CENTURY 21 JR21 AND RELATED TOYS GALLERY

2010-11-24T12:16:00.001-08:00

2010-11-15T15:37:00.001-08:00

2010-10-26T15:10:00.001-07:00

Project SWORD Make A Model Book 1

2010-10-12T12:23:00.000-07:00

2010-08-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

JR21 BEDFORD VAN

2010-04-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

JR21 BEDFORD VAN

TARHEEL TALKING RABBIT HUNT SET

2010-01-30T15:00:00.000-08:00

Tarheel are more well known to us for making the US version of PROJECT SWORD toys. This was seen on Ebay US January 2010. This is the first time I have ever seen any Tarheel paperwork - check out the factory quality slip in the box. The classic 'T with kids' logo appears on the side of the box. Unfortunately I can't make out the model number on the left hand top corner of the 2nd picture down. I've seen a Marx version of the rabbit and also the rabbit described as an Easter toy made by Johnny Tarheel of Japan.

MARX MILITARY VEHICLES

2009-11-29T15:49:00.000-08:00

The MARX Military vehicles series really do remind me of Century /JR21 toys. We know that the C21 Mobile Bridge carrier is probably the same body as the Marx Tank (above top). I've noticed a similarity, albeit less clear, between the Marx Amphibious Vehicle (second from bottom) and the JR21 Missile launcher (bottom). I wonder if there is a JR21 version of the Marx Armoured Personnel Carrier (second from top)?

PLASTIC TOYS USED IN THUNDERBIRDS' CITY OF FIRE AIRPORT RESCUE FLEET

2009-11-16T15:27:00.000-08:00

In this shot from of the Thunderbirds airport fire and rescue fleet we can see that those crafty modelshop chaps have raided their local toy store near Century 21 studios in Slough! (picture borrowed from the Space 1999 Eagle Transporter Forum. Thank you.)

First up we have the tender tug

and in it's original form, the plastic AQUACAR by Marx

Next up the tender cab

and in its original toy form, which we have blogged before

but I've found what is clearly a similar toy, the ELEKTRO AMPHIBIO by SCHUCO, which came in a variety of colours

and finally the tanker car

and a similar yellow prop being displayed at Fandercon

Well it's not really a toy this time but there is a connection to PROJECT SWORD as the same shaped truck appears in the 1969 SWORD ANNUAL (there is also a slight look of the BEETLE with its heat shields up)

so stripped down of all the red paint and airport scenery a family portrait of the original toys might partly look like this

(the green DUKW-style vehicle is by Marx and has sneaked into the photo!)

Pictures borrowed from the wonderful Space 1999 Eagle Transporter Forum and VECTIS.

RAY GUIDED X-2 SPACE SHIP FROM ARTO

2009-11-05T15:43:00.000-08:00

I do love this TB2 clone, the wonderfully named RAY GUIDED X-2 SPACE SHIP. operated by use of a simple torch beam. And we thought the Internet was clever! I think the transparent green fuselage is particularly attractive and reminds me a little of that other later TB2 doppelganger, THUNDERCOP. This particular X-2 was acquired from Italy and is shown courtesy of blog reader Arto.

As for the little blue torch, it's a classic Sixties design and reminds me of the small kaleidoscope made by SWORD copyist HOVER as pictured below:

ASC SPACE PATROL THUNDERBIRD 2 FROM ARTO

2009-11-05T15:27:00.000-08:00

Here's the fabulous SPACE PATROL TB2 clone by ASC in all its boxed glory! Beautiful. From the Arto collection. Acquired from New orleans just prior to Katrina! That's one lucky Thunderbird!

And here it is out of its box as featured on the main SWORD blog.

