For the preview of this kit that shows the bits and pieces, please go here. 

 Well, it took me about five minutesfrom writing the preview of this kit to where I had the first glue applied tothe kit. Some models just affect one in that way. I am particularly prone tothese old kits, especially if they ooze cool or unusual. This one definitelydoes just that. As you can see, this thing is basically a conical section with abunch of thingies sticking out of it. Seems to be a simple build, doesn't it.Aha, that is where the kit draws one into its web! While simple in parts, it isnot simple in terms of fit and filler. To think that one can get away with nofiller on a Polar Lights Sci-fi kit is pure madness. 

First of all, the main fuselage sections need to be gluedtogether. A simple two piece affair, you say. Well, after sitting in a box andbeing shipped in a hot container all the way from China, the two parts are notthe same diameter. That means squeezing one of them to fit into the other. Iglued one side first and let it dry before attempting the other. As you can seefrom the image, there is a definite 'overbite' so to speak.

After the oneside had dried, the other side was glued and held in place with lots of maskingtape. At this time, the front piece was installed. This was a simple fit andthere was actually quite a bit of slop in it. Not so for the ring at the back.This piece fits over ribs in the aft fuselage. The fit is VERY tight andrequired pressure on it while the glue dried. This ring is quite small and therest of the fluted section fits on this. The gaps at the join are prominent asone would expect from this type of kit. Break out the filler!!!!

I applied filler to all the seams and it required severalsessions for some of them. I also stupidly put filler on all the parts near theback. The end result was a real mess that would have looked much better had Idone nothing at all. Frankly, I just couldn't think of how to get the filler outof the scalloped areas. I tried flooding the area with glue hoping that it wouldsmooth things out. It just made things much worse. It was cleaned up as much aspossible and left. It is hoped and several coats of paint in that area will fillin some of the gaps and depressions. Man, I hate it when I screw up somethingsimple like this!

Once I had turned my attention away from the fuselage, I startedassembling the arms holding the swiveling emitters. These had to be glued withcare to make sure the attachments still swiveled. They also required somefiller, as one would expect from this type of kit. While that was going on, thehemispherical rear end piece was glued in place.

Then the inevitable happened: I lost interest in the kit. It satunder an increasingly thicker patina of dust for a very long time. Like about 8months or more! I finally got back into it after cleaning up my workbench andrealizing just how many unfinished kits I had! The nest step was to glue on allthe little emitter arms. I did the aft and six forward ones first. These thenhad filler applied to any seams and left to dry. The base for the rotating coplight was glued into its mount at this time as well. Test fitting the two aftside fuselage emitter mounts, I noticed that the attachment 'feet' on these weregrossly too thick. Leaving them alone would mean that the emitter mounts wouldstick up proud of the surface by a goodly amount. These were then sanded downuntil they were nearly paper thin to get a good seating. They were set asideuntil the forward mounts were properly cleaned up to prevent breaking them off. 

With all the emitter mounts cleaned up, they were duly glued inplace. Fit was pretty good, though some needed filler at the base where theyattached to the fuselage. During this time, I managed to break one of the swiveljoins so repaired it with a section of paper clip.

Now that most of the parts were glued on, it was time to do somepainting. The main body got a couple of coats of primer and then was paintedwith a gloss white to keep things smooth. I had some rather nice yellow that ispart of the Boyd's line of car colors that is produced by Testors, so used that.I know that the box art shows an orangish color and that the comics had it in aregular school bus yellow, but this looked better to me.

The tips of the swivels were painted copper and the emittersthemselves painted with Alclad II using a 'jet exhaust' color that is actuallynearly a gold. The insides of these were painted flat black. The 'bubble'light on the top was painted aluminum and when dry, was given a coat of Gunzeclear red. For the front windows, a large brush was called to task and theseareas were painted in matte black. 

A large part of this kitis the base, which is supposed to be a moonscape. Pictures I have seen of themoons surface show it to be a grey color with a tinge of green in it. The basewas painted with good old primer grey, which seemed to me to be a close match.To add some sparkle to it, I used Alclad II's greenish metalflake color andlightly misted it on. It produced a pleasing effect that changes as the angle ofthe light changes. After the paint had properly cured, it was back to theworkbench for final touches.

There really wasn't much more to do. The emitters were gluedonto their respective posts and the decals were applied. These are thin and teareasily. I made a real mess of one side decal and ended up painting over theparts that I had torn. I used Solvaset setting solution, but didn't really seethat it had any effect on them. In where the lights go, I used MV lenses, part #L404. They are a touch oversize, but fit into the holes well. Ordinary whiteglue was used to hold them in place. I also used the white glue to keep some ofthe emitters pointing in the direction I wanted them, as their weight was makingit impossible for them to point upward. With that last step, I was done. Thoughthe figures were not used, they are in my parts box should that be something Iwant to do later.

The only reason this kit wasn't finished in short order was myown procrastination and loss of interest. The fit isn't up to today's standards,but that is because it is an Aurora kit from the '60s. Fit was not consideredthat important back then as these models were designed to be tossed together bykids and played with! 10-12 year olds don't care about poor fit and seams; 40-50year old kids do!

Overall, I can recommend the kit to all whohave an interest in the subject and can deal with the fact that to make itperfect, a lot of work will be needed!

July, 2001

Review kit courtesy of me and my wallet!

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