X is for X-30 Space Explorer

Bought this a while ago, because it was cheap! It was missing something (still is) and the vendor stated that fact as being the reason it was so reasonable, but it was a metallic blue spaceship, I wasn't going to let it go, although there's another reason I had to have it.

This is the little beast...on the launchpad! A Google image-search reveals it's basically a generic (although I believe JR21 carried it at one point), coming either Hong Kong boxed (no.230) or carded, in two versions: as mine (mostly carded) or with gold/dirty-silver painted nose and side-nacelles (boxed) and it's numbered 303 on the base, just to confuse!.

There is a second model with a similar name made by Lucky Products ('LP', No. 103) but with smaller turbines over the wheels, these tend to be pale blue or red, also boxed or carded (with four of their spacemen).

The other reason I had to have one...it's got a dog! An HO-OO'ish, space dog...there's a dog in the cab, with its own seat...how cool is that? Too cool for school, that's how, so go to space...did I say it had a dog...Look! There's a dog in that Space Ship, somebody give it a seat-belt! Pre-dates Wookies...

If you follow some of the links from the image-search, you'll see that the missing piece is a revolving antenna thing (nuclear engine?), anyway, it's a bit naff, very breakable, and the LP one uses a simplified one that looks like a jack from the cheap rack-toy Jacks sets.

Do you know - I managed to get through my entire childhood without ever knowing how to play Jacks. This despite the fact everyone I knew (including my Brother and I) had some kicking around somewhere? I've even watched people playing it without paying attention...you chuck them in the air and there are dice? A dice? Too late now!

So That's what I'll do with this (an idea from Woodsie or Wotan over at Moonbase Central (destination of several of those links)), but I know I've seen little bags of plastic jacks from Christmas crackers with an anodised-chromium type finish in metallic pink, purple or blue, one of which I think will do the trick nicely, so I'm holding out for one to turn-up, if not I may have some in a 'spares tub' in storage!