Obviously my childhood self might argue with that, my Airfix Pontoon Bridge Assault Set says otherwise, as well! But, yeah, I was given a slightly lumpy parcel, in lovely robin-decorated paper by Adrian, late of Mercator Trading,
which is no more, only a couple of days ago, and I suspected it might
have an assortment of early, British made, vehicular-plastic,
attic-finds, or a bunch of small scale and/or circus stuff, or something
equally interesting, but what I found was quite sublime, so we're going
to look at them.
I
hope this finds you all well, sated with fine food and the tipples of
your choice, I've slept off mine, bit of a Christmas tradition since I
was quite young to have a nap on Crimbo' afternoon, or in the evening,
depending on when the meal is! Happy Christmas to all Loyal Readers, and
those hangers-on who pretend they've never been here!
I've shot the living bejeezus out of them, so let's dive in - Kellogg's Rice Krispies premium Spacemen, from 1960, believed to be manufactured for them by Crescent Toys.
(Image from Wayne Radcliffe's Cluck I)
As advertised in the comic (TV Express Weekley,
September 1960) and other press of the day (I think the tabloids would
sometimes carry these Ad's in the weekend editions), and this was being
conceived ten years before man set foot on the moon, so would have been a
real pull for kids of the time . . . I wouldn't be born for another
four years!
And
the first correction of the limited information found online, they are
not from 1959, nor are they from 1962, but that's Giselle over at
Mokarex, and she's a plagiarist who posts anything she can find, not
bolted down, without checking, or knowing! Giselle also states they are
modelled after the movie of the same name? What - Free Spacemen? And goes on to make a laboured remark about astronauts, when the word 'Astronaut' is never mentioned!
Text:
Free! SPACEMEN
Super set of six models
It’s a space age and here are SPACEMEN --
FREE, for you to collect!
SPACE HELMETS Each spaceman is perfectly detailed complete
with
breathing apparatus and detachable space helmet.
SET OF SIX You’ll find a free spaceman model
in every
Kellogg’s Rice Krispies packet marked
‘Spacemen’. Start collecting now and swap
with your friends to get the complete set
of six super models!
There was also a TV Ad.
Slightly battered, but one of those packets - FREE SPACEMAN MODEL INSIDE - that's the Coco-Pops out of the window for a few weeks isn't it!?
When the Magic Roundabout figures (Tatra product) were in Ricicles, when we were kids, a decade later, Mum went to the Cash & Carry in Aldershot (which became Peacocks, then the United Carriers (Bunzl) depot (where I worked for two years!) and has now been redeveloped, all three previous tenants, long gone, now!) and came home with a huge carton of what was probably 40 boxes, and which totally filled the rear of the Morris Traveller!
The other half of the story is a tad tragic, as bulk-purchase boxes didn't have the premiums in, so no figures, and Finn MacCool our Irish setter, got as fed-up with Ricicles as the rest of us, at least he got his mixed in with his meat!
© By Kellogg Company of Great Britain Limited 1960
E X P E D I T I O N
TO THE MOON
The moon is 238,840 miles distant. The gravity on its surface is only one-sixth of that on the surface of the Earth. Communication by radio is restricted by the greater curvature of the moon’s surface. There are no ionized layers such as we have on Earth to make radio transmissions over long distances possible.
Moon explorers will have to wear heavy spacesuits to give them protection against the extremes of temperature on the moon (ranging from 130ºC in the day to -130ºC at night). They will have to be supplied with air at the right pressure to breath; and means of radio contact with each other as the moon has no air to carry sound-waves.
The first men on the moon will have to use the ship as a base for exploration. Later it should be possible for a base to be set up inside one of the many caves which undoubtedly exist.
Information about the moon and spacemen models has been supplied by Mr. L. J. Carter, Secretary of the British interplanetary Society.
[
From Google AI - so subject to inaccuracy!
L. J. Carter (Len Carter) was a long-serving and highly influential figure in the
British Interplanetary Society (BIS), holding the positions of Executive Secretary and editor for several decades. Key Details about L. J. Carter
- Role and Tenure: He was the society's executive secretary for many years after its headquarters moved from Liverpool to London. He was also a founding member of the post-war BIS Council.
- Key Contributions:
- Editor: Carter was the editor of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society (JBIS) and the book Realities of Space Travel: Selected Papers of the British Interplanetary Society, published in 1957.
- London Office: The society's permanent London home in the 1970s tied in with his personal interests; he was a collector of ceramics from the local Lambeth potteries, and his collection was later displayed in the meeting room.
- Continuity: He was a central figure in ensuring the continuity and serious work of the society after World War II, helping to establish it as an authoritative source of information on spaceflight.
He
was a contemporary of other notable BIS figures such as Arthur C.
Clarke, Philip E. Cleator, and Harry Ross. His work was fundamental to
the society's operations and its mission to advocate for space
exploration]
♪♫♪♫ Meet the gang because the boys are here . . . ♫♪♪♫
There was also an intro' paragraph above the artwork, and another explaining the figures;
Super scale models of Spacemen making up a complete lunar survey party. One in each Kellogg’s Rice Krispies packet with the special flash. Each at least 2” high in tough, brightly coloured plastic with detachable transparent plastic helmet.
Six explorers have just arrived by their rocket-propelled
spaceship and are engaged on a survey of the lunar surface.
(read the side panel for more details about the expedition.)
A - The leader of the expedition is looking for a vantage
point on which to place a sighting and radio relay beacon, as the party plans to
explore regions further away from their base ship.
