W is for What Might Have Been!

The future's bright, the futures white with orange highlights!

 

Original artwork for what was proposed as the next generation of Britains Starguards/Aliens, Star-Force/-Raiders/-System and their other 'Space' lines, within the Deetail range. I don't recognise the artist's signature, if anyone knows who he or she was, I'll add it to the post.

 

The Hexagonal 'turret' was to be a modular, plug-together construction system, like the hub-UFO's in the Swizzles Matlow candy-holder set, which would build up to ships, stations, or - as here - accessories on a set of vehicles of which this was to be the vanguard! There were both constructional/connecting tubes and plug-in weapons/equipments, proposed.

M is for Marx Space - Space Tanks! Alright . . . Space Plant!

Also in the Captain Space box, but actually from the Luna sets, was a trio of the tracked exploration vehicles, which one needs to colonise a dusty ball of pumice and "orange dirt!" One or two of my existing white ones have crept into other posts over the years, but here's a slightly grubby pastel-blue set!

 

The fuel/water bladders, treated as wheels, something various militaries have experimented with since before I was born, but which don't ever seem to have caught-on in general use, or commercially? The actual tractor for them (like MPC's, a rather clumsy-looking, bulky affair) is missing from the box, and only the Dozer 'tank' seems to have another, suitable towing hook.

 

Bladder parked-up and dozer engaged, dome-space is carved out of the crater-floor!

Is this a simplified version of an old Marx battery-operated floor-toy?

 

After a quick clean, which the other two also got, before I shot them!

 

This is the crane, or tow-truck/wreaker, and we can see where Giant (and to a lesser extent/greater stretch, Lik Be) got their little centrally-placed domed cabs from, for their own space tanks. But Marx has the better-sculpted running-gear, of the three fleets!

 

The Space Tank'er, a pun so good it's worth using twice! Embossed into the tank-ends, on both sides, are the same Florine, Hyrdrogen, Oxygen scripts of the stickers surviving on one set of my fuel-tank silos, I have a mind to get a few more of these, old or reissues, and 'do' something with them, paint or conversion wise?

 

All shot with the Marx exploding mountain in the background. 

Z is for Ziggurat!

Well, I wouldn't have bored you will my travails over the last few days, you don't want to tip your 'eemies' off, but suffice to say a cancer scare has been downgraded to a 'phew', with a slightly ominous "Get it checked if it doesn't go away" caveat. Anyway, to celebrate my lighter mood this evening, here's one of the odder things in the kit catalogues of the 1960's, Imai's M2000T SF Ziggurat, is it a plane . . . yes! Is it a tank . . . yes, is it a SAM-missile T.E.L., yes! Is it goddamned-barking-mad? You betcha!

I've actually been looking for it for several years, but I thought it was in one of the UPC catalogues and when I couldn't find it there, I was stumped, but it just turned-up in a smaller AHM one!

 

It seems to be a mash-up of Imai's Scud-A ('Missile tank BB3' tracks and road-wheels), some Thunderbirds elements and their own fictional SAM 5 rocket launcher parts, so probably around 1:24th scale . . . 'ish! Relatively clip-together, and you can have one for less than 2,000-quid;

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404657806927

 

I don't normally like linking to evilBay stuff, as it doesn't tend to hang-around long, after it's sold, these days, but I think this may remain a hot-link for some time, unless there's an idiot out there keen to be parted from his money! And $4.98, would be the best part $45 today, a lot of money?

B is for Billions of Blistering Blue Bi-Trons!

Well, over a dozen, and they're not all blue! Just a quick follow-up to one element of Chris Smith's recent donation to the Blog, purely to get them in the tags and attached, that way, to the previous posts as extra imagery for Pikit Toys/Gordy International.

I know that my storage sample of loose ones has more blues, or paler blues to be precise, and while the camera's flash has washed them out, the front pair of red ones are a discernably darker-red than the rear trio.

 

I mentioned last time how the turrets of the little micro-AFV's can be used as back-packs for the Bi-Trons, whether as turrets (which would require some severe bending forwards and looking at the ground around their feet) or as comm's packs is - I guess - down to the owner's imagination!

 

A small patrol of those AFV's out of their blister-packs! And as last time, a reminder that  there is a resemblance to some of the Votom stuff from Tomy-Takara, beyond the similarity of the line's name!

H is for How They Come In - Sandown Park, November, 1 of 2

Well, I certainly didn't think I'd be doing a two-poster here, I was still on a tight-leash, and behaved myself, with a total spend of well under a hundred which is not common these days, back when I was a small-scale collector I could go to a show and get away with 60-quid, and still go home with huge bags of shite to sort out, not that you find those bags for a fiver these days! And I've just done a London show for less than 60, but they are future posts!

