Hi Woodsy,
I am currently reading a wonderful book called Aurora Monster Scenes – The Most Controversial Toys of a Generation, by Andrew P. Yanchus (who worked at Aurora in the 1960s and 1970s) and Dennis L. Prince, StarComm Publications, 2014.
While it is mainly about the Monster Scenes kits from 1971, there is a lot of information in it about other Aurora projects.
In the 1970s Aurora was looking for ways to cut costs, and get some additional use out of its older moulds. One of these was the US Navy Sealab III underwater research facility.
This kit, of a real underwater research base, had not sold well, and the moulds had been expensive. According to Andy Yanchus, some thought had been given to ‘providing a new Moon terrain base and some space-suited astronauts’, to turn the kit in to a Lunar outpost.
That sounds like a great idea to me, but it does not look as though this was ever more than a suggestion. There are no illustrations in the book of what the proposed Lunar Outpost might have looked like, or what colour it might be.
The Sealab kit has a copyright notice on the underside of its seabed base for Aurora Plastics Corporation, 1970. Kit number 721-400 (the price extension to the number means that this was a $4.00 kit), was only in the Aurora catalogues for 1970 and 1971.
In 2017 the kit was re-issued by a company called Masterpiece Models. As the original mould had been destroyed, a new mould for the kit had to be created.
The kit was again re-issued by Doll and Hobby Georgia in 2024, so you could make a do-it-yourself version of the Lunar Outpost. The only problem might be finding some suitable Astronaut figures to go with it, as the Sealab was moulded in the odd scale of 1/93rd.
There might be some 1/87th scale HO model railway figures that would work with the kit (perhaps modern firemen in fireproof suits and breathing gear ?). It might also work with HO/OO Airfix Astronauts, if these were posed in the foreground ?
Two photographs from Worthpoint
Paul Adams from New Zealand
The Sealab III model was one of those great "high concept" kits that sadly were not as popular as they might have been. I recall wanting one of these but never being able to locate one. I imagine the design and production costs on this must have been formidable. Looks like it would be an awfully fun kit to build, though. SFZ
ReplyDeleteI was able to get one from
ReplyDeleteBeckenham toys back in
The seventies it was a hard
Build for a 13 year old but
Once built submerged in
The bath and played with
Till destruction just like
My flying sub and voyager
Submarine.
What an amazing model it is Paul. Superb. Will you try to get hold of a reissue?
ReplyDeleteToy heroes uk
ReplyDeleteSell one at £95.
With postage to NZ, and local GST tax, this kit would be around $250 to $300 NZ, so too expensive for me. But it would be great to see what a Lunar Outpost version might have looked like, if someone else wants to have a go at it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was working in NZ in 2011, I was amazed at the stratospheric prices of hobby goods. It made even Aussie prices look like a bargain!
DeleteThat sea bed base looks like the same one that came with the Aurora Seaview model. Bill
ReplyDeleteWell spotted. According to Aurora Model Kits by Thomas Graham, the 707 Seaview kit came out in 1966. The Sealab appeared in 1970; and the Seaview was re-issued in as 253 in 1976 with the Sealab base.
ReplyDelete