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Greetings! Just completed, this is the resin and photo etch Space Station V kit from Fantastic Plastic. The WIP can be seen here: One of the many impressive designs featured in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick, I believe this is the only kit in any scale of Space Station V currently available. It is easily one of the most challenging kits I have ever encountered. In general the kit is a well designed mixture of resin and photo etch, but perhaps overly complex in a few areas and lacking detail in some places. Unfortunately my kit suffered from some poorly formed resin parts which required scratch building of replacement parts. I added LED lighting to the docking bays in the hub sections which required carefully drilling holes to accommodate wiring and a brass tube. The station rim parts are solid resin and I could not think of a way to hollow them out for lighting. No stand is included in the kit, so I made a display base that will support the finished model on the brass tube with a 9 volt battery contained inside the base with a switch. The Orion is mounted on a length of music wire attached to the base. No decals included with the kit so I managed to find some very small spare Pan Am markings for the space clipper and a variety of other spare decals to detail the inside of both docking bays. Various small styrene bits and several small photo etch items from the spares bin were used to enhance the kit details The completed model measures about 8.5 inches in diameter and the scale is described as being either 1/1400, 1/2100 or 1/2800 depending upon the interpretation of the filming model and accordingly three scaled Orion space clippers are included. I decided upon the 1/1400 scale as that was the only Orion that was usable in my kit - the other two were very poorly formed and beyond repair. Many thanks for having a look. Questions and comments are always welcome. Bill

Greetings! Inspired by an excellent build of the HAL9000 Command Console on the RPF forum by the "Doctor", I decided to build my own HAL9000 console with video and audio. The console body is a repurposed clear acrylic shadow box frame with openings cut out for HAL, video display, and push buttons. A 12 volt power adapter from the Memorex photo frame supplies 12 volts to all 8 green LED switches on the console. Only the top four buttons are currently used, the remaining four buttons are reserved for additional sound modules or other purposes. The video screen is an old Memorex 10" digital photo frame which is ideal for providing a continuous loop play of the 30 JPEG images I joined into 15 split screen displays. The video is switched on from one of the push button switches and immediately starts playing the screen displays in continuous loop. HAL is the Moebius kit and lens eye is a red LED with resistor that can switched on or off by one of green LED buttons (I did not use the LED provided with the Moebius kit). Audio is provided by two 120 second recordable EZ Sound Modules modified from battery power to 5 volts. Each sound module is activated by a separate LED push button switch on the console so there is a total of 4 minutes audio featuring HAL and Dave in conversation. Modified USB plug in chargers provide 5 volt power to the sound modules. The completed console can be displayed on a detachable wood base or mounted on a wall. Question and comments always welcome. Many thanks for having a look. Bill

Greetings! This is the resin and photo etch Space Station V kit from Fantastic Plastic. One of the many intriguing designs from 2001: A Space Odyssey, I waited decades for a styrene kit to come out and am still patiently waiting. Finally, after seeing the superb results that others have achieved with this kit, especially the excellent work of Dr. Hutchison, I decided to wait no longer and give this my best effort. Overall this model is a well designed mixture of resin and photo etch, but perhaps overly complex in a few areas and lacking detail in some places. Unfortunately my kit suffered from some poorly formed resin parts which required scratch building of replacement parts. Certainly this is one of the most challenging kits I have ever attempted. The scale of the kit is described as being either 1/1400, 1/2100 or 1/2800 depending upon the interpretation of the filming model and accordingly three scaled Orion space clippers are included. I decided upon the 1/1400 scale as that was the only Orion that was usable in my kit - the other two were very poorly formed and beyond repair. Most of the resin parts are finely detailed and well done with the exception of the spoke arms and one of hub parts that was missing a small section of detail along the edge. The main rim sections are curved slightly inward, but can be corrected after placing them in very hot water. All of the resin spoke arms were badly formed and twisted. There is also an odd surface texture to these parts. I quickly abandoned the kit spokes and scratch built replacements. I decided to add LED lighting to the docking bays in the hub sections. This required carefully drilling holes to accommodate wiring and a brass tube. The station rim parts are solid resin and I could not think of a way to hollow them out for lighting. No stand is included in the kit, so I made a display base that will support the finished model on the brass tube with a 9 volt battery contained inside the base with a switch. The Orion will be mounted on a thin wire attached to the base. Many thanks for having a look. Questions and comments are always welcome Bill The parts: Typical resin part from kit: Inside of hub part: Small clear red LEGO tile used to provide colour and light diffusion. This tile fits exactly into square space at rear of docking bay: Hub parts and lights. The LED lights have been attached to the tiles with epoxy:

Greetings, Recently completed XD-1 from Moebius in 1/144 scale. Details about the build can be seen here in the works in progress - Many thanks for having a look - questions and comments always welcome! Bill

Greetings! This is one of those subjects I thought would never be seen in a styrene kit. Moebius has done a good job, just a few issues that I hope will be addressed in a future release. Having struggled with the ancient Lunar Models resin version of XD-1 - - this kit from Moebius was a pleasure to build. The build is almost complete now and I wanted to share some of the details from the construction. Build includes a full interior with lighting, EVA pods (with lighting), lighting for the engines, 9 volt external power, remote LED controller, display base and stand, and clear acrylic display case. In addition to LED lighting, Paragrafix brass PE, HDA Modelworks decals, and Green Strawberry EVA Pod set all add greatly to the kit.