JR21 ROCKET XL9 SPACESHIP

2009-11-04T15:35:00.000-08:00

With permission from "Toy Cellar" here are photographs from his recent Ebay auction of this utterly fabulous JR21 ROCKET XL9 SPACESHIP, a close realtive of the C21 PROBE FORCE 3. As a JR21 toy it is completely new to the blog and I imagine to most SWORD collectors. However we have seen it's clone before, the identicaly boxed and designed HOOVER ROCKET XL9 SPACESHIP. Again, the chicken and egg question rears its head, as to which came first? My own opinion is that the Hoover version did and JR21 copied/bought it and later, as part of Century 21 toys, used it as the basis for the PROJECT SWORD PROBE FORCE 3. It's a theory but does it hold water? There are so many Probe Force 3 variants and makes (pictured here in part), probably more than any other SWORD design, that it's a game of snakes and ladders working out what came when! The model number of the JR21 XL9 is 304. The C21 Probe Force 3 us unnumbered.

Below are pictures comparing the JR21 and HOOVER versions. NB. The Hoover XL9 has a rear red fin missing.

Above JR21, Below Hoover

CENTURY 21 ANGEL AIRCRAFT

2009-11-02T15:30:00.000-08:00

This beautiful specimen was recently sold on Ebay. I do love its sleek design and angular lines. If I dodn't know any better I'd say ot was one of the PROBE FORCE fleet of spacecraft in PROJECT SWORD. A real stunner. Century 21 Toys did a great job of bringing this Captain Scarlet jet to the toy shelf. Lovely box art too - the rainbow side-panel is a really attractive feature. Wonder who the box artist was? I've just thought, it has a passing resemblence to the silver jet (top of pic below) that Brains comes up with as a possible Thunderbird 6 in the film of the same name! Who knows?!

This was the informative item description: "GERRY ANDERSONS CAPTAIN SCARLET, VINTAGE CENTURY 21 TOYS ANGEL AIRCRAFT! RELEASED IN 1967 TO COINCIDE WITH THE ORIGINAL T.V SERIES, CENTURY 21 PRODUCED SOME TRULY BEAUTIFUL CLASSIC TOYS, THIS BEING ONE OF THEM, THIS ITEM IS IN VERY GOOD CONDITION AND BOXED, IT COMES COMPLETE WITH ANGEL PILOT (REMOVABLE) & ONE MISSILE, IN ITS ORIGINAL PACKING, IT IS HOWEVER MISSING ITS FRICTION DRIVE UNIT (THIS WAS ALSO REMOVABLE & CLIPPED UNDERNEATH) + 2 SMALL RED TRIMS ON BOTH SIDES ARE MISSING, APART FROM THAT MODEL IS COMPLETE, THE MISSILE FIRING MECHANISM WORKS PERFECTLY AND ALL THE SPECTRUM MARKINGS ARE COMPLETELY INTACT! ANGEL PILOT IS A LITTLE LOOSE FITTING BUT EASILY RECTIFIED AND THE BOX IS VERY GOOD FOR ITS AGE (ORIGINAL PRICE TAG IS STILL ON BOX"

Angel Aircraft pictures courtesy of Ebay UK.

007 JAMES BOND HARPOON GUN: LONE STAR AND KNOCKOFF

2009-10-30T09:52:00.000-07:00

These fabulous 007 toys, part of the spy craze that ran alogside the space craze, belong to main Sword-blog reader Ferryman. He explains that both toys were based on existing ray gun tooling with barrel and butt attachments. The Lone Star one (top 3 pics) is well known for having made various appearances as Dalek and Star Trek guns over the years. The smaller gun (with black body Ed.) is less frequently seen but its original form appears to be heavily by the Lone Star Dan Dare gun. The smaller gun has no makers name on it and simply says made in Hong Kong. The bottom picture is a comparison of both. Ed.

