# It's Here! Anubis 1/12 Blade Runner Spinner!



## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

I've wanted one of these a long time, and it's everything I dreamed it would be! 16 inches of excellent hollow cast beauty! Note the AA battery for scale! The heads look funny because I just sat them on the shoulders, the bodies are cast in the seats! The decals weren't in the box, but at $70.00 I'm not terribly concerned about it!




























Man, it sure is nice when a kit doesn't disapoint you, the seller didn't have a picture of the kit itself on his ad (Which is why it went so cheap), he just scanned the picture of the build-up in the instructions. I've had my fingers crossed for the last four days hoping it wasn't a poorly-done recast. I'm still waiting to hear the status of the decals.


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## Nova Designs (Oct 10, 2000)

Is that thing solid? It begs to be lit!


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

It's definately hollow, it weighs next to nothing. But _where_ exactly in the one-piece body it's hollow is another story. Only way to find out is cutting into the bottom.

If anybody else has built this puppy, please chime in! Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated!

On googling, I find numerous references to "Mike Fritz's "Building The Perfect Spinner" article, but none of the links work. Anybody have a copy or a working link? Or know who he is?


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## El Gato (Jul 15, 2000)

PhilipMarlowe said:


>


 Boy, growing old's a b!tch, ain't it?

José


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## ccbor (May 27, 2003)

can't wait to see more of this.



can't you hear in the back ground
" cross now, cross now, cross now. "


Rob


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

El Gato said:


> Boy, growing old's a b!tch, ain't it?
> 
> José


What are you kidding, that looks exactly like Olmos! 
Ok, that's Cooter Olmos that works in a 7-11 in Kalamazoo, but still..........

You Blade Runner fans and kit collectors might be able to help me clear something up, I bought this smaller Spinner on @bay awhile back, it was advertised as 1/32 but obviously it's bigger than that. I had assumed till now it was a recast of or based on the Anubis kit, but there are obvious differences besides the size. It's very nicely cast and detailed though, anybody know anything about it? It's ten inches long and solid resin.


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Looks like the decals are definately MIA. Searching old threads I see several people have posted looking for Spinner decals, these two links should help anybody that has to make their own:

http://plaza.across.or.jp/~kiyoaki/police_spiner.gif

http://www.steinschneider.com/bladerunner/BRFont.htm


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## The-Nightsky (May 10, 2005)

Thats a sweet Kit! glad you got your one of your grail kits.I dont seem to have that kind of luck


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## A Taylor (Jan 1, 1970)

There were never decals available with this kit.


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

A Taylor said:


> There were never decals available with this kit.


Thanks for confirming that, Anthony, I suspected as much, there's no mention of decals on MIM site either. Only reason it even slightly bothers me is I wrote the seller about the condition of the decal sheet before I bid, thinking I could copy and reduce it and use it on the smaller Spinner, killing two birds with one stone and very little sweat.He assured me the decal sheet was in great shape before the auction ended, and now says he's _ sure_ it was in the box when he shipped it, but he'll check his closet. Whatever. I still got a great deal tho, imho, specially since it's 200 bucks on MIM.

 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5993326436&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1 

He even added my decal question to his ad! And you guys can help me settle a disagreement with the wife. Is that a seventy or a ninety dollar kit??


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## Prince of Styrene II (Feb 28, 2000)

PhilipMarlowe said:


> And you guys can help me settle an argument with my wife. I say it cost seventy bucks, she's says it cost ninety bucks. What do the other married & involved modelers say?


$10. No, honey, really!!! Only $10! :devil:


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## ThomasModels (Mar 8, 2000)

79 + 15 is about 95, rounded up to be an even buck.


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## El Gato (Jul 15, 2000)

PhilipMarlowe said:


> And you guys can help me settle an argument with my wife. I say it cost seventy bucks, she's says it cost ninety bucks. What do the other married & involved modelers say?


Remember when Fred Flintstone dreamed he was some rich baron and kind of mumbled his name? I take my cue from that: "Hon, it cost [mumbled so low to the point of unintelligible]" :jest:

Seriously, I always factor the cost of shipping when I bid. That's the only way I can really keep in mind whether I'm getting a nice "deal" or not.

José


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Hey, it's $200 for the Spinner on MIM, deduct the $95 she and Thomas say it cost and I still _saved_ us $105! For more kits!


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## Prince of Styrene II (Feb 28, 2000)

El Gato said:


> Remember when Fred Flintstone dreamed he was some rich baron and kind of mumbled his name? I take my cue from that: "Hon, it cost [mumbled so low to the point of unintelligible]" :jest:


Kinda like that Twix commercial, right?  :lol:


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

I really can't grouse about the wife two much, she spent about an hour last night manipulating and resizing pictures I found to help make her technology-challenged hubby some custom decals!

Starting work on the smaller one to work out the best finish!

One nice surprise on the big one, when I washed off all the dust, mold release and resin fuzz in the sink with a sprayer, a lot of the graphics are very finely molded into the hull including the spinner "medallions".


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Ok, got started on the little one, here it is after the first coat of duplicolor primer. It has a lot of nicely molded detail. The back end was a real mess, there were two big honkin' pour spues in the middle of the "trunk". I sawed them off close as I could with a dremel wheel and sanded them flush and the trunk round again with emory boards. There were pinhole issues too, a drop of CA and a squirt of kicker, and a few strokes sanding smoothed most of that. The main engine "exhaust" was just a mishapened blob, sharp eyes will spot the tread from an ol' Thunderbirds kit from my spare parts box I replaced it with. Everything except the last inch of the kit was pretty nicely cast, and just needed light clean-up and sanding.

I still don't know who made this, but some surfing makes me pretty sure it was based on the Medