The Dust of Ages, accumulated over decades of missions traversing the Sands of Time. They have survived, and so can we.
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US quarter for scale, measures about four inches bow to stern. Believed to have been on sale by late 1952 (?) No info on when production ceased but Pyro themselves were likely done making them by 1960, others may have continued. Sturdy design, well made and difficult to destroy without putting effort into it. Most vintage hard plastic space bling will crack if looked at too quickly. These look right back at you.
No mistake here: This sweetheart is for my collection and won't be fixed into some silly box artwork. But I will utilize it as a photography subject for 2d works to be printed or traced. Say with some in-scale figures and other apparatus depicting an absurd situation. Like a futuristic used car lot specializing in rockets.
Seats two in combat configuration (pilot and navigator/weapons officer) or four when converted for transport, where they have been known to do the famed Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs.
The accumulation of dust etc a hallmark of authenticity - Vehicle was almost surely an estate item which had sat waiting in storage for decades. Will give her a very respectful and gentle cleaning with a drop of dish detergent in warm water. Small sponge, no bristles.
That's what we're talking about. Waited three years to see one of those on my desk.
Image courtesy "Blast Off!", 2001
Not My Collection - One of the gold mine finds for vintage space toy collectors: Pyro's famed boxed space fleet, later 1950s. Obtaining my own far beyond current means, am content to merely gaze in awe. Our more modest rocket cars are about the size of the smaller scout ship at left.
Image courtesy "Blast Off!", 2001
Gotta show the box too. Not My Collection.
I had previously scored another version of the Pyromatic in candy apple red, this an unmarked vehicle prepared using the otherwise identica mold elements. Possibly manufactured in either Australia by Moldex or in the UK by Kleeware, both of whom (if my understanding is correct) were granted access to Pyro's tooling via a licensing arrangement exclusive to those markets. For discussion purposes I refer to it as the Kleeware ship though its maker remains unknown and it ain't talking.
Identical other than the lack of the maker's mark on the Pyro vehicle.
"Octopus Hunt" from 2019 and an example of how I use toy forms like the rocket car as photographic subjects to be printed, projected or traced. Some of the pix right here on this blog could be used for all sorts of such artworks. Above result is an 11x8 laserprint with pastel and acrylics, and it sold. Setup elements are photographed and carefully put away for another time. Those are my tools.
No Vintage Space Toys Are Harmed In The Creation Of My Artwork
Special guests for this week on Space.Trucks include the spacecraft from my incomplete but carefully hoarded stash of Tootsie Toy's "Starbase Zeus" playset from 1978. With the ridiculous but endearing "Major Mars" figure and ZOLTAN TEH HORRIBLE (my name for him) in green. A crazed android galactic villain run amok, and I am all over that dude. Only truly weak element is that the figures are out of scale for the vehicles.
Image nicked from a post on Zeus by our fearless leaders at the Moonbase Central blog.
Shrewdly assembled for release to cash in on the sudden success of Star Wars (1977) and the billions of dollars which would be generated by its subsequent toy empire. Tootsie Toy's set tanked once Kenner's more modern designs hit the shelves and is thus a collector's item in its own right. Not many survived and complete boxed sets will set you back a few weeks of lunch money. Have amassed my collection one or two pieces at a time. Missing yet is minimalist plastiform "Star Base" where they stand around in their static poses looking odd. No girl either. No wonder Kenner prevailed.
Also joining us today are a group of Golden Astronauts and other related figures by Multiple Toymakers (MT) and LP Toys of Hong Kong. First encountered them in early 2019 when first looking for space figures roughly in scale with the diecast Matchbox and Hot Wheels vehicles I was then focused on. The Golden Astronauts made for MT' space fleet toy range of the same name c.1968. The others by LP Toys' Lik Be Plastic and Metals factory, whom unless I be mistaken also fabricated the golden figures for MT.
The Saturday action at Honest Al's Used Rockets & RVs - Just west of Ganymede Station, right off the expressway by the Aerodrome. Look for the big refinery tanks, you can't miss em.
New models every Saturday -- At Honest Al's You Can Really Get Out & Kick The Landing Gear
Just happened to have the red Pyromatic out next to the Star Base Zeus ship with the figures and realized they were in the same scale, with similar design elements.
The Star Base Zeus design always remind me of Space: 1999's Eagle ships, especially the operator cabin. Which makes sense as that show was on the air when Tootsie Toys' designers would have been working on the Star Base Zeus collection. They probably watched it at their workshop.
Mattel's 2019 Hot Wheels Dream Mobile always sells.
Used rocket car salesman in grey trying to fast-talk a young couple into splurging on the Kleeware ship, which is far more powerful than their routine commuting needs call for. Some things never change.
Closing the deal. Grey dude's gonna fly it right off the lot, dust and everything. Some guys have all the luck.
UPDATE! More on my problematic interactions with Gilmark's gorgeous line of highly fragile space vehicles produced at about the same time. Click here to open in a new window for fullscreen viewing option.
UPDATE 2! Early version of the Honest Al's gag from 2021, with space truck by Archer Plastics, same era. Original idea for the used car lot name was Honest Bob's, but we have a well known watering hole here in Syracuse called Awful Al's, or it used to be. Another social satire opportunity - All manner of fun to be had with the used car lot trope.
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