(image and text - Wikipedia)
B - The leader is accompanied by a colleague carrying a
climbing pick and rope.
C - This explorer, using a Geiger counter, is seeking
radio-active materials below the surface which may provide some evidence of the
moon’s age.
Actual size? Check!
D - The cameraman of the expedition is using a special
camera to photograph the lunar terrain. These photographs will be the permanent
record of the expedition and will include microscopic pictures of objects of interest
found on the lunar surface, such as micrometeorites of strange composition, and
evidence of past life-forms. The photographs will be transmitted to Earth by
radio.
When they actually went, they took heavily modified, silver Hasselblad 500EL cameras, which didn't look that different from the camera depicted, one can assume NASA were by 1959/60 (the figure set would have been a while in planning/production) using/trialling similar cameras in the deserts of Arizona or Nevada?
E - This explorer is boring for metals and testing the
chemical composition of the moon’s surface.
Boring with an oxyacetylene torch! I suspect this was (as with A and F), the more fanciful musings of the Kellogg's art department or press people, rather than the intention of the sculptors, who knew what they were equipping their figures with!
I have a 1960's one in storage, I used a 1980's one to cut-up a Dutch
barn in 1983, a mini adventure in itself, as 3 or 4 ton pieces of I-bar
broke out of the trailer and clattered across the concrete while I
carefully walked backwards trying to keep an eye on everything movin,g
while Richard laughed at me from the safety of the Bray 4000's cab! While the
one on the right is on Amazon right now! They haven't changed much
since they were invented!
F - The last explorer is preparing to check over the rocket.
It landed tail-first, its speed of 5,000 m.p.h. being slowed down by retarding
rockets to about 100 m.p.h. just above the surface, the final impact being
taken by shock absorbers in its landing legs. In spite of reduced gravity, the
vehicle suffered slight damage on landing and repairs are necessary before the
return take-off to Earth.
It's a single, open-ended slogging spanner, not the 'plug-spanner' one commentator elsewhere has called it! And while a 150-ton ore-truck might have plugs the size of your fist, this is the sort of spanner you use on agricultural or mining machinery, oil rigs or AFV's!
%20Suit.jpg)
There are similar attachments on deep-sea diving suits, designed to operate at extreme depths, which are known as Atmospheric Diving Suits (ADS), which often feature claw, pincer or tool hands for manipulation at depth
The suits are quite bulky, almost as if pressurised from inside to an
uncomfortable degree! The use of the moniker 'Michelin Men' for them is
not unwarranted! But I thought I'd try and find the inspiration;
(Photo USAF)
But those sci-fi suits were apparently based on the 'tomato worm' (a
type of caterpillar) suits, coming out of the MX-117 program to develop a
pressure suit, during the Second World War.
Which - back to colours - several comenters on YouTube and elsewhere on the internet
keep stating are only six? Again, seen on the Blog previously, and from
the archive, I have John Begg to thank for this one. There are eleven
colours there, and even if you discount one of the yellows, one of the
THREE distinct blues and one or two of the red-orange-browns, you still
can't make it less than eight! The camera doesn't lie, and they've been
on the Blog nine years, since before most of the other's made their
"six-colours" claims!
- Permanent Yellow
- Lemon Yellow
- Tangerine Orange
- Scarlet
- Oxide red/Chinese Orange
- Dark Red / Pale Maroon?
- Dark Blue
- Sky Blue
- Mauve
- Cobalt Green
- Mint Green
The helmets have a small lip at front and rear . . .
Don't force them, they will split up the non-lipped sides and, eventually, break in
half, the bane of all early toy spacemen's separate helmets, which are nearly always made of particularly frangible polystyrene.
and the set of eight Magic Roundabout figures from Tatra, seen here;
And I wonder if the same sculptor was used on these, as designed the
Li-lo figure, and/or the late set of Magic Roundabout figures? They all have the same plumpness about them, and they all have chubby pod-feet?
The more
contentious point is that, given the above, maybe Tatra made these, not
Crescent? People say Crescent, as fact, but as far as I know, it's never
been more than 'believed to be', and there is no direct evidence? I still favour Crescent, on the colours, but it's not firm.
So to recap on what you'll find elsewhere on the Wibbly-Wobbly-Way;
- Not issued in 1959, nor 1962, but in the Autumn of 1960
- Called Spacemen, not astronauts
- Not named after a movie?!
- At least eleven shades of at least eight colours, not six
- UN-logo'd lollipop board, not generic, nor invented
- Only 'believed to be' Crescent production, might not be
- Oxyacetylene torch, not drill
- Heavy slogging spanner, not plug-spanner!
"What do you mean, 'Where's the keys', I got out first, YOU locked-up!"
The FIA Formula Mach-500 Silverstone-Pluto rally. An ageing Lewis
Hamilton is neck-&-neck with Michael Schumacher's's clone, with two
rounds to go. An android with Senna's brain DNA is leading by 8-points.
You can't 'light-up' until the lollipop-guys are off the grid,
and woe-betide any driver who hits one, on a pit-stop, you can't find
enough atoms left, to fill a jam-jar, and the relatives sue for billions!
There was a lot of climbing planned!
My probe's bigger than yours!
That's not a camera, mate - this is a camera!
(I know, it's a missqoute)
Well, I started this at about 7pm? It's now nearly 5am, but I had a snooze earlier, and sometimes you can't leave something alone until it's done, which it now is! The Cereal Offers page is here;
