Earl Atkins’ Fantastic Voyage Proteus
Finally, after much anticipation, the Mobeus Models Proteus, has arrived. Packaged in a very attactive box with the Proteus on the cover, and a detailed description on the back panel of what the premise of the Fantastic Voyage motion picture is all about, including several pictures of the interior.
The first thing that I did was to screen shoot the whole movie, and print 4×6 pics for reference when painting. Very helpful for details. Upon scanning all the parts in the kit, the laboratory sink stood out the most. It had to go. Scratch-building a whole new sink was the first item on the list. Looking at the stills, and the B+W studio photos, it clearly shows a two door cabinet, with two sinks side by side, and three green metal first aid style boxes on the counter, with the centrifuge on top. So that’s what I did.
The rest of the kit was suppimented with scratch built desk lamps, reworked morse code sender, handles on the lockout chamber, red-green lamps added to the chamber also. I reworked the overhead rack with the coloured liquids in the lab. Added spiggots, and butterflys to them (from 1/35 Tiger 1 jack supports.
All the seats had safety harnesses added to them. The headrests on the two front seats were reshaped to match the movie seats, and i also made the pilot’s seat swivel. I included body maps reduced from the wall map used in the tracking center to follow the sub through the body. That’s on the lab counter.
Lighting used was the Voodoo FX lighting kit for the dome, and Paragrafix lighting strips for the interior, thanks to Culttvman,for that.
Battery power is internal,and is enclosed in the port intake chamber. A micro-switch turns it on & off. Having cut a great wacking hole in the underside of the intake, I made a door from a second Proteus, using the same piece cut out larger for the door, and inserted it to cover the opening.
Taking a cue from Lou Dalmaso, I did somewhat the same idea he had for opening up the lab, so that it could be seen. Cut a hole in it. The second Proteus was the donor for the door also. I cut out the panel slightly larger that the hole in the good Proteus, then filed and sanded it to fit snuggly. Earth magnets hold it closed. The second Proteus is now whole, having spent some time to fill in the used styrene. Lou Dalmaso’s Aztek Dummy masks were used on the windows to complete the look.
Overall a very nice subject, took me longer to build that I thought, but I’m only doing one, and I wanted it to be as close as I could get it. And yes, there is a copy of Fantastic Voyage on the front window sill.
Earl Atkins
