“Are you ready, Venus?”
“Okay, Steve.”
“Right, let’s go!”
I’m in the
middle of setting up another diorama for a couple more of the Sixteen 12 prototype
Eagle sets. As I’m intending to mainly
photograph them suspended against a space background, I thought just for the
sake of variety I’d ‘borrow’ it to take a few shots of one of my old
scratch-built models of Fireball XL5.
I’ve always
had a particular fondness for Fireball XL5, and never having owned the Kitmaster mail-away as a kid, I wanted
to create something similar.
This is the
smaller of the two XL5’s I built some thirty odd years ago. It’s around 10”
long and is based on the Phil Rae plans published in S.I.G. magazine.
It’s made
from dowelling, balsa wood, plastic card and alloy tubing.
It has a
detachable Fireball Junior which is simply held in place with a thin metal rod
(Nowadays, if I built another I’d probably use magnets like the Product
Enterprise version)
Over the
years it’s had a little minor paint loss, mainly on one of Fireball Junior’s fins,
but it’s nothing that can’t be put right at some point.
“We’d take the path to
Jupiter
And maybe very soon.
We’d cruise along the
Milky Way
And land upon the Moon!”
That is superb!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kevin.
DeleteYeah, quite beautiful Scoop!
ReplyDeleteThanks Woodsy, do you 'wish you were a Spaceman' ;)
DeleteXL5 looks stunning against the backdrop, Scoop :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Tony. I was going for the TV21 cover look.
DeleteVery nicely staged. Keep cruising along the Milky Way.
ReplyDeleteThanks Terra. I think most blokes (and maybe a few gals) of a certain age have a soft spot for Fireball memories
DeleteBeautiful build of a beautiful ship, and the background/set are spectacular!
ReplyDeleteThanks Zig. The set will return for the 1999 photo set that it was originally planned for, but I just couldn't resist letting Fireball get in on the act.:D
DeleteSuperb is the word. Your model looks far more accurate than the Product Enterprise one. Incidentally, I think they could have made their Supercar, Fireball, and Stingray models in plastic and they'd still have been just as good. Maybe even better.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kid. When I built my XL5 model it was of course, pre video and pre internet, so all the photo reference was from my TV21 collection. Nowadays, with computer technology someone with a 3D printer could produce a small reasonable model like this literally at the flick of a switch.
DeleteI went on to scratch- build a much larger version, again out of wood, and plastic card. It was challenging at times, but a lot of fun. Nowadays,when it comes to model making I stick to the easier option of plastic kits, although I can never resist adding a few scatch-built parts into the mix.
Thanks fellas, yes, Fireball is very photogenic. Like it's predecessor, Supercar, it has a fairly colourful paint scheme . It's a shame those two series weren't filmed in colour. (although, I understand there was some colour test film footage for Supercar done at the time, and much later some digital colourising of the Fireball XL5 title sequence and the beginning of the first episode, Planet 46 . And, of course, remember those colourful cinema adverts for 'Zoom' ice lollys. Network did a good job colourising just that one complete episode, 'A day in the life of a Space General' for their DVD release. sadly,I imagine it would prove uneconomical at the present time to do all 39 episodes to that standard.
ReplyDeleteMeddings would have been proud. (Derek Meddings I mean, not the character in the Thunderbirds 'Trapped in the Sky' episode.)
ReplyDeleteKind of you to say so, Charlie :)
DeleteBlokes of a certain age ? I do not think Fireball XL5 screened in NZ in the 1960s, so I do not remember it at all. My earliest memories of Gerry Anderson are of watching Stingray at the house of a neighbour, as we did not have a television set at the time. By the time Thunderbirds was on, we did have a TV. A great model, and great photos.
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul. I don't know much about any N.Z. Fireball broadcasts you might have got in the sixties, if indeed at all, as you suggest. From what I can gather N.Z. only started broadcasting a single national television channel beginning in 1960, and I imagine, like us in the UK during the early sixties, when we had the choice of BBC and ITV (and I suppose later, BBC3) there would be a limited time slot for kids TV. I've read anecdotally that Fireball was shown in the early seventies during the late afternoon in N,Z. and I'm thinking maybe by then your viewing choices might have either moved on or you simply missed them.
DeleteYou mentioned Stingray and Thunderbirds, but I'm wondering if you got to see Supercar?
Thank you. You are correct about TV in NZ, one channel from 1960, with a second added in 1975. I certainly do not recall ever seeing Fireball XL5 on NZ TV at any time. Much later Supercar was on in the afternoons (1990s ?), but it was on at a time that was difficult for me to watch, so I only saw fragments. I do have both on DVD now. NZ TV had very limited broadcast hours in the early days. I think at first it started at 5pm most days, except Tuesday and Thursday, when transmission began at 2pm. Hours were later increased. Children's television was on in the late afternoon, after school. Mostly British or US shows, and some Australian, with very little local content in the early days. After Stingray and Thunderbirds, there was Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, Secret Service, UFO, and Space:1999. Terrahawks was much later, but I did get to see that.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that you got all those series, especially The Secret Service which only got shown on three local broadcasters, here in the UK, so a lot of folk here only got to see it when it was released on DVD.
