Philip Hamrick’s Martian

Here’s my take on the Pegasus Hobbies kit of the Martian from the original War Of The Worlds movie. The kit comes with four arms for different poses. I chose these because he looks like he’s trying to cover his eye(s?) when Dr. Forrester shined the flashlight on him in the farmhouse.

When I built my kit, the Martian lighting kit from VooDoo FX was out of stock. I substituted the VFX Universal Lighting Kit with acceptable results. I only used two of the four LED’s supplied with the kit – one in the martian and one in the camera lens. To light the martian, I drilled straight back through the eye socket and alignment hole into the main cavity of the shoulder piece. The alignment holes are deeper than the pins on the body so no modification was needed here. One hole was drilled through the support inside the body piece.

Once the body, shoulder, and arm pieces were painted, the eye socket was painted flat black. I airbrushed the body pieces but hand painted the socket and eyepiece as well as the exposed blood vessels. The eye was hand painted on the outside to give it some texture like the body. I also painted the inside flat black being careful not to paint over the lens areas. The eye lenses were painted inside and out with clear red, clear green, and clear blue.

The camera was a little more complicated. I drilled straight back behind the lens so the LED would sit straight but then had to drill down at an angle, aiming for the floor of the base for the wiring to pass through. The area behind the lens was painted flat black also. I masked the three lenses and sprayed the lens piece copper but hand painted the inside and the lenses as I did the eye. One hole was drilled in the base under the location of the camera and another in the middle of the base where the wire would come up to the inside of the martian body. I cut out a small piece of two of the runners under the base for the wire to fit flush under it. Small pieces of tape keep it from sagging.

Once the driver board was assembled, it and the switch were attached to the battery with double-sided mounting tape. I left about six inches of slack in the two LED wires for ease of battery replacement and turning him on and off. There is enough room inside the body for everything to fit. The arms are glued in place but I did not glue the shoulder and body pieces together in case I have to replace or repair the LED’s. I also did not glue the eye and camera lens pieces in place for the same reason. They fit tight against the vinyl and do not fall out.

Philip Hamrick