Ah yes, the mid 1950's; everything is turning space age. Eisenhower is in office and other than worries about the Red Menace, the country is optimistic about the future and looking towards it. Designers are using what they see as the future in everything from toasters to automobiles. X-planes are breaking speed and altitude records  and we are dreaming of men in space and trips to other planets and stars. These trips are common occurrences in a Los Angeles suburb called Hollywood, where movie producers and directors are cranking out space flicks at a rapid clip. Some of these movies are a bit much and have the usual collection of monsters and other horrible space aliens. Some of them are really good and the team uses these people called 'writers' to give us things called 'plots' and they have subjects that make us think. These movies are those titled 'War of the Worlds', 'When Worlds Collide', and 'Forbidden Planet'. These films all have cutting edge special effects that wowed the audiences of the day and are still very watchable even 40 plus years later.

Without a doubt, some of the neatest parts of these and other films are the space vehicles. The Martian War Machines, the Ark from When Worlds Collide, and the first really cool looking flying saucer, the C-57D from Forbidden Planet. None of these have been available in mainstream injected plastic kits until now. Polar Lights, which has given us a number of reissued Aurora kits as well as some new molds, has done a real tour de force with this one. 

First of all this beast comes in a box that is only slightly smaller than the Trumpeter 1/32 A-10. Make in the PRC, it has a box that is thick enough to stand on, unlike the flimsy things being produced here in the US. When you open the box, marvel at how well packaged everything is and much effort has gone into making sure that pieces are properly protected. Also look at how well all the bits fit into the box as there is no way that you will get them all back in and be able to fit the top on securely!!

The parts are typical of recent releases from Polar Lights. The buff plastic is well formed and without any flash. A number of the smaller parts had detached themselves from the thick sprues during shipment, but nothing appeared to be broken. I only opened the bags on the saucer and center sections, not the one with most of the interior bits and the landing legs. This was more for fear of making the box even more impossible to close! 

As you can see from the image above, you get a LOT of parts, most of them very large. I didn't show the other 10 saucer sections! There are two large clear bowls. One is the upper dome and the other for a dome over the lower section. Yes, you have both decks to build with this one. The clear plastic is protected by tissue as you see for the larger bowl. Everything you see in the movie is somewhere on the two decks of this ship. There is a stasis chamber, bunk room central navigation station, radio station, galley as well as a few stations and chairs on the upper deck (which we see very little of in the movie). Not a bad job considering the thing was never built and that the designers of this kit were working from what was on the screen. Probably to reduce costs, all six lower sections have slots for landing stabilization legs. Only three are needed so there are plugs for the other three. One other thing I noticed is that there are only stairs for one of the legs. It seems to me that in the movie I saw crewmen coming down the other legs when they first landed. How this happened with only one interior hatch is a bit of a mystery, but that's Hollywood for you!

One thing you will undoubtedly need is some filler. The large saucer sections interlock quite well, though there is an inevitable gap as you can see from the images above. The saucer skin also has a number of faint circular marks with little pips on them. You will have to smooth these out as well unless you want to leave them and say it is part of the way the hull was made. After all, it is a movie spaceship, so you are really free to do what you want. The interlocking tabs work quite well as you can see, though I would reinforce the long joins with some wide strip styrene if that is possible.

Probably the weakest part of Polar Lights kits are the instructions. This one has three exploded views with piece number and painting guide for all the parts. The first step is the upper deck, the second the lower deck and the third when all the bits are put into the saucer itself. All of this is on the inside of a single large folded sheet. The only image of all the main and upper deck bits in place is a small drawing that is part of the third construction step. Frankly, I would have liked a bit more comprehensive sheet breaking things down into more steps and showing previously installed stuff. Perhaps it won't be a big deal once construction gets underway and perhaps it will.

There is a verbal construction guide, but it is a joke. It is 'Install all the upper and lower deck according to the chart' sort of thing. Not very helpful. One little thing that you do get is a scale Robby the Robot. It would also have been cool to get the ion cannon and the tug or a scale Anne Francis!!

It is really great that Polar Lights has gone to the effort to produce a kit that many of us have wanted for a long time. It is going to be a huge model when built with a 28 inch saucer diameter. Having a full interior with clear domes is also a really nice touch. Wonder if anyone will build it all closed up with the hull completely painted? Anyway, if you go by the amount of plastic and the weight of the thing, it is well worth the $45 asking price. This is the kind of kit you'll want to buy at your hobby shop as the shipping charges will probably negate any savings you'll get from the discount people!

Forbidden Planet, watched probably hundreds of times over the last 40 years or so!

Review kit courtesy of me and my wallet!

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