Translate

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Flying Saucer






Here are some images Lindberg models 1/48 scale "Flying Saucer".
From Fantastic Plastic"

The Lindberg "Flying Saucer" holds a place in history as being the world's first injection-molded science-fiction model. Re-released repeatedly during the 1950s and 1960s, it again hit the shelves in the 1970s in a "glow-in-the-dark" version, in the 1990s as one of the Golden Age science fiction kits resurrected by Glencoe Models, and finally in 2011 by Atlantis Models, which specialized in flying saucer subjects.

The model was also released by Lindberg in the mid-1950s as part of its "Spaceships of the Future" and "Past, Present and Future" collector's sets.

This classic alien "flying saucer" comes straight from the Golden Age of Little Green Men. A basic convex disc with a bubble-dome cockpit within which the big-headed Martian pilot is visible, the craft also featured twin jet/rocket engines on its "tail," additional engines on its "rotating" rim, and a pair of "zap guns" for shooting down pesky Air Force fighter planes. A timeless relic of Eisenhower Era mythology and paranoia, the Lindberg "Flying Saucer" captures in plastic the hopes, fears and innocence of Pre-Sputnik America.

From Atlantis.com" Scale models have been used for the real thing since the earliest days of film making. So it's rather appropriate that the first plastic space model was, in all likelihood, the first such kit to be used in a movie. In 1956 film maker Ed Wood used a few Lindberg flying saucer kits in his "Plan 9 From Outer Space" minus their jet engines and suspended on wires. The Lindberg models were mistakenly thought to be spinning Chevy wheel covers, a myth perpetuated by Tim Burton in his biopic of Ed Wood.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This looks like a quick, fun build. The gold color works really well.
The last time I was abducted I had a close look at one of these machines. Warren, you did a very accurate scale representation.

Dave

-Warren Zoell said...

Did you meet Ed Wood?

Pat Tillett said...

Pretty cool! I love the little ET in the bubble.

-Warren Zoell said...

Thanks Pat - This type of model was used in one of your favourite movies;O)

Anonymous said...

Yes....... and Bela Lugosi too.

Dave