D is for Dinky Dan Dare Derringer!

Nothing to do with Dan Dare actually, beyond my looking for an alliterative title! I picked this little sweetie up at the Autumn Sandown Park show, more because of the maker than the subject, the last thing I need is to start collecting ray-guns, but this comes into the category of novelty, both by way of its diminutive size and the fact it's a water-pistol!

 

It's very small, and the sort of thing we might have got in a Christmas stocking back in the day, if not this actual one? Also, it's quite robust in construction, still works with no cracks or leaks, and may have been retailed by Poplar well into the late 1970's, although I don't believe Springwwell Mouldings had a stab, but they may have?

L is for Lone Star's Luna Shooters!

Trawling the archive for more rayguns and water pistols, it quickly became apparent that Lone Star would tick both boxes for us! Isn't that nice of them, now the gloves are off, and we need to get this stuff posted!

From the 1958 catalogue comes the Dan Dare Space Gun, which, like most Lone Star cap-firing guns, would take a whole real of 'amorces' (we need em' for our forces!), and get through it in proper quick-time!

 

Mum would go spare "I'm not buying you any more caps, that's the last two rolls, use them sparingly, when they're gone, they're gone, that's IT", and if Dad was around he'd mutter "Use aimed shots, conserve your ammo.", neither of which entreaties would have any effect on us, as once the caps had run out, we just started "Bang! Bang!" 'ing each other, or the Collidge gang from Mattingley!

 

By 1963 Dan Dare was out, and generic sci-fi was in, with a quick renaming of the toy to The Space Ranger Pistol, which, even from black & white artwork looks to have been a tad more colourful?

 

Also from the 1958 catalogue, was this Trick Jet Water Pistol, with very 'spacey' lines, and if it was die-cast (possibly with similar brass fittings to the HR one?), there should be a few survivors out there, not that I intend to start collecting such things I have neither the room nor the budget!

R is for Renolds' Radical Rayguns!

Famous last words - "Hey, if I live for another 40 years I may never have cause to mention HR again on the Blog so I might as well tare the arse out of the imagery this time!", because, here I am, a mere 7 years later, mentioning them again!

 

HR Production (no 's') again, the Atomatic - see what they did there! And little known beyond the fact that they are water-pistols, in a non-stable polystyrene, which has warped slightly over time, but with a quite robust system, let down by a weak trigger which has gone for a Burton's on both examples, as it has on another, HR design I've seen. 

 

But the plungers both work (they'd make your finger sore), and the brass nozzle will be good, it's whether the tube is still performing full-suction that stands between victory or defeat at the hand of some dreaded Mekon from the next street! And note, the foresight is a space-ship!

Funny, despite posting some rayguns before, I don't seem to have Rayguns, or Water Pistols in the tag list? I best get them tagged up huh? Start collecting those dozens, nay, millions of hits from Google, I mean, it must be millions, to be worth falling-out after 15-years?

A is for Alien Arsenal

So to past show-table photo-shoots, about a year ago I think for most of these - and most photographed on Mercator Trading's stand; some possibly still available?

Ray guns! Water-pistols or sparkers, rattlers, torches or cap-guns, everyone had a couple of these in a childhood, now the local copper's are likely to kill you real dead if you carry one outside...best keep them in the packaging!

This is a sparker, with it's distinctive heavy trigger from Omed Srl. near Naples, and possibly quite modern, the company seems to either be still be in business, or to have only recently vanished. The clip-on telescopic sight is a nice touch, but memory serves it was always the first thing to break!

An importer from Milan (Interglass Sas.) brought this one in from Hong Kong; another sparking toy. The card says Super Ray Gun but I think the wacky graphics on the body of the weapon are actually trying to say Spider Ray Gun? A tad older then the previous one I'd say; from both the card design and the plastic colours, and it's got one of the less comfortable flat triggers...hey, this stuff matters when you've got small hands!

Ideal Toys water-pistol, but not that 'Ideal Toy Co.' of the US...this Ideal is (or was until 2003) actually J.G. Schrödel of Nuremberg, Germany, now part of the Heinrich Bauer Group...indeed the frequency with which these turn up suggests they were in production recently? I just want to convert it into a space-ship...Look! Small-scale crew!

This is clearly the fighter to the bomber above! a single pilot with a determined countenance powering his machine into the enemy system to splurge them with sun-heated tepid water...Summer days huh?

Ah! Yes! ... The least rare 'ray gun' in the history of ray-guns...this one is a crank-handled 'clicker' making a noise similar to the great Marx Tommy-gun we had as kids, these were originally made by Pyro as the Pyrotomic Disintegrator Rifle in that distinctive mix of bronze and silver plastics which sums up the Pyro range, but has since been found to have been produced in Argentina, Brazil, Portugal (where these five Hercules hail from) and Spain.

There are differences between the various guns and these Portuguese one's were all over the place about three years ago following a warehouse find!

If you think that line-up is fancy, check out Geoff's Post on them!