Thunderbirds are go-ing, going, gone

Those hi-tech heroes International Rescue, led by Jeff Tracy and ably assisted by Lady Penelope and her faithful Cockney chauffeur Parker in their shocking-pink Rolls-Royce, have thrilled generations of fans.

Thunderbirds, the disaster-fighting puppets of Sixties TV, were the idea of Londoner Gerry Anderson, but he would have been lost without television and cinema special effects expert Derek Meddings, who died in 1995.

Now artwork from Mr Meddings's designs for many of the most famous Anderson creations is to surface at auction for the first time.

The archive includes the original concept painting for Thunderbird 3, the reusable red rocket piloted by Alan Tracy - one of five sons - with a large, white number 3 on the fuselage.

It is expected to fetch up to £10,000 at the Bonhams sale in Knightsbridge on 22 November.

Also included is the design for Thunderbird 2, a supersonic transport carrier piloted by Virgil Tracy, which is expected to sell for between £6,000 and £8,000, and paintings which spawned the show's Crablogger vehicles and Rock Monster air-sea rescue machines.

Mr Meddings's artwork for many other successful supermarionation series, such as Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 and UFO, will also be on offer along with the concept design for the Batplane for the first of Tim Burton's films about the caped crusader in 1989.

From a separate collection comes the original plaster model of the head and shoulders of Captain Scarlet, which is set to fetch up to £24,000.

Bonhams specialist Stephanie Connell said today: "As far as I know, nothing like this has ever come up at auction before.

"The archive provides a fascinating insight into how shows such as Thunderbirds were born. Derek Meddings was a brilliant artist and a man of great vision."