W is for Whacky Wheeled Wanderers

Picked this up the other day, relatively recent (2014) and not expensive, but possibly the best 'readymade' so far, so we will have a look at it, although while it's not a kit in the sense of Airfix or Revell's trim-and-glue offerings', it does come in pieces and includes two screws!

New Ray's window-boxed Space Adventure, includes the Command Module and Eagle Lander (in an indeterminate scale) and a Luna Rover 'Buggy' with supporting figures in approximately 1:50 (35mm).

The bits I'm less interested in! The Command Module comes as a single piece, the Landing Module is two assemblies, both of four pieces with the screws, and after assembly, they further clip together with the two holes just visible on the box-base and two spigots on the Rescue Module - which are different sizes so everything ends-up the right way round with the two halves of the exit ladder lining-up.

This is much cooler, a die-cast model with two clip-, or slip-in plastic instruments that can be glued, but I'll leave them loose to minimise future breakages . . . albeit increasing the risk of loss! the driver however is polymer.

The final item requires me taking a new 'line-up' photograph, so soon after I last updated the Airfix page! Indeed I've added some more to that page today, but not this chap yet. The base I'm using is - I think - a wall clock backing, and possibly a home-craft kit one at that, but I don't know, that's just a guess!

The Instruction sheet has no surprises, and no whacky language or syntax, indeed it has no words of command or guidance whatsoever " . . . and they did it all with a computer-brain smaller than a Nokia's!" But does have some easy-to-follow pictures . . . bargain!

So, here we have the nearest rival (bottom right) from Realtoy (so probably/almost certainly Pioneer, or Pioneer components - the driver for sure), it too is a die-cast mazac-alloy model, with a different layout of different instruments, given the effort that's gone into making these models, would I be correct in thinking they represent different mission vehicles, or different tasked journeys within a single Apollo mission?

Above it is the Tang drinks premium from the USA, it's had a bit of damage to a chair back, but I'm not in a position to be trundling such things into surgery at the moment so mending can wait. It is almost as simple as the Airfix one, and the positioning of the boxes on the front 'plate' have you wondering if they didn't use Airfix's as a starting-point for their bigger design?

The model is all polypropylene including the identical riders, and is about 1:35th scale, it has a motor-mechanism, running through the hollow rear-axle, which consists of a loop of thread-elastic (like you get round your spring-onions or gammon-joint sometimes) which hooks over two studs on the left wheel-hub, it is then wound by holding that wheel still and winding the handle on the other side, which the elastic is also looped through, which twists it up in the tube. Let go of the wheel and off it goes, dragging the handle with it? The handle may make a motor-noise, but I can't test it until I replace the now floppy, perished thread.

Finally the small one is from Safari's tube of Nasa's stuff; 'Space Toob', and is just as simple as the K&M one we looked at here (rather small images, but they do enlarge if you click on the main picture), and is in a similar material - substitute PVC.

The other three from the side, that's it; the other three from the side, there's no more blurb in the blurb jar!

I had a couple more shots which were too good to chuck! And . . . a bit more blurb; the instruments on the Realtoy model are integral die-cast with the main-body, so more robust than New Ray's, until they're snapped-off after-which they would prove a bugger to fix!

The Hing Fat one can be seen in a bag here, while the Montaplex one (or actually a rather dreary, grey plastic BuM reissue one) will get here eventually. I still have to track-down Redbox's recent version (a small black & white finished one), and a nice foam-puzzle one I saw from Buil-d-ream at some point.

And I thought I'd put the Galoob one/s up here, but I can't find the post, so I may not have (just thought about it with vivid mental imagery!), so i'll rectify that when I next have them to hand . . . they aren't in the drawers we saw briefly the other day, they are kept with the near in-scale Micro-Machines figures elsewhere!