A few years ago I and my family took a trip on the
Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. This is a Narrow Gauge train line that runs from Hythe all the way out to Dungeness and runs a selection of vintage steam locomotives. Along the way there's a small museum featuring a model railway and a selection of old toys. Amongst the latter I saw these two classics, both of which I had as a kid.
The metallic green spaceship at the top is an
Interceptor from the TV series
UFO. These were made by
Dinkey Toys between 1978-80 and featured a front firing black and yellow missile with a loading spring located on the underside. Recently a mint example, in its box, sold for £132 on eBay!
The model at the bottom was one of my absolute favourites. Its an
Eagle Transporter from the TV series
Space 1999. This was another Dinkey toy in 1/110 scale. The pod (missing in this example) was detachable and there were several different types to collect.
I had the SPV, the UFO interceptor and the shadow ground defense "tank". Excellent toys which took part in many a battle even after the missiles were long gone, shot into the depths of the garden. The one thing that was annoying with the Shadow "tank"..no backdoors so you could load troops in..
ReplyDeleteCheers
paul
My God! Space 1999! That's really an oldie... and also me!!! It was on of my favourite in the late 70s if I'm not wrong when there was no real choice and only 2 TV channels in Spain (and only working from midday to midnight)
ReplyDeleteI had a Shadow 2 as well - great stuff; loved the way the top flipped over to reveal the missile launcher :D
ReplyDeleteJ had all these too. .. The Space 1999 Eagle was my favourite too. It was so cool! UFO was one of my all time favourite Sci-Fi series. Remember Col. Strakers car with the lift up doors? Man was he one cool dude.
ReplyDeleteYeah a trip down memory lane... I had the 1999 transport, my mate had the other two... Interesting that these toys being made of metal are still useable 30+ years on, yet all the plastic crap kids toys are made from now, only last a year or two before they get busted and consigned to the rubbish... or scratchbuild material for Sci-fi / VSF stuff... ;-)
ReplyDeleteI had both of these too, they must still be in my Dad's loft, at £132 I'll have to dig them out!!
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