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For an advanced modeler, the kit should pose a challenge, but not an impossibility. |
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The two new kits are of the Space Pod and the Chariot, two of the smaller vehicles used to get the Robinson family around in the Lost in Space TV series.
The Space Pod, introduced in the third season of Lost in Space, served as a landing shuttle for two people and the robot, and not-so-loosely incorporated elements of design of the real-life Lunar Excursion Module that landed on the moon just a couple of years later. This kit comes in a box with a painted cover showing the full-color pod against a nebula background, and the show's logo as well as the name of the model. The model kit is 1/24 scale and contains over 105 pieces and features a fully detailed interior with opening rear hatch.
The Chariot, also a sub-vehicle of the Jupiter-2, was a tracked vehicle (built on a Snow Cat chassis) used to ferry the cast of the show around the planetary landscape. This vehicle had a largely transparent body, on two wide tracks, and contained six seats and room for the robot. The model kit has a whopping 175 pieces, and for a model kit that builds up at just over eight inches long, that's a lot of detailed parts! It includes metal axles and rubber tires, over which fit the two wide snow treads, allowing for the vehicle's treads to actually move. This piece is also built in 1/24 scale to match the Space Pod.
Both kits are considered Skill Level 3, or Advanced. The Space Pod comes with a brief history of the vehicle, and black-and-white instructions. The Chariot has no history but has full-color glossy instructions (including one correction sheet to fix a mistake in printing of the originals.)
Looking for a couple of fun bit detailed modeling projects? You've found them.
The Space Pod comes with over 105 pieces, most of which are molded in a muted ivory color. Five pieces are molded in clear plastic. When you see the myriad of tiny pieces on the runners in one bag, you'll understand just how detailed this kit is. One runner has nearly 40 small parts on it alone, and that's in a bag with two similar runners. The kit has a fairly detailed interior with some instrumentation molded directly on the interior walls, augmented by many small parts.
If I were a less skilled modeler, I'd object to the instructions a little here. The sheet has several black-and-white photos of various parts, but nowhere is there a detailed break-away image showing how the parts all fit together. Relying closely on the text is vital to this project, and an advanced modeler should have no difficulty. Once built, it makes a nice six-or-so-inch tall version of the classic vehicle.
The Chariot is not the first model kit of the tracked land vehicle. Aurora's well-known kit from the 1960s had a smaller version, modeled on a diorama base facing a large, hairy cyclops, poised to crush the vehicle with a rock. But this one takes the proverbial cake. This is such a detailed model that it blows away any other version I've seen of this vehicle.
This one presents some improvements over the Space Pod model kit including the full-color glossy instruction sheet that shows a detailed exploded view with all of the parts and how they fit together. I see things very spacially and I could have built this kit using only that diagram—almost. But as aforementioned, there is an error, and the correction sheet points that out.
To convey the mostly clear exterior, this kit is built with a single solid piece for the exterior body, a clear piece. This means painting the metallic framing, which is fairly extensive around the surface. Good luck. I can never paint such fine lines without making a mess of it. There are a number of other clear parts in this kit as well. For an advanced modeler, it should pose a challenge, but not an impossibility.
One cool thing about this kit is the small version of the B9 robot, which itself has over 30 parts, some of which are clear.
Bottom line is, if you're a fan of the Irwin Allen shows, and Lost In Space in particular, Moebius is a company to watch. What with their amazing Seaview model kit recently released, they are poised to be the modelers for the Irwin Allen licenses.
I was never a fan of Lost in Space. While I was aware of the show as a child, and read the comic books, I never actually saw the show until I was much older, and that probably ruined the show for me. As a child I might have thoroughly enjoyed it the way I enjoyed Thunderbirds, that worldwide popular puppet show. But I always enjoyed the models and toys, and these are awesome. The one thing I wish is that Moebius had included some ability to motorize the Chariot and somehow include a way to hook it up to a remote control system. It'd be wonderful to drive this around a back yard somewhere.
—Sean
