Kevin Pellew’s Space Pod
Here’s another submission from the archives. Kevin sent this in 2008
Over the past few years I have found that my sight is steadily going and as such I have had to put aside one of my favorite hobbies – that of model making. Models were getting to be a task and not a source of enjoyment so I took to purchasing die-cast models or kits that required little or no construction – and behold all was good. Unfortunately this ended when the small American ‘specialty’ model company ‘Moebius’ announced that it would be producing 1/25th scale detailed but affordable kits based on Lost In Space’s Space Pod and Chariot. Right, I thought, I have heard this before – both the Chariot and the Space Pod had been produced by LUNAR Models in the 80’s but these were expensive and hard to get especially down here in Australia. I had bought a Lunar Models Jupiter Two in the early ‘90’s and was disappointed to say the least – the plastic was very thin and the clear parts were similar in style to the plastic you find on Action Figure kits – you know the type of plastic that keeps the action figure on the ‘card’ – and there was no internal pieces. I found out later that the idea was that YOU had to buy each piece individually i.e. the hull, then the upper deck and then the lower deck and finally a decent after market Fusion core. So I glued the kit together and waited for a better or easier Jupiter Two kit to arrive.
That kit arrived in the form of Polar Lights “Jupiter two’ which was an all round easier and complete kit but still I had trouble making the kit as it’s scale was both small and indistinct – some sources claimed it was in 1/48th scale while others claimed it to be in 1/60th while I found it to be a combination almost of both – more confusion arose when it was found that the exterior of the kit was ‘compatible’ with the Johnny Lightning Kits of the Pod and Chariot – a scale I found was closest to 1/72nd scale. I was happy with my kit and again once complete I put it aside and waited for other LIS based kits to appear. I made (and sold) several B-9 Robots as well as Doctor Smith and a similar scale model of Judy – movie kits were also made – those being the Robot and Jupiter Two.
And then something that all LIS fans know well happened – NOTHING.
As fate would have it I was going through ‘CultTVman’s’ Site when I found the news about Moebius and its products. I visited the Moebius Internet site and saw the stuff that they were putting out and was amazed although still a bit skeptical – long time fans of LIS know well the feelings of excitement followed by despair when LIS based products are announced then never see the light of day but Moebius came through. We ordered eight kits in total – four Space pods and Four Chariots from the states and waited and waited – they were preordered so the wait was not un-expected – when they arrived I was amazed and stunned. The Space Pods came first which I was kind of happy with – the Chariot worried me as there are a lot of clear parts in it. Anyone who has bought models will know that often the kit comes in a box that is UN-NECESSARILY large well the Moebius people present the kit in a reasonable sized box – something that cuts down postage from the states – and unlike the Lunar Models kits the box is professionally done with a color painting of the Pod on the front and over all the presentation is excellent.
Opening the box I found that the pleasant surprises continued. The parts are housed in clear plastic and on first inspection appeared to be clean of flash and marks – the clear plastic parts are in their own bag along with the decals. All model instructions state that the builder should test fit the parts first and this I did – again another pleasant surprise as the fit on the kit is about 98% meaning that there is very little puttying to be done. Sanding is minimal too and without going into it too much the kit is very easy to construct except for one small nagging thing – the instructions! This was the first Moebius kit that I have ever built so I do not know if their instructions are typical for each kit but I found the instructions for the Pod annoying and would probably be confusing to the novice builder. After much thought I went to CultTVman’s site and downloaded the pic’s there of the Pod Prototype and found that by studying them and occasionally consulting the Pod instructions I was able to put the kit together.
Painting the Space Pod was deceptively easy – the bulk of the model was painted in Aluminium straight from the can – I used a spray can from my local Hardware store – there were two available and I asked the handyman there what was the difference and his explanation was pretty much on the mark. He said that the more expensive can would last longer and give a better off over all finish and while he was right I found a problem with any silver or aluminium paint in that it did not like finger prints and was soon ‘dusty’ in appearance. This was rectified by spraying the finished model with ‘Topcoat’ semi-gloss – this stopped the smudging and actually lightened up the Aluminium – the effect was pleasing. I had problems with the clear parts in that after masking them off they seemed to remain sticky from the tape so I cut some replacement parts from thin clear plastic (a CD Case of all things) and stuck them on – this is where there is one difference from the ‘real’ model in that the ‘glass’ pane is on the outside and not on the inside of the kit.
The interior of the kit is well detailed but my first attempt was not so crash hot so I searched the net for interior pics of the Space pod and printed them out onto thin photo – paper and again the result was pleasing. My second attempt saw me taking a little more time and patience and getting a great result only to be disappointed as a few weeks after finishing the kit I found an online source for Space Pod interior decals – live and learn. I later found out why the ‘glass’ sections were frosting up in that I applied a small piece of paper on the glass before masking it – when spraying something in the painted soaked through and frosted the plastic – again live and learn because I discovered this fact after starting my next kit – the Chariot!
Over all this is a great kit and despite the instructions one that is easily constructed and enjoyed – well done Moebius!
Kevin J Pellew
