Moonbase accessories
Most of the stuff used was originally 1952 era Tom Corbett gear. In the ten years after that, Marx came out with Cape Canaveral and Operation Moonbase. The really neat Tom Corbett stuff was still used, but new equipment was made, with an updated look to the future. These new accessories were of very good quality and made of polyethylene, or soft plastic. The Tom Corbett stuff was Polystyrene, or hard plastic. Odd thing was that when the Tom Corbett stuff broke, it couldn’t be repaired with the standard model car cement in common use in those days. What ever the plastic was made of, it wasn’t ordinary “Model Car” polystyrene. It may have been Bakelite.
Be that as it may, the problem with the soft plastic Marx stuff, from figures to accessories, was that sometimes the plastic got dry and brittle and broke into pieces. There was nothing you could do about that, in spite of the rumor I heard that there was a silicon spray or something you could treat them with. When the plastic starts to crumble, all you can do is put them someplace somewhat safe and watch them turn to dust.
Nobody, to my knowledge, is producing these accessories.
Heliacal Antenna
Cape Canaveral/operation moon base
1/32. This is a 4 piece model of an actual tracking device used by Nasa. Its an amazing prop, and useful any where. It rotates 360 degrees but does not elevate. To avoid damage it is recommended it be disassembled completely before stowing. The one I got in Star Station Seven in 1978 was damaged by the right antenna mount being broken. Marx quality control was slipping.
Dual Dish Antenna
Operation Moon Base
1/32-1/72-1/144, Based on an actual ranging and altitude radar set, this piece is just one big plastic part. It doesn’t move or rotate, but that’s a plus because it is very sturdy for that reason. A good prop, for the top of buildings or out in the boonies by itself. Lots of uses.
Escape Capsule Recovery Unit
Operation Moonbase
This thing is odd. It looks like a marker buoy. Its apparently an emergency shelter or even an escape pod from a rocket ship. Its got hatches like a sub and a tank, and a big antenna mast in the middle. The mast is removable, and these things look like they can be stacked. A great prop with lots of potential.
Signal Blinker
Cape Canaveral/Operation Moonbase
1/32 or any. This gizmo had a spring loaded flasher part in it with a piece of paper that had alternate red and white stripes. On the back of this paper was morse code. In theory you could send messages to a friend across the room. Made of two pieces, the flasher and the full stand, it did not rotate or elevate. This kind of made up for the Tom Corbett clicker in the original Corbett set. The clicking must have driven parents crazy as it was removed from future sets. This little communications device is a good prop, and useful anywhere. At the very least you can learn morse code with it.
Solar Battery
Operation Moonbase
Solar Batteries were in the infancy stage in 1962 and thought they could do anything. This 3 piece prop can rotate 360 degrees and elevate the same. It’s a very good piece, but not very inspiring. When I got my Star Startion Seven in 1978 the only thing I got for the solar battery was the base.
Space Station Tower
Operation Moonbase
1/72 or smaller. Originally designed to sit atop the Moonbase Plateau, it had pins on it’s base to fix it in place. In later sets these were removed. There was a crank and a shaft inside the tower that could make the wheel like space station rotate in a circle. It was pretty cool. By itself the tower can hold its own so well that to avoid problems with the Child Safety Laws they removed all the mechanical parts from it. It makes a good base on the moon or mars. You can stick a wire in the top and put the space station on it and it’ll look okay.
Space Station
Operation Moonbase
1/144 or smaller. Very interesting prop, and useful as the link between Earth and the Moon. Too small to use astronauts with usually but good enough for the rockets to dock with. Has a hole in the bottom for the wire shaft that used to link it with the tower. They tried using it as a space ship in Star Station Seven by turning it upside down and having the pods used for landing gear. Kids didn’t buy that idea. It’s a space station. We use it for that.
Von Braun pictured a wheel like moonbase that rotated to give a feeling of artificial gravity. This idea was used in numerous TV shows and in the iconic movie “2001, Space Odyssey”
The Marx Space Station appears to be similar to this one used in the “Men Into Space” TV series.
But like most things, the ideal didn’t match reality and instead we got tinker toys in space and instead of scientific breakthroughs we got more “Global Warming” studies and tripe. And they wonder why kids have pretty much lost interest in the space program?
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