This is Fantastic Plastic's resin and photoetch model of Space Station V from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. After trimming, filling, sanding and washing, the resin parts look like this: Surface detail is good in parts, but there's a little damage to detail here and there, particularly in the short rim sections. Also a missing corner from one of those sections, fragment not present in the bag, but I should be able to patch it with styrene sheet. Above, I've already assembled the two ends of the hub, each of which comes as two parts. Lots of pour stubs to be removed from the hidden surfaces, and quite a bit of sanding, trial fitting and then a little filling to get a good fit. Fantastic Plastic helpfully include a set of scaled diagrams, helpful for trial fitting. They suggest immersing the long rim sections in hot water if they don't have the correct curvature, and the plans are invaluable in getting that right, though I got them pretty soggy as I dipped, stressed and then checked each rim section! Getting the spokes and rims all neatly aligned with no gaps is going to be a challenge. Again, the plans are excellent templates. Here, I've discovered that the thick end of the spokes is just the right width to support the rim section as a height gauge to keep the positioned spokes level while glue dries. Given that the kit provides a spare spoke, I may actually be able to repeat this trick all the way through. Any guidance on washes to bring out surface detail will be appreciated. I'm more used to marking up panel lines and applying oil and grime to aircraft.

Greetings! Recently completed, this is the Atomic City Orion Space Clipper resin kit. For me, this is the most beautiful of the vehicles from 2001: A Space Odyssey. From tip of nose to the end of the rear stingers, the model is 44 inches long (not 42 inches). Being large and heavy, a sturdy display stand is essential to prevent tipping and damage, so I made one from a pre-cast concrete paver - it will never tip! External battery powered LED lights for the cockpit and passenger cabin were added but I did not do an interior. The wing is secured into position from the bottom with 6 small screws to allow access to the interior and lighting. The kit decals are very nice, but the Pan Am logo blue seems a bit too dark? Details about the construction will be posted soon along with more images of the completed model. In the meantime I wanted to share these first images of the finished kit . . . . Thanks for having a look, questions and comments are always welcome. Cheers, Bill

I have just come across this interesting two part build blog of the Moebius Moonbus using the Paragrafix 'rocket & thruster' set and their photo etch set too. Its interesting there is still no definative references/evidence of the colour of the interior of the Moonbus. This is a very good build, but I'm not sure I totally agree with all of the colour choices. I have the Stargazer 'accurate interior' set (as well as the Paragrafix sets featured in the vids below), which has incidently recently been reissued by Timeless Hobbies. Which the blogger of this vid agrees would make a huge difference to his model. Anybody got any thoughts on the interior colours? It would certainly be interesting get other thoughts and observations, particularly as we now have a 4k version of the film. Pt 1. Pt 2. Tommo

Moebius Models via MiM have announced a styrene 1/1 model of HAL.. Moebius models: 1/1 scale prop replica model kit has been meticulously researched and is now available for the first time. -From Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey -Highly detailed styrene model is based on meticulous research -Precision-tooled styrene with superior fit and crisp accurate detailing -Completed kit is 350mm tall -1/1 scale -Skill level 3, ages 15 and up -Features LED light-up eye and logo display stand https://www.monstersinmotion.com/cart/2001-a-space-odyssey-c-9_345/2001-a-space-odyssey-hal-9000-model-kit-with-lights-by-moebius-p-26704.html?fbclid=IwAR0go623wf-_9FCIeBOhFG8fRfSdSFYYexSDUZDpUjA92lrFtvwYJDgh9N8

This build is complete and can be seen here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235060208-atomic-city-pan-am-space-clipper-orion/ Following are images and details of the build construction. Described by Scott Alexander of Atomic City Models as being studio scale and 42 inches in length, the kit is approximately 1/48 in scale and actually builds out at 44 inches. Most of the parts were well cast resin with few flaws. Exceptions being - the top engine area which was infested with countless pin holes from air bubbles, poorly cast passenger window detail, and large gaps where the forward inside edge of the wing and fuselage join. There is room to scratch build a cockpit and cabin, but not in 1/48 scale - something smaller, maybe 1/60 or so. I decided not to do an interior, but did add lighting. No instructions are included, but construction is straight forward. No provision for landing gear or a display stand is included. The kit does include 2 sets of excellent decals. This is a large, heavy, and impressive model which displays well with a display stand and some LED lighting. Many thanks for having a look, questions and comments are always welcome. Cheers, Bill

Greetings! Recently completed build of the Aries 1B in 1/32 scale. This is a large and heavy 15 inch resin kit from Scott Alexander (CaptCBoard)) at Atomic City Models with full interior, LED lighting, and custom built display base.. Details of the work in progress can be viewed here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235057170-aries-1b-2001-a-space-odyssey/ Questions and comments are always welcome. Many thanks for having a look. Cheers, Bill Images of the completed model begin here with views of the exterior:

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/275-moebius-models/552073-moebius-2001-products-17.html As well as a retooled Orion, but no Aries! Thomo.