Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Unusual Apollo Lunar Module Toy, Made in Hong Kong with Parachute Jumpers: Tic-Tac Dispenser? Salt/Pepper Shaker? Random Party Favors??



I have been obsessed with the Apollo Lunar Module since the age of four and never hesitate to snag an odd re-working of it whenever an unusual variant crosses my path. This did, and for starters I am not convinced the parachute jumpers are related beyond possibly having been packaged together as party favors. Vendor had no information other then describing it as "Used" and "Vintage". The latter confirmed by being stamped Made In Hong Kong, which to me means likely 1972 or earlier, 1980 or earlier for sure.


Overall size of the LM is about four inches, the parachute dudes somewhat smaller than usual at about 1.5 inches. I especially like the ladder, the radar dish, mysterious green & blue structures, and love the American flag decal. 


Observations: 1) The parachute guys do not fit in the central "dish" section. 2) The opaque or colored pieces are all cast in softer plastic, the clear section and parachute guys in hard plastic. 3) The underside of the descent stage base as the number 2 stamped on it. 3) The ascent stage has Made In Hong Kong stamped in front of the green part. 4) The landing feet have what look to be grabber claws on their underside suggesting they are meant to clip onto something. 5) There is a central "plug" piece fitting into the middle of the descent stage's base. 6) There are no outlet channels or "shaker" holes in the ascent stage. 7) Trying to twist or turn the blue and green pieces on the ascent stage does nothing I can discern.


The parachute jumpers do not fit through the plug hole in the descent stage so again I am not convinced they belong together with the LM. Just a random "Lot", chosen for their colors perhaps. Of more interest is that I cannot see how one would extract whatever they load into the clear dish cavity other than by pulling the plug, seen under the red guy's feet. Easier just to take the top section off but then again that might have been the point: Shaking out some sort of confection like a Tic-Tac usually consumed one at a time.


Will offer that what my eyes see as "grabber claws" on the landing feets might just be protrusions meant to spike into the frosting of a cake as a decoration piece. Any thoughts are welcome in comments, and you don't need to sign in to chime in around here.

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