A is for Atomic Age!

This is a quick post actioned by a contributor's kind supply of images of the Tudor*Rose Atomic Space Ship, another of that wonderful range of ships and ground vehicles from several, all or none of a large handful of companies both sides of the ‘pond’ and both sides on the Channel.

Here is the beast, we had the grey one before with its slightly bent nose, but the blue one is complete for a fuller appreciation of its beauty…no, It’s not beautiful is it? It has buckets of charm and a wagon-load of nostalgia, but it looks like several 1950’s rural buses or luxury coaches, welded to parts of an over scale Cadillac! But I’m not being mean (well, maybe jealous?!!), they’re lovely things and I’m pleased to be able to post them here.

If I was in the position to buy two identical ones, I’d remove the wheels and wheel mounts and glue them back-to-back (sacrilege!), then it’d look like a 50’s pulp cover-image ship…if it was standing on its tail. The engine nacelles have shades of Thunderbird 2 or Stingray; No?
These are both marked Tudor*Rose and the contributor reports that they seem to be easier to source in Canada or Australia than here in the UK where they were made! One is marked 1 the other 2 and a third unmarked grey one recently spotted by him was also marked 1, while I have an eBay image for a couple of years ago which is marked with a 2, probably a Pyro version or Kleeware/Tudor*Rose changeover piece?

If you smash the nose of your Atomic Space Ship, you will need to land and deal with any aliens in the way for which you will - obviously, stupid! - need a ray-gun…


This Space Squadron Sonic Beam weapon from DCMT (Die Cast Machine Tools) otherwise known as Lone*Star is the baby for the job! Surprisingly common, I see one every time I go to either Sandown or the NEC toy fairs, sometimes more than one, and at least 3 Toy Soldier dealers I count as Friends have had one in the last few years, one of which I photographed here. It is very robust and rarely has damage, sometimes the little flange or blade under the pistol grip is missing, sometimes the sight has been broken off and glued back on, but they’re usually in pretty complete nick. This appears to be based on a design by Commonwealth Utilities of Chicago, illustrated in 'Blast Off' by Young, Duin and Richardson.

If you click on this one and study it closer it’s seen some heavy work, killing aliens down the garden, behind the shed, up the scout hut and on the common, yet apart from surface scratching is OK, and taking standard batteries and standard bulbs with very simple electrics, it can easily be put back into service, and on a low setting, can help you home in the dark without killing anything, alien or otherwise, which may explain its common status; “A practical ray-gun for Christmas Johnny?”

Once you have cleared aliens from the landing site, you will need to refuel and send the crew off sightseeing while you fix the ship...

Here the Mettoy airport will provide all your needs, with an aerodynamic coach, wrecker truck and re-fueller…humm…when I said aerodynamic bus; I clearly meant fish-tailed brick! Lower gravity don’cha know!

These came with a toy airport of tin-plate and card, with two small planes I’ll post another day, and while it was supposed to be a 1950’s Croydon type facility, they tried to look forward with their support vehicles…the fools!

There you have it, a quick ‘Early British Makes’ Sci-fi post entirely provided by other peoples items - none of these are in my collection - with further thanks going to John Begg (PTS Collectables) who’s ray-gun I photographed a few years ago, and Jeremy Croucher as it was his Airport I took the vehicle shots from.