Back in 1971, as the excitement of the Moon landing was starting to pale and the Apollo missions had almost become routine, the toy industry was still very much engaged with producing items to take advantage of the hype. Model makers Airfix had been making aircraft kits for decades and had recently moved up a gear by making models of the Lunar Module, Saturn 1B, Saturn V rocket and the Sikorsky Sea King Capsule retrieval Helicopter.
The Lunar Module kit came complete with a circular moon surface base and two small figures of Armstrong and Aldrin. Airfix later used the molds for these figures to create a full set of Apollo era astronauts for their polythene 1/76 scale figure line.
Besides the two classic poses, Airfix went several steps better and included vehicles along with several new figure poses.
In each box, there were a range of figures, along with two small kits of the Lunar Rover, a pair of flying platforms and a dual seated lunar excursion vehicle.
Maurice Alward had covered the three vehicles in the Daily Mirror Book of Space, an excellent annual sized volume, which had appeared in 1970 and included a wealth of information on projected and conceptual vehicles.
The Flying Lunar Excursion Experimental Platform or FLEEP and the individual Lunar Platform were designed by Bell and tested at Langley Research Centre with the intention of extending the range of exploration of the lunar surface.
The Lunar Roving Vehicle was eventually used on later Apollo missions , but the cost of development of more exotic forms of transport and the reduced interest in extended missions beyond Apollo 17, meant that other forms of transportation never made it beyond the drawing board.
Airfix FLEEP is loosely based on several different concepts of the platform and is a very simplified but recognisable facsimile. It is a three part kit and like the rest of the series, made of a semi-flexible polythene like plastic.
As its flexible, it makes the models difficult to paint, as without special priming and sealing, the movement in the plastic can cause the paint to peel and flake.
The Bell Flying platform is composed of four parts, the stand, two ball shaped fuel cells and the control stem. An astronaut figure clips on to the stand.
Moulding for all the figures and parts is - as always - excellent, with great detail, even on the small parts. The only down side is excessive flashing from the sprue.
The Apollo 11 posed astronaut from the Lunar Module kit had a special decal to apply to the flag, but the figure set leaves that detail up to the modeller.
The second figure taken from the kit reflects the classic shot of Aldrin on the surface, taking a step on the moon. It can also be used as Armstrong descending the ladder of the LEM.
Another classic astronaut pose, with the figure holding a camera or recording device, looking suspiciously gun-like and echoing the early fifties spacemen toys, with rayguns in hand.
The two Lunar Rovers are again, much simplified versions of the rover, with two seats and a control stem. Each rover has two seated figures.
Contemporary with other famous classic space toys, the Triang Interspace miniature range, which came with a golden astronaut in a Mercury era type suit, the Airfix figures look clumsy in comparison, but are a similar scale.
Airfix reissued the Astronaut set in 2019, as part of the Vintage Collection - producing them in white plastic, as opposed to the cream. A large One Small Step For Mankind boxed kit was also released, with an extended moon scape base, the LEM kit and the Astronauts.