Awesome! Thanks for sharing Ferryman. Woodsy

JOHNNY EXPRESS CRANE

2009-10-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

Paul, Just seen your c21 blog.Topper Toys were not only available in the UK, they were made here, see the address on the catalogue below. (De Luxe in the USA had a relationship with Lines Bros who were, of course, the parent company of Lipkin/Rovex.) This unused Johnny Express crane is up for swaps or eBay once the post strike is out of the way - probably 2010 then! Best, Sean

T IN A CIRCLE GERMAN SATURN 5 ROCKET

2009-10-14T15:40:00.000-07:00

Blog reader Ferryman has sent in these great clear shots of his German T in a Circle Saturn 5 Rocket from the 60's. The logo and model number (425), top picture, appears on the underside of the rocket but not the box. There are two other versions of this toy that I'm aware of, the Apollo X and Apollo 11, made by a variety of manufacturers including T in a Circle. I remember passing one up years ago ay my favourite little vintage toy kiosk in Whitby - I dodn't know what it was at the time!

C21 MISTER SOFTEE VAN

2009-10-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

Plastic Mister Softee Van by Century 21. Yummmmmmm! From the Ferryman collection.

JR21 AIR PORT CRASH TENDER

2009-10-07T00:31:00.000-07:00

I continue to be amazed a the range of toys that JR21 made. Here we have the boxed AIR PORT CRASH TENDER. Battery operated with a flashing light. Although nothing to do with Gerry Anderson I can't help thinking Thunderbirds! Picture courtesy of super collector Ferryman.

TOPPER TOYS JOHNNY EXPRESS

2009-10-06T16:08:00.000-07:00

Ebay US

In the 1960's Topper Toys released the huge Johnny Express range of vehicles. Not a toy that I had, I'm not even sure it was availaboe outside the US? I have a recollection that this toy appeared in an episode of Thunderbirds or another Anderson TV show. Does this ring any bells?

TARHEEL NOVA III AKA THUNDERBIRD 6

2009-10-05T15:29:00.000-07:00

This the fantastic plastic 1960's NOVA III by Tarheel Industries of Tarboro, USA famous for their Project SWORD US copies.

It's one of three NOVA's that formed a series: I,II and III, II being a pink Thunderbird 3 lookalike and I a green jet similar to the Spacex HAWK.

The main SWORD Moonbase Blog covered the origin of NOVA III earlier in 2009, which you can read here. and on the Space 1999 Forum here. In short, its THUNDERBIRD 6 or at least one Brains' designs - the red craft at the bottom of the picture below. I don't think the other two designs were ever made as toys. Or?

You can see footage of Brains and the Thunderbird 6/Nova III in the film Thunderbird 6 on You Tube

(7.7 minutes in)

C21 SAM LOOVERS SALOON

2009-10-03T13:51:00.000-07:00

This beautiful and ultra rare piece of Century 21 is the Sam Loovers Saloon from Joe 90. Only 7 inches long it packs a big punch, having just been sold on Ebay for £1620! Is that a Century 21 record I wonder? I'm not after posting the usual C21 suspects from the big Anderson TV shows as there are excellent sites around already covering them. But this is so unusual it goes in! If you check the last picture you'll see the JR21 diamond logo. Pictures posted with kind permission from the Ebay seller, Toy Cellar.

C21 BRIDGE AND TANK

2009-09-30T15:17:00.000-07:00

The CENTURY 21 MOBILE BRIDGE AND COMBAT TANK is one of the less common C21 offerings. Like the Hurdler it is a straight military vehicle but it wouldn't look out of place in a SWORD fleet I don't think. I've never seen this toy in the 'flesh', the above picture of an incomplete example is courtesy of Ebay from a couple of years ago. And like the Hurdler it has its doppelganger (or origin?) by MARX in the shape of the CAP FIRING TANK and more closely the SPACE TANK pictured below, which even has the same red barrel tip shown on the box art. Odd that Century 21 didn't opt for a space theme rather than military. I do love this C21 toy though and can't wait to actually see it one day!

