Jeff Brewer, who once made models for ILM and other movie effects outfits, has designed and sculpted a line of Cool Rockets, original creations that draw their inspiration from the comic books and tin toys of the 1940s and 1950s. His Marin county-based company has so far produced nine different Cool Rockets designs, each a hand-crafted resin masterpiece of retro rocketry, hand-painted and detailed to the display the wear-and-tear of countless space flights -- the kind of detail you would expect from someone who worked on Star Wars Episode I, Starship Troopers, Men in Black, Star Trek VIII: First Contact and Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas.
The nine Fleet Edition designs, which retail from $50 to $100, are available direct-to-retailers for discounts of up to 50%. One of Brewer's first designs is called The Moon ' Tin Toy' (MSRP $54.95). It stands a full 12 inches high and is a resin, not a tin-toy, though it is finished with an antiqued tin-toy color scheme and loaded with tiny rivets so it has the look and feel of an antique tin-toy rocket from the early 1950s.
Bolts Blast (MSRP $59.95) is one of the newest Cool Rockets designs. It is a 14-inch desk sculpture of a strikingly colored Bolts rocket blasting off at an inclined angle. The attention to detail with this remarkable piece extends to the rusty patina, which indicates that this workhorse has been around the block (or galaxy) a few times.
The Big Boy (MSRP $69.95) is another design that appears to have been lifted directly from the pages of a golden age comic book. Aerodynamics be damned, this squat rocket radiates power and comes with a cool battery-power glow light inside that sets off its prominent porthole, which is surrounded by crisply molded bolts.
The Space Patrol Tin Toy Bank ($54.95) stands a full foot tall and is finished with a wonderfully subtle antique tin-toy paint job complete with Space Patrol graphics that evoke the early years of rocketry (and those great science fiction films of the 1950s). Cast from sturdy resin, this piece is a fully functioning coin bank with a pull out plug in the bottom, but you may just want to keep it as a desk ornament.
All the Cool Rockets resins come packaged in a reinforced gift box accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.