MOONBASE CENTRAL: HAPPY BREAKAWAY EVE DAY

As it's coming up to the 45th anniversary of the Moon's 'breakaway' from Earth I thought I'd post a selection of photos I've taken over the last few years of some of the fabulous Sixteen 12 Space:1999 Eagle episode sets.

This is the Eagle from the Infernal Machine set with an Alpha Moon Buggy in the foreground. The set featured two of the three Alpha tanks seen in the episode. Some collectors would have liked to have had 'Gwent' - the Infernal Machine, itself as part of the set. If you want my opinion I reckon the way Sixteen 12 are continuing to expand their Eagle episode range I wouldn't be surprised if 'Gwent' turned up at some point.

Although it's not mentioned in the series, it's been suggested that the tanks might have started out as lunar construction vehicles and adapted for defensive purposes following the Moon's breakaway from the Earth.

The orange livery on the Sixteen 12 V.I.P. Eagle as seen in the opening Space:1999 episode. For some fans the original filming prop pod livery is the subject of a minor controversy. The earlier Product Enterprise V.I.P. Eagle had the orange paint on just the sides, while the Sixteen 12 has the orange over the slopes. Which is right? Eagle designer and SFX director, Brian Johnson doesn't remember, and it's difficult to tell for sure watching the episode. Obviously, it's highly unlikely we'll ever really know, but for what it's worth, personally, I like the full orange version better.

Below is the original Product Enterprise V.I.P. Eagle.

Although it didn't feature in the opening 'Breakaway' episode, the Sixteen 12 V.I.P. set featured the 'domed cockpit' Alpha tank, and a Alpha Moon Buggy.

The Immunity Syndrome episode set featuring a lovely little model of the Space Glider, with some nicely detailed paintwork. Sadly, the pod did suffer from some over-weathering at the manufacturing stage, but certainly not enough to put most people off as it was still a sell out.

Sixteen 12 decided to release two retro-Eagles taking inspiration from the old Dinky diecasts from the seventies. The two models created a bit of a 'marmite' effect with fans, some loved them, and some didn't. Needless to say I love them.

Below, the Eagle from 'The Exiles' set. This featured a manipulator arm, a fuel cell, laser gun and a cryogenic pod!

The manipulator arm is fully posable. It is longer than what we see on screen, maybe twice the size, but I imagine that's possibly governed by practical functionality reasons.

The Eagle from the 'New Adam, New Eve' episode set, with magnetic boosters attached.

Below, some photos I took featuring the Eagle Hangar set.

This diorama set features two hangar walls and a baseboard; a pallet Eagle with removable non-working winch motor , and a Laboratory Eagle with additional spine boosters. It also comes with figures and access steps.

For these photos I chose to expand the hangar with some additional floor , walls and ceiling.

The Sixteen 12 Wargames set: This features a laser scorched Eagle and a Mark IX Hawk.

Both these models look great to me, very nicely detailed, with the Hawk designed to be in scale with the Eagle.

A white Mark IX special edition version was also released.

Although it comes with it's own in-flight stand I couldn't resist scratch building a launch cradle for it.

The 'Earthbound' episode set, featuring the Kaldorian spaceship and a rescue Eagle.

The Collision Course set: This features two Alpha nuclear mines , and a detachable winch mechanism with attaches to the Eagle spine.

I really like the look of the mines, and considering the original filming props were made from just simple plastic picnic containers from Woolies its amazing what modeller Martin Bower conjured up.