Operation Soap Dish: Woodsy's Home Made Moonbase HQ

Yesterday I posted a job lot of Triang/Golden Astronaut Moonbase HQ modules. The urge to re-engage with these little gems has already been on the uptick and then Woodsy over at the Moonbase Central blog started a new project using found objects to make his own version! His "OPERATION SOAP DISH: MAKING A HOME-MADE TRI-ANG SPACEX MOONBASE HQ" from found objects is a creative little masterpiece. The series is still on-going and the link will take you to the first installment. For reference, here's what he's trying to replicate, Tri-Ang's Moonbase HQ:

These were made to accommodate 1/72 scale figures and I have posted nearly all of the Tri-Ang and subsequent Multiple Toymakers Golden Astronaut range of toys back in 2020.

Here's a shot of the in-work Computer Room Module Woodsy started the series with.

Courtesy: Moonbase Central blog

Sooo, where does this all lead? Heck if I know. Stay tuned to see what we all come up with. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Unk Mfr - Moon Crawler / Excavator

Now here's a toy one would not expect to fit in with our miniature 25mm/28mm space figures as we associate them with far smaller toys, but after looking closely at this thing, it is most definitely a part of our tiny world. I hesitate to call this mammoth machine a Moon 'buggy' cuz 'buggy' it ain't :-) A large earth moving machine like this could be used in tandem with the Lincoln International Moon Explorer vehicle posted a couple of days ago. Add some of the Marx Moon vehicles out there and one would be able to piece together quite a Lunar Construction Company (a play on words, referencing Marx's 'Lumar Construction Company' playset).

The toy: 

First of all it is big: 17 1/2" (43.18cm) L x 5 1/2" (13.97cm) W x 3 1/8" (7.93cm) H to top of hull. The grabber boom extends to 9" (22.86cm) H. 

Secondly, it's a complicated, 'busy' kind of toy. 

    -There are eight sets of wheels all connected by a drive train - 7 small and 1 large set in the rear.

    -In addition there are two free-rolling bogies on the upper front of the hull. 

    -There are six separate hinge points for the wheels allowing the crawler to undulate up and down over Lunar terrain. 

    -There is a boom with scoop (having a spring-loaded grabbing mechanism) which rotates 360 and has two hinge points for accessing ground level material. 

    -The scoop can empty its load into a hinged bin which also has a closing lid

    -And of course it is battery operated, using 4 AA batteries. My sample is missing the battery compartment cover but the batteries stay in quite nice and as a bonus - IT WORKS!

The manufacturer: No clue whatsoever. There are no manufacturer marks on the toy - not even a "Made in Hong Kong (or Japan, or China, or...) and they may have been on the missing battery cover.

Enjoy! Opa Fritz

At the lower left you'll notice one of the small LP spacemen I keep to the side for comparison shots. It's dwarfed by this behemoth earth mover. I can imagine this thing being transported in many loads by a series of cargo ships to a space port on the Moon

Here's another good indication of size. Comparing the figure inside the cockpit with the LP figure, they're both pretty much the same size - perhaps the LP guy is a tad bigger but close enough for our purposes 

The scoop neatly folds into the belly of the beast

The scoop's boom will extend to 9" straight up

You really need two hands to operate the spring-loaded grabber - hard for me to do while holding the camera.

There's enough play in the boom's movement to allow it to reach ground level

 

Golden Astronaut: Resupply Misssion Pt 1

I've been wanting to do some fun photo set-ups ever since I started doing the Triang SpaceX photo essays, but just never got around to it. I've been loving all the space toy coverage over at Moonbase Central by Woodsy, Scoop, and Wotan and that has spurred me on to do a little playing of my own LOL

Soooo, here's the deal. I'm setting this series in another solar system. Why? Because that way no one can get on me about the earth not looking right, or the stars not being in the right place, or what-the-heck ever right? :-) Besides, it's more fun setting up your own worlds with your own rules and your own scenarios. Culling whatever toys from The Cave looked right for the photos, you'll see a mix of different manufacturers in the days to come.

