I love it when the engineers at Corgi are given the chance to show what they can do. Just look at the detail and the way these models work. The Erector vehicle's purpose in life was to carry a Corporal guided nuclear missile and to place it vertically on the launch pad. There are four separate sets of gears on this model, to raise the load bed to vertical, to lower the missile on to the launch pad and two clamps which then release the missile. I've tried to show these in the pictures.
The models which made up the Corporal Missile Gift Set - GS9 were:
The nosecone on my missile is perished, as they always are and when cleaning the model I wondered why it appeared to have blobs of red sealing wax on the bonnet, eventually I realised that this were drips of perished and now petrified rubber which have over the years dripped off the nosecone. When this toy was in the shops you could buy an optional extra nosecone which took caps from a cap gun to make a realistic bang when you chucked the missile across the dining room. Not behaviour to be encouraged.
Some factiods about this model. The vehicle was electrically powered with motors in all four wheels. There was a generator under the bonnet to provide power. The missile was the first guided nuclear missile deployed by the Americans and it features in the book of Goldfinger by Ian Fleming as the warhead chosen by Goldfinger to blow up at Fort Knox and contaminate the US gold reserve he was unable to pinch. So I guess if we are listing the Corgis featured in the movies then this one should be included.
This group has been put together using models from my collection.