C21 HURDLER

2009-09-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

I posted pictures of the wonderful Century 21 HURDLER earlier in the year on the main blog. I've still not worked out what it is that the Hurdler is driving over? Bright orange glass? Lava? Since getting it I have come across similar if not identical versions by Marx, all HILL CLIMBING and in civilian and military styles.

Marx also did a realted range of HILL CLIMBING trucks such as the DUMP and the WRECKER (below). This naturally begs the question, whether Century 21 did too?

C21 VAUXHALL CRESTA

2009-09-28T16:48:00.000-07:00

Here's another beautiful Century 21 toy car, the Vauxhall Cresta from the 1960's, which was recently sold by 'verstecken' on Ebay. It has rear wheel friction drive, chromed wheels, tinted windows, lift up bonnet revealing chromed engine and is approximately 12.5cm. The model number on the box edge is 3009-1 and on the car underside is embossed 3009.

If you look at the picture of the underside above you'll notice that the toy is actually a LUCKY car! So it would appear that Century 21 simply re-boxed it and that's it! Lucky toys also had their identical own boxed version as well pictured below.

Are there any more links between Century 21 and Lucky?

JR21 MOTORCYCLE

2009-09-27T11:08:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the Spring and grieving over being knocked out of the running for the JR21 Atomic Submarine Aircraft Carrier, I purchased this unusual and diminutive JR21 piece of obscura to make me feel better! I haven't seen another of these JR21 beauties, which has the JR diamond cartouche on the underside and never seen a box. What I have turned up is the virtually identical and far more commonplace 1967 SCALEXTRIC TYPHOON COMBO, which came in a whole range of colours as pictured below. I suspect that the Scalextric toy came first and JR21 followed. Were there other JR21 colours made?

JR21 DART PISTOL

2009-09-25T13:47:00.000-07:00

Donated by Steve, proprietor of the cool Vintage Thunderbirds Toys site, this fab JR21 toy is a prize on the blog's first birthday car booty competition. Points of interest are the US Cents price tag and Sean Connery lookalike, both obviously trying to appeal to the American market. Assuming that this is from the mid-Sixties, its contemporaries on both side of the Atlantic will have been Topper Toys's popular Secret Sam Attache Case, which also had a periscope, and the Multiple Toys James Bond Attache Case. A gorgeous JR toy!

CITY OF FIRE CAR

2009-09-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

Similar to the Telsada Trans-Continental Express bloglet, this plastic Japanese Amphibious car can be found as the basis of a fire-tender in Thunderbirds (bottom picture). The toy recently featured on Ebay and sold for well over £200 (top 3 pictures), although I am still unsure of the manufacturer or indeed the name of this toy (sight of a box would be truly excellent). The transformation of the toy car, like the Trans-Continental Express, into the Thunderbirds fire-tender, Meddings-style, is once again the subject of the talented Mike Delamar's scratchbiuld thread on the impressive Space 1999 Eagle Transporter Forum. You can view the fire-tender in action at the start of this You Tube clip of the City of Fire episode of Thunderbirds:

TELSADA EXPRESS

2009-09-24T14:30:00.001-07:00

TELSADA TRANS-CONTINENTAL EXPRESS

Not JR21 or Century 21 I know, but besides looking truly brilliant and ultra modern, the Telsada Trans-Continental Express does have Anderson form. These pictures are from it's recent appearance on Ebay. I had a flutter but was quickly despatched to the rough grass as the serious bidders took over. It reached a handsome £300+ !

I first came across it here on the excellent Space 1999 Eagle Transporter Forum where a talented young modelmaker, Mike Delamar, has started a wonderful project to re-create various Anderson TV fire-tenders. If you have a spare half hour you could do nothing better than read the thread from 'scratch' to the current last page - it is a work in progress so keep checking in like me to see how far Mike has got.

It has appeared in a number of Anderson shows including this footage from Stingray The Loch Ness Monster, where it's bright yellow and transporting Stingray on its roof across Scotland! - courtesy of the indispensible You Tube (from around 6.18 minutes)!

