Joel Tavera’s War Machine

The photo above shows a 3/4 view of the model. To the left is a profile of the model. These pics are of the SFMA ( Science Fiction Model Associates) Martian War Machine kit. This model is not like the resin Skyhook kit, but is a vacuformed plastic kit. It has a 9 inch wing span and is very light weight. Assembly is a very simple — top and bottom half for the main body, top and bottom half for the heat ray sensor and left and right halves for the cobra neck.

This pic shows the close up of the cobra eye and the under belly. See the color of the main lens and the cobra eye. I used Testors copper from a can for the main body. Then masked off the lit areas and spray painted from the can Fluorescent Green paint. I used Fluorescent Red from the bottle to highlight the Cobra Eye.

Here is a close up view of the rigid wire support that suspends the model. I camouflaged the wire to look like the cable of the electronic eye.

Since SFMA is not producing these cools models anymore, I would suggest that anyone who wants a small model of the MWM like this, gets the SkyHook version. It isn’t identical but it is very, very close and a cool model just the same.

This shot features a 1/72 scale figure from the Aurora ‘Invaders” kit. It depicts a priest with bible in hand confronting the electronic eye of the martians. I fashioned the electronic eye from a 1/32 Tamiya motorcycle headlight. I put a cowl on the head light and a top fin from sheet plastic.

Here is a close up of the priest as he walks toward the electronic eye in the mist. The base is a small wooden table top with railroad scenery foliage and grass to give it dimension and visual excitement.

The electronic eye (suspension) cable was made of two pieces of rigid wire. Each end was imbedded into the base with epoxy and filled with putty to make it look like one continuous length. Here is an illustration of how I supported the Martian War Machine on both the Lunar 16 inch version and the SFMA version.

Joel Tavera