Thursday, November 27, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Meet the Martians
Project Orion with Orion Capsule
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Is this a science fiction movie?
The above photo is a group photo of all the action figures I've bought so far. The play set is from Swine Trek of the Muppet Show. Everything in the photo is just raw material for the construction of props for the movie.
Is this going to be a science fiction movie or a family drama with science fiction as set design?
A New Playground
The above photo shows the scale of the Atomic Toy Spaceship as Major Matt Mason stands in front of a cardboard barrel that will become the engine of the over sized toy.
Every movie project is a new playground. I've already spent too much of my own money on this production or should I say the concept stage of a movie. I don't know if this concept will work but doing something different is what I'm all about.
A father and son dealing with grief by creating a strange oversize toy.
Atomic secrets.
The dream of going to Mars.
Bullying both in the adult world and the child's world.
I push forward with four books as a guide.
1. Mars on Earth by Robert Zubrin
2. Project Orion by George Dyson
3. The Millennial Project by Marshall T. Savage
4. Floating to Space by John Powell
Monday, November 17, 2008
The Return of Major Matt Mason
Today I received my second Major Matt Mason figure. My collection will soon be complete but this lone figure without a helmet has some meaning for me as I try to recapture my childhood.
My collection will be a modest one and by complete I mean enough MMM toys to build the props I need for my movie projects.
The above scan shows the good Major as he arrived back into my life all wrapped in bubble wrap.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Father and Son Astronauts
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Mission to Mars
The above drawing is based on the illustration on page 242 of the book Project Orion by George Dyson.
All the drawings on this blog are going to be crude free hand sketches. I am building the Atomic Toy Spaceship as a prop for a movie I'm writing about bullying. I want to finish this prop as soon as possible and not waste too much time drawing it.
This is a drawing of the Mars Atomic Spaceship designed by General Atomic for NASA in 1963-64.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
My entire Major Matt Mason collection
The Second Crew Member
Little is know about the second crew member. I found him on a shelf in my garage.
I believe he came in a bag of construction toys from a thrift store in the late 1980's.
I dub him Robonaut One and he'll be getting a new face.
John Eaton of http://www.wildtoys.com fame has identified the above toy as a Mattel Tog'l Fireman.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
The Third Childhood
My favorite toy was as a young boy was Major Matt Mason. After I became addicted to ebay and seeing all of the toys of my childhood for sell, I decided to collect a few toys to feed my third childhood.
My first childhood I played with Major Matt Mason toys on the plains of imaginary moonscapes.
My second childhood was the joy of being a father to two sons.
My third childhood began with the birth of my two grandchildren, seven weeks apart.
When my first childhood was coming to an end I read in a magazine about an atomic powered spaceship that was designed by a company called General Atomic for NASA in 1963-64.
I wrote to NASA asking them to send me information on the spaceship fueled by atomic bombs.
I didn't know the Orion Project had been cancelled by the time I wrote NASA. I was sent some general information about the Apollo Program.
After seeing what the prices were for Major Matt Mason toys on ebay I knew with my limited budget that my collection wouldn't be very impressive. I decided to have a single theme for my Major Matt Mason collection. After looking at different modified Major Matt Mason toys, I set my theme on building a Project Orion space ship to scale of the MMM figures.
After losing several bids to buy MMM vintage toys I decided to use other action figures as the eight person crew. At the time of the writing of this post I had lost a bid for a Moon Base.
The core of my spaceship was going to be based on that toy moon base. Now I'm going to scratch build most of the ship.
The above photo is of a MMM orange girder from the moon base and the first member of the crew, Selphie Tilmitt age; 17, Hieght; 5'2", Birthday July 16. This Final Fantasy VIII figure will get a new paint job and have her arms put to her side.
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