Sparks and cogs

Super Gun, Taiyo, Japan, 1960's

Making 8 sounds... the pirate way

8 sounds laser pistol, China, 1980's ? 

Well of course it's a bootleg... it's the pirate version... got it ? 

Targets in Space

Targets in Space, Spears Games, UK, 1950's

 

Wind-up mechanism behind the targets

Beautiful space - art !

It was translated "Les Intrus de l'Espace" for the
French market, and a special FR flyer was added

Originally came with 3 darts (one missing)

A big thanks to Michel from Het Tijdreisbureau (ex-Habbekrats) and all the best for your retirement plans ! Hope to meet you one day here in Lisbon !

Green zapping power !

Tomi gun, Shawnee Mfg. Inc. 1955, USA

What happens when yout transform a Colt-like pistol into a raygun ? Something like this. Add some lightning, a water-squirt mechanism, a red plug and a round water tank at the top and voilá !

Very simple design, but definitely oozing 1950's space-age ! (thank you Brian :)

Double lipstick barrel !

 

RAY-W-GUN, Marubishi TY (?) - Japan, 1961

See more about this gun on Alphadrome.

Did Apollo missions bring guns to the moon ?

 

Apollo-Gun, Dah Yang toys, Taiwan, 1970's

The Tudor Rose Atomic Space Gun

box in need of TLC...

Marketing in the 1950's : yeah... just put "atomic" in
the name and it will sell !

Atomic Space Gun, Tudor Rose, UK, 1950's

Iberian ray of destruction

Visible gears !!!

This kid sure loves shooting at things... 
Check his smile !

Spacial-6 raygun, Monteplast, Spain, 1970's

The missing link...

So after all there is a second manufacturer that produced the "copies" of the Pyro rifles here in Portugal. After having found the rifles that were mistakenly attributed to Hercules but were in fact versions made by a company called "Sirolite", a portuguese fellow collector was able to find me one of the original "Hercules" rifles after all. These were (I believe) the first ones to be produced here, because they are closer to the original Pyro design. 

Hence the round barrel all the way - coloured tip - contours on the crank instead of the "flat" crank on the Sirolite, 4 vents instead of 3, and the pieces from different colours that were molded and glued on the Sirolite version are part of the integral mold of the gun's body on the Hercules. (grip + dial on stock + side vent), just like on the Pyrotomic desintegrator...

The quality of the built seems also much better (no desalignment, no glue marks etc.)

Space Rifle, Fábrica de Plásticos Hercules, 1950's, Portugal

Unlike the Sirolite, this one has clear "Hercules" markings

Sirolite (top) and Hercules (bottom)

Side B

Unlike the Sirolite, the barrel here is round,
even in the "fin" area.

Top view - sizes are the same

The "Fábrica de Plásticos Hercules" was a split of former company plásticos Henriques & Irmão (or Luso-Celulóide) created by 2 brothers in the locality of Espinho in 1931 (close to the city of Porto). The company originally produced jewelry and other knick-knacks, but quickly started producing plastic toys since it was a convenient way to reuse rejected materials from their main production lines.

In the 1950's, Luso-Celulóide split and one brother created OSUL (which later became famous in its diecast and zamac miniatures under the name METOSUL, using a lot of Dinky tooling) and the other brother created the HERCULES toy factory. It is still believed that the Hercules company met with Pyro in the USA (during a toy fair ?) and thus were able to use the molds.

Were these molds afterwards lended or given to Sirolite to continue production ? The mystery remains...

Sparkling rayguns

Sparkling guns nº5018 - LS - Hong Kong - 1980's

Magic Ray Gun - illuminate your galaxy !

Who makes boxes like that ?

Magic Ray Gun, maker ?, Hong Kong, 1960's

New way to display rayguns ?

I have found a new use for these wooden artist hands... or so it seems !

The blue Ideal gun...

Ideal Space gun ref. 2400, Germany, 1964

With alien inside !

1964 IDEAL toy catalog (page)

ZAP ZAP ZAP - you have been neutralized by the rainbow...

Double-barrelled rayguns, make ? country ? date of manufacture ?

The Geyper gun

Pistola del Espacio, Geyper, Spain, 1970's

May I smoke you ?

I finally got the coloured version of this fantastic Ray-Gun ! To see more about the grey version, click here.

Smoke Ring Gun, NU-AGE, USA, 1950's

With  more common grey version

Classic design !

Got to love the box !

Dan Dare Planet Gun, Merit, England, 1967-68

This gun came in black and in red also...

A variation on the Razer Raygun

Raqygun, ?, Thailand, 1970's

I do like the colours - anyone knows who the maker was ?

Chinese firepower...

KY-2 Gun, 196 MS 604, 1970's ?

Well, since it has a planet on it it kind of qualifies as a ray gun / rifle... but why the wooden stock ?

Behold ! I will conquer the galaxy with this...

Hey... wait a second... This is not a blaster... This is just a thingy that shoots... balls... yep... no darts... no laser beams or jolts of electricity or ... just baby blue balls... Guess Greedo used one of these in the Cantina scene... oh yes, he did shoot first... just with the wrong gun ! The rest is history...

Automatic Safety Gun, Japan, 1960's ?