LP #205 Space Exploring Set

Until I get around to photographing the next series of figures, let's stick with the space theme for the first post of the day. Over the past couple of year's I've managed to latch on to several nice sets by LP. LP is still in business today and its official name is "Lik Be Plastic and Metal Factory of Hong Kong" and they produced the first Tri-ang Spacex figures. They also had their own line of really cool miniature space toys that have shown up here on the blog a few times. Unfortunately, over here - and in a toy poor town like Vegas - they're harder to find than fresh unicorn snot! Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Here's a rundown of the few sets I've posted so far:

LP #704A Space Exploring Set (blogged October 2015)

LP Space Exploring Set #704B (blogged September 2020)

LP #901E Men From The Planet Earth First Set Foot On The Moon (blogged September 2020)

Today's Set:
LP #205 Space Exploring Set

Astronaut: 50mm 

  Alien: 50mm

Dome: 1.25" (3.17cm) dia

Major Matt Mason knock-off Moon Walker: 2.5" (6.35cm) L 

Mercury Capsule: 2.25" (5.71cm) L x 1.5" (3.81cm) W x 1.25" (3.17cm) H

The astronaut has painted details while the alien is nickle-plated.

The Montgomery Wards Miniature Apollo Exploration set (blogged September 2020) had a multitude of LP products including the MMM Moon Walker and small dome. I believe the small dome was intended to represent a much larger dome structure often depicted in moonbase artwork. However, the toy is so small that it works better as maybe some kind of instrumentation pack or radar dome, or whatever.

Imperial Toy Apollo Moon Exploring Set No. 304G

Here's a nice toy representation of the Mercury capsule. After all, without the Mercury program we wouldn't have had an Apollo program but it's a shame that Gemini capsules were not a part of this Imperial Toy line-up because as re-sellers, they relied on LP's output which apparently didn't include Gemini. Oh well, can't go back and change things. But now I wonder: was there a small scaled Gemini capsule made by someone (anyone!) back in the day??? The three sets below show two different colored capsules: red and blue. The set included 1 figure, a down-sized Moon prospector and of course the Mercury capsule in either red or blue (those are the only two color variations I'm aware of). Enjoy! Opa Fritz

These two packs show the diffrent - and random- figure poses which could be included

The AME Prospector measures: 2 3/4" (6.98cm) L x 2 1/8" (5.39cm) W x 1 3/4" (4.44cm) H

Okay, I put the satellite dish on wonky. I didn't want to force it and break something :-)

The original concept for these "Explorer" type vehicles was of a much larger vehicle as shown here on SpaceX Central. However, as an unmanned explorer, these things can be any size whatsoever and can be programmed for use for a multitude of purposes.

Mercury Capsule: 2 1/4" (5.71cm) L x 1 1/2" (3.81cm)W x 1 1/4" (3.17cm) H

They didn't do a very good job of mating the two halves did they!!??

Marx 54mm Astronaut Update - Mercury Capsule Complete - Red Seated Astronaut

While posting the series of Marx 54mm Astronauts I made mention of not having a complete Mercury capsule. Got one now! :-). Mine was missing the bottom cover which had the booster rockets. The seat is a separate insert from that. The photos here show the capsule with the red seated figure of the type that came with the Marx Carry-all Cape Kennedy (which I had but sold off a couple of years ago :-(   As you can see by the photo below the small loop at the top of the capsule was meant for a hook from the helicopter to engage. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

LP Space Exploring Set #704A

Today is a large post, a year in the making. Over the past couple of years the small space fleet has been expanding with Triang SpacEx, Imperial Apollo Moon Exploring, Multiple Toys Golden Astronaut, and other series. These date generally from the mid-'60s to the seventies. I s'pose a more in-depth treatise is due but as always the blog is photo-intensive, letting the pics tell the story. Today we got lots of pics! This set is from a company called 'LP' out of Hong Kong and I acquired last year, slowly, ploddingly, inexorably working on the photos until I was able to put the finishing touches on it today. After calling for help from the gang over at Moonbase Central it turns out that 'LP' has a ton of sets. I have one hahahaha It's funny but when I was saving all these pics I misspelled 'Exploring' and it came out 'Ezploring' - new word! So if you save them just blame my poor typing skills when you see the file names.

Okay, without further ado here's a plethora of photos for you to peruse. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

The original insert

Here's a Photoshopped version you can use as a backdrop for your projects.