Thunderball: Original s.pe.c.t.r.e. Tow sled

[ed-209]

In 1965 SPECTRE’S plan for world domination was thwartedby Agent 007 James Bond leading an underwater squad of Para-Marines against alegion of SPECTRE agents led by Emilio Largo.

A captured M.O.S nuclear bomb was guarded by teams of SPECTREdivers being pulled along by the use of self-propelled tow sleds withtwin-mounted compressed air spearguns.

These tow sleds were manufactured by Jordan Klein whose job as ‘Director of Underwater Engineering’ was to provide the underwater propsused in the film.

Originally there were 14 of the sleds built for theproduction company of which now only two exist. One of them is owned by the IanFleming foundation and is currently displayed in a Bond exhibition tour whilethe remaining one was owned by Jordan.

In 2005 I attended the New York National Boat show heldat the Jacob Javits Center in New York hosting “the Boats of Bond’ exhibit.Many of the actual vessels used in the films were displayed by the Ian Fleming Foundation.

Upon seeing the tow sled on display I noticed that thespearguns mounted on the sled were not the same as the ones used in the film.

In 2007 I met Doug Redenius (Vice President of IFF) atHofstra University while attending a Bond symposium and alerted him of thatfact. I advised Doug that I had acquired the correct spearguns that were usedin the film and he contracted me to supply them with resin copies. Doug contactedJordan who confirmed they were the correct ones as were used in the film. Theseduplicates were supplied to the IFF who proceeded to mount them on the tow sledthey had acquired and currently on display at ‘The Bond in Motion Exhibition’

I was later contacted by Jordan who also requested a setbe provided for him to use on the last remaining tow sled from the film.

Jordan recently sold his sled to ‘Prop Store’ (http://www.propstore.com) who will be putting it up for auction intheir upcoming auction catalog.

In closing, I am proud to say that the only two survivingtow sleds used in the film are now mounted with my copies of the correctspearguns and are ready for action should SPECTRE decide to try to once moreface Bond in an underwater battle.

Ed Maggiani – TheSpyBoys.com

This is the Tow sled prior to having the correctspearguns mounted

...AND HERE SHE IS READY FOR ACTION AS IF IT CAME RIGHT OUT OF THE FILM

Here are some photos of the ones I provided for the Ian Fleming Foundation

I am currently producing the short barreled version as used by Bond and the Aqua Para-Marines in the underwater battle.

 

[Zombie Killer]

That is awesome Ed. How big is that thing?

 

[ed-209]

That is awesome Ed. How big is that thing?

Hi Glen
Nice to hear from you. Not sure of the exact size of the sled but, as you can see from these stills from the film, it’s pretty BIG!!!]

You can also see that the spearguns I provided are the exact same model as was used in the film.

The short-barreled version I’ll be making can also be seen in two of the photos below. You’ll notice that in photos or screen captures that it sometimes appear reddish in color. That’s because it is reddish in its original state but they were painted black. This is probably due to the fact that the Para-Marines were wearing International Orange swim suit tops and in their original reddish color would not have been seen clearly if they were holding it near their bodies. I believe this was done as a last minute fix and the paint was coming off due to handling them in sea water. Photos of the actual prop clearly shows it should be black.
Ed

 

[Zombie Killer]

Well , I thought I had asked a question and I thought you had replyed.???????? Anyways, cool that it is full size. The stand makes it look small. I had to take a double take. Even the flat head screws on top look big. Would be cool to make a 1/6 scale model of this.

 

[ed-209]

I agree, a 1/6 size would be an excellent addition to the Sideshow Thunderball figure.
Ed

 

[Apollo]

Wow, so Jordan finally sold it.

Good job on the spearguns Ed!

 

[bobaGun]

small original parts are cool and do not need as much room!

 

[ed-209]

VERY nice (and rare Cafe' Martinique) plate!!! and yes...it certainly takes up less space than the Tow Sled.
Ed

 

[SPY007]

Hello Ed. Havn't seen you in a long time. Wellington out.

 

[Yeats]

That's pretty cool man!

 

[ed-209]

Now you've gone and done it...revealed the secret that the spearguns are really teeny-weeny ones I made for the mini-Tow sled!!!! --Ed