Last year reader Rocket Punch first introduced us to the treasues within his Character Age magazine from Japan as sampled below.
It included early Nichimo Moon Ranger plastic models as you can see here on what is probably a catalogue page or cover.
The earliest recognisable 'Ranger', albeit bladeless, was this grey and red vehicle complete with Japanese flag dated 1963.
The next Nichimo Ranger, the yellow NASA B-5 pictured below, dated 1965, is now more or less our friend from Century 21. Note the 'Ranger' sticker below the cockpit.
And once more here's the 1965 model biult up in all its glory [supplied by Terry Harle]. Note the black shovel and the aerial.
Which almost certainly lead to Century 21's very own SWORD Moon Ranger two years later in 1967. Note that the shovel is bigger, the radar had migrated to the rear, the aerial has gone as has the Pifcoesque red roof light on the cockpit, which has morphed into a vertical lamp. The overall bulk is the same and the 'Michelin Man' style pilot remains constant!
The final stage of the Ranger genesis was identical cloning by Tarheel and the redacted Italian Tarheel version below.
All that remains to be found is the box of the Nichimo Ranger model. It maybe that the pictures in Character Age are actually from a box but it's impossible to say. Looking at other vintage Nichimo model boxes gives us an idea ot what we might look for. This telephone set even has a check shirted boy similar to the boy holding a ranger on the 1963 Nichimo catalogue - the first 'Swordhead'. Ha! [picture at top of article].
Here are the two boys close up! Could be the same one! The Nichimo Kid!
Here's a beautiful boxed Nichimo Patrol Car
and its gorgeously laid out contents
and the similarly caterpillared 'King Shark' in a trio of pictures below. It really would be wonderful if the Nichimo Ranger is boxed like this!
and finally I recently saw a Nichimo Sherman Tank with box art by none other than Japanese Showa master illustrator Shigeru Komatsuzaki, who did the amazing box art for Imai's SWORD Moon Crawler and Thunderbird 7 [Snow Train]. It would be a wonderful closing chapter for this origin story if the Showa master had painted the box art for the Nichimo Moon Ranger as well!
Epilogue: Classified Ad - Nichimo Ranger Box Pictures Sought!
Picture Credits: Rocket Punch, Terry Harle, Woodsy, Ebay
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