DansModels

The 1/48 MPC X-Wing fighter kit was partially assembled and immersed in water at the desired angle. A line was drawn around the model with a china marker at the water line. Then the model was cut along the line with a razor saw. Finally, the model was wet sanded on a large flat piece of glass until the cut-off bottom was perfectly flat.

Not all of the models are from scratch but many are either scratchbuilt or major conversions. The text accompanying the photos explains how the model was built and whether a kit was used or not. All of the Heinlein models, for example, are scratchbuilt, but several of the Batmobiles are built from kits with little or no modifications.

I started building models at a very early age. I think I made a model of a spaceship from a comic book when I was about six, using the cardboard from a cereal box and the tube from a toilet paper roll. I continued building models out of card for many years but eventually, when I was older and had an income, moved into plastic kits. I continued to modify kits and scratchbuild because I was mostly interested in building science fiction models and, in those days, there just weren't very many plastic kits of sci-fi subjects. I always enjoyed building models of the spacecraft and other things (robots, ray guns, etc.) that I found in books. I've been modeling all my life, with only a few breaks of short duration. I discovered the International Plastic Modelers' Society (IPMS) about thirty years ago and membership in it and a local IPMS chapter have really helped my modeling. I've won awards for modeling at local and national competitions but these days, I just build for fun. If a kit is available of something I want to model, I have no problem building the kit. But I've been a scratchbuilder for so long that it is difficult for me to build even that without making a few modifications. Almost anything can serve as a starting point for a model. Several of my Heinlein spaceships started as large Christmas ornaments, for example. It's simply a matter of having an image of the finished model in my mind and then cutting and shaping plastic until I have that image in physical reality.

"Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds" is a 1978 concept album by Jeff Wayne and others, retelling the story of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. It starred Richard Burton as the narrator-protagonist. That, along with excellent music and lyrics, made the album a success that is still going today. I liked the album but as a modeler I was even more interested in the "blueprints" of the Martian war machines that were part of the promotional materials. Really only three view drawings, they were still more to work with than usually is availablel to science fiction modelers.

The body of the war machines was made by heat forming sheet styrene plastic over the bowl of a regular spoon. The bottom was flattened by very carefully heating the shaped plastic over a candle and then pressing onto a sheet of glass.

Several changes were made to the Olympia kit to make it visually different from the American cruiser. One was to replace the Olympia's rather short and spindly masts with more substantial masts such as were mounted on the British Majestic-class battleships.

Released in August 1950, directed by Irving Pichel from a script by Robert A. Heinlein and Alford Van Ronkel, adapted (loosely) from Heinlein's novel ROCKET SHIP GALILEO. The script also borrowed heavily from Heinlein's short story, "The Man Who Sold the Moon."

The movie was produced by George Pal, shot in Technicolor and used beautiful matte paintings by renowned space artist Chesley Bonestell. Unlike the space operas such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers that had preceded it, DESTINATION MOON made a serious effort to portray a realistic vision of what space travel would be like. Some aspects of the movie seem dated to modern viewers, but the movie was a solid success when it was released and is still a milestone in science fiction movie making.

One thing the movie had going for it was the sleek and beautiful spaceship "Luna." It became the model for countless movie spaceships that followed, right up to the NASA inspired vision of Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.

This an image created using a photo of my model of the LUNA and a photo of the Moon.

Cover illustration from the 1958 Scribner's edition.

Clifford "Kip" Russell, a bright high school senior with an eccentric father, enters an advertising jingle writing contest, hoping to win an all-expenses-paid trip to the Moon. He instead gets an obsolete, but genuine, used space suit. Though a few make fun of him, with the help of sympathetic townspeople, and using his own ingenuity and determination, Kip puts the suit (which he dubs "Oscar") back into working condition. While testing the suit in a field, Kip is picked up by a UFO that is piloted by a young girl and an alien she calls the "Mother Thing." They are running from a ruthless alien who has sinister plans for Earth. They are recaptured by the aliens and taken via the Moon to Pluto.

This model is based on the Robert A. Heinlein novel "Have Space Suit - Will Travel"

This little diorama came about when I bought a set of Star Trek Micromachines to turn into ornaments. Most of the Trek Micromachines are of large ships (like the Enterprise) in such small scale as to be used for very little else. But this TNG shuttlecraft was just large enough that I wondered what its scale actually was. I measured it and calculated that it was about 1/160 scale. This happens to be a standard model railroad scale (N scale) for which I had some figures on hand. So, I decided to make a diorama of an away team exploring a planet with the shuttlecraft.

The "wings" and the engine pylon, along with the bottom of the main hull and stern bulkhead, are all made from sheet styrene.

I've known Dan Thompson (by eMail) for a number of years now. I knew he was into models but until a week ago I had no idea what an incredible model maker he is. Most of our communications involved the old TV shows, an interest we both share. But when he sent a link to pix of his models, I was blown away by his work. And just to be clear: what you see here is a very small portion of of what awaits you if you click the link below. -- Bruce David/Swapsale

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