DeleteI remember The Secret Service, and had a couple of Armada paperbacks as well. The mix of live action and puppets did not really work. I have read several inaccurate accounts of the show, clearly written by people who never saw it. The Hornby Companion Series: Dinky Toys & Modelled Miniatures by the usually reliable Mike and Sue Richardson for example says of the show: '109 Gabriel Model T Ford, a magic car, suffered from the non-screening of the programme !', wrong on two counts. The car was not magic, and the series certainly screened in NZ. This is another Gerry Anderson show I have on DVD (I love my DVD collection).
ReplyDeleteThe Secret Service is a fondly remembered series by many fans, and is reputed to be Gerry Anderson's favourite puppet series.
DeleteI love its charm, and have been lucky enough to visit some of the live action locations. The full size 'Gabriel' turned up at the first Andercon convention. Many of the original puppets still exist, owned and displayed by talented collectors who lovingly restore them using original materials and original paint.
You're right about the uneasy mix between live action and puppets though, upsets the willing suspension of disbelief.
Journey to the Far Side of the Sun aka Doppelganger on UK TV today. Horror Channel.
ReplyDeleteI saw this on TV many years ago, without realising it was a Gerry Anderson show. I have that on DVD too. I have most of Gerry Anderson's shows on DVD, including the live-action ones. Why are all these SF shows on the UK Horror Channel ?
ReplyDeleteIts a channel that shows mostly modern and pretty naff horror films, some old sci-fi series like Star Trek Original Series, Star Trek Voyager and now and then classic sci-fi and monster movies like today. Its also free and nothing to do with Sky or any pay-per-view outfit.
DeleteSpace 1999 was recently repeated on the Horror Channel here a short while ago, more or less at the same time as it was being shown on the rival Forces TV. Forces TV also show UFO.
DeleteI'm currently enjoying Irwin Allen's The Time Tunnel on Horror at the moment. I might do a post on it here.
I think Horror started out just showing horror flicks, mainly straight to DVD stuff, but I'm speculating that horror has a limited appeal with some people (I'm certainly not a fan of most of it) so classic TV Sci -fi is welcome.
Doppelganger has some excellent SFX, apart from the blue screen 'in space' effects, but is marred by a script that has had too many rewrites, excessive editing, alleged problems with the lead actors and a ending that , might be considered arty for the time just doesn't deliver. Plus it was out around the same time as the even more metaphysical masterpiece, 2001:A Space Odyssey.
DeleteThat being said, definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it in a while.:)
Wish we had a free to air TV channel like that in NZ. I am not sure what is on pay TV as I prefer freebies. Irwin Allen, another maker of great TV shows. I have all of Lost in Space on DVD, and picked up Land of the Giants a few months ago. Really must get around to watching it again. These are the classic TV shows I grew up watching in the 1960s and 1970s.
ReplyDeleteActually, Horror is currently showing Lost in Space as well, in the afternoon. It has already shown Land of the Giants. So far my favourite, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea hasn't had an airing yet for some reason.
DeleteAnother classic show. I do have the original movie version of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea on DVD somewhere, but not the TV series, or the Time Tunnel. Horror sounds like a great channel, with lots of classic TV shows.
ReplyDeleteIt is a good channel for some great classic stuff, Paul. The only downside for me personally is it doesn't transmit in HD at the moment, so the picture quality could be a little better. Thankfully I've got all the Irwin Allen series on DVD, and Time Tunnel on Blu-ray, but I still find myself watching it on live TV when it's on.
DeleteAwesome job on Fireball!!
ReplyDeleteThanks FireballGuy :)
DeleteJust watched Journey to the Far Side of the Sun again, what a terrific movie, first class models and effects. Far better than 2001. The rocket on the desk at the beginning, filled with cigars, was neat. A pity Dinky did not do any die-casts to go with the film.
ReplyDeleteThere's a kit still available of the Phoenix Paul https://www.monstersinmotion.com/cart/item-list-fj-c-13_192/journey-to-the-far-side-of-the-sun-phoenix-space-ship-model-kit-p-17473.html
DeleteAs the Andersons' were intending this to a more adult orientated film there was no merchandise as far as I'm aware. I've got the original press book which obviously just has suggestions for publicity stunts and newspaper competitions for free tickets but that's about it. There isn't even a paperback that was released.
DeleteThat's a modern resin garage kit, Woodsy, it certainly wasn't available at the time.
DeleteThank you. There is also a kit of the Dove from the same film, but the kit is listed as Sold Out. The only resin kit I ever built was a Napoleonic British Hussar given to me by a friend. Great movie.
ReplyDelete