Gino Dykstra’s Dr. Smith and the Robot

Although I was never a fan of the original Lost in Space program, the models always had a wierd appeal to me. This model, released by Polar Lights, combines the original robot from Lost in Space with a new Dr. Smith figure and modified base. I particularly liked the idea of the contrast between the metallic robot and the ever-paranoid Dr. Smith, whose look they faithfully captured in plastic. The robot was the harder build of the two, being a very old model (and not that well fitting when new, if memory serves). I built it in sections so that I could insert the clear plastic parts into the torso after it was sanded and painted. Getting the parts to fit was something of a bother, coupled with the fact that my copy of the kit was missing a couple of essential pieces. A little work with sheet plastic and rod worked wonders, and I would like to believe that the replacement parts are indistinguishable from the originals. I also wanted to make the claws retracted, as they usually were, so cut down the flexible hose portions and fashioned new ends from plastic disks. I have his upper torso pivoting so that it’s “looking” in the same direction as Dr. Smith.

Dr. Smith was an easier built, although I did go ahead and pyrograve his collar to make the fur look more realistic as well as drilling out the end of the ray gun. Other than that, he was built essentially out of the box and hand painted with the exception of his pants, which were so smooth I thought they’d look better airbrushed. I tried to give him that classic “shifty eyed” look that the actor portrayed so well. Together on the base, they capture a brief moment in a classic TV show quite well, I believe.

Gino Dykstra