SCALE MODEL NEWS

SYLVIA ANDERSON, CO-CREATOR OF THE famed Thunderbirds puppet series, has died aged 88. She was best known for being the voice of Lady Penelope, one of the show’s star names. Sylvia Anderson was a producer and writer, and created the Supermarionation puppet series with her husband, Gerry, who died in 2012, aged 83. As well as speaking the lines of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward in Thunderbirds from 1965-68, Sylvia Anderson also worked on other puppet series, such as Stingray, Captain Scarlett, and Joe 90. Lady Penelope’s car of choice was the futuristic six-wheeled Rolls-Royce FAB-1, driven by Parker, her chauffeur. Click here for more information on Sylvia Anderson. Click here for Thunderbirds at SMN.

WE MOSTLY THINK OF MODELS as miniature versions of the real thing, 1:72, 1:48, 1:87 and so on. Well, every now and again, the models get their revenge and make it the other way round - from small-size original to full-size 1:1 realization. SMN report: Here we feature the Thunderbirds movie from 2004, which featured some full-size versions of Gerry Anderson's miniatures from the TV puppet series. The video ( below ) not only shows a number of 'dream car' designs produced for the motor show circuit, but also takes a sneak peek at updated and redesigned Anderson vehicles. These include a super-sleek updated version of the original bubble-top six-wheel Rolls-Royce FAB 1, driven by chauffeur Parker for the female boss he called, "M' Lady" Penelope. Under the skin, the pink movie car was actually a Ford, but it still looked pretty good to our eyes. You can see it in closeup in the movie ( below ).   Lady Penelope's FAB 1 is presented ( below ) in 1:32 scale m...

“Thunderbirds are go!" quickly became a popular phrase for schoolkids when Gerry Anderson’s soon-to-be-famous series first aired in 1965. Featuring ‘Supermarionation’ for its puppet stars, led by Jeff Tracy and his sons Scott and Virgil, plus their glammed-up friend Lady Penelope and Brains the scientist, Thunderbirds was soon an international hit. To the rescue Based on the remote Tracy Island, the Tracy family made heroic disaster-rescues across the world, using their fleet of Thunderbirds rescue craft, and also fought the bad guys, especially the loathsome Hood. Even so, only 32 episodes were made - a warmed-over live action movie was released in 2004, but was not a success. T-Bird stamps Still, times may be changing, as the UK Royal Mail has a set of T-Birds stamps on sale, and Gerry Anderson (now a sprightly 81 years old) confirmed this week that there is a new TV series in the works. Whether it’s live-action or Supermarionation is something we’ll have to find out. Models ava...