The Interplanetary U.F.O. Mystery Ship

My best friend in elementary school was named Robert. He was an only child, and his parents were divorced. Needless to say, he got a lot of the toys and model kits that I desperately wanted and never had. Among them was AMT's "Interplanetary U.F.O. Mystery Ship," which was, undeniably, the coolest starship model that wasn't actually based on a TV show or movie. And it glowed in the dark.

Man, I coveted that model. AMT put its picture on the boxes of the Star Trek kits and as I watched my Enterprise nacelles droop on their pylons, or the neck of my Klingon battle cruiser sag under the weight of the command "bubble," I'd look at that picture and wish I was building that ship. What graceful lines, what implied power... and no damned pylons! (Let me be clear: I was thrilled to have those Trek models; I just wasn't a good enough model builder to assemble them correctly, and I knew it.)

I didn't know then that it was a slightly modified re-issue of a 60's kit called the Leif Ericson Galactic Cruiser, nor that it was actually designed by Matt Jeffries, designer of Star Trek's own U.S.S. Enterprise. All I knew is that it was an awesome-looking spaceship model, and that I really wanted one of my own to build and hang from my ceiling on fishing line.

Well, now I do. Or soon will, anyway, when the kit I ordered from Round 2 Models shows up here, hopefully in time for Christmas. Thanks to my mother-in-law's holiday largesse, I was finally able to score one of these awesome model kits (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) for myself. Round 2 also offers the non-glow-in-the-dark Leif Ericson, but I wanted the one that most closely resembled the 1976 version I remember.

Of course, now comes the hard part: finding time to build it... and then, somewhere to display it when I'm done. Or I could just put it into storage with all the other unbuilt model kits I've bought over the last ten years....

My SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN Models

I didn't just build spaceship models as a kid. I also assembled at least three Six Million Dollar Man "action" diorama kits: "Jaws of Doom," "Bionic Bustout," and "Fight For Survival!" They were rather sophisticated snap-together kits, and fairly-well detailed, as I recall. I'm pretty sure that they all had detachable sleeve and pants leg pieces that could be removed to expose the bionic workings underneath, as well.

The Fundimensions company produced at least two other Steve Austin models (one where he's tackling a biker on a motorcycle and one of the bionic man on a laboratory table), but I only remember having these three. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the alligator from "Jaws Of Death" is still in a box of miscellaneous childhood debris in my parents' basement. My favorite, though, was "Bionic Bustout," because it portrayed Steve in mid-jump, and I thought that was way cool.

One thing - I don't think I ever painted my Six Million Dollar Man models. I would have been about eleven or twelve when I assembled these kits, and the sort of control and precision that would have been necessary to paint them properly was well beyond my skill. (And the last time I saw that alligator, he was still white.) Who else remembers having these cool kits?

SPACE: 1999 - "The Alien" Model Kit

Don't you love it when toy licensees just make shit up? Obviously FunDimensions really wanted a model kit in their Space: 1999 line that they could sell to the car model enthusiasts - and those little yellow moonbuggies just weren't sexy enough.

Apparently, this car is actually a modified (with extra sci-fi gadgets & "alien" figure) reissue of a George Barris 1970 design car called the "Moonscope" (reissued by AMT again in 2002).

The Best Hobby Kits This Side of Jupiter!

A huge part of being a 70's Star Kid was building spaceship models. I have no idea if kids today even still build model kits, but when I was growing up, it was both a frustrating and rewarding way to add to my burgeoning sci-fi memorabilia collection.

Here's a comic book ad from 1980 featuring the Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers model kits from Monogram. Presumably, the TV revival of Galactica: 1980 encouraged Monogram to try and move some unsold Battlestar Galactica overstock from a couple years before alongside the newer Rogers kits.

To see my adolescent build-ups of these same models, go HERE or HERE.

And here's an ad from '79, promoting AMT's line of Star Trek- The Motion Picture model kits. I had the Enterprise and the Vulcan shuttle, neither of which survived. I had all the classic AMT Trek television kits, too, but I always ran into the same problems. On the various Enterprises, the engine pylons always drooped under the negligible weight of the nacelles. I don't know if anyone else had those problems, or if I just kept getting defective kits. The "neck" of the TV Klingon Battlecruiser also tended to droop, as I recall....

My Models: STAR WARS (1977)

Here are the last of my 1970s vintage, built-up spaceship models. Clearly, my Star Wars models haven't held up as well as my Galactica and Buck Rogers ones - but, to be fair, they're the oldest ones I still have left. And unlike my Star Trek, Space: 1999, Message From Space and Moonraker models, at least they still exist.

The MPC X-Wing Fighter above is in bad shape, missing an engine and a couple of wing lasers. The "battle damage" attempts didn't work quite as well as on the Viper, probably because the X-Wing was molded in white instead of gray. You will also note that the only attempt I made to paint anything on this model was the cockpit windows. Not the R2 unit, though - it was too damned small.

