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1:72 SHADO Moon Hopper from Fantastic Plastic


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For my second entry in the GB (and possibly the first I'll finish!) I submit this neat little kit from Fantastic Plastic of the Moon Hopper from UFO

 

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This is a distant cousin to the hopping vehicle that appeared in Captain Scarlet but thankfully doesn't 'hop'. You can see deign elements here that would resurface in Space:1999 a few years later. The kit is not complicated, construction consists mainly of building the legs and attaching them to the main body

 

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The instructions are well detailed and the decals look well printed.

 

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From the safety of earth, that looks lovely. But are the legs as delicate as they look? And are those really resin braces, or steel? I hope it doesn't collapse under it's own body weight because so far, it's looking good.

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The resin legs have steel rods cast into them, its really rather clever! There is also a transparent acrylic rod designed (I think ) to be hidden under the main body to support its weight

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Nice!!!

 

I was a bit worried at first when I saw those legs as well, the metal inserts will help. You could probably do up and nice set of replacements in brass rod.

 

It's a cool looking model and Fantastic Plastic do do some really nice resin models!

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Nice! :popcorn:

 

I built their X-37B. Quite nice after corrections. I ended up making a stand because the LG were fiction. Also, don't forget to clear-coat the JBOT decals; I used Tamiya X-22 Clear per their recommendation.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

With the Babylon 5 Starfury nearing completion, I thought it was an appropriate moment to look back at the next build in the GB! First thing to notice is the large amount of clean up required on the legs:

 

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What is interesting to note on these legs is this is resin cast around a metal core to make them stronger. Whether it works is up for debate and will be determined laer in the process but initially it just cutting off the casting blocks and flash and cleaning up the mould lines. Speaking of mould lines there was a significant one aroudn the middle of the main body which has had to be cleaned up

 

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The first bit of assembly was undertaken with this white resin insert glued into the space on the underside. Some drilling also had to be done to open up the channels that the steel rods that will help support the leg framework could be added. What this showed was the main body is basically hollow to reduce weight which is really handy! Sadly the drilling on the lower rod went askew and its coming through at an angle that will need to be corrected

 

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However, at this point I remembered another half-finished build I'd started just before the Starfury... the AIrfix 1:48 Sea Fury so I need to go back and finish THAT before carrying on with this build!

 

 

 

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8 hours ago, Kallisti said:

What is interesting to note on these legs is this is resin cast around a metal core to make them stronger. Whether it works is up for debate and will be determined laer in the process

We could have a little side-bet running here, with the stake money going as donations to the site fees fund😏; personally having picked up the the body is hollowed, I'm optimistic.

 

8 hours ago, Kallisti said:

 

However, at this point I remembered another half-finished build I'd started

Yep. Some years I don't even know which builds I was planning to dust down for the KUTA!

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