I'm a big fan of these Marx Toys miniature space toy sets and have finally found some luck in finding loose bits from them. Window boxed package about the size of a shoebox with a clever folding die cut folding moon terrain "stage" onto which three figures, six terrain pieces and a soft plastic moon vehicle were tied down. Brainstorm I had for their origin was a quick response to both the success of the Apollo 11 moon landing and the Golden Astronaut toy line.
None of the elements included have anything to do with the state of NASA's Apollo Program at the time, and harken back to the Operation Moon Base era with downsized Moon Base astronauts and terrain bits worthy of OMB's incredible vacuformed Moon Mountain. Vehicle above is unique to the sets: The body of a 1960s Patton tank fitted with a revolving clear plastic dome with operator figure. Relative to the size of the figure the tank is the size of a small golf cart.
The Space Camper set with miniaturized Hill Climbing Moon Scout with Grabber Arms, a 1968 motorized toy line which went obscure very fast. Curious detail in the artwork with Marx using a round door hatch on their Lunar Module. The actual Apollo LMs which flew into space all had rectangular ladder hatches, a design change implemented by NASA in 1967.
SURVIVAL KIT CONTENTS CHECK: Eight moon craters in three sizes, two rock piles, one moon boulder, one moon vehicle remnant, three intact 30mm Marx astronauts, three damaged 30mm Marx astronauts, and one HO scale Airfix astronaut thrown in as a gimme. Outstanding.
Always fascinating. Figures are size-down from 60mm Marx "Moon Base" astronauts including the rare camera guy. Marx fabricated 35mm versions of the Moon Base astronauts for their 1963 "Mystery Space Ship" and "Space Ranger" sets but did not adapt the camera guy pose. Like those figures these 30mm astronauts were only made available via the miniature playsets, though fortunately MSS sold briskly enough for loose Mystery Ship figures to be fairly common.
These sets appear to not have sold as well and loose remnant figures of them are a rarity. More usual to find them included with a complete LEMP playset, though sadly glued to their presentation stage by collectors/vendors replicating the New Old Stock appearance of the boxed set. The result is that all of these figures have excess adhesive blobbed all over their base undersides to the point of obscuring the Marx logo. Too bad. The other loose figures in my stash with the Marx logo visible note Made In Taiwan, which is fascinating as the boxes cite Made In Hong Kong. So, were the plastics fabricated in Taiwan? Then the boxes printed in Hong Kong where the kits were assembled? Would enjoy learning more about Marx's Asian market facilities.
Simulating how the pilot figure would have been placed on the boulder, both tied down with twine. If your seated pilot figure is glued to your boulder it was done after leaving the Marx factory.
<3
The best part of this score is now having enough loose terrain bits to compare several examples side by side. And sure enough we can see just from the four in the bundle that there were two different sculpts made for the forms.
And same here, two very different castings. All then hand painted (stained?) by a Marx artist, though just where isn't clear as the terrain pieces were not logo marked.
No markings anywhere that my eyes can make sense of. All also show evidence of having been adhered to the cardboard stage then cut loose, damaging the inking. Thread holes indicate where Marx's staff would have tied the forms down with one piece of twine through a matching series of holes on the cardboard stage. Unless I be very mistaken Marx would not have used any adhesive when attaching the terrain or astronaut pieces: They intended owners to unbox the diorama, remove the toy pieces and have adventures. As bits got damaged or lost you'd just buy a new set, or so they were hoping.
The rock pile forms date back to Marx's frontier and combat sets, here cast in a creepy mottled green for an offwordly look.
Not sure about the two piece boulder's history, would be interested in learning more. Both halves are differently sculpted but shaped/sized to fit together. Adhesive gunked on the surface would not have been a Marx approved method of adhering it to the surface.
Tremendous.
Our vehicle remnant, based on one of Marx's 1968 battery operated Moon Scout or Hill Climbing Moon Grabber vehicles.
Worthy of a modest restoration effort for sure including touching up the paint. I have found visual references of the toy as originally packaged to base the effort on.
Made In Taiwan
Not My Collection
Original vehicle condition as packaged, from somebody else's collection. Note astronaut tied to boulder.
First order of business is to find some wheels. Four donor vehicles came to mind.
c.1972
They roll.
The size matches the originals (from about the same time too, though Marx had nothing to do with the helicopters) but it looks dinky, like it might tip over if it hit a bump or rock. Moon's surface is quite irregular. Not trying to "restore" the vehicle beyond its usefulness as a photographic subject. It's never going to be for sale so, let's just make it look cool, and while accurate to original state this just won't do.
CH-47 Chinook, Made in China 1990s?
Won't roll.
I like the scaling better but the axle shafts are too thick for the posts they slot into. The wheels won't roll and look uneven. Got me started on some artsy pix but they won't do, and I like my Chinook.
Junker no-name Jeep.
What a mess.
BUT ... That works, and they roll.
Better resemblance to the full-size 1968 battery operated toy.
Maybe paint the spokes silver? Touch up the detailing and that is not just "restored", it's customized.
I like it better without the wheels! Looks like something you'd find rusting away out behind the barn, or maybe sinking into a swamp. Into the "Broken Toy Bits To Be Used" box and we don't have to shop for replacement plastic Marx wheels.
Painting: Rules.
1967 LM door design, 1970 date on the box it is from. Go figure that out, let me know what you come up with.
