2004 Schylling Flash Gordon Rocket Fighter Ship

I did say that I haven't gotten Flash Gordon out of my system yet :-)  I do enjoy classic toys, even those that are repos of classic toys like this Schylling Flash Gordon Rocket Fighter Ship from 2004. Schylling is known for their line of tin-litho toys, many of which are exact repos while others are based on vintage toys but with amendments in color or details. 

This rocket ship is pretty faithful to the original Marx version in color, size, and details. In addition to the Flash Gordon rocket, Marx made a Buck Rogers Rocket Police Patrol and others as well. The originals had key-wound motors and date from 1939 with a re-release in 1951 although the 1951 version did not have the name Flash Gordon on it nor a number '5' on the wheel nacelles. The Schylling box art is very close to the original 1939 box but with some differences in box design. For example, the lettering is slightly different, the original having a rather avante garde 'R' versus a more standard looking 'R' on the Schylling box. The original box is the typical matte finish, one-piece, light-weight cardboard used by Marx The Schylling box is quite heavy, consists of separate top and bottom pieces, and has a glossy finish. A really neat feature of the Schylling's is the short cartoon story carried out on all four sides of the lower box. The Schylling ship measures 11 3/4" (29.8cm) L x 3 3/4" (9.5cm) wingspan x 4 1/4" (10.8cm) H and features a friction motor with sparkling mechanism. My example has a couple of minor scuff marks and the sparkling mechanism no longer works. In today's market prices vary widely from ca $45 to $150. Enjoy!

Schylling Stealth Zeppelin

Today we feature the Schylling Stealth Zeppelin.  I bought this in the mid 1990's when I was converting from HO scale trains to 3-rail O-gauge and tinplate.  I was buying toys here and there, getting a feel for what I liked, and thought I would use this on a train layout someday.  Well, someday never came and I sold it to an e-friend of mine, but before I did I took a bunch of photos, some of which are featured here.  BUT it's also an example of how you can have a little fun with something even though you no longer own it.  The friend I sold it to remarked how the blue on the Zeppelin reminded him of the blue skies of his home in Mobile and he sent me several photos of the sky above his neighborhood.  Using several different programs I took one of the Zeppelin photos, rotated it to get it to the horizontal, erased-out the wheels, pasted it onto one of the Mobile neighborhood photos, and then did some more work to blend the Zeppelin in with the sky.  I sent the finished photo to my friend with a remark that, had I known it could really fly I would never have sold it!  We both got a nice laugh!  That photo is included here as well as a another special effect photo I did while playing around on the computer.  Enjoy!