MOONBASE CENTRAL: I CAVALIERI DELLO SPAZIO: WHERE'S THE OX?

Friday, 9 April 2021

I CAVALIERI DELLO SPAZIO: WHERE'S THE OX?

I came across this Italian film poster for Thunderbirds Are Go [1966] online the other day.

I was expecting the Zero-X but there's a strange looking space plane in there.

Anyone know what that is?

9 comments:

KevinD4/09/2021 8:57 am
It looks like the Interplanetary UFO that amt made a kit of.
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Paul Adams from New Zealand4/09/2021 12:05 pm
I agree, the image does indeed appear to be the AMT Leif Ericson design, especially in the wing shape, but with a few changes. This kit was released in 1968, initially under the name Leif Ericson Galactic Cruiser - Strategic Space Command, model number 698, in 1/500th scale. Later it was re-issued as the Interplanetary UFO Mystery Ship. One version even came in Glow in the Dark plastic. The scalemates site is a great source of information on kit histories. Thanks to maxsmodels for pointing me towards this site. In some cases, it is even possible to download the original instruction sheets for old kits. No idea how this ties in with Thunderbirds, and the Leif Ericson came out a couple of years after the film, so it must be a poster for a re-issue of the film.

From scalemates, the various versions of the kit

Galactic Cruiser Leif Ericson, AMT s954250 (1968) (scalemates.com)

Original AMT instructions
AMT698_InstrSht_Front (scalemates.com)

re-issue instructions
AMT622_InstrSht (scalemates.com)

From Heritage Auctions, another Italian poster for the same film, but filled with actual Thunderbirds craft.

Thunderbirds Are Go (Dear Film, 1966). Folded, Fine+. Italian 2 - | Lot #53540 | Heritage Auctions (ha.com)

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Lance4/09/2021 4:21 pm
That ship is definitely heavily inspired by the Lief. Conning tower removed but the rest is quite Lief like. Most telling is the wing tips, that lower one is quite unique and a feature of the Lief.

The UFO Mystery Ship did away with the engine parts. Then when it was issued in the small box, the neck section on the upper and lower body halves was removed and made separate. So the piece count went up by 2 and you had to glue the 2 neck pieces together and then glue that to the combined body halves.

I had the long box version as a kid but only the scout ship survived the move across the country.

When the kit was reissued by Round2Models a few years back, they used the short box version but also included the engine parts.
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WOODSY4/09/2021 6:20 pm
Very interesting guys. I wonder why the poster makers decided to put a Lief Erikson ship on the picture for Thunderbirds Are go? There's no connection to Gerry Anderson with that craft at all is there?
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ZigguratSF20004/09/2021 7:47 pm
Oh. I built the AMT Lief Erikson back in the day. I thought it intriguing not just for the design, but that it was a “fictional” craft, not from a TV show or movie. Great head canopy!
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B Smith4/10/2021 8:56 am
Could be wrong, but I understand that the Lief Erikson ship was designed by Matt Jeffries, designer of the original Star Trek Enterprise.
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