line service with the U.S. military, Northrop still provide support for the F-5, and the aircraft continues to be used by various air forces around the World.
U.S.Navy Northrop f-5’s were used in the film, ‘Top Gun’. They were repainted black, and given the fictional designation, MiG -28.
Here's an old panoramic group shot I pasted together of the Project SWORD toy range. It appeared on the blog in the beginning.
For completeness I included some LP astronauts to hint at the fabled Moon Base play set, together with the Imai Thunderbird 7 far right, in reality the Beetle mode of the SWORD Snow train.
Have you got any group shots of any toys readers?My mate Mark had one of these, so it's a diver I know.
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Now obscure TV shows came and went. For instance I remember Street Hawk and Manimal but this Automan passed me completely by.
He did get his own action figure though. Maybe there's more!
Made by Acamas Toys, it's new to me.
How about you readers?
More old online auction lots but not sure there's extras here.
I love those big box sets! Anyone got them?
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And this caught my eye, a neat article about our favourite miniature space toys in America's Playset magazine. Have you got this readers?
This Buck Rogers Invader is new to me. It's a saucer with a motor and the box claims it can spin hundreds of feet into space!
A mix of toy and rocketry!
Anyone ever had one?
Some photos of my WASP ‘Spearhead’ bomber, as seen in Gerry & Sylvia Anderson’s TV series, Stingray.
The model is a fairly simple build and uses a 1:72 scale Italeri Convair B-58 Hustler kit, which needs little alteration. Of course, the most obvious change is 3 of it’s 4 turbojet engines are attached to the tail fin rather than the wings, along with the addition of a couple of forward canards made from plastic card. There are a couple of subtle changes; The fins on the under fuselage weapons pod needed to be repositioned, and I left the plastic glass out of the rear cockpit windows. When the landing gear is fitted, the fold down doors are left off.
The position of the engines, often a point of debate for the more pedantic aircraft enthusiasts who forget it’s fictional, means the model needs to be weighted towards the front, otherwise it will just tip back.
I added a large ‘W’ under the starboard wing. I can’t say for sure whether the filming props had that, as my screen captures of the aircraft viewed from below showed something that could be a ‘w’, but wasn’t at all clear. Nevertheless, I like the look. I’ve noted some modellers have also added a large’ W’ on top of the port wing, but I decided against that.
The model is painted in Hycote gunmetal, and Revell matt yellow, followed by some light weathering. After applying the Letraset lettering and some of the supplied decals, the model was finally sprayed with a matt sealer.
I did make a Spearhead bomber using a similar kit, some 35 years ago, when my reference material was a bit thin on the ground. I sprayed that one silver, and for the yellow detailing I used pale matt yellow enamel paint.
The original studio models were made from Aurora 1:76 scale Hustler kits. As these are long out of production, the Italeri kit is a cheaper and much easier to find alternative.
I'm told that they may have also used Revell and Lindberg kits, too.
Around a dozen Spearhead models were produced for Stingray, some in flying mode and some with landing gear fitted.
The models were built by studio model makers, Richard “Eric” Backman, and Ezra Dearing (born William Jones). Both worked on several of the Anderson’s productions. Eric had already worked on the Anderson’s previous puppet series, Fireball XL5. Ezra was in his mid fifties when he worked on Stingray, making him one of the oldest people to have worked for the studio.
In the series the Spearhead jet squadrons are used as multi-task aircraft. Apart from their main role as a vertical take-off jet bombers, they can double as V.I.P. passenger transporters, as well as able to participate in search and rescue operations.
As they are seen in the opening titles, the Spearhead jet squadron appear in every episode of Stingray. They feature in the opening episode story as aerial search aircraft.
In ‘Emergency Marineville’ two Spearhead aircraft bomb Baul Island, a base used by undersea aliens, Nucella and Chidora, who have launched several surprise missile attacks on Marineville.
In ‘Pink Ice’, a Spearhead bomber, complete with a WASP Arrowhead fighter escort is used to transport Comr. Shore from WASP HQ in Washington back to Marineville.
In ‘A Nut for Marineville’, the eccentric Professor Burgoyne is tasked to develop a new nosecone for Stingray’s sting-missiles, and is flown to Marineville aboard an executive Spearhead bomber.
Using the Convair B-58 Hustler, as a basis for the WASP Bomber was arguably, a good choice. It was without doubt, a sleek, and capable looking aircraft, very advanced and had not long entered operational service as a state-of-the-art Nuclear bomber when Stingray was being produced.
The B-58 was the fastest bomber at that time, capable of Mach 2 (1375 mph) at high altitude, and had a range of 5115 miles, combining fuel from it’s internal and it’s under-fuselage fuel pod.
It could fly for up to 18 hours carrying a payload of up to six nuclear weapons to any target on the globe.
B-58 Hustlers appear as fictitious ‘Vindicator’ bombers in the 1964 Cold War thriller, Fail Safe, and later, the 2000 made-for-TV remake.
It was, however a difficult aircraft to fly, and cost a fortune to maintain. It entered service during March, 1960, and was retired just ten years later, in January, 1970.
https://mikeburrowsphotography.co.uk/
It's always fascinating what extras you get with boxed toys. SpaceX is a good example.
Here's two boxes I saw on auction with extras.
Can you spot the extra bits readers?
We've seen Japanese 2001 toys on MC before including the striped carded spacecraft, but I'm unsure if we've seen this one (seen on auction).
It looks fabulous and the Zero-X blue plastic is awesome.
Anyone got one or anything like it?
The Grandson Junior loves making Lego Minecraft models.
Here are four of his latest creations.
See what you think.
I picked these up last month, a bundle of old metal planes and copters.
Most of the cast models have the names of the planes on the undercarriage.
An interesting bunch.
