ON COLLISION COURSE FROM SIXTEEN 12

As a special treat here’s a preview, with some personal impressions  of the Collision Course Episode set courtesy of those good folk at Sixteen 12 collectables who offered me the chance to take some photos in suitable surroundings of their prototype model prior to them being sent to the manufacturers.

This limited edition set comprises of their  12” die-cast  Eagle, complete with aluminium machine turned and hand finished engine bells, two nuclear mines, a detachable Eagle grab, an Alpha Moon Buggy and a launch pad display plinth.  

Although there’s no official release date just yet, Sixteen 12  reckon it will be sometime in the Autumn as they will be releasing the next three  sets (The Exiles, New Adam, New Eve and the Retro Eagle) currently in production, as well as the deluxe Eagle set first.

The ‘eagle eyed’ amongst you will spot that for the shots I took showing the Eagle hovering I used my trusty Product Enterprise one, although I did use the Sixteen 12 version for the landed photos.

Unsurprisingly, the highlight of the set is the space mines’.  

 I’ve seen the two original different scaled  existing filming props at various venues and I reckon Sixteen 12 have done a pretty good job with theirs. Some Space: 1999 modelling experts might disagree, of course for whatever reason, scale or accuracy, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but comparing them with photos I’ve taken at various venues, and taking into account the practical and mass production aspects of actually economically producing these models, I think Sixteen 12 have leant more towards the smaller of the two filming props, and I imagine the three peripheral spikes used to attach the mine to the winch arms are obviously bigger than those seen on the original props simply so the winch arms are able to safely hold them securely and are less prone to damage.

Regarding the detailing, which I think looks fine so far; as these are prototypes I’m told there will be some further refinement during production.

As a point of interest, it’ll come as no surprise that the original filming prop mines were bigger than the Sixteen 12 ones, the smaller of the two mines being around 4” across (100mm) and larger around 8” (200mm). The Sixteen 12 versions are around 2” (50mm) 

The larger original space mine prop with winch arms

The smaller original space mine prop

On the original props the detailing is similar although there are no black panels on the sloped sides of the smaller one. As the original models were made from different sized, but similar shaped plastic containers, the smaller has less width on its sloped sides.

Back to the Sixteen 12 version, the Eagle winch grab is another nice little representation, and even though this too, is a prototype made from hard plastic it still works a treat carrying a mine across space to one of those threatening asteroids. 

The simple top section fixes beneath the Eagle, attached to the centre rails of the Eagle supporting superstructure.  Once attached it does stay in place, although, personally I wouldn’t like leave it with a mine dangling on the end of it for too long, simply because my nerves wouldn’t stand it!

Like all the Sixteen 12 ‘Episode’ sets this one will come with a Moon Buggy, which I think obviously helps to give the viewer a rough scale of things.

Thanks to Steve Walker for allowing me access to the prototypes. More photos can be seen on the Sixteen 12 Collectables Episode set website and Facebook page.
http://www.sixteen12.com/index_s1999_diecast.html
https://www.facebook.com/sixteen12collectibles