In a Solar System beyond ours: The Outer Moons, having had minimal bases established, now require resupply from the Main Base Supply Depot. It was hard picking out favorite shots so sometimes essentially the same photo appears twice. Re-supply ships are whatever I could get to in a hurry and that looked good with the 25mm figures of SpaceX and GA.

Enjoy! Opa Fritz

I'm gonna need a crane or some other kind of rig for ships this tall

I reasoned that any hatches to load supplies in would probably be towards the front of this spaceship

It occured to me that trying to set-up a decent supply depot will need more work than just pulling out some toy train barrels, but for now this'll do

Multiple Toymakers Golden Astronaut - Stage III Moon Exploration Series Moon Exploration Center REDUX

THIS JUST IN: I got a boxed Golden Astronaut Moon Exploration Center!! YAY! You don't see these become available often so I snatched it up as fast as I could when it came up for sale LOL I still prefer calling this set-up a Moon Base and as I said in a previous post, it wasn't available as a separate sale item by Multiple (see SpaceX Central here). Instead they bundled it with the Mobile Moon Headquarters and the Moon Patrol Cricket. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

My latest acquisition came with the white large screen TV (OR given the year these were made, probably a large projection screen) and red chairs in the Mission Briefing Wing auditorium

Previously published photo of theThe Center all set up and ready for action (I left my new set in the box)

Multiple Toymakers Golden Astronaut - Stage III Moon Exploration Series Moon Exploration Center

According to Paul Vreede's excellent SpaceX Central website, there was no difference in colors or markings from the Triang SpaceX Moon Base H.Q. and GA's Moon Exploration Center, only the packaging was different. This wasn't packaged as a single toy but rather came bundled along with the Moon Patrol Cricket and the Mobile Moon Headquarters as the "Moon Exploration Space Set". So, for this post I'm going feature the some of the same photos I used from my boxed SpaceX set. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Triang SpaceX Moon Base HQ - Pt 6 Putting It All Together

This is where we put all the modules of the Triang SpaceX Moon Base HQ together. Triang used concept art vs. the finished product to show what it could look like on the Moon and the toy looks quite serviceable in that respect. At the time this was sold it was a very forward looking design and quite unusual in its concept and scope for something that was meant to be a pocket-money toy. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Here's the complete 4-module set-up.

Those red end-caps are not removable. I tried several and they wouldn't come off, which is kind of a bummer because if you do have extra modules it's harder to make one large installation.

This is why I needed to open up that one package - so that I could put together two installations, the start of a veritable colony!

I do have additional modules but no supports and no additional hubs so I'm gonna have to cobble something together - don't know when that'll be yet but I would kind of like to get it done sometime this year (yeah, I know, I'm a slow worker LOL)

Triang SpaceX Moon Base HQ - Pt 5 M.B.4 Vehicle Depot

Unfortunately I had to open up one of the packages in my used-to-be mint set :-) I needed the legs and to verify the figures which came with the set. The last module is basically the garage for whatever vehicle our intrepid Moon explorers need to park in it. However there's a catch - not every vehicle Triang made is suitable for this module! Read on to see the results. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

This is the module which conatins the package of legs and figures

Four white and two gold figures in 20mm. This came as a surprise to me because the figures which came with all the other Triang/Golden Astronaut sets are 25mm! My package also included one extra support which I badly needed to photograph two complete set-ups

One end has an opening hatch - or garage door. With the depot floor as low as it is to accomodate a vehicle this is not a two-story module per se.

Triang really didn't make a lot of vehicles. The Forklift and Mobile Moon HQ obviously wouldn't fit in this, and the Cricket (shown below) is too long - the door won't close.

The MEV-2 looks like it fits...

...but the reality is the wheelbase is too wide and wouldn't allow it to actually roll inside. You have to take off the clear dome and place the MEV inside in order for it to work.

The Tractor T-5/Terrain Tiger is the only vehicle which fits without any problems