kevinpreston8
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2006
- Messages
- 371
I added an updated version of this very odd and rare toy recently to the collection.
I had heard of "Transogram's Operation Orbit" from ads in the Toy Shoppe when I first started collecting toys, and to me, it appeared to be a space console toy like Jimmy Jet or something, and I found it appealing. When I would see one advertised I seemed to miss the (non on-line) auction or it was too expensive.
When EBAY came along, I finally found one that was brand new in box, but slightly damaged with paint overspray sitting in an old toy shop storeroom for years. But I got it fully functional, albeit with some dots of paint that I don't want to try to remove for fear of scratching it worse.
Operation Orbit came out in the early 60s, then was re-released as "Moon Landing" in 1969, and you can easily see why. The space theme so hot in the early 60s continued and changed to reflect the whole moon excitement period that we enjoyed.
Interestingly, as I was too young to have wanted the original Operation Orbit, the Moon Landing would have appealed to me, but I never ever remember seeing one anywhere.
What this unit does is pretty neat. The left hand sun/planet spins around with three planets in "orbit" around it. It spins at a constant speed.
You have a rotating arm on the right that spins in the opposite direction. It has a magnet on it that picks up a metal "rocket" from the earth's surface. You can control the altitude and the speed range of this rocket.
Each planet in the opposing orbit has a magnet on it too. What you try to do is time your rocket to meet the planet at exactly the right time and transfer the rocket to the magnet on the planet, and thereby "landing" on it. You get four rockets, and the whole thing is controlled by a timer that you put into motion to start the thing. The person who gets the most rockets landed in the time allotted is the winner.
It takes surprising skill to get the right angle, speed and timing for the transfer. The painting and details on the units are very interesting.
They changed the coloring on the 1969 models, used different decals, and used decals for the continents, instead of the earlier version's very interesting application of paint to do the same on the older version.
Neither had been played with very much and I have the original boxes for both.
I had heard of "Transogram's Operation Orbit" from ads in the Toy Shoppe when I first started collecting toys, and to me, it appeared to be a space console toy like Jimmy Jet or something, and I found it appealing. When I would see one advertised I seemed to miss the (non on-line) auction or it was too expensive.
When EBAY came along, I finally found one that was brand new in box, but slightly damaged with paint overspray sitting in an old toy shop storeroom for years. But I got it fully functional, albeit with some dots of paint that I don't want to try to remove for fear of scratching it worse.
Operation Orbit came out in the early 60s, then was re-released as "Moon Landing" in 1969, and you can easily see why. The space theme so hot in the early 60s continued and changed to reflect the whole moon excitement period that we enjoyed.
Interestingly, as I was too young to have wanted the original Operation Orbit, the Moon Landing would have appealed to me, but I never ever remember seeing one anywhere.
What this unit does is pretty neat. The left hand sun/planet spins around with three planets in "orbit" around it. It spins at a constant speed.
You have a rotating arm on the right that spins in the opposite direction. It has a magnet on it that picks up a metal "rocket" from the earth's surface. You can control the altitude and the speed range of this rocket.
Each planet in the opposing orbit has a magnet on it too. What you try to do is time your rocket to meet the planet at exactly the right time and transfer the rocket to the magnet on the planet, and thereby "landing" on it. You get four rockets, and the whole thing is controlled by a timer that you put into motion to start the thing. The person who gets the most rockets landed in the time allotted is the winner.
It takes surprising skill to get the right angle, speed and timing for the transfer. The painting and details on the units are very interesting.
They changed the coloring on the 1969 models, used different decals, and used decals for the continents, instead of the earlier version's very interesting application of paint to do the same on the older version.
Neither had been played with very much and I have the original boxes for both.