This was a real bargain, or two, the Brabo soldier (who I've been after since I first saw him in evilBay about 15-years ago) was a grail-find, and came in the bag with the scenic bits I think (Timpo, Britains and Speedwell), but the 'witch' was a surprise find, more so as we saw it here, quite a few moons ago, as a probably American newspaper cutting, the cutting is almost certainly American (it was from the James Chase collection), but this figure, clearly the same, is equally clearly marked MADE IN ENGLAND?

 

As an aside, it had escaped my notice that the Timpo sandbag-walls came in two sizes?

 

Novelty tape-measure, almost certainly from Japan, and you can see the tape is mostly missing, after failing near the spring. A quick google suggests I may be able to track down a replacement with the same dimensions, if not I have some old 'boring' key-ring tapes somewhere, and I bet the mechanisms will prove useable for a restoration job?

 

The Indian is a caricature type, but would go well in a display with the similar figures from Jecsan and Lik Be / LB, as they are all as daft as each other!

Some kind of Transformer knock-off?

 

Space tank! Space rocket! Space robots . . . Spacemen! A few days later, Chris (forthcoming posts) sent me a better rocket! All grist to the mill here, I'd love a brand on the tank if anyone recognises it?

 

Skandi' tractor, German coach and a pile of shite! Actually a couple of useful jig-toy trucks, one of which will need paint stripping, a Lucky Clover chariot (and very brittle driver) and cracker-toy, water-squirt pistol novelty.

 

This is fascinating, if only for its age, it's marked-up Pressman who are still with us, but will be a WWII-era, US, austerity piece, it's seen better days and with both the box and the soldier 'tray' now failing all over the place, Adrian announced it would probably be going in the bin, so I ended-up with it!

 

After I'd cobbled together the previous shots, I finally released them from their die-cut slumber, and popped one together for this post, but they are all in a bag, and I will try to find a way of displaying them at journey's end.

Duplicate Montaplex ACW set, still carrying a late 1930's bomber! And one of the 4D puzzle toys, we have looked at before now, seems to be the same as the Poundland Tiger/M1's of a few years ago, but another issue/tranche, here as a generic?

S is for Space Tank!

Definitely had this title before! You know I like a space tank or two, and I was quite pleased to pick this up, although a quick search on evilBay revealed a half-dozen, so not old, and not rare, but equally it was't pricey!

Boxed space-tank, or 'Reconnaissance Tank', made in 'China' so not that old, but carrying the legacy of 40-years-worth of cheap plastic or tin-plate space toys. There's a relatively illegible logo which seems to be an apple or a tomato, with two letters the second of which might be an 's', while the toy's code is prefixed 'PS', which means nothing to me!

 

The beast; it actually looks a bit 1980's to me, and while some Hong Kong manufacturers phased in the China marks prior to 1997, that mostly occurred in the year or two before the changeover of administration, so this is probably an early, all Chinese (mainland) company's efforts?

 

Posed with a few figures to give a sense of scale/size, and a shot of the relatively generic underside, there's a production code of some sort but no further clue as to a maker. The stickers could fuck-off with my blessing (it looks like a cake-decoration racing car!), but it's boxed and relatively mint, so I guess they'll have to stay!

B is for Battle of the Bi-Trons

You may remember that back in 2020, Chris Smith sent us some robots in one of his donations to the Blog, and at the time I didn't have a maker, but a few months later (2021) I found this set, too expensive, on a Buy-It-Now, told Chris, and put a note on the original post and have since mentioned it cryptically, as and when we've seen bits from it, in other posts, I kept watching until the price came down, and I've now got one, so let's have a look at it! Robots & Space Tanks!

 

Due to the lighting on the day and/or the colours, photographing the whole card wasn't easy, but between the two shots I think I've done it justice, and you can make out most of the elements, the Pikit Toys sets (for that is where we still are, this early in RTM) with this bordered cartouche card-art, were also issued by Gordy International in the USA, with their info' overprinted along the bottom edge.

You get two sets of Bi-Tron robot battle suits, obviously ripping-off several Japanese Anime series including - I suspect - the 'mecha anime' series Dougram or Votoms? One set, here in blue, are the 'good robots' the other; bad!

 

As I wondered at the time, the plugs in the backs are for the turrets which come with the accompanying accessories, a slight daftness, as being single mouldings they can't be bent or animated into a pose where they can realistically fire at anything other than the sky!

