Bill Early’s Spindrift

The suborbital transport Spindrift was featured on the Irwin Allen series, Land of the Giants. I’ve always thought that this was a very striking ship, the sleek shape and the bright colors. The only kits that have been available were the Aurora/Monogran injection plastic kits, and the Lunar Models vacuum formed version. The lunar Models kit was larger than the Aurora/Monogram version, but both were still pretty small. I decided that I would try my hand at making a larger studio scale version. The finished product is 42 inches long, from tip of tail to tip of nose.

THE HULL

I have had a set of fan produced, three view drawings of the Spindrift for years. I pulled these out and checked them against what pictures I could find. They were pretty accurate, so I scaled them up to the size that I wanted the ship to be. This gave me a set of full size drawings to work off of.

While working on another model, I found that green florist foam was not attacked by fiberglass resin. This is the kind of foam that they use to stick artificial flower arraignments in. This was the material I decided to use to carve the hull out of. I was able to get these foam blocks at a local craft store. They were about $2 for 6 blocks. The blocks were 2in by 2in by 4 in long. Spray contact cement was used to glue the blocks together prior to shaping. I used sheet plastic to make templates out of. I located a fairly inexpensive source of sheet plastic at the hardware store. The shower surrounds that you can get at larger hardware stores are the same as the small sheets you can get at the hobby shop.

These panels are about 5 ft tall by 2 or 3 ft wide. the one I used had 4 panels in it, and cost around $28. You sure can’t get that much sheet plastic at the hobby shop for that price! One side was smooth and the other was textured. I used mostly the smooth side showing, but the textured side was used in a couple of places. Some of the surrounds I’ve seen have smooth sides on both sides. Here the foam blocks for the upper forward hull glued to the templates. As you can see, I don’t keep a very neat work table. This makes it so much more interesting finding that one small part that you just HAVE to have!

Here the aft hull already shaped. setting on top of the forward upper hull. The forward lower hull is on the left. A long bladed kitchen knife and 80 grit sandpaper were used to carve and shape the foam blocks. Something to keep in mind when using this foam, is that it is easily worked, but also easily damaged. Rub your finger across it and you have a groove. With kids, grandkids, and dogs running around, I thought that I would pull my hair out before I could get the fiberglass on it!

Also, during the sanding, it generates a LOT of silver green dust. This should be done outside. The wife was not too happy about the floaties in her morning coffee!

After I was happy with the overall shape, I was ready to put on the fiberglass. The aft section and the forward lower section were glued together. The forward upper section was done separate, as it would be removable. The fiberglass I used was a couple of automotive repair kits from the local Wally World. These were the cheapest source of fiberglass I could find, and they worked like a champ. I put 2 layers on the outside of my foam cores, overlapping the edges. The flat area on top, where the dome sets, was made as a separate piece, then glued on. After this had cured good, the fun really got started. I smeared a good layer of Bondo all over the out side of both pieces. An electric hand sander was used to sand and shape the putty.

The entire hull was primed with spray primer and then block sanded to show low spots. After a couple of coats, the rough edged were cut off. I then dug out the foam core. A table spoon worked wonders on this part. I left the template pieces in the area of the intakes and exhausts in place.

Another layer of plastic was glued to these from the outside. This will make a hard sharp edge. Much better than trying to form putty. Sheet plastic was also used where the forward upper and lower hull pieces join. Short dowel rods were used as alinement pins. The area around the view ports was also edged with sheet plastic. This photo shows the hull at this point. To give you an idea of it’s size, that’s a 5 gallon bucket it’s setting on!

The next image shows the hull with the intakes worked down and the fin installed. It’s really starting to look like the Spindrift now! Duct tape was used to hold the forward upper hull in place while sanding. It also keeps it on while flying the ship around over the work bench. (Like you’ve never done that!) I knew that the interior was going to add some weight to it, so I cut some dowel rods and fiberglasssed them in place.

Another layer of fiberglass placed over the entire lower hull for strength. Now the entry door and windows were laid out and then cut out. Snap in plastic gutter guard was used for the intake and exhaust grills. A final coat of primer, and now we’re ready to move on to the interior

THE INTERIOR

I found a really nice set of blueprints on eBay made by Time Merchant Productions. They were written and designed by Frederick Barr. Wish I had had these when I started the hull. These blueprints have drawings of everything. They also have pictures of the filming sets in black and white. The interior was framed out of the surround sheet plastic.

Just a quick run down of some of the supplies used includes plastic knitting needles for the passenger seat backs, blue felt for the carpet, and insulating sheet foam pieces were used to carve the cushions for the pilot and copilot seats. After the basic walls of the interior were done, the interior was placed into the hull and final fitting was done. Sheet plastic was glued into the hull for the window recesses. A platform for the interior was made at this time, as well. The grills on either side of the front viewports were made up out of sheet plastic and styrene strips. All of the panels in the cockpit were made from pieces of sheet plastic, with bent wire handles. the buttons are scribed plastic and heated styrene rod for the round ones. The pilot controls were made out of various plastic parts and pieces.

PAINTING AND FINAL DETAILS

A small hole was cut out for the door controls, and the hull was ready to paint. Spray cans were used for all painting. I tried using lacquer clear coat, but it would dry before it flowed out smooth. I had to wet sad and then use a high gloss enamel.

I drew up the logo for the sides of the hull, then had vinyl masks cut at a local automotive graphics store. The logo was then airbrushed on using chrome silver for the “C”. The dome on top is an Easter decoration I picked up at the store. It was cut at a slight angle to get the desired shape. The antenna was made from some small plastic spheres and brass tubing, then airbrushed chrome silver.

Well, that about sums it up. I learned several new techniques during this project, and am glad that I had this opportunity to share some of them with you. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.

Bill Early