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Wednesday 4 December 2013

Voyage of the Leif Ericson

This elegant kit often appeared in adverts in the back of monster magazines, but I could never find it in the shops. Made by AMT in the early seventies and buried in their Star Trek line up, its a fantasy ship with no basis in any series or show. For some odd reason its named after the actor who played the owner of the High Chapparal ranch, so if anyone can enlighten me on that, please do.

The early releases had clear red plastic engine detail and a lighting kit, later versions came in luminous plastic.

It's a beautiful kit, which could fit easily into the classic Star Trek genre, with science fiction styling and sleek streamlining. The rear bay open to reveal a small shuttlecraft.

I recently ran into an old schoolmate via ebay who was selling a whole fleet of early Aurora and AMT kits and managed to bag the Ericson. It was already built by its previous owner and seem to be the later version without the engine parts. It has been re-released with a new lighting kit and engine details.




Nyrath has prepared a fine microsite about the ship as part of his comprehensive Project Rho, see it here.
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13 comments:

  1. William A Schwartz12/04/2013 5:51 pm

    Very cool model! I more easily remember it repackaged as the Intergalactic UFO kit. Bill, it's funny that you should reference the Star Trek similarities as it was designed By Matt Jeffries who designed the original USS Enterprise. I had read that the kit was intended to be part of a series of models under the name Strategic Space Command. The Leif Ericson name was likely a reference to the Norse Explorer.

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    1. p3orion2/19/2014 4:18 pm

      Jeffries designed it in 1975 for the unproduced series, but his design was recently used (in CGI form) as an Orion slave trader's vessel for the latest "Star Trek Continues" episode, "Lolani."

      I have to wonder what search engine you typed "Leif Ericson" into that gave you an actor on "High Chapparal" first!

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  2. William A Schwartz12/04/2013 5:59 pm

    My pleasure. Great shots of the kit, too! Thanks for posting it.

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  3. Nyrath12/04/2013 6:43 pm

    That kit tended to prey upon the minds of all who owned it. Much like Project Sword.

    I made a small website about that model. You can read it here

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  4. William A Schwartz12/04/2013 7:11 pm

    Thanks, Nyrath. I appreciate the link.

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  5. WOTAN12/04/2013 7:33 pm

    thanks Will, youre right it is named after the Norse explorer Leif Ericson, credited with being the first European to discover America, predating Columbus.

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  6. Tallgeese12/04/2013 10:48 pm

    I believe the ship was to be used with a George Pal SF TV series that was a follow-up to War of the Worlds.

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  7. Arto12/05/2013 12:43 pm

    The acoustic experience is also thrilling. This came with the kit as a promo "soundtrack"

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLVMDof3IZA

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  8. Lance12/05/2013 11:34 pm

    I had the second issue of the model, the whole bodied UFO Mystery Ship which was awesome as it was made out of glow in the dark plastic. Your's is that issue, you can see the glow in the dark plastic in the scout ship bay. Can't be certain but looks to have the 2 piece hull also. Later issues they cut the neck partly down to use a smaller box so the hull is 4 pieces. The reissues that are currently out are this latter version.

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  9. Anonymous12/07/2013 2:07 am

    I may be recalling this incorrectly, and do not remember where I read it, but in addition to being used by George Pal in his "WotW" TV pilot, I think the ship's design was also used by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle in their "Mote in God's Eye" novel as the MacArthur (was that the name of the ship?).

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  10. Nyrath12/07/2013 2:56 am

    Yes John Til, the model was slightly altered and used for a proposed George Pal TV show based on War of the Worlds. You can read about it here and here.

    You can see part of the pitch for the TV show video on YouTube part 1 part 2 part 3.

    Anonymous, you are correct. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle used the model for the MacArthur from The Mote in God's Eye.
    You can see Rich Sternbach's painting of it here
    Then scroll to the bottom of the page to read about the MacArthur.

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  11. WOTAN12/07/2013 8:59 am

    My god, its had a chequered history! Stunning website btw, Winchell!

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  12. Tallgeese12/08/2013 3:24 am

    So the AMT model was prior to George Pal's show? Fascinating! I believe the model may also have appeared in either the Archive Project or the Archive Factor, two SF shows of the Strasenburgh Planetarium back in the 1970s. I can't prove it as most of the models they used don't exist any more, but I know they kitbashed a D7 and I believe this ship may have been part of it too. It's a handsome bird for sure!

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