Been meaning to do a post on these subjects for a while & wrapped it up into one package. Kind of went for overkill with the comparing Pilot Figures, though I did keep the Britain's Stargard figures I've obtained out of it. Kind of a subject of their own -- This is about Asian manufactured Space Toys, touching on the transition of production shifting from Hong Kong to mainland China starting in 1972, and how the forms being produced changed with it.
People have been making seated driver figures as long as they've been making toy vehicles suitable for a driver. I've actually found a couple of online vendors who specialize specifically in "sitters".
My earliest known sitter is by Marx Toys from the 1962 "Operation Moon Base" playset and the most recent a 1998 Boley Toys astronaut designed to be seated in their derivation of the Lunar Roving Vehicle. Since what's the point in making a pilot without something for them to be piloting? The only known space craft designed to seat a pilot figure which I am aware of was Marx's classic red (or gray) Mercury style capsule from OMB + other sets with fitted astronaut. Everybody else just seemed to make them with ground vehicle use, or simply lying on their backs with feet in the air.
Similar, but all very different from each other.
Left: Marx "Operation Moon Base" pilot in gray.
Right: Suspected early 70s Hing Fat-style pilot, year unknown.
Suit designs + facial characteristics are totally different, though HF did echo the outstretched arm on the Marx guy.
Left: More recent Hing Fat-style pilot, year unknown.
Right: Boley Toys pilot figure with 1998 date stamp.
Note the difference in suit design, and that this HF pilot's chest unit is rectangular. The previous guy has none, only a round node. Boley is also echoing the outstretched left arm.
Left: Boley pilot.
Right: White cast HF pilot, believed to be mid 80s.
Boley astronaut much larger than HFs, which again has the round chest node rather than a box unit. And for the record both of these guys as seen are somewhat of a nut to crack -- Almost all of the Hing Fat style Space Bucket astronauts I have been able to evaluate were cast in gray. And loose Boley astronauts are a score. Most were issued as playset figures and owners must be intent on keeping the sets together. Mine came in a "Lot" purchase with (what are believed to be) the more recently cast gray figures.
Left: HF white casting.
Right: MPC pilot from a numbered set, mid 60s (?).
Totally different sculpting work & design intentions.
Left: MPC
Right: Unknown copy, year unknown.
Copy on the right is all smushed down, not just smaller but his features muddied to the point where he looks like a Space Chimp. And I like Space Chimps, so he's cool.
Heck as long as they're out, let's have a go at comparing the Marx "Operation Moon Base" (OMB) pilot figures with their later MPC/Hong Kong equivalents. Or at least what I have examples of -- Decided that one batch of marked MPC guys was as good as the next so I don't have many color variants on the individual poses. Mostly blue, as that's the "Lot" boxful I scored.
And please keep in mind I refer to the red Capsule Figure as from OMB, but in fact the capsule was issued with other Marx 60s space playsets as well. Am presuming my example is from an OMB capsule as it came from the same vendor who had other identifiable OMB pieces which I scored as well; Am 98% certain they all came from the same OMB set.
Left to right: "Operation Moon Base" Playset Figure, MPC from a matched set, "Operation Moon Base" Capsule Figure, Unknown Hong Kong made copy.
Left: Marx OMB
Right: MPC
Totally different suit and pose.
Left: MPC
Right: OMB Capsule Figure.
Left: OMB Capsule Figure
Right: Unknown Hong Kong copy
Maybe Multiple Toymakers? They definitely re-produced the MPC space figures.
Comparing the two Marx OMB pilots ...
Circular imprint on Capsule Figure placed higher up on the back then the Playset Figure. Which makes sense as the Capsule Figure was pressed in the same mould as the capsule, the Playset Figure with the other figures.
Right: MPC
Left: OMP Capsule
Left: OMB Playset
Right: MPC
Left: OMB Capsule
Right: Unknown HK copy.
And while it may simply have been a result of their toy ranges never being suitable for having seated figures, LP Toys never made a pilot figure. All of their spacemen were in standing positions. Even the copies.
Now comparing just the Hing Fat-style Space Bucket pilots, with the two white castings I have on either end to contrast suit design and surface markings. All are subtly different and it's not just from different pouring methods.
Left: Suspected early 70s numbered pilot.
Right: Unmarked recent casting.
Their plastics are of different textures, and note how the folds between their legs are differently sculpted. More recent casting also has boot details + box chest unit. Older casting has no boot details + round "node" on chest.
