Cape Canaveral Rocket

I need a break from the Civil War so here's a quick post of a real nifty find, the Cape Canaveral Rocket on bubble card. The maker is unknown as there's is no markers on the packaging. The back of the card is blank and I can't see any markings on the toy itself, but it does have the 'feel' of a 1960s ('70s ?) era toy, but I could be wrong. While I have no problems opening up bubble cards wherein the plastic 'bubble' is attached by staples and can be re-attached, this one here is glued on and so will remain in its packaging. I sure would like to get a loose version of this one day. As a collectible it can appeal to a variety of collectors like space, Cold War, Air Force or airport enthusiasts and more. Enjoy!

Marx Toys, Inc Cape Canaveral ARDC 'Orange Top' Building

In 1960 Marx introduced the first of three 'Red Top' Cape Canaveral buildings in its new 'Atomic Cape Canaveral' series of playsets. The building gets its name because of the red plastic roof platform having a central flagpole and several antenna's. After Marx folded, the new company founded by Jay Horowitz, Marx Toys, Inc., started re-issuing the old classics. One of these re-issues was a Cape Canaveral playset complete with a new and revised tin-litho centerpiece building. Above the door on the front of the building is the Air Research and Development Command (ARDC) shield just above the words 'U.S. Air Force Missile Test Center'. Just above the rear door is written 'Air Research and Development Command'. The building is topped by the same platform but this time in an orange hard plastic. My set was missing the U.S. flag which normally would have graced the central flagpole. The original Marx sets would have included a tin-litho flag, but other New Marx sets which had flags, used paper instead.

This building has one major design change from the original Marx in that the edges of all three building sections are rounded, not having the sharp, squared-off edges of the originals. This is typical of New Marx buildings and I call it their 'breadbox' design versus the 'shoebox' design of the originals. Another very interesting feature is the way in which the three building sections are joined together. They've simply taken the pegs normally used for the 'Alamo' playset building and walls, and used them as fasteners to join the Cape Canaveral building sections!

The fence sections are totally re-designed in this set as well. The graphics are every bit as good, but the sections are shorter and higher. I personally like the taller fences better than the originals.

Overall the set is quite nice and pretty faithful to the original and the tin is quite nice as well. Hope you enjoyed this overview!

The building components are nested in a small box

The same type pegs used for the Alamo walls are used to hold the building components together

Looking in

Looking out

At top is an original Marx fence. Compare in size to the Marx Toys, Inc. fence on the bottom.

Marx Cape Canaveral Tower Building

Today on Marx Monday we're going to continue with the Marx Cape Canaveral buildings. Last time we looked at the 'T' style building but today's featured building is referred to as the 'Tower' building and was released in 1959 following on the foot heels of the 'T' building. As Canaveral buildings go I consider this to be a lackluster addition to the line and just a re-hash of the Rex Mars/Tom Corbett building. For my money, the earlier 'T' building had more style and had a niftier mid-century modern feel to it even though it's the exact same stampings as the tower building, the use of the stanchion and and radio tower gave the 'T' building more stylistic 'ooomph' . However, this is exactly the kind of thing Marx did best - reutilizing existing tooling to get the most bang from their production costs and now it allows us collector's to seek out all these different variations. My example is a little rough but not terrible. In addition to the building the Marx Cape Canaveral playsets included several pieces of tin-litho 'chain-link' fence to surround the compound. An example is pictured here as well. The Tower building would last until 1961 when it made its last appearance in the Wards #4535 Deluxe set. Enjoy!

Interior left wall

Interior front wall

Ceiling

Interior right wall

Fence section 'looking in'

Fence section 'looking out'