Ah nostalgia... one of the big benefits of modeling is bringing back memories. Pegasus Hobbies new release of the ship and Martian from My Favorite Martian will certainly do that. For those of you who don't know the show, it ran between 1963 and 1966 for 107 episodes and chronicled the exploits of a crashed Martian anthropologist and the newspaper reporter who found him crashed. The showed starred Bill Bixby as the reporter and Ray Walston as Uncle Martin. Of course most people remember him as Mr. Hand from Fast Times at Ridgemont High and many other things. Bill Bixby played the Incredible Hulk way back when. Both were excellent actors and the show was very funny, at least to me.

On top the kit. It is 1/18th scale which means the ship is about 7 inches long and Uncle Martin is 4 inches from feet to the top of his antennae! There are two sprues, one gray and one clear and the vinyl figure of Uncle Martin. The plastic for the ship is very polished and well done with no flash. There is an interior to the ship consisting of a seat and control panel. To make sure the kit is accurate, Pegasus consulted with James Hulsey, the original series art director and designer of the spacecraft. Whoever sculpted Uncle Martin gets excellent kudos as the likeness is superb.

Assembly is easy and this would make a great first kit for children. I glued the instrument panel together (it’s clear for lighting, etc. and masked some instruments and sprayed Tamiya Silver. There were a few ejector pin marks on the seat which were easily rubbed out and then more Tamiya silver. Both parts were glued in along with the three legs and here I deviated slightly. You have the option of having the doors move and it calls for adding them. I did not but did add the brackets and the holders and then sealed the fuselage up. There is a slight mold seam on the side and that is easily polished. The big seam is smartly placed on the bottom and you can fill it or ignore it. Looking online, it doesn't appear to have a seam so I filled it and primed the entire thing with Tamiya Gloss black and let it dry. On to the doors. There are four [pretty sizeable ejector pin marks that take a little time to get rid of but I wanted the interior open so I polished away. I coated these gloss black and set aside.

On to painting. The glass windows call for a smoked look and I used Gunze smoke to coat them. Looking at photos online, the ship is silver and all one color but does not appear shiny so I used a first coat of Alclad aluminum followed by a second coat of flat aluminum. Same for the doors. Once dry the windows went in the doors and the doors went on the ship and done! The kit also comes with a name plate with was coated black and then silver was painted on the letters.

Lastly, Uncle Martin- he's vinyl so you need to prime him correctly. I used Krylon Sandable Auto Primer. DON"T use enamels- they won't dry.... ever. I painted the face with Andrea acrylic shades and worked dark to light with three lighter shades then painted the hair iron oxide yellow. Same with the hands (and don't miss the spot where his left wrist is visible under his right arm. Once I was happy with the face, I used silly putty and masked the painted parts and painted the rest of the figures Citadel Miniatures Mithril Silver- if you haven't tried these, their metallic line brush paints perfectly and they have a series of colors. I then sprayed Gunze Clear green over the suit and let it build up more in the creases. Off came the silly putty and we're done.

This kit is AWESOME! Perfectly made, can be customized (there is a lighting kit already out for it) or can just be fun with the kids. It is great and I want to thank Larry Thompson of Pegasus for the review sample. Keep your eyes on Pegasus- they have more outstanding releases coming soon including the creature from the Relic and a Martian War Machine from the latest movie!