Made a fuss in the video about how I was skittish over having muscled someone out on research material, and if so feel welcome to use my pix or message for more. But that the less than $30 cost this closed at it was something nice I could actually afford ... Had to shrug off an semi-complete "Operation Moon Base" being sold off by its sole original owner week before last, when it closed above $100 with postage. Was making it up to myself.
Now, what I'd like to think but do not know, is that young Mary & Alexandra took a Pan Am flight sometime between 1969 and 1971 or so, and were presented with these things as a way to keep them out of trouble. Each given a "First Moon Flight" Club membership card and something similar to a sealed "Space Set" using forms engineered to simple plastic moulds by LP Toys. Their versions would have been issued with wheels on the orange Space Buggy, and while just a juvenile-stage collector have not seen a readout screen sticker on the Moon Crawlers attributed to LP. So I'm inclined to think "Space Set", each with two vehicles and some astronauts, anonymously produced but definitely a link somewhere in the chain of Hong Kong toy causality leading back to LP's early Space Toy forms.
Here's a link to the Commodore's Triang Spacex / Golden Astronaut reference site's page for the "Space Set" rack toy release, which is in the LP Toys section of the "Copies" list. The set shown features Major Matt Mason vehicles without wheels. Something of a similar nature has been for sale on the 'Bay for a while, but at a price I won't bite on.
Very cool! And delighted to see that girls weren't cut out of all the space fun on them Pan Am flights. I bet they had these ready with their boarding passes, and would love to think the toys came with them for in-flight goodies. Man I'd have been in the clouds if given one of these with my name typed all official like, right there & everything. Would enjoy learning more about this "First Moon Flights" club if anyone has firsthand info. Or links.
Very 60s looking space plane design.
The Billy Blastoff Space Buggy in a highly simplified form.
No markings anywhere.
Gold plastic simplification of either Billy Blastoff or Major Matt Mason's Moon Crawler vehicle.
Marked "Made In Hong Kong" behind the driver and the readout screen is a nice touch!!
Here is a link to the Sx/GA website's page on the LP Toys made Moon Crawler rigs. It is a very different design! Interesting.
Interesting too how the crawler spokes were shortened.
Another idea of how this collection came to be is that they'd scored something like a Blue Shield "Apollo Moon Capsule" set with the tan Lunar Module and spaceman figures, with the rocket as part of what was blister carded with the other two vehicles. No clue as the vendor could offer no insights and there's no packaging material included. Rocket is almost surely an "original" 1960s casting, with the original shaping to the upper thrusters & no markings on the white nosecone. Later copies will have a "Made In Hong Kong" text on their nosecones and different shaped upper thrusters.
The most mysterious piece of the batch!! wtf "Astro Beacon"??? and what's up with the telescopic looking rod? Is that a flagpole?
Excavation Site Four, Iapetus Research Colony.
Some sort of heated discussion about the grabber I think. Will get to the bottom of this.
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