Golden Astronaut image from JCPenney Xmas catalogue 1970

Penney's offered one exclusive set, containing the entire first series of three larger and 15 smaller toys with a number of astronauts for $8.88. The entry for this set appears in two of their Xmas catalogues, albeit in a slightly changed layout. Sadly the 1969 example is from a damaged page, but it's essentially the same as the 1970 version, the picture of which is shown above. In this picture we find most toys in the early colours (and the Nuclear Freighter still sporting separately-moulded tailfins), except the Earth Base MLP, Lift Loader (Forklift) and Terrain Tiger (Tractor). These already appear in the later colours, although the Terrain Tiger still has a winch moulded in the early green colour, making for a rather transitional colour scheme. Of particular interest are the Space Command Ship (Space Patrol) and Nuclear Pulse, which appear in other colours than the production toys. Most likely these are test shots, used to test the moulds in any available colour of plastic, or possibly pre-production test samples to gauge market reaction to these colour schemes. The Space Command Ship also sports stickers marking it as the Space Police Patrol 1.

1969 Penney catalogue entry

Entry in the 1969 Penney catalogue, with text detail shown below

1969 Penney catalogue text
1969 Penney catalogue spread

Entry in the 1970 Penney catalogue, with text detail shown below

1969 Penney catalogue text
1969 Penney catalogue cover

JC Penney's
1969 and 1970
catalogue covers

1970 Penney catalogue cover

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Notes:
The Penney set is included in the Packaging section of this site.
The entire 1970 Penney catalogue can be seen at WishbookWeb.com (opens in new window).