Hing Fat "Space Astronaut" Grumman Lunar Module + Other Vehicle Changes

[space.trucks]

 

 

This was a surprise: A used Hing Fat Space Bucket kit with its lunar lander fitted with a Grumman designed ascent stage. (No spacemen were included and those in the pix above were chosen at random from my stash.) Upon first seeing the sales listing I wondered if someone had glued a Grumman cab onto a Hing Fat lander base but no, it was meant to be there. Never seen the likes and upon looking closer at the other vehicles which came in the bundle they are significantly changed or different as well. Awaiting response from the vendor (who is not a toy specialist) asking for any info on how they came by it.

 

It's missing an egress ladder + maneuvering thrusters, and that gray antenna array is spuriously added: One dish should be right above the door, not sure about the white array (one end of which is broken off). Descent stage based on a LEM proposal by General Dynamics which lost out to Grumman. The two are mismatched but designed to be that way for this toy.

 

Ascent stage pegs into a nice pressure hole on a descent stage re-designed for the fit. They also added the rows of "rivet" bumps to every other side angle, or eliminated them from later pressings?

 

Standard issue Hing Fat landers at left & right, the one at left from the mid 80s and the one at right purchased brand new last June. Center LM rotated 90 degrees so the door is facing front and the other two show opposite sides. I know I had one of those as a kid c.1972 - 1974. Loved the thing to pieces and was always fascinated by why it looked so different than the Neil Armstrong LM.

 

None have EVA ladders. General Dynamics had proposed egress to the moon's surface using a rope ladder the crew would toss out from the top, which is where their only hatch was. Glad that didn't pass.

 

80s at left, brand new at right. The stickers on the 3 modern made LM examples I have were all factory applied and can say with certainty that my childhood lander did not have a sticker on its descent stage. Seems to have been a later addition to round out the design, and note the lack of "rivet" bumps on the two flanking descent stages.

 

The two landers using the Convair/General Dynamics design peg to its descent stage at four posts easily broken off as mine did as a kid, and are shells. The unknown Grumman based lander at middle is hollow & empty but at least had a bottom. Trade off is you can stick a spaceman into the Convair landers before clapping the ascent stage on and then rattle him around in there like a maraca.

 

Re-design to the sticker simulating technical components as well as the descent stage. They didn't just punch a hole in the middle.

 

Left mid 80s, center unknown, right brand new. The set's Lunar Rover also has extensive differences. It is wider, the seat designs are different (and more accurate), it's hubcaps have detail and it lacks the narrow extension on the front of the other two. Also note the difference in antenna design, the one at center having a more complex look with an angle, dish factory fitted in place. The other two dishes slide off for storage but have a plain straight pole.

 

80s left, brand new at right. The one at center has horizontal strokes on its rucksacks. Control yoke of the one at center has less of an upward angle. It's control readout decal matches the new rover on the right.

 

Note differences to the seats, narrower chassis at left & right, an extended forward section and different forward surface design. Camera piece's lens is also stubbier & more simplistic.

 

I really hate the Space Shuttle but even that is different. 80s at left, brand new at right. The cargo bay of the one at middle opens and its cockpit windows are cutouts rather than surface design and the surface patters on the forward nose are different. I now have six otherwise matching Hing Fat Space Astronaut shuttles and none of the others have the windows or opening cargo bay. My childhood set did not include a space shuttle or the skylab type space station which larger Hing Fat sets usually include. Just the lander, rover, playmat and figures packed into a bucket, the rover lasting well into teenage years before it was finally pitched out. None of it survived.

 

Left and right examples have two small upper nozzles for their engines, the one at center does not.

 

Easy to understand why the shuttle bay was changed to not open as it eliminates complexity in molding. And why not change the windows too.

 

Even the fonts on the decals are different. Top 80s, center unknown, bottom brand new. Isn't this exciting!!!

 

Awaiting vendor response like an expectant father, would love to learn it was a family toy set they remember purchasing. Because the set had a shuttle it can't be any older than 1977/1978. Definitely Hing Fat product & way stoked.