Alan Douglas’s 2001 Orion

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This is the Airfix (not Aurora) version and was a re-release of the original 2001 Pan Am Clipper with different decals and packaged as the ‘Orion’ Clipper with no references to 2001 A Space Odyessy or Pan Am on the box. The Airfix kit, generally regarded as the poorer version of the two kits, still builds up into a nice looking model.

I originally built it in my teens and ended up hand painting (with the aid of some Letraset) the Pan Am markings. It cried out for a rebuild (with more advanced skills) and a trip to Comet Miniatures in London, a couple of years ago, got me a new set of Pan Am decals designed as replacements for both the Aifix and Aurora kits. This was the inspiration that I needed to have another go at the Clipper.

With Piers Bizony’s book ‘2001 Filming the Future’ and the video of 2001as a guide I attacked the model to correct some of its many flaws. Some things are pretty much impossible to correct such as the ‘hump’ of the engines being too high. However I did the following:

  • Scribed all the panel lines
  • Cut out the side windows which are too long and rebuilt shorter windows from strip styrene and filled the gaps.
  • Filed the nose to the correct angle.
  • Corrected the cockpit windows.
  • Two HO scale model railway passengers were cut off at the waist and mounted in the cockpit with a wall behind them.
  • Replaced the moulded in ladders at the rear with Plastruct HO scale ladder.
  • New brass wire ‘aerials’ at the rear to replace the plastic ‘chunky’ ones.
  • A full passenger interior was constructed in styrene with full compliment of seating (Well, a row short really. The interior set didn’t match the exterior. Surprise surprise!)
  • HO figures of Dr Floyd and the Stewardess (suitably altered model railway figures) were added to the cabin.
  • Lighting is two grain-of-wheat bulbs to light the cabin and a red LED to light the pilots.
  • Power to the Clipper is supplied through the stand by a plugpack transformer (The Clipper is removable from the stand with only two tiny holes in its bottom where two prongs from a molex plug on the stand enters to supply power.) The Clipper has an internal bridge rectifier and voltage regulator to supply the lighting. These components allow me to feed a wide range of voltage to the lighting with out having to worry about polarity or blowing the lights.
  • The small version of the Clipper on the stand is a Comet Miniatures mini-metal kit (Purchased on the same trip to Comet) No lighting in this one, Too small and solid white metal are show stoppers here
  • The stand is just MDF painted with Tamyia gloss black. A Plastruct tube supports the model. Left over Pan Am decals are stuck to a white painted square as a name plate on the stand

Overall the model turned out real well. The red LED in the cockpit really makes the pilot figures, in their white uniforms, stand out. The cabin lights up quite nicely but you have to get real close to be able to peer in the windows to see the interior and the figures that I spent sooooo much time on.

Regards from down under

Alan Douglas

Wellington, New Zealand