Bad 'Bots are red! Whatever colour each 'army' is, you do get four unique sculpts in each quadrigeminal (it sounds more spacey!) team, Only two are carrying weapons, one in each team, here it's the chap on the right.

Early indications were that these yellow versions of the good 'Bots are Gordy and the Blue; Pikit, but then I was reminded that Chris's donation came in three distinct shades of blue (from more than one set, there were duplicates), so I suspect it was a bit more random, or they were issued by another brand, maybe at another time?

 

But this lot did come from the states, with 'normal' red Bad's, and I've seen a second set with yellow 'Bots, also across the Pond, so it may be a 'rule'; certainly a guideline?

Space Taaaaaannks! These are always green/red, and the same oxide-red as the naughty robots, some of which may be copies of the old Kenner Mega Force sci-fi'ish armour? Slightly larger than 1:600 micro-armour, they might be around 1:300?

AT-AT . . . not! There's also a walker, who comes with four jointed legs to be assembled by Junior, and then lost forever in the garden! I'm really not sure on any of the specific origins of any of these models, but I'm sure they are aping other toys, maybe Tomy and/or Takara stuff which never got Western distribution?

For instance, I thought this robot transporter was from the Takara Votoms range (as I pointed out previously; Bi-Trons - Vo'Toms . . . geddit!), but the one I was thinking of, has a rigid chassis and eight wheels/four axles, in-line, but I'm sure I've seen this prior to the Pikit set, so it's probably out there as something else!

Likewise, I think this might be ex-Takara, or certainly I think I've seen it in a Mecha' cartoon, it's a twin-rotor, very sci-fi, heavy-lift helicopter/sky-crane for recovering damaged 'battle suits', and a rather nice thing to find in a rack toy!

The final item on the set's card is an attack helicopter, and given advances/changes in real life attack helicopters since this toy was issued in the 1990's; quite similar to some in service or heading for service now!

 

As rack toys go, with or without piracy, this is a really nice little set if you have the sense of imagination for sci-fi/futurism, or are a fan of anime Mecha's, however, for simpler minds it would be a bit of "shit" to be left on the peg in favour of a farm, zoo or 'Army Men' set, or some Chinasaurs!

R is for Red Mist

No, not my forthcoming rant against the entire computer industry, but the first of two Swift Morgan stories from The New Spaceways Comic Annual, and some sources (I haven't checked the dates) name him as Britain's first space hero, which is a bit rough on Well's characters . . . and he surely shares the birthday with Zip O'Daly?

 

Condar ('condor'!), Buck, Dare, Flash, Hardy, Swift, Zip  . . . they were all names of daring do, weren't they!

 

(Image courtesy of Brian Berke)

 

(Image courtesy of Brian Berke)

 

I seem to have lost/deleted the scan of pages 32/33, probably in the whole three new PC's in a fortnight shenanigans, back in Jan'/Feb', but Brain came to the rescue with that one, so many thanks to him.

The only notable space vehicle is a sort of Spacex/Marx crossover having elements of the former's Mobile Moon HQ and the later's refuelling 'space tank'. It's a better story than the 'Hard Dick' one too!

H is for How They Come In - November Sandown Park - Marx Mini Space Sets

This was going to be a box-ticker for the two new sets, as I thought I'd posted one years ago, but I can't find the first on the Blog, so maybe I didn't! Or it's just not tagged right? Still a box ticker though, as Ed's done them in greater detail, but I'll put the link at the end so you at least scroll through these first!

A bit of a Christmas present to myself, as they weren't cheap, but you do go to these shows hoping to occasionally find something more 'grail' and less 'run-of-the-mill', so when I saw them I pretty much had to have them, and when I suggested a reasonable discount for the pair the seller was happy to go with it and they came home with me!

Originally 2000-Yen (about 8-quid/$10 in today's money, so back in the day - bloody expensive!), the 'Monument Valley' vignette has a hideous carbon-footprint and what is probably one of the better of the vehicles in these sets, but when I say 'better', most of them are considerably more naff than the cheapest LB rip-off cake decoration ones, mostly they really are a bit tacky, in the unloved 'rush-job' meaning of the word! The Space Tank (below) is probably the best of a pretty rum-bunch!

Ed's sets have different contents, so while there seem to be three backdrops (desert, temperate/tropical and frozen), there are more than four or five (?) contents, each being sewn/glued-in, in batches I would imagine, with the contents/vehicle type/figures being changed as stock of one particular piece ran out?

The 'Green Planet' vehicle is even more basic, and like the other sets comes with scaled-down space figures (usually three, but I've seen four and two) from Marx's larger-scale ranges, and there a lot of variety between them with some hard 'styrene, some soft 'ethylene polymer, and white, silver/gunmetal or orange plastic, painted or unpainted.

