Gorram Tracy Island

Back in 1993, the long running British kids tv show Blue Peter was doing all the things it had always done. A magazine programme it would have sections on gardening, animals, music, charity appeals and crafts. That year *the* must have toy was Matchbox’s Tracy Island from Thunderbirds and they decided to show us how to make our own so even us poor kids could get involved.

The reaction to the craft was a phenomenon. At the time, Blue Peter used to make a fact sheet for every craft that you could request by sending them a self stamped addressed envelope. Tracy Island was the most requested fact sheet the show has ever had (yes, Blue a Peter is still running).

I found this clip from the show the week after and it shows it all; 90s fashion, overflowing mail bags because the internet wasn’t a thing yet, BBC endorsing child labour to keep up with demand and John “not proven isn’t the same as not guilty” Leslie.

Now the BBC are never one to miss a nostalgia trip and have the fact sheet available on their website today. This version of the fact sheet is actually from 2000; this will definitely not cause me any head-scratching.

It would be rude not to make one and turn it into a wargaming table, wouldn’t it?

Another autumn has come around and TerrainFest is upon us. I’ve struggle the last couple of years to get something together but the brain goblins have been brewing a wee convention game for next year. It will need a custom table which sounds like a perfect TerrainFest opportunity.

I apologise for how incredibly a) British and b) 90s this project is. After a Hobby Hangout ended where we chatting our usual nonsense about kids tv shows, I fell into a YouTube spiral. This is where we ended up.

I also owe an upfront apology to any Thunderbirds fans out there – it wasn’t until I’d already started a research document that I realised that we are at the 60th anniversary of the show. I’m not going to lie, I don’t think I’ve ever even seen them all but my younger brother was daft on the show around the early 90s and so I was exposed through proximity. I always preferred Terrahawks.

Even so, I promise to try my best.

I can’t promise to not go with my original game idea which was to declare International Rescue a terrorist organisation and have special forces be storming the island to prevent them deploying their arsenal of attack vehicles on the world.