BARGAINS AT COMET MINIATURES, HOME OF UK SCI-FI

Mat Irvine reports:

Comet Miniatures, the London-based specialist modelling haven for all things science-fiction, fantasy, and the ‘generally unusual’, is having a ‘pavement sale’ over the weekend of April 20-22, 2012.

Changes afoot

The sale is part of a restructuring of the business, Comet’s proprietor, Tony James, tells SMN. Due to building developments locally, the main Comet Miniatures shop is having to downsize slightly, so Tony is taking the opportunity to move much of the stock to warehousing, and at the same time: “Having a hard look at what I am actually going to deal with in the future.” This means that a number of subjects will probably no longer be stocked - so it’s an ideal time to have one of those pavement sales, where some items are knocked down in price by 75 percent!   

Grab a bargain

Previous pavement sales have been popular, so if you’re in reach of London, and feel like sniffing around for a bargain, put aside Friday 20th, Saturday 21st, and Sunday 22nd of April. For many items, this could be the last time you’ll have the chance. 

The Comet Miniatures shop (above) is at 44-48 Lavender Hill, Battersea, London SW11 5RH. It’s also worth checking the CM website, link below.

Comet Miniatures at the HaMeX ‘smallspace’ show

Note also that Tony James (above) will be one of the dealers at the new sci-fi and space HaMeX model show, ‘smallspace’, on Sunday, July 1, 2012.

Visit Comet Miniatures here.

You can also visit here.

Visit HaMeX and smallspace here.

There's more...

Comet’s ‘collectibles’ window. Many items are likely to be up for grabs.

More boxes - even Batman is yours for a price.

Anyone want a Revell LaCrosse Missile, or maybe a Glencoe Explorer 1? Tony has a few, and it’s just the start of getting overspill stock on shelves.

If you’ve never been in the shop before, try and grab the opportunity before it all changes. This is part of the main shop, which will remain, but it will be shorter.

Just a few of the boxes about to be moved.

NEW BOOK FROM A FRENCH AUTHOR - 1973-2000 THE STORY OF MATCHBOX KITS

Mat Irvine reviews:

The well-known French modeller, Jean-Christophe Carbonel (otherwise known to all as ‘JC’), has produced another book for the French publisher, Histoire & Collections.

The Story of Matchbox Kits homes in on a very British subject, and those whose French may not be up to scratch can breath a sigh of relief right now, as the edition I am talking about here is printed in English!

JC at the UK IPMS Scale Model World, Telford.

History of kits

The Story of Matchbox Kits is dated ‘1973-2000’ which takes in the formation of Matchbox Kits out of Matchbox Toys, up until the name more or less ceased to exist. By then, the ‘kits’ part had been acquired by Revell-Germany, which continued to use the Matchbox name for while, though eventually the original kits were assimilated into the general Revell catalog. But the quarter-century plus during which Matchbox Kits were produced is well covered in the paperback book’s 84 full-colour pages, supported by 300 photographs. The book takes you right from the start in 1973, when the first Matchbox Kit range was shown at the 1973 UK Brighton Toy Fair, until the new millennium, when the name - for kits at least - had been virtually abandoned.

Different colours

In between these dates however, there is a vast amount of information and JC details each year’s releases, many of them illustrated with photos of the box-art. The book shows the arrival of the first AFVs in the mid-1970s, soon followed by the first 1:32 scale cars.  This was a time when Matchbox moulded its kits in multi-coloured plastic - two, sometimes three, colours. This feature brought disapproving grunts from some who thought it purely a gimmick, but it meant junior modellers could start the hobby without necessarily resorting to paint, and anyway, experienced modellers would paint them regardless, so it hardly mattered!  

Book spread with the ‘Tony James’ advertisement.

Original box-art for the Matchbox Heyford kit. It was later reboxed as a Revell kit.

Later years
The years when Matchbox’s owner Lesney bought AMT are also covered, with the incorporation of much of the latter’s range - somewhat unsuccessfully it has to be said - into the Matchbox list. Also included are some of the several double-page ads that Matchbox placed in the modelling press, including one that featured a certain Aircraftsman Anthony James - at that point serving in the UK Royal Air Force - extolling the virtues of the 1:72 scale Matchbox Handley-Page Heyford. Tony James is now better known as the owner of Comet Miniatures, the specialist sci-fi and fantasy model establishment in South London.

Built-up model of the Heyford.

The book is available at a good discount here, where it earns a 5-star reader review.

Visit Comet Miniatures here.

AIRFIX DARRACQ - AN EARLY ‘STAR CAR’

A blast from the past with Mat Irvine

Given the nature of this website, most pieces here tend to be in the ‘what’s new’ category. However, others can turn up by serendipitous coincidence, such as this example. 

