First, some history. Buck Rogers was created by Philip Francis Nowlan and his first appearance (as Anthony Rogers) was in the short story "Armageddon-2419 A.D" which was published in the August 1928 issue of Amazing Stories. The president of National Newspaper Service Syndicate, John Flint Dille, had read and enjoyed the original story. He eventually approached Nowlan to do a science fiction comic strip based on the concept, the first such strip in the world. Richard Calkins was commissioned to do the art and it debuted on the January 7, 1929 as "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century". Three years later Buck also made the jump to radio, in a four times weekly broadcast starting on the 7th November 1932.
With his success in other mediums it was only a matter of time before Buck transferred to the big screen. In RKO's version of the story, several changes were made. Buck's aircraft is forced down by a blizzard over the Arctic, and in order to survive until rescue comes, he and his friend Buddy are forced to use the newly discovered Nirvano gas to place themselves into suspended animation. They are awakened in 2040 (500 years from the date of the serial). Killer Kane is now an evil gangster who rules the world with an iron fist, and the resistance is led from a secret laboratory by Dr. Huer.
The most recent screen version of Buck Rogers began in 1979, with Gil Gerard playing the lead role. This time round Buck was an astronaut piloting a space shuttle, which goes off course. Frozen by the cold of space, Buck thaws out in 2479, after the Earth has undergone the trauma of a nuclear war. The series ran three seasons and has left us with many great memories.
Thus, from all of this, the imagination of kids everywhere had to have toys to portray this great science fiction hero. It is from the popularity of this original idea that in 1934 Rapaport developed the first of their Junior Caster set of molds for Buck Rogers. With a total of 9 mold numbers and 18 figures. interestingly 1 of the molds was never released, while 1 of the molds may have had only a single mold produced.
To give you a better understanding of the line, here's a detailing of the molds, their content, and their scales from ejpetrie over at Alphadrome posted April 3, 2018
The Buck Rogers 25th Century Midget Caster home foundry sets by Rappaport Brothers of Chicago were first released for the Christmas season of 1934, with the first offering producing three figures from its single mold. Over the next few years the line would expand to include eight molds that would produce a total of 18 different Buck Rogers figures, a single piece of Disintegrator Artillery, and three spaceships. The figures flip-flopped between two different scales (nine large and nine small). The Disintegrator can be viewed as being more in scale with the smaller pieces, and the three ships are definitely produced in more diminutive third and fourth scales. (Buck's ship was done as the biggest of the three in its own mold, while the Tiger Ship and the Duro-Destroyer were done much smaller, each being produced from one of the cavities in two different three-cavity molds.)
The Common Releases (Sold as part of a foundry kit, and also sold separately for $1.00 each.)
Mold E-2501 (smaller 2.5" scale; 3 figures) - Depth Man of Neptune (carrying force ray projector staff), Buck Rogers (with flying belt, flight helmet, and disintegrator pistol), and Professor Huer (with flying belt and disintegrator pistol). As the first and most frequently included in the full casting sets this mold and the figures it produces are the most common for the entire line.
Mold E-2502 (larger 3" scale; 3 figures - also released as the first Cocomalt Radio Show Premiums from this line) - Buck Rogers (with flying belt, helmet, and rocket pistol), Wilma Deering (with flying belt and helmet), and Killer Kane (with flying belt and disintegrator pistol). Also commonly included in the full casting sets, this mold and the figures it produces are the second-most commonly found pieces for the entire line. The figures can also be found as factory painted originals with a small folded ad flyer. When found in that form they are the radio premiums which command a much higher price.
The Second Tier of Scarcity (Only sold separately for $1.00 each and harder to find.)
Mold E-2503 (a single ship in a smaller, unique scale; 6-inches in length) - Buck's Own Rocket Ship. This is the scarcest of the first six molds.
Mold E-2504 (smaller 2.5" scale; 2 figures and a ship in a much smaller scale) - Tiger Man from Mars (with Force Staff), Tiger Ship Attack Craft (extremely out of scale with the figures), and The Asteride (midget from the planetoid Aster, armed with a tiny Rocket Pistol). Roughly tied with E-2505 as the third scarcest of the first six molds.
Mold E-2505 (smaller 2.5" scale; 2 figures and a ship in a much smaller scale) - The One-Eyed Man, The Venus Duro-Destroyer Interplanetary Ship (extremely out of scale with the figures), and Mekkano (Killer Kane's remote-controlled mechanical assassin). Roughly tied with E-2504 as the third scarcest of the first six molds.
Mold E-2506 (smaller 2.5" scale; 2 figures and a Disintegrator Field Weapon in what may be a somewhat reduced scale) - The Tieko Man (with a Rocket Pistol), The Disintegrator Field Weapon, and Black Barney (with a Rocket Pistol). Slightly more available than E-2503, Buck's Own Rocket Ship, but harder to find than Molds E-2505 and E-2506.
Truly Rare (Only sold separately for the expensive price of $1.50, which eliminated most Depression Era buyers.)
Mold E-2508 (never listed in any catalog, and now believed to have never existed).
Mold E-2509 (larger 3" scale; 2 figures on foot and a third mounted atop a fish-shaped rocket mini-sub) - The Amphibian Squadron of the Planet Neptune - All three figures are similarly attired with underwater helmets, tank gear, and paralysis or force weapons. No molds for this set are known to have survived, but a few rare production pieces have been found at flea markets in the mid-west (primarily around the area of the Rappaport Brothers' home base. For some time now all newly discovered examples have all been determined to have been cast from one of those rare survivors and not from an original mold.
The Impossible (Only sold separately for the expensive price of $1.50, which eliminated most Depression Era buyers.)
Mold E-2507 (larger 3" scale with 2 sky fighting patrolmen in full gear--helmets, flying belts, and disintegrator pistols--and a third that is similarly equipped but riding a sky sled) - The Martian Stratosphere Patrol - No examples of this mold are known to exist, and only one set of production figures has ever been found. The solitary surviving trio were discovered by a picker at an estate auction in Massachusetts as part of a large group of unpainted Rappaport castings that included all 22 of the Buck Rogers pieces. It is believed that the old man that owned them had been a salesman for the Rappaport Brothers firm in the 1930's and that these discovered pieces were his old sales samples. To date no others have turned up, and all quality copies can be traced back to the man who bought those solitary survivors from that lucky New England picker. There is no doubt that these three figures are the rarest vintage Buck Rogers product to have ever been made domestically.
Comments