Johnny Astro Base was a
toy made by the
Ideal
Ideal may refer to:
Philosophy
* Ideal (ethics), values that one actively pursues as goals
* Platonic ideal, a philosophical idea of trueness of form, associated with Plato
Mathematics
* Ideal (ring theory), special subsets of a ring considere ...
company in the early 1960s. The toy ran on 4
D Cell batteries. Besides a power switch, it had several features that includes the following modes of operation:
Modes of operation
* ''Astro Scope'': Switch to Astro Scope and a scene of
spaceships,
rockets, and
jets rotates through a
viewfinder
In photography, a viewfinder is what the photographer looks through to compose, and, in many cases, to focus the picture. Most viewfinders are separate, and suffer parallax, while the single-lens reflex camera lets the viewfinder use the main ...
just below a
radar dome
A radome (a portmanteau of radar and dome) is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a radar antenna. The radome is constructed of material transparent to radio waves. Radomes protect the antenna from weather and conceal antenna e ...
on the top of the toy. A button on the
console let the user "fire" at objects seen on the screen, which would pause the rotating images and emit a
machine-gun style sound.
* ''Space Lock'': A
crane emerges from the
hatch on one side of the toy. This crane has a
hoist operation that can be used to raise or lower a plastic
astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
figure, or other objects that the user may have that can be connected to the hook at the end of a chain. The main purpose of this crane is to insert or remove the astronaut from a
scout car.
* ''Scout Car'': The scout car can be plugged into a
port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
on the console and controlled by a two position
switch marked "turn" and "drive" that can actually be used to steer the vehicle with a bit of practice. The scout car also has
missiles that can be launched.
Ideal made two variations of the Astro Base. The original "all red" version featured a lighted Astro Scope that illuminated the pictures spinning around the Astro Scope. Ideal Toys discontinued this version and offered the common "red and white" version.
References
External links
Astro Base
1960s toys
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