In my humble opinion, this has got to be one of the coolest toys to come out of MPC's design works back in the '60s, the 'Samson' and 'Colossus' Misisle Launc Pad. The pad is octagonal with an elevating launch rack and slots for additional missiles on either side of the rack, however all the illustrations I've seen to date show only two missiles with the assembly and not three. Although the elevation of the rack can be changed unfortunately these old plastics tend to go brittle and I have to be extremely cautious in changing anything. Like other MPC missile launchers, this one was meant to be rubber band operated - and of course there's no rubber band shown in my photos cuz, hey I just don't use them, they dry out too quick in the hot/dry desert climate. The missiles themselves are designed such that you can mate two of them end to end to form a longer missile. The top of the platform is 4 3/4" (12.06cm) W x 6 1/2" (16.51cm) leg spread, 2 1/4" (5.71cm) H to top of platform Missiles 5" (12.7cm) L. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina
You'll notice an empty missile storage slot to the left of the launch rack. Maybe MPC did include three missiles with some of their sets but I've only seen two
I thought MPC lavished a lot more detail on the underside of this unit than they did on other missile launchers
...and of course one can't have a missile platform without a place for the ringhand figures to stand. Here's a couple of MPC ringhand figures decked out in astronaut gear
Very cool as always. I like the stackable missiles to make a two stage version. Project Horizon was intended to put US Army troops on the Moon to seize the high ground from the USSR. They were going to have missiles and infantry to conduct space battles. I think of this every time I see this set.
ReplyDeleteMany Thanx Mike! Project Horizon and the USAF's Lunex Project were fascinating looks into the 'what if' scenarios of the '50s. Lots of imagineering went into those and when they were declassified many of the concept drawings went on to become reality in the form of toys! I've slowly-but-surely been segueing from MPC Army Man to MPC Space after which the next round will be more space toys in general. Stay tuned to this station boys and girls :-)
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