The Toy House Apollo Moon Team

This delightful carded set came to me courtesy of Paul Woods (aka Woodsy) over at the Moonbase Central blog. Welll, sort of. He sent a link to the auction and I bid on it and won, but without his efforts I wouldn't have it! Many Thanx Woodsy!!! The set is from the World Toy House, a division of Telmont Corp, St. Paul, Minnesota - a firm I know absolutely nothing about. But there you have it - it's a toy from them :-) It's an interesting set with LP clones and what I call 'The Lipstick Rocket'. If you look closely at the tall rocket on the far left, it has all the appearance of a girl's fake lipstick toy re-purposed into an Apollo rocket, complete with red lipstick top!! That rocket measures 4 1/2" (11.43cm) H x 1" (2.54cm) diameter. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Montgomery Wards Miniature Apollo Exploration set - Pt 9 FINAL Astronaut Group

Yay! Finally, we're on the last installment for this set LOL The Astronauts, like the Aliens, came in painted gray soft plastic and plated hard plastic.  I had eight each of both and the hard plastic set had three duplicates. In addition, one of them was gold while the others were all silver. At the end of the post is the torso of a figure which came with my set but was probably a piece of space debris thrown in by the seller as he doesn't seem to fit anywhere else in the set. BTW, all the figures in this set, Aliens and Astronauts, have the 'LP' logo underneath the base with the exception of Mr. Torso below.

Our posts in the days to come will mostly take a break from space toys while we celebrate the the upcoming Halloween season! Enjoy! Opa Fritz

A comparison shot of LP

Montgomery Wards Miniature Apollo Exploration set - Pt 8 Alien Group

The Aliens and Astronauts included in the Montgomery Wards Moon Exploration set came in groups of painted gray soft plastic and plated hard plastic versions and measure 7/8"-1" tall. My set had six hard plastic and five soft plastic aliens. Enjoy Opa Fritz

Got a nice little factory error here. The base was never molded on this guy as the plating covers the entire piece.

Montgomery Wards Miniature Apollo Exploration set - Pt 6 Flying Group

Oh wow, has it really been five days since my last post? My-oh-my time flies when you're not having fun :-) Continuing with the Monkey Wards Apollo Set, this group is rather lamely called by me the "Flying Group" - just the miscellaneous assortment of flying vehicles that didn't fit nice and cozy into another group: the suacer on wheels, downsized Patrol Copter P3, shuttle, and small rocket ship. All of these have been had a photo essay done on them during the past couple of months so no need to reiterate right now. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Montgomery Wards Miniature Apollo Exploration set - Pt 4 Major Matt Mason Group

The eight vehicles shown in the photo below were all either copied or inspired by Major Matt Mason toys by Mattel and downsized to meet LP's requirents. As I've already done photo essays on them within the past couple of months there's no need to repeat them now. The exception to that is the Firebolt Space Cannon, which in this set came in blue. The one covered here previously on the blog was green. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Far Left: MMM Astro Trac

2nd-6th: MMM sled variants

2nd From Right: MMM Moon Crawler

Far Right: Firebolt Space Cannon

Montgomery Wards Miniature Apollo Exploration set - Pt 3 Apollo Group

I think it's best from here on in to handle the multitudinous contents of this set in groups. This group represents the historical aspect of the toy: Mercury capsule, Command Module, LEM, American flag, and two Apollo astronaut figures. The individual toys have already been posted here as photo essays during the past couple of months so I won't repeat them here. The only difference is that the Command Module/Service Module in this set sits on a stand. The carded Apollo Moon Exploring LEM did not come with a stand. My Wards sample is missing the hatch on the Mercury capsule. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

 

Montgomery Wards Miniature Apollo Exploration set - Pt 1

Next up in our look at the small side of space toys is this magnificent Miniature Apollo Exploration boxed set available from Montgomery Wards catalog in 1970-71. Monkey Wards packed a lot of play value in such a small box and managed to cram in 70 pieces according to the catalog write-up (the set is best described here on SpaceX Central). My set only has 61 pieces - 69 if you count all the radar screens, antennas, stands, or detachable pieces as separate (which is what Monkey Wards probably did to make the 'piece count' more impressive). Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Here's the piece breakout in my set:

-Paper playmat measuring 20" x 29"

-Hippo Toys Apollo Rocket with friction motor in yellow HP  

Apollo Moon Landing Group

-Mercury capsule

-Command Module on blue stand

-LEM

-2 Apollo Astronauts

-American flag

Major Matt Mason Copies Group

- Astro Trac

-5 different sled variants

-Crawler

-Firebolt Cannon

Lunar Vehicles Group

-Tracked Explorer Car w/friction motor

-Moon Transport

-Downsized Moon Prospector

Lunar Equipment Group

-Command Center

-Large Dome

-Small Dome

-Portable Comm Centr

-Portable Monitor/TV

Terrain Group

-5 pieces of scatter terrain (two are the same casting in my set)

Miscellaneous Flying Machine Group

-Saucer on wheels

-Downsized P3 type Helicopter

-Shuttle

-Small Rocket Ship

Figures

-Painted gray SP aliens 5EA

-Plated HP aliens 6EA

-Painted gray SP astronauts 8EA

-Plated HP astronauts

-Half astronaut body (driver? - extra piece?) 1EA

LP #901E Men From The Planet Earth First Set Foot On The Moon

Thanx to the packaging on this set, we know there are six sets total in this series. I was lucky enough to get this one many years ago but haven't seen any of the other sets since then. The packaging on this one is a wreck. The previous owner had taken the clear plastic cellophane and taped it onto the front of the box! Okay, I know I should have repositioned it but just haven't had the 'oomph' to mess with it yet - sorry! This set is great in that it has the Disney / Von Braun RM-1 Space Ship - one of my favorites in LP's small space toy line. It also has the small sized 'pointy tube with fins' type space ship, one of the Major Matt Mason sled variants, a terrain piece with satellite dish, and the remants of another piece which I cover at the end of the post. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

There's something broken off of this piece. By looking at the photos on the box back (which aren't that clear BTW) it appears as if there was some kind of ball or globe attached and that these appeared in the other sets as well - but to what purpose!