rwin Allen is perhaps best known for his 1965 TV series Lost In Space, but that show is only one of four science-fiction series he created during the 1960s. His first, 1964's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, established his style, and the others followed suit: Lost In Space, and then The Time Tunnel in 1966. In 1968 he launched the show with the most unusual premise yet—Land of the Giants..
The year is 1983 and, during a routine sub-orbital flight from California to London, the Spindrift passes through a white cloud, transporting its passengers and crew to a planet in which everyone is 12 times normal size. Strangely enough, the world is otherwise identical to Earth, and many adventures ensue as the passengers and crew search for a way home.
Aurora issued several models of vehicles from Irwin Allen shows, including the Seaview, the flying submarine from Voyage to the Bottom of the
Sea and the Jupiter II from Lost in Space. In 1968, it issued a kit of Spindrift. The kit was so popular they reissued it again in 1972. The original remains a highly sought-after collector's item today. Mint kits have sold for hundreds of dollars.
Polar Lights now reissues the kit made from new molds, reverse-engineered from the original 1968 model.
The kit includes 41 parts in three different colors, reproduced instructions and a box that uses the original Aurora art with modern Polar Lights branding.
The kit features a detailed interior with three miniature people, a clear plastic dome and windows, an opening doorway and a clear plastic display stand. The new tooling incorporates a few minor modifications to improve upper-hull locating pins but is essentially the same as the original kit.
Tiny ship, big fun
The Spaceship Spindrift comes molded with an orange outer hull, intake, exhaust, working door and fins, a detailed aqua-green interior complete with monitors, superstructure and chairs, and clear plastic windows, dome and display stand.
The 41 parts fit very well together and come off the trees with very little flash, so hardly any time must be spent filing and filling. With a little pressure, portions of this kit can be easily test-fitted together. While the colored plastic allows lower level modelers to achieve a beautiful
effect without much painting, seasoned modelers will want to paint the hull for a better, more polished finish. And, of course, parts of the hull, including the intake and exhaust panels, should be painted matte black for the best effect. The box features full-colored photos of the finished kit, making for a great color guide. The instructions include a rough paint guide as well.
The 1972 reissue of this kit included a red dome. Polar Lights opted to recreate the original kit, which had a clear dome. This dome allows for a view of the interior, but the front portion of the hull need not be glued into place, and can instead be friction-fitted using only the placement pins. This allows the hull to be lifted away for a full interior view. This feature is available in other Polar Lights kits, such as the excellent C-57D Starcruiser from Forbidden Planet, a feature Aurora used on some of its nicer models.
According to Polar Lights, the reproduction also features the raised "C" logo on the hull instead of using a decal. This may be more difficult for a lower-level modeler to deal with, but is done this way in the interest of accuracy. Nostalgia is a big draw in today's market.
This kit is a great starter kit for young modelers, giving them a great spaceship as a result, but can also give more experienced modelers a chance to create a fine showpiece.
