Archer Satellite Men Slot Hand 4" SP 1954-55 - Pt 22 (Final) Archer Satellite Men Toyscapes

This was a fun series for me to do for a couple of reasons. After a ten year hiatus in attempting to collect all six figures and the accessories that originally came with them, it was great to finally complete the collection. Also, while trying to come up with something different for the toyscape photos, I came across several graphics that helped me in that endeavor.

First of all, the interior spaceship shots were all culled from the Internet as free downloads. While I have about 30 files, only a few were printed out on 90lb cardstock so far.

For the floor or deck of the spaceship I used a tarpaper roof texture used for model railroading and laid it flat.

Admittedly, many of the spaceship interiors would perhaps look better with some kind of grating on the deck, but I have yet to find a suitable texture on-line for that. Still, the tarpaper roofing doesn't look bad.

Then, while photographing my HG Toys Buck Rogers playset (which I am s-l-o-w-l-y preparing another series of posts for), it occurred to me that the cardboard pop-outs included in the set were perfect for these Archer figures. 

There were five different backdrops in the playset as well as a nice landing strip graphic, but I chose the mountain/planet one below as the primary for the Archer shots.

For the planet surface I chose  a graphic which was included in Atlantis Models UFO Encounters toy:

The Atlantis set came with a wonderful backdrop as well as terrain graphic

I cleaned the scan with Photoshop and printed this out on 90lb cardstock as well

But I also needed a graphic for the sky behind the planet, and for that I again culled a photo from the Internet:

The terrain or planet floor is printed, as is the mountain/planet background. Using Photoshop, the image was turned into a .PNG file.

The sky at the rear of the image was the inserted using Photoshop. As the cardboard planet pop-out has a black border, the black edges were cleaned up, again using Photoshop.

I'm no graphic artist, but I do have a fairly decent eye for composition and using what I can find cheap (or free), I've been able to cobble together some worthwhile images of these vintage toys which I hope you've enjoyed! Be Blessed and Relish Life! Ed

Rob C.'s Gouache Sketches Based on My Toyscape Photos - Pt 3 LP Moon Bus

Another of Rob C.'s awesome gouache sketches based on my Toyscape photos. It's hard to look at this particular Lunar Rover from LP and not think that it's picking up or dropping off kids at Lunar High (School that is)😄 Be Blessed and Relish Life! Ed

The basis for Rob's art

Mesmerizing!

TOYSCAPES: Change for the meter

 

TOYSCAPES: Marx Lunar Rover

This Lunar Rover (or Moon Tractor, or, or, or...) from Marx would have come in their small 1/72 scale Moon Exploration playsets. Mine is missing the dome, however, our intrepid explorer is fully suited up so he wouldn't necessarily need to be in an enclosed vehicle for shot trips. The rover is all white (except for the astronaut's uniform) and is camouflaged against the white moonscape. Be Blessed and Relish Life! Ed 

As with all my artsy, toyscape posts, there are several more photos taken than what I post. Here's an example of the shots I rejected. Maybe I didn't like the angle or felt that there was too much (or maybe not enough) landscape in the photo. Whatever)

TOYSCAPES: 'LP' Brand Lunar Rover - Yellow (With and Without Stars)

Another Toyscape featuring yet another 'LP' brand lunar Rover. This is the one I refer to as the Lunar School Bus because of it's many windows and overall  yellow color (here in the States, school busses made by the Bluebird Company are standardized in an all yellow paint scheme). And again, I've included images sans stars and with stars. Be Blessed and Relish Life! Ed 

TOYSCAPES: 'LP' Brand Lunar Bubble Rover (With and Without Stars)

Well, well, well, after years of calling my little 'art' projects every name under the sun, a reader over at the Moonbase Central blog (where I have many posts featured - some even before they appear here) came up with 'Toyscapes'! I LUV IT! ❤❤ It's catchy, it's to the point, and it can be used for any subject, not just space.

Our first Toyscape entry is part of a series of photos taken a couple of few weeks back and features an 'LP' brand Lunar Rover. There are two shots provided: one without stars added, and a second one with stars. I'm on the fence when it comes to adding star detail. On the one hand, stars are a part of outer space - billions of them in fact. On the other hand, they can detract from the central focus of the photo. Anywho, what do you guys think? Be Blessed and Relish Life! Ed