Treasure chest of models

I was recently in that modellers’ gold-mine, Comet Miniatures in south London, an establishment run by an old friend of mine, Tony James. Even when I’m sure I know what’s in every nook and cranny, the place can still turn up surprises. I was rummaging about in the ‘second hand’ shop, when all of a sudden I noticed the very first issue of the Airfix 1904 Darracq from 1956, in (of course) a period polythene bag, with paper header containing the instructions. 

French car in a British movie

Why would I be particularly interested in a 1904 Darracq? Well, it was one of the very first ‘Star Cars’ - cars that have had ‘starring roles’ in movies and TV series. And this of course was the automotive star (even though it was a French car) of a classic 1953 British movie Genevieve. The film - its background the annual London-to-Brighton Veteran Car Run - was a smash hit in the UK, although the kit didn’t shout out the connection. Unlike, say, Airfix’s later Goldfinger Aston Martin, it just pointed out the link in a quiet line of text on the back of the header. 

Reissued over the years

As with most Airfix kits, the Darracq has been reissued over the years, and was later transferred into a box - the one here dates from 1975 - plus an added driver figure, although this unfortunately this didn’t match the appearance of John Gregson, the actor who played the driver. The kit didn’t quite match the movie car either, but by making a few additions, painting the correct colour scheme, and using appropriate number plates, I ended up with a more accurate, and very unusual addition to my collection.

A question of scale

There is one other factor that is not immediately apparent. The vast majority of Airfix car kits have been to 1:32 scale, (notable exceptions being the Bond cars). Consequently, although the Darracq is listed as ‘1:32' scale, it is not. In fact, the scale is 1:25, a fact pointed out by American model car expert Dean Milano, mainly as his large collection of car kits are only in 1:24 or 1:25 scale - but he added the Darracq because, as he pointed out: “It fitted in”. 

Various Airfix cars here.

Visit the Genevieve website here.

Visit Comet Miniatures here.

Visit Dean Milano here.

The pictures show, top to bottom:

1  The first issue Airfix 1904 Darracq, dating from 1956.

2  Back of the header sheet, revealing the line about Genevieve. This is almost certainly the second earliest references to a ‘Star Car’ in a model kit.

3  A later, 1975 issue, with the kit now in a conventional box.

4  However, the packaging still mentioned the movie connection, this time on the box side. 

5  A driver figure was included by now, in common with many of the original Airfix veteran car kits.

6-8  The Airfix Darracq, modified ever so slightly into a fair replica of Genevieve.

LUNOKHOD MOON LANDER - THE LITTLE ROVER THAT COULD

Mat Irvine reports
Today is the 37th anniversary of the second - and last - landing on the Moon by a Soviet automated rover, the eight-wheel Lunokhod 2, taken to the lunar surface by the Luna 21 carrier vehicle.

Following the Lunokhod 1 that landed on November 17, 1970, Lunokhod 2 performed even better, sending back more than 80,000 TV images and travelling nearly 37 km (23 miles) over a period of some four months, until it stopped working. The precise reason for this has never really been determined, but it’s thought that either moon dust covered the radiators and it overheated, or perhaps it fell into a crater - or both.

The Lunokhods (Russian for 'Moonwalker') are arguably the most delightful-looking spacecraft ever designed, fact or fiction. They actually look more as if they were created by Rowland Emett (famed for his whimsical creations) than as working scientific equipment. A Lunokhod would make a great model kit, and although none has appeared to date, there is the terrific battery-powered toy I show here, from the Russian Ogonjek company.

I’d heard rumours of a Lunokhod model kit, and as Ogonjek made kits of Soyuz and Vostok among others, it seemed perfectly feasible - but no one had ever seen one. Then a photo of the box was found, but there were still no details. Finally I managed to get my hands on the real thing, courtesy Tony James of Comet Miniatures in London. The Ogonjek Lunokhod is not a kit, but a toy, and comes with that classic ‘Russian toy’ look. It is motorised (six C-size batteries), and is ‘remote controlled’ via a stout cable - forget radio control!

The original Lunokhod 2 is of course still on the Moon, but it is now officially owned by Richard Garriott, the computer games developer and space tourist, and son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott. Richard purchased Lunokhod 2 and Luna 21 in the 1993 Sotheby’s Soviet Space Sale in New York.

The pictures show, top to bottom:
1 A Soviet-era drawing showing how a Lunokhod sat atop its Luna carrier vehicle, before rolling down a long ramp.
2 A full-size Lunokhod replica on display at the Cosmosphere and Space Center in Kansas.
3, 4, 5 The Ogonjek Lunokhod, the name applied in both Russian and English, one on each side. The box is a typically Russian item with very basic colours, made from thick, but not exactly sturdy, card.

Visit Comet Miniatures here.

Visit the Cosmosphere here.

Look at Rowland Emett's work here.