Sunday, September 27, 2015

Hot Wheels In Spaaaaaaaace!!!

Hello again from the World O' Blogs where I get to write about pretty much anything I want to! This week, we are going to focus on another one of my collections; Hot Wheels! Now, although I have tons of the little spectro-flame red lines fron the 60's and 70's, we are going to look at a more rocketry related item (aren't you glad I got around to rockets?)

In 1998, John Glenn returned to space on STS 95. The Mattel company saw fit to honor him in that same year with the "John Glenn, Great American Hero Action Pack." I, of course, just had to snag one as soon as they came out!

Now to those of you who thought Hot Wheels just did little cars, may I point out that they have done planes and even spacecraft before (which makes the whole "wheels" thing a little weird) so this pack really wasn't as strange as it may sound.

The Action Pack comes with not one, but three Glenn figures (Astronaut Glenn 1962, Senator Glenn, and Astonaut Glenn 1998), the Mercury Friendship 7 vehicle, and the Space Shuttle Discovery. It also comes with a "U.S. Spaceflight" booklet, but I have no idea what it says because I've never opened it.

So, here are the pictures of my unopened Action Pack:






If you want one, you can find them on Ebay for about ten bucks, including shipping.

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!
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3 comments:

  1. ChuckAugust 21, 2016 at 10:37 PM

    I commemorated John Glenn's second flight with a series of launches of my 1983-ish vintage Estes Nike-X. The ejection charge didn't unseat the nosecone on the last launch and I got to watch it plant itself nose-first into the ground. Fortunately, the ground was soft and I got away with some very slight crumpling along the top edge of the body tube, but I was worried about losing a favorite, 15-year-old model and decided to retire it from active flight status after that. Kind of like John Glenn.

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  2. ChuckAugust 21, 2016 at 10:52 PM

    And to add a bit to the story as it relates to you and DARS - that launch series happened while visiting my in-laws in Plano. We were moving overseas and the rocket just happened to be in the car, with the idea that we'd leave it at my parents' in Ohio rather than risk letting the movers damage it.

    I didn't have a launcher, engines, or igniters, so I bought a battery box, wires and alligator clips at Radio Shack and picked up the consumables and a piece of metal rod at a Hobby Lobby. Improvising my own launcher was half the fun.

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  3. AnonymousAugust 22, 2016 at 7:00 AM

    A true rocketeer will always find a way! Great story, Chuck!

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