I did, however attempt to paint the solar panels on the Darth Vader TIE Fighter (anyone know why MPC never released a standard TIE Fighter? I really wanted one as a kid.), with disastrous results. Otherwise, this one's held up fairly well. The Vader figure that used to be in the cockpit is missing, and the cockpit hatch is unattached, but it's otherwise intact.

I also had that mammoth Millennium Falcon kit, with the grain-of-wheat lightbulbs, but it didn't go together properly, and in a fit of adolescent pique, I smashed it up and - if I recall correctly - set it on fire up in my grandfather's gravel pit. I think I also had the R2-D2 kit (was there a R2-D2 kit?).

Anyway, I don't know if any of you derived much from seeing these pix, but I can still remember the pride I took in putting these kits together, and thought that the fact these things still exist was worth acknowledging....

My Models: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (1978)

Here are some more of photos of the built-up, classic spaceship models I assembled as a teenager back in the Seventies. This time, we're looking at the Battlestar Galactica model kits issued by Monogram back in 1978.

First up is my dusty model of the Galactica itself - except that it's the Pegasus:

Since I consider Commander Cain cooler than Adama, I chose... well, actually, I tore the Galactica decal when I tried to apply it. Fortunately, the kit included a Pegasus decal as well, so my model became Cain's battlestar instead. For the record, though - I do think Cain was pretty damned cool.

Here's my legendary "battle-scarred" Viper, another casualty of my 15-year-old fingers' inability to apply those wet-transfer decals without shredding them. In this case, I decided to try and pass off my screw-up as "detailing," and proceeded to assault the plastic with a light black paint wash and some passes with a cigarette lighter, all to simulate combat damage.

Here's the Cylon Basestar, pretty much as it came out of the box. As it had only a few parts, and required no painting or decals, I didn't mess anything up.

My Cylon Raider is pretty dusty, and it looks like I once glued on a couple of spare pieces for extra detail (they've since fallen off, leaving some glue "scarring'), but I remember being extraordinarily pleased with myself for successfully painting the cockpit windows black, without obscuring any of the window "framing."

Anyway... next time, I'll post pics of my two surviving (sorta) Star Wars models. It won't be pretty....

My Models: BUCK ROGERS (1979)

As promised, here are snaps of some of the classic 1970s spaceship models I built as a teenager. I thought I'd spread 'em out over multiple posts and showcase them by series. Today, obviously, is Buck Rogers in the 25th Century day. This built-up Monogram "Starfighter" has held-up fairly well - I only had to re-attach one of the engines, which had fallen off. It still looks pretty good, too. Somehow, I managed to get the decals applied successfully, and it also helped that this particular ship required a minimum of painting - although I probably should have done some detailing on the cockpit interior. I know that the Hartland SFX guys called this ship the "Thunder Fighter," but I don't recall it ever being called anything but a "Starfighter" on the show....

Of all of my old models, it appears that the Monogram "Marauder" has actually held up the best. No broken parts, all of the decals are intact and pretty much perfectly placed - hell, for some reason, it was even less dusty than the others. I always liked this Draconian ship (sometimes called a "Hatchet Fighter" on the show), with its odd lines and oversized cockpit. It doesn't look very realistic (there really doesn't seem to be much space for the engine, fuel, etc.), but it sure does look cool.

More photos to come.

Space: 1970's Top Models

I spent an awful lot of time in the 70s building model kits of spaceships. I know for a fact that I had the Star Trek Enterprise (although I could never get the nacelle pylons to stay up), Klingon Battlecruiser, 2001 PAN-AM space plane, Star Wars Millennium Falcon, X-Wing and Darth Vader's TIE Fighter kits, the Space: 1999 Eagle and Hawk, the Buck Rogers Starfighter and Draconian Fighter, a couple of Message From Space kits, and the Battlestar Galactica, Viper, Cylon Raider and Cylon Basestar.

About half of these models ended up getting destroyed through overenthusiastic play or adolescent bouts of random destructiveness (I remember I blew up my Millennium Falcon with firecrackers for no good reason that I can recall, much to my later regret), but I'm pretty sure that a bunch of them are stored somewhere in a box in my parents' basement. One of these days, I'm going to have to go and try and find them so I can post photos of my built-up kits here on the site.

By the time the Galactica kits came around, I was pretty good at assembling the models, but I was still horrible at painting them, and those wet-transfer decals were the bane of my existence. Since they would invariably tear when I tried applying them, I decided to try and make the damaged decals work for the kit, and would try to disguise them as battle damage. This illusion was enhanced (I thought) by taking a cigarette lighter and lightly scorching the plastic of the models to suggest laser burns. It actually worked pretty well, except when I would get overzealous and accidentally set the plastic on fire, creating nasty plumes of toxic styrene smoke.

I think the Monogram Battlestar Galactica kits were my favorites. I just loved the designs (and still do), and those particular models came out pretty decent. Sure the Galactica model was sadly under-detailed, but I really enjoyed pitting it against the Basestar in a battle of dreadnauts.

The ones I really wish I still had, though, are the MPC 1999 Eagle and Hawk. I absolutely adore those ships. Someday maybe I'll track down those kits again when I can afford them.....