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Wednesday 5 June 2024

FLY ME TO THE MOON......

Doctor Doolittle's Lunar Moth has been nibbling the front page of this instruction manual, but the 1950's style airbrush illustrations are just too nice not to share with you!










As the Scalemates web page says, this kit was released in 1959 as the Helios, but I picked up the 1968 Solaris re-issue in the early 70's at Sydney's Hobbyco (probably at a discounted price!)


I must admit I prefer the original artwork to the pop art Moon Zero Two version I had, which makes it all feel like a bit of a joke. Anyway, revel (I mean Revell) at the interior details. working features and cool shuttle booster with retractable under cart!


What do you think?

Looey
OZ Base
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4 comments:

  1. Paul Adams from New Zealand6/05/2024 6:33 am

    I agree on the box art, the original is far better. That looks like a complex model. I have never had much success with working parts on plastic models.

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  2. Anonymous6/05/2024 8:11 am

    I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with this one Looey. Its a bit of a weird looking kit, which isnt helped by the garish modern art. Its a very early spaceship concept and all those trailing cables look like it could be tricky to recreate in model form, but the instructions look intruiging! Bill

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    Replies
    1. lewis p morley6/05/2024 10:37 pm

      The working parts were all nicely engineered and it worked well. You turned the knurled ring at the basr of the nose cone to wind the towing cables up and down.
      Given I was working with 1970s materials, I painted the nose cone fluorescent red! I used the newly developed Spartan Chrome Bright spray for the rocket body. It gave the model a pretty good shiny silver effect and it lasted pretty well. Today, I'd use Alclad II Chrome or Green Stuff Chrome and I'd scribe panel lines on the rocket to give it a bit more scale.

      Atomic Space Explorer Solaris.
      Current status: Lost in space.

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  3. ZigguratSF20006/05/2024 3:15 pm

    Ah! The Atomic Space Explorer Solaris! I had that beauty back in 1968, and the comic-book illustration didn't fool me for a minute. I knew it would be a reissue of a magnificent early concept spacecraft, and it was, a gorgeous kit, which I liked so much I used it in one of my Super 8mm Science Fiction epics, along with the Lindberg Mars Probe Space Station! SFZ

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