Reviews of products for scale space and science fiction vehicle models.


Review Author
Tim Hortman
Published on
August 16, 2014
Company
Moebius Models
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$59.99

Moebius Models continues to add to their growing line of Battlestar Galactica kits, this time issuing some prefinished built up display kits.

Having grown up watching the original Battlestar Galactica, I was thrilled with the modern television series of the past decade. It is great to be a plastic modeler and have kits available from the series – thanks to Moebius Models!

Reviewed here is the Battlestar Galactica Viper Mark VII 1/32 painted and assembled display model.

The model comes in a triangle shaped box, which is easy to damage. After opening the outer box, you get a nice inner box which represents the kit in a Galactica launch tube. Certainly one could leave their kit in this inner box and put on display as-is if they so choose.

Review Author
Dave Koukol
Published on
July 16, 2014
Company
Moebius Models
Scale
1/4105
MSRP
$69.99

Background

Airing in 1978 and 1979, with a brief return in 1980, the original Battlestar Galactica (BSG) television series laid the foundation for a follow-on series of books, games, and reimagined series of television shows chronicling humanity’s struggle to survive after the Twelve Colonies of human civilization were all but wiped out by the treacherous cybernetic Cylons in the attempt to rid the universe of human life. Despite the limited run of the original TV series, BSG has remained a popular franchise among Sci-Fi fans for three-and-a-half decades.

In honor of the 35th anniversary of the original series (TOS), Moebius Models has released a series of kits depicting craft from the 1978 production, with the flagship being Galactica herself.

Review Author
David Wrinkle
Published on
August 16, 2021
Company
Hasegawa
MSRP
$74.99

Death's shadow rides on solar winds

Sleek, magnificent, deadly. A single look at the Phantom Death Shadow will tell you all you need to know. She's a predator angled and shaped with a single purpose: destruction. Lethal Pulsar cannons in triple mounts sit idle 'til they reduce enemy warships to cosmic dust; the blade ram waits to split hulls and spill crews and cargoes to the cold, black emptiness of space. She's a piece of lethal art that deserves a spot in your display case. Kit features 2 Cosmo Wing fighters and display stand.

Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
May 29, 2014
Company
Round 2 Models
Scale
1/100
MSRP
$25.00

Last released in 1970 by MPC, Round2 has re-issued this classic kit. You may remember that the original MPC kit had parts for the flying version. I remember the cardboard tube for the central rocket cylinder used to hold a small rocket motor, thinking that the plastic parts would not survive more than just one launch. I never put that to the test and I still have that original 1970 MPC kit sitting in my display case.

The Round2 release does not have those parts for a flying model, although the launch rail brackets are still present. There are some other items still in the box from its “flying” days but they can be ignored.

During this project I did not fill seams and I did not conduct any research to achieve an accurate paint scheme. I sanded down the more obvious “steps” during assembly, and chose a very basic White/Gray paint scheme, painting some Vostok components to make them pop out a bit in the images accompanying this review.

Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
May 17, 2014
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$54.99

I like sci-fi and weird designs, so this Hasegawa Vanship, from their Creator Works series, was right up my alley. I had never heard of this model, however after a quick Google search, I found out that it’s the “fighter” ship for a hotshot pilot from the 2011 anime series Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing, a follow up to the 2003 anime series, Last Exile. I did find the series on Comcast’s Infinity and watched a couple episodes to try and get some context. Obviously, I need to see the rest of the series but the first few shows were good, so when I get time I’ll finish the rest.

Review Author
Tom Pope
Published on
April 28, 2014
Company
Moebius Models
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$29.99

Introduction

Many stories have been told in science fiction of man’s development of artificial intelligence and the subsequent enslavement of man by the machines he created. One such story was Battlestar Galactica (BSG) which first aired on ABC television in 1978. Mankind had created an army of automatons known as Cylons to protect and serve them but the Cylons evolved a sense of purpose of their own, destroying the human civilization and chasing the last few thousand human survivors into deep space and forcing them to search for a new home - Earth. In 2004, a darker and more sinister Battlestar Galactica was reimagined as a miniseries on the SyFy Channel.