This is an old evilBay image of the best vehicle I've seen so far (which may be the missing set of mine? It's definitely the 'ice planet' backdrop of my first set, but I can't remember my vehicle . . . might be the Matt Mason 'walker'?), a real space-tank, which looks to be based on the Marx unnumbered 'poly' tank chassis, Moonbase looked at another in depth, a while ago, from Arto in Finland, so they got around a bit!

Anyway, Ed Burg looked at more of them awhile ago, with more close-ups, set variations, box-types and comparisons with the larger scale figures, so head over there as well. When I find the other one, we'll have a proper look at the three for a better box-tick!

F is for Ferrero's Fleet of Flyers to Faraway

The rest of the spacey-looking ships, vessels and err . . .  a skidoo! I don't have a vast collection of Kinder, but back in the day I did pick-up a few and Andy Harfield of the now retired Harfield's would talk me into his latest box of junk Kinder when I went down to his shows in Kent, so a few came in over the years, this is the rest of the 'spaceships' . . . and a skidoo!

I like these, they are a bit Battlestar Galactica in the front end, and the nearer two have folding wings like the Imperial Shuttles from Star Wars, while the one at the back just has little folding weapons packs or hard-points.

These were all around at the end of the 2010's I think, the slightly hippy 'Jetson's' one bottom right may be older. The one at the back has a rather daft alie'phant pilot, while the one on the left looks a bit like a flying glass-brick!

Space Shuttles; from two sets I think, one more realistic (red and black), the other altogether more pulp'y! In fact it looks like the sort of thing which might have crash-landed on the Clangers' planetoid and produced a five-minute episode of stop-motion shenanigans!

Standard novelty 'flying saucer' design; the red one is a more recent re-issue, the others are from the 1990's I think, I've lost the launchers for the earlier ones but they fit the red one's so all is not lost, but they were always - and remain - too delicate and fiddly for kids.

I know, I know, well it was in with the space figures/robots and their various buggy, sled and rover types . . . it's a skidoo, I know! Might not be Kinder, might be Maraja, Czapp, Rübezahl or one of the others? The thing is though - or was when my collection was more biased - it's a really nice 1:76/72nd scale!

This was quite a recent one and is a form of fancy glider. It's got a bit squished in storage and I've kept the stickers on their sheet, which show a young lady's flying it, so yeah . . . 'The Last Star Glider'!

These came from the master finder-of-good-things; Peter Evans, in a bulk lot of mostly non-Kinder brands, and is credited to a Metro of Modena, Italy (could it be related to the Cose Progetti of the previous post?), which became Leoni S.P.A. and now appears defunct, although the item is a Chinese import.

Indeed it's a nice piece of post-apocalyptic Mad Max rip-off, straight-to-video, B-movie merch' . . . the Intensive Fighting Chariot! The bagged one appears to have a different front end/fender/ram arrangement, but not the other one on the paper slip, so at least three ITC's to find!

M is for Micro Moon-Men and Many Marauding Martian Machines

Just a quickie, as they are definitely at the infant-toy end of the spectrum, but fun nevertheless!

We've looked at the mini wargame sets from Silvercorn now, but they also did an infant series, although when I say 'series' there's no evidence for others sets, but with three in the 'realisteic' line, I'm imagining maybe a dino' set and farm or zoo attached to this infant-toy line?

Two useful bits; nice space tank, which would paint-up well as a fire-tower for Micro-Machine Hoth figures? And a useful six-wheeled jobbie which again is just big enough to be a one-man battle-taxi in even 28mm role play - Banana Splits 'v' the Nottingham Mafia's Imperium?

The two figural's; the robot will go well with those looked at recently from SCS Direct, while the human is a chunky infant toy of limited use, unless you need an extremely overweight astronaut for some game or diorama!

I've also picked these up, mostly marked 'Hong Kong' so having some age, but equally factory mint, ex-warehouse or shop stock. Probably from a gum-ball, capsule-machine supplier (they came from the US), but equally likely to turn-up in other 'pocket-money' packagings, elsewere?

Three saucer/space station types and four ships - one of which looks like a jet-propelled, demented R2D2, with shock-absorber legs, I've seen him somewhere as a Japanese 'glico' with an added radar on his head - probably the original sculpt?

My favorite is the crane, which bears a passing resemblance to an old carrier crane from a 1:1200th scale model kit. The cracker/gum-ball/glico type fighter came in with a recent mixed lot from Chris Smith or Peter Evans (posts pending).