Putting It All Together: MPC's No. 3007 US Air Force Missile Rocket Command Playset

Soooo, since the 22nd of February I've been posting a series of nifty Cold War toys by MPC. Just like I did with MPC's 'Battle Front' playset, I dangled the carrot in front of the horse by posting the set contents one at a time before finally revealing what set they all went to. That brings us to today. This set was one of many space-themed playsets by MPC - some large, some small - utilizing their iconic ringhand figures and a host of cool toys.

Comparing the kit contents as listed on the box cover, the box artwork, and the instruction sheet, leaves the collector with some unanswered questions. First of all, as I've said in the past, there never seems to be mint-in-box unopened large MPC sets for collector's to peruse and take notes on. That leaves us with sets that have been picked over, added to, or taken from. My set included all of the main vehicles but was missing the 'astronauts' and gear, but who knows whether they were original to this box.

Before we go any further let's take a look at the set contents as listed on the box:

CONTENTS LISTED ON BOX

-Multi-Rocket Firing Skysweeper

-Mobile Rocket Launcher & Missile

-Rocket Firing Commander Missile and Carrier

-Flying Helicopter & Automatic Spring Powered Helicopter Launching Station

-3 Shooting Orbital Missiles and Gantry's

-2 Shooting Multi-Rocket Launchers & Rockets

-Command Jeep

-Astronauts and Missile Men

DISCONNECTS

The major  set components are featured quite nicely on the box artwork which helps in set breakdown but there are definite omissions and vagueness which proves that the artists simply took their artistic license with the box art or they simply weren't provided with the correct set contents by the marketing guys.

-Multi-Rocket Firing Skysweeper: What the heck is this??? MPC's instructions sheets refer to this as a "MPC Mobile Missile Vehicle with Multi-Rocket Launcher"

-Mobile Rocket Launcher & Missile: Another 'What-the'heck"? Again, MPC's instructions refer to this as "MPC Mobile Missile Vehicle with Orbital Missile Gantry & Tower

-Rocket Firing Commander Missile and Carrier. In other sets this was referred to as a "Missile Carrier" on the box cover while the instruction sheets referred to it as a "Rocket Carrier". The instruction sheet in this playset refers to it as a "Rocket Carrier" and was a staple of space and Little Green Army Men playsets.

-Flying Helicopter & Automatic Spring Powered Helicopter Launching Station: We're good here! (yay!) ALTHOUGH, while the box art clearly shows the helicopter, the launching station is obscured in the background.

-3 Shooting Orbital Missiles and Gantry's: Good here too!

-2 Shooting Multi-Rocket Launchers & Rockets: Good here as well!

-Command Jeep: This piece is totally left out of the artwork

-Astronauts and Missile Men: Arrrgh! I hate it it when they do this. First of all, the figure count is not listed anywhere, either on the box or the instruction sheets. It is somewhat implied in the artwork but as you'll notice only a couple figures actually look like something - the rest are meaningless blobs.

Sooo, here's my take on it. The artwork appears to show 3 ringhand astronauts wearing the specialized gear made for them. Okay, fine. IF I surmise (assume, guess, imply, whatever...) that MPC put a 'standard' count of 12 figures in their sets (absolutely, totally arbitrary figure count on my part) that would leave 9 'Missile Men' - aka ringhand figures with the standard G.I. gear. As for colors? Heck, your guess is as good as mine. I favor the gold colored ringhands for astronauts so that's what I photographed but they could have been any color. In fact all 12 figures could have been OD with two different sets of accessories, one set for the astronauts, one set for the G.I.'s/Missile men. I hope you've liked our coverage of this lesser known MPC playset.

Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

MPC Mobile Missile Vehicle - Olive Green SP

MPC's Mobile Missile Vehicle is a standout from other military toys of the era as a result of its chunky, squared-off look. It resembles nothing else on the scene at the time and one would wonder why MPC chose this design but after a couple of threads in the facebook hobby groups there may have been a real life inspiration for this. The first was the Antarctic Snow Cruiser built by the Armor Institute of Technology for use in the Antarctic, only one was built from 1937-39. It was a failure from the outset and basically had one short mission before being abandoned in the Arctic.

Courtesy: Wikipedia

The second was the LeTourneau Snow Train or Overland Train, essentially a semi-truck on steroids! Developed in the 1950s this design was more successful than the Snow Cruiser. Successful enough that the Army ordered a unit for testing and designated it as "Logistics Cargo Carrier" or LCC-1. Operating in a test environment from 1956-62, the tests were so successful that the Army ordered an updated version designated the TC-497 Overland Train Mk II. Construction lasted most of 1961 and it was handed over to the Army in 1962. The total train with all the trailers stretched over 570 feet! The train performed well enough but advancements in helicopter technology and design prompted the Army to cancel the program. Thanx to Mike Creek  over at the 'Bunker Talk' blog (see link on right panel) for putting me on to this!

Courtesy: Wikipedia

Soooo, if you were a toy designer in the early 1960s trying to design cool looking gear for your company's little green Army men, there's a good chance you would have known about one or both of these designs. I realize that the MPC toy is not a straight-up copy of either of these but I can't help but wonder if they were partially an inspiration for the toys. The vehicle measures 10 1/4" (26.03cm) L x 3 3/4" (9.52cm) W x 3 5/8" (9.20cm) H Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

MPC Missile Carrier

Another of MPC's iconic Little Green Army Men toys is their Missile Carrier based on...? Their imagination I guess. It doesn't matter really, it's only a toy and a cool one at that. It shares that same hard-edged, clunky, sharp-angled look as their Personnel Carrier and sports the same launcher and missile as the stand-alone missile launch pad. The sample shown here in OD is the most common although I believe some of MPC's space sets had red and possibly blue missile carriers. The launcher and missile each came in a variety of colors. The missiles were launched via a rubber band which attached to the front of the launcher and was stretched back and attached to the rear of the missile. One carefully lifted up on the tail of the missile freeing it from the launcher and it was supposed to launch. Sometimes it worked pretty good, other times not so much. My photos don't show any rubber band because, ummm, we don't use them at the house! Yup, I know, sounds funny but we really have very little use for them and they end up drying out and going brittle in this dry desert air. You may also notice as we run through this series of MPC toys that many of them have gone crooked and wonky through the years. That is the bane of plastic toy collector's and we pretty much just have to live with it. The launcher measures 7 1/2" (19.05cm) L x 3 3/4" (9.52cm) W x 2 7/8" (7.30cm) H to top of hull. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina