Basic Background

For those of an age, you may well remember the 1979 Disney Studios movie, The Black Hole, its basic premise, in the year 2130, the USS Palomino, while returning to Earth following deep space exploration, comes across a black hole with a considered lost vessel, the Cygnus, hovering on the edge of the black hole. As a part of that movie, the evil robot, Maximillian, serves the antagonist, Dr Reinhardt as his personal bodyguard.

What’s in the Package

This kit is a Reissue/Round 2 of the 1979 Walt Disney Studios/MPC imposing Robot ‘Maximillian’. Little has changed apart from the box depicting it’s new reissue identifier, MPC1017, rather than the original 1-1982 designation. Also updated is the artwork changing the ‘Walt Disney Studios’ to simply ‘Disney’. Box is a simple rigid opener with multiple color depictions of aspects of the Black Hole Movie, including images from the movie and callouts of other kits from the same line, namely V.I.N.CENT and Cygnus. The box also contains color callouts for the completed model, luckily only two colors are called out, both Tamiya, Mica Red (TS-39) and Chrome Silver (X-11). Inside the box are minimal parts for completion of the kit, 66 parts in total, including a base stand are included. One bag of parts includes Maximilian’s Torso, front and back, another contains all the remaining parts to build his arms, legs and head. Finally, his visor molded in red clear plastic is packed separately as are the base and wire stand. Parts are relatively good for their age, no flash was evident on any parts and early dry fitting provided a reasonably good alignment between parts, understandable for molding of this age.

The Build

Construction is quick and straightforward; there are only 7 steps in total to the build. I decided also as I was beginning building that I wanted to add a rudimentary light into the model to illuminate his visor. This was straightforward as the kit is relatively large and completely hollow inside with ample space in the robot head to accommodate a light source.

Step 1 has 3 parts, construction of the head, only difference to the instructions here were addition of a hole at the base of the head to accommodate the light used. Step 2 was completion of the legs, again, straightforward, fit was pretty good though seams are certainly an issue on this kit. Steps 3, 4 and 5 were assembly of the arms and arm attachments, there are many ‘do not cement’ portions of this assembly in order to ensure the model can articulate, in the end, all arms have articulation and options for various implements for final presentation. Step 6 provides details to marry the arms and head to the torso, again avoiding cementing the wrong spaces for arms and head to ensure articulation. Finally, step 7, involves adding the legs to the completed torso and connecting the wire stand to the stand base and model. Some bending is required to ensure the model ‘hovers’.

Painting

The model thankfully requires very little painting, the kit is already molded in color though I would say the color provided is not a perfect match for the color of Maximillian as depicted in the movie, for this, Tamiya TS-39 is called out, Mica Red, and in my opinion, this is the perfect color for the kit.

To start, I primed used liquid mask to mask off his visor and used a black primer over the entire model, including the display base and wire stand. After this, I used Tamiya rattle can TS-39 with several light coats, around 5 total applications, until I was satisfied with the coverage and appearance. I then also applied Tamiya X-1 Black Gloss to the base and wire stand. Callouts for the arm implements and shoulder pieces instructed these to be painted in Chrome Silver, Tamiya X-11. There are no decals for Maximillian and I was happy with the color and sheen to the Tamiya TS-39 so I applied no additional gloss coat. I then removed the liquid mask to expose his red plastic visor. The used light source was adequate to present a menacing glow from his head! I had previously also painted the entirety of the head interior matt black to attempt to reduce light bleed on the finished article.

Conclusion

As a fan of the movie the Black Hole, I was excited to build this blast from the past. For those Sci-Fi fans out there, this is an excellent addition to your collection and an easy build. It would look great in a diorama depicting his epic struggle with V.I.N.CENT! The possibilities are there to make this special.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Nice reissue of an old hard to find kit from a nostalgic movie.

Easy paint callouts, no decals, quick construction, nice weekend project.

Cons

Price seems a little high for the kit.

The provided stand is too flimsy, a clear plastic rod with location into the robot base would be a more stable option in my opinion.

Many thanks to Round 2 for providing the kit and to IPMS for facilitating the review.