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Space Cruiser C-57D - Polar Lights 1:144


Sgt.Squarehead

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Space Cruiser C-57D

Polar Lights 1:144

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The 1956 MGM science fiction film ‘Forbidden Planet’ is, quite rightly in my opinion, considered one of the early classics of the genre. Directed by Fred M Wilcox and starring a very youthful Leslie Nielson, the exquisite Anne Francis, a singularly sinister Walter Pidgeon and of course the iconic Robby The Robot (as himself), the film wasn't terribly successful at the box-office, but over time it developed a cult following and it certainly had a massive influence on science fiction in the decades that followed.

I’m sure that the plot of this film, essentially a science fiction adaptation of ‘The Tempest’, is probably more than familiar to most readers, but to briefly summarize, hopefully without completely blowing it for those of you who haven’t seen the film; Commander John J. Adams (Nielson) of United Planets Cruiser C-57D is ordered to proceed to the planet Altair IV, there to discover the fate of the starship Bellerophon and her crew, dispatched to the world on an exploratory mission some twenty years before. Upon arrival at Altair IV the crew are contacted by Dr Morbius (Pidgeon), a scientist from the earlier expedition, who attempts to discourage them from landing. However land they do, whereupon the crew are greeted by one of Dr Morbius’ miraculous creations, Robby The Robot, who transports them to his master's rather luxurious home. Morbius explains the fate of the Bellerophon, describing a mysterious force that destroyed the ship and took the lives of the expedition members, inexplicably sparing only Morbius and his immediate family. He goes on to explain his fear that this force might begin to effect Adams and his crew, and again strongly encourages them to depart. Suspicions of Morbius are somewhat allayed when the crew encounter his naive, innocent and incredibly alluring daughter, Altaira (Francis), who becomes quite fascinated with Adams and and his all male crew, a fascination that is more than reciprocated. Robby too soon endears himself to the crew, but Dr Morbius himself remains enigmatic and very soon his dire warnings prove all too prophetic, with an invisible entity sabotaging equipment aboard the C-57D. Convinced that Morbius knows a great deal more than he is letting on, Commander Adams determines to confront him.....

The production values and the scale and quality of the special effects utilised in the making of this movie really were quite unprecedented for their day, earning ‘Forbidden Planet’ an Academy Award nomination and numerous emulations and tributes over the years. The soundtrack featured the first ever all electronic sound effects and score in a motion picture, the special effects animations were provided by Disney artist Joshua Meador of ‘Fantasia’ fame, the list of firsts and superlatives just goes on. It is probably fair to say that ‘Forbidden Planet’ was in fact the first true science fiction feature-film, prior to this ground-breaking movie science fiction had, by and large, remained the remit of the 'B-Movie' brigade.

The polished metallic discus design of the C-57D was clearly inspired by the flying saucer phenomenon, which had begun with Kenneth Arnold’s sighting almost a decade before and which was beginning to explode into a worldwide sensation at around the time the film was made. Three models of the C-57D were used in the film, one of 56cm , the second 110cm and the third 220cm in diameter, the largest of these models was internally lit and featured a deployable landing pedestal and boarding ramps. In addition to these small scale models a full size mock up depicting three quarters of the exterior of the 50m diameter saucer and a complete interior set were also built. So sophisticated and expensive were the props, models and sets made for this film, that they were reused in other science fiction features, including the TV series ‘The Twilight Zone’, the C-57D models appearing in eight episodes made between 1960 and 1964.

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The Kit

So how have Polar Lights gone about representing this classic of fifties science fiction? This is not their first kit of the subject, having previously released a very detailed 1:72 kit of the C-57D, with a full interior and a fair complement of figures. Within the rather nice 13” square box of this 1:144 kit we find exactly none of that, I think it’s fair to say that this 1:144 kit is pretty much the antithesis of its 1:72 predecessor, it is incredibly simple. Two large disc shaped parts in pale grey plastic provide the main hull, a very large sprue with 20 parts in the same materiel and a second smaller sprue with 17 transparent parts covers everything else. So large is this single sprue that I've photograped it in halves showing the upper and lower surfaces of the parts on each half, thus there are four photographs for this single sprue. Detail on these parts is, to be frank, minimal, but that is actually not a bad thing as the designers of the fifties were very big on the whole ‘smooth and shiny’ thing and that is faithfully reproduced here.

Instructions are presented as a single sheet, folded into four, one side of which is more than ample to detail the four step assembly process. In the first step we assemble and paint the three ramps that descend from the hull when the C-57D is at rest. One of these is plain, the second a two part cargo conveyor and the third comprises the stairway and a pair of handrails that, despite being the only truly small parts in the kit, would scale out at 4-6” in diameter and which I suspect most modellers will replace as a matter of course. In step two these ramps and the rather grandiosely named ‘hallways’ that surround them are mounted in the lower hull. The ramps are designed to be a working feature, but I suspect most modellers will fix them in place as such things tend not to survive for long if fiddled with repeatedly. Step three has us join the two hull halves together and add a pin which will support the lower dome and engine cage. The fourth and final step contains the only hint of complexity in the process, as the builder is presented with a couple of finishing options. The lower dome of the saucer is provided as a cloudy transparent part, if the model is to be built at rest it is to be painted silver to match the hull and capped with the extended landing pedestal part. However if the modeller wishes to represent the C-57D in flight it is to be left unpainted revealing the engine cage within. The instructions suggest painting the cage black and staining the sixteen clear inserts red in order to represent an operating drive system, but I suspect many modellers will at least consider lighting it. Indeed I believe the kit may have been designed with lighting in mind as I understand there is another boxing of this kit available (Deluxe Edition) that includes a custom lighting set and a motor to spin up the engine cage. No painting guide or decals are included, nor are any needed for this model as the very few colours that will be used are described in the assembly process, in strictly generic terms.

Conclusions

If one wishes to build a very small scale model of the C-57D at rest, this is very probably the kit to choose, your options are fairly limited and all of them are more expensive. There really isn’t all that much to this kit, but it’s reasonably well done and it should look pretty good OOTB, at 11” in diameter it’s certainly not small. If you want to represent your C-57D in the flying configuration I strongly suspect that the Deluxe Edition of this kit would be a better starting point for most modellers, I cannot say more than this as I have not seen the other boxing. If you want to build a super detailed kit of the C-57D straight from the box, Polar Lights’ earlier, but much more expensive, 1:72 kit remains the best option.

Review sample courtesy of

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UK distributors for

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