Further pictures of the bus from an Ebay US auction November 2009

C21 DECIMAL DOMINOES

2009-09-23T15:31:00.000-07:00

This was originally posted by Jim Lewis on the excellent Space 1999 Eagle Transporter Forum. Century 21 goes educational!

C21 ASTON MARTIN DB 5

2009-09-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

Here we have the sleek and beautiful plastic Aston Martin DB-5 by Century 21. In immaculate condition it comes with a red racing stripe and friction drive. With its obvious 007 heritage it really is a cool toy. The scalextric-like box shows a red Aston numbered 1. The actual toy is white and numbered 4 so it does beg the question whether there are other colour variations out there? I wonder if the Scalextricness of this car (compare with a real Scalextric DB5 below - the white DB5 - the real Bond car was silver - was only ever sold as part of the Scalextric 007 set) ran further than its looks and along with the JR21 Typhoon Motorbike posted here were there more formal links between the two companies? What's for sure is that this is just one of a bigger fleet of Century 21 toy cars.

C21 HUFF 'N' PUFF TRAIN

2009-09-21T15:07:00.000-07:00

Keen-eyed Jim Lewis spotted this bit of Century 21 Obscura on Ebay UK recently, the Amazing Huff 'n' Puff Hill Climbing Engine! A new one on me and continuing evidence that Century 21/ JR21 spread there wings beyond the mega-toys of TV shows and comics. BTW Huff 'n' Puff is not to be confused with the 1960's US TV puppet show, HR Pufnstuf starring Britains young star, Jack Wild ( yes, the Artful Dodger no less). Not sure if it was ever shown in the UK - I never saw it. Finding it very difficult to spell for some reason, I can find only 1 toy on the whole of Ebay US, namely a flute and none on the UK site. So I assume it didn't spawn many.

Whilst watching my favourite film of all time tonight, Enter the Dragon starring the late great Bruce Lee, I came across this doppelganger of the above, this time on Ebay US and made by NASTA, 1971, battery operated, made in Hong Kong and in a large box is measuring 15 x 8 inches. I've come across NASTA before I think - possibley a plastic lorry. I'll have to look it up but for the minute I'm engrossed in Enter the Dragon! After Space and Monsters came Kung Fu! there was a time when my parent's house cellar was my dojo and I what I didn't know about Kung Fu and oriental arts wasn't worth a shuriken! I've a kwai chang cane of a collection of books, mags, comics, paper cuttings, photo's and LP's. To think, back in the early Seventies when Bruce hit the big time and Gung Fu (it's other spelling) went global, I'd have rather read Inside kung Fu or Karate and Oriental Arts rather than TV21 anyday! By the time I was a teenager and had seen Enter the Dragon, at which point I became a shaolin monk in all but name, virtually all my childhood toys had been chucked - the entire SWORD fleet including Zero X, all the Colorforms Outer Space Men (I know!), the Billy Blastoff range, the Major Matt universe, whole Airfix armies and if all that wasn't enough, a boxed Johnny Seven One Man Army Rifle. It's beyond a joke! I should have court-marshalled my parents on the spot!

JR21 TB2 POD JEEP

2009-09-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

Sidders kindly supplied these pics of his little plastic jeep from his JR21 TB2. I was keen to see whether the JR21 diamond mark appeared on the base but as you can see there's no mark at all. How about the Mole? Are there colour variations on this jeep and the mole? Any other J21 pod vehicles?

JR21 MISSILE LAUNCHER

2009-09-20T13:46:00.000-07:00

Hi Paul,

I managed to unearth my Corgi Corporal Missile Carrier after some minor excavations in my office.I thought it might be nice to get a couple of shots of the two toys together. I suspect the unusual addition of chrome wheels on the JR21 toy was influenced by this variant of the Corgi model.

Ferryman

(all pictures courtesy of Ferryman). Originally posted on my JR21 blog 2009.