It's Friday and I still don't have a mid-week post. I decided it was time to cover one of my most recent acquisitions before it got any deeper into the backlog. It's my biggest score yet, and in theory the one that might actually be useful for my current projects. Here is the Marx Cape Canaveral building, and it is even more awkward than it looks. To kick things off, here's a pic from the back.
Now for the backstory, this is a tin litho building introduced with the Marx Cape Canaveral playset, first released in 1958. It based on a similar structure included with the Tom Corbett/ Rex Mars playsets (see my "revisionist" post on same). The big change is that it incorporated an "overthrust" split-level extension that stretched in front of the rest of the structure. It also included a spire introduced with the very popular and now very expensive skyscraper playset released in 1957, plus a pylon piece to support the front of the extension. Of course, the latter was missing from my item, and I will be going into just how important that is momentarily. Here's a few more shots of this thing from multiple angles.
Now for this item, it came in two parts, the main building and the extension. I knew from pics of complete and unused sets that they would have come as three separate metal sheets that kids were presumably expected to fold by hand, one big one for the main structure and two for the extension. From inspection, I had no doubt that it was assembled and played with in the "vintage" period, based on both its obviously "used" condition and several minor errors in assembly. The spire was already attached to the extension, along with two other pieces. However, it was evident that the two parts had never been connected. I suppose they might have originally come from entirely different sets, though the condition of both is quite consistent. I made the fateful decision to complete the assembly, which quickly revealed two things. First, this was never intended to be disassembled. Second, without the above-mentioned support, this thing will not stay upright by any means short of putting it directly against a solid wall or surface. Here are a few detail shots.
The oddest detail here is that there are two plastic accessories on top of the extension that I have not seen on any other specimen. One is clearly the base of the spotlight in the previously-covered
space accessories, a fact I confirmed by actually attaching the top part. The other might be the base of an item usually referred to as an antenna that I maintain looks like a lamp. At first, I accepted these as attached at the factory, until I reviewed photos of other specimens. I'm still not satisfied that this was simply something a kid would have done. These are attached very solidly, enough that I am sure any attempt to remove it would end in serious damage. (Okay, I started to try.
Once.) That leaves the spire, and here's one more shot of it.
Now this is very possibly the most amazing thing Marx ever made, big enough to be a retro-future tower all on its own. I had spent a good deal of time trying to get hold of one before I found the actual building on sale. By my best measurement, this is just under 5 1/4 inches tall. It would originally have been even taller thanks to an antenna that apparently had a 99.9% casualty rate in the wild. The grime alone on this one leaves no reasonable doubt that it is indeed a vintage item. This one was clearly repaired at some point, yet still ended up shorn by the time it got to me, which is really saying something if it was done at the same time and with the same materials used to attach the accessories to the roof. (Definitely be suspicious of anyone offering an "original" with the antenna still on.) I investigated whether it could be removed, before and after assembling the building, but as with most things here, this was just not meant to be taken apart. It's held in place with two tabs that can be reached from below, which might come loose if pushed or squeezed. However, I suspect they would be just as likely to break off.
That leaves the question, how well does this work with the Marx figures? Of course, I investigated that, after cleaning out the interior very carefully. What I found was that it is seemingly sized for a range of figures, without fitting any especially well. Here's a pic with the figures it would actually have come with, the already repurposed 45mm Air Force figures sighted briefly in my
Robby the Robot revisit, plus the original
Tomy wind-up bot.
I confirmed that the box is tall enough to hold two of the little guys one above the other quite comfortably, which would make for something like a 12-foot ceiling in scale. And here it is with a
70 mm Space Guy and the reissue Tomy bot, plus a few very futuristic accessories.
This also gave me my first look at the very fine litho backdrop, recycled from the Tom Corbett sets. It's a very good backdrop. The obvious problem is getting any light into the back. There's also some odd details, especially the doors. At 70mm scale, they look more like lockers than functional doors. Even at nominal 45mm scale, they look odd, still a little on the small side for a door but big for anything else. Here's a reference pic with both sizes. Wow, that is dark.
I decided to see if I could hit a middle ground, and decided to try the 60mm astronauts. It's not a bad fit, but not a lot better. In any case, it's clear why Marx had phased out the Tom Corbett look.
This further convinced me that what will really help people who want to do what I do is a print-yourself template for the structure, ideally scanned from one of the unassembled flat plates still out there. Then one will have the freedom to choose lighting, backgrounds and even scale. There are already enough images out there that one could probably put together a composite, but it would still be preferable to have a single image freely offered rather than collectors swiping from each other. For now, we live and learn. How about one more pic?
"I'm mysterious. Also a mystery, why we don't have overhead lighting..."
That's all for now, still more to come!
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