Premier Plastics introduced these space ships in the early 1950s in hard plastic, first as 'Flash Gordon' and later as 'Supersonic Aces'. There were two major variations of the 5" (12.7cm) hard plastic ships which I call Darts:
1) with a platform for spacemen to stand on2) without a platform.
Today's photo essay will cover the 'with platform' version - what I have termed version 1 (v.1). All of the spaceships, regardless of size, came in a variety of colors but the 5" Darts had other variations as well in regards to number of windows behind the cockpit, hard plastic vs. soft plastic, with wheels, without wheels, tall struts, and short struts. So for those of you taking notes:
5" Hard Plastic Dart v.1
- Made by Premier Plastics
- Platform over rear engine nacelles to accommodate spaceman
- 7 windows behind cockpit
- Tricycle landing gear arrangement: front strut, with 2 free rolling wheels under wings
- May have a backward #2 under the fuselage
Other installments in the series:
Premier Plastics & Knock-off Flash Gordon Space Ships – Pt 1
Premier Plastics & Knock-off Flash Gordon Space Ships – Pt 2 9" Hard Plastic Dart
Premier Plastics & Knock-off Flash Gordon Space Ships – Pt 3 9" Soft Plastic Dart
Premier Plastics & Knock-off Flash Gordon Space Ships – Pt 4 9" Hard Plastic Wide Body
Now, on to the pics. Enjoy!
Here's a gray version of the 'with platform' ship
(the background I use is a flat black but because of the lighting and camera color rendition many of the photos make it appear blue)
There is no '#2' engraved below fuselage
Notice the backward #2 under the fuselage between the rearmost windows. Also notice the stiffeners added between the windows.
Here's a silver color variation.
Often times kids glued the spacemen to the wings - made life easier when trying to fly to other planets!
Obviously this photo was taken with a different background :-) but notice the backward #2 under the fuselage between the rearmost windows. Also notice the stiffeners added between the windows.
