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Dune Spice Harvester (SS-020) 1:500(?) Meng via Creative Models Ltd Dune’s legacy began in the 1960s as a long-running series of books by Frank Herbert, and several attempts have been made to realise the initial book in movie form, with varying levels of success. David Lynch made a decent, if simplified attempt at it in the 1980s, although it was a flawed movie with irritating voice-overs (from my point of view, at least), while a three-part TV movie in 2000 was considered a reasonable adaptation, but I haven’t seen that one. This latest expedition into the deserts of Arrakis benefits from the availability of realistic Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) that can be used to enhance the scope and scale of the saga as it deserves, without looking false. It also benefitted from a massive budget and an acclaimed director, not to mention a cast of many famous actors, although David Lynch’s version also had some famous faces, including a young Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck before his Star Trek days. The new film has been split into two episodes to portray as much of the book’s content as possible in an effort to retain the important aspects of the original story, and part 2 has been out now for a couple of months, rounding off the original story, allegedly, with the possibility of more to come if it has made enough money for the studio, which I expect it has by now. I haven’t seen the second part yet, so no spoilers please! The Spice Harvester is an essential part of the mining of the spice Melange from the deserts of Arrakis, and they are essentially factories on tracks that are dropped by their carriers onto parts of the desert where spice has been detected, in order to extract it. The noise of the Spice Harvesting attracts the giants worms that are native to Arrakis, as they are drawn toward repetitive vibrations, and when they get there, woe betide anyone or anything that remains on the sand. Each harvester is protected by a group of spotters in Ornithopters that keep an eye out for incoming worms, as their appearance is almost inevitable. When one is spotted, the carrier craft swoops in, picks up the factory and airlifts it to safety. In theory. We see what happens to a Spice Harvester when the carrier arrives too late in the first film, although all the crew survive thanks to Duke Leto Atreides happening by with a flight of Ornithopters. The Kit We reviewed the box-scale kit of this unusual vehicle some months ago, and as part of the conclusion I recall stating that a larger scale kit of this would be more unlikely than larger scale models of the more exciting and dynamic Ornithopters. Let it not be said that won’t acknowledge being wrong, because I was, and happy to be so if I’m honest. The scale is rumoured to be 1:500, but don’t quote me on that, but the kit builds up to 200x133x57mm. It arrives in a sleek top-opening box in the black-themed Dune colours, and inside are six sprues and two hull halves in olive drab styrene, plus three bags of tracked treads that total sixty-four in all. There is a small decal sheet on this larger edition with three decals, and a colour instruction booklet with profiles for the single official colour scheme on the rear interior cover. Detail is excellent, as is normal with MENG, and has been increased with the increase in size of the kit, although looking back at the smaller kit, that too is quite well-detailed. Construction begins with the lower hull, which has the four side wall detail panels installed along with dozens of detail parts. The roof is a separate part that is also detailed with equipment before it is lowered into position over the lower hull along with two recessed axles that mount the bogies later. The mining mechanism is built from eight cranked trunks that are linked by a pivot at the centre of a long fairing so that they can conform to the ground below. The completed mining appendage is inserted into a recess under the belly, detailing the fairing and surrounding area with additional parts, followed by four bogies that fit to each end of the axles within the hull. The tracks are built in pairs of four that are suspended on a long axle with a bobbin in the centre that snap-fits onto the ends of the bogies, making up eight sets of tracks in all. At the rear of the factory vehicle are a series of five mechanisms in a row that resemble two-part heat-exchangers, all clipped into the rear of the roof or aft bulkhead in line. At the front are a trio of antennae on the roof of what appears to be the command deck that is sited in the right half of the front of the vehicle in a raised area. Markings The Spice Harvester as it appears in the film is a drab brown that is referred to as Sand Yellow in the MENG/AK and Acrysion codes, but is akin to RAF Dark Earth on this reviewer’s screen, which has been calibrated recently, although it is old. From the box you can build the following: The decals are printed in China in a single colour, and are perfectly adequate for the task in hand. Conclusion If you wanted to be cruel, you could liken the design to a tracked tissue box, but as Sci-Fi modellers, we’ll ignore those cruel people. Detail is excellent, the size is sufficient to make it worthwhile to add some weathering to your project, and it won’t get overlooked in the cabinet for being too small. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of