Over the last few years, Moebius Models has developed several great and accurate model kits devoted to the new Battlestar Galactica series but in late 2013, Moebius released a 1/32nd scale Colonial Viper kit, one of several new kits released to commemorate the 35th Anniversary of the original TV series.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
March 21, 2014
Company
Moebius Models
Scale
1/6
MSRP
$54.99

Danger, Danger Will Robinson… Moebius Models has come to the rescue of all those living in our past and loving Lost in Space. Their latest release, in beautiful 1/6 scale, is the original bubble headed booby, the B-9 Robot which played such a huge parts in the series. The robot itself was played by Bob May and voiced by Dick Tufeld. If you are my age, almost everyone I know remembers at least one of the robot’s lines. The B-9 Robot may be one of the two most famous robots in TV and movies, along with Robbie.

Let’s dive in and look at the kit. The basic parts for the kit are done in a medium-soft gray plastic, and are comprised of seven sprues and four torso parts. Two clear sprues are also included, along with a small photoetch fret and a decal sheet. Last, there are eight gray vinyl parts for the arms and rubber portions of the legs. The kit’s molding is very nice, and there is a nice instruction sheet included with it.

Review Author
Tom Pope
Published on
May 8, 2021
Company
Round 2 Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$24.99

Introduction

By 1999, a human colony had been built on the Moon (you remember, right?). Moonbase Alpha safeguarded all the nuclear waste shipped from Earth, and carried out research. Then, on September 13, 1999, disaster struck when the nuclear waste exploded in a chain reaction, and the Moon was blasted out of Earth's orbit, into deep space. Thus began the adventures of Space:1999. Space:1999 was a British produced science fiction television series that aired from late 1975 to early 1977, and for us science fiction fans, there was nothing else like it on TV at the time. The workhorse of Moonbase Alpha was the Eagle spacecraft. Eagle spacecraft were cleverly designed, modular utility ships (like the Huey helicopters of the day), and were used for work tasks and in various configurations to transport personnel and cargo around the Moon and the planets the Moonbase Alpha crew came across in their travels.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
February 26, 2014
Company
Polar Lights
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$28.00

Round 2 Models and Polar Lights have re-released The Jetsons Capsule Car with figures. This boxing only includes George Jetson and Astro. The figures are pre-painted and they look very nice. The clear capsule is very transparent and free of scratches due to careful packing. It does have a small “pimple” on the top, probably part of the molding process.

This kit is a snap-together model, and the overall fit and ease of assembly is excellent. If you go OOB, and don’t want to paint it, you could have it ready for display (or playing) in less than 15 minutes.

During assembly I found a few minor gaps in the capsule car ‘fins.’ It was a matter of 10 minutes with putty and sanding sticks to take care of them. I decided to paint the interior and exterior of the capsule car, as well as the moon base. The overall breakdown of the kit made painting very easy with minimal masking.

Review Author
Andrew Fuller
Published on
February 24, 2014
Company
Round 2 Models
Scale
1/96
MSRP
$17.99

The U.S.Moon Ship is Round 2 Models first release, after having been originally released by Lindberg Models in 1958. It was subsequently re-released a couple more times in the decades that followed and was based on space flight concepts of the era.

The kit is pretty simple and straight forward consisting of only 41 pieces, including 1 transparent red sprue and 2 sprues molded in white in addition to the main components of the space craft. There is an easy to follow instruction sheet, and 1 sheet of decals.

The build was simple and quick, and other than some minor issues with getting the large star decals to conform to the shape of the hull, it was an enjoyable endeavor having been completed in two evenings at the "bench".

I would most certainly recommend this kit to a novice builder or anyone wanting a quik build that produces satisfying results. The kit would make a great parent/child project or "group build" project.