Left: Earlier casting.
Right: Later casting.
The seeming "notch" in the middle of the older guy's upper back is the #1, as he is the first numbered astronaut in the 10 figure set he was issued with. More recent guy on the right has no number. Difference in plastic color also noticeable, with the earlier dude having an olive hint to his gray.
Left: Earlier 70s casting
Right: Mid 80s casting.
The (suspected) older dude is a bit larger than the white guy and does not have the folds between his legs visible on the white guy. Their facial sculpting also quite different, most noticeable at the forehead. Neither have the boot detailing seen on the more recent gray dude.
Left: Earlier numbered casting.
Right: Later white casting.
White guy has CHINA stamped on his posterior and no number. The detailing on his lower back also simpler than the (suspected) older piece.
Left: Mid 80s white casting.
Right: Later gray casting.
Gray dude has boot details, box chest unit and two horizontal folds between his trouser legs and sunken forehead features. White guy has no boot detailing, round node on chest, four angular vertical folds between legs, and protruding forehead features.
Totally different facial detailing.
Left: Suspected 70s casting.
Right: More recent gray casting.
Again, facial details are somewhat different -- Older guy has puffier cheeks, more pursed lips.
"Fascinating, Captain."
The classic Hing Fat-style Space Bucket Lunar Roving Vehicle, which I specifically recall having one of in my own childhood Space Bucket set, long lost. This example a used unit sold as being from the mid 80s and came with the white cast HF style astronauts from my stash. The acquisition is of significance because it put me back in the realm of Space Toys I'd been ensconced in as a 4 to 9 year old. I'd had these things, destroyed them out of gleeful overplay, had them back! and wanted more. A gateway acquisition, after which the old fixes weren't good enough anymore. It had to be Space Toys, and propelling them into my art as subjects instantly freed my mind a couple years of self-doubt about subject content.
Rover underside, using the same axle + wheel system on every plastic Army Man set vehicle issued since the mid 60s. And that's something I remembered after finding my younger brother's Half Ton Army Man set truck: It fascinated me how both vehicles had the same kinds of wheels, and have a vestigial memory of trying to swap their axles, and succeeding. May still be on it.
"Made In China", which is interesting in that the Lunar Lander which came with it as a used bundle is not marked in any way.
Simple post-hole attachments of detail pieces.
Presumably cast in the same gray as the astronauts, and my "Lot" bundle came with both white and (unmarked) gray spacemen. Note more complex "earlier" antenna with angled stem.
Later antenna assembled by just poking its pole through a hole. And that's what she said :]
I think that came pre-assembled ...
Left: "Earlier" antenna which came with matched/numbered astronauts.
Right: "Later" antenna which actually came with the rover.
Now, only after taking these did it occur to me that the antenna here was mismatched. Hadn't occurred to me because I like it better -- This "older" antenna came from a bundle of earlier numbered gray astronauts believed to have been manufactured in the early to mid 70s. This antenna much more complex, with its dish fitted onto the angular stem by a notch, the stem then part of the support pole. Have no clue whether the set shipped with the antenna assembled or if that was something the owner then had to do with it all spread out on the floor. Won't be taking it apart to find out.
The full "earlier" antenna dish. Looks about right.
The "newer" antenna assembly which came with the presumably mid 80s manufactured rover. It is much simplified with just a dish form and a stalk which the owner slides into place. Pointed skyward like that it just doesn't look "right", so I've been using the older antenna with the angled stem when enjoying having the rover out.
Nicely decal-ed control screen, and you have to love the US markings on the Made In China space toy.
"... You got any tunes on this thing?"
Figures left to right: Unknown Hing Fat-style in blue (obtained from a vendor in France), OMB Playset figure, unknown HK pilot, Boley "Backpack" spaceman, orange Marx Apollo astronaut from either the "Giant Martian Landing" or "Start Station 7" sets ... And it looks like they are trying to evacuate the wounded Space Chimp copy while under fire at Checkpoint Bravo during the Delta Vega Incident. So many lives lost ...
"... REPEAT: WE ARE TAKING FIRE, HAVE WOUNDED AND NEED IMMEDIATE DUST-OFF, OVER."
Boley guy takes a round which knocks him over backward, and the orange Marx dude can only watch in shock. Like the pix from that Life Magazine article about the Sikorsky chopper crew in Vietnam ... There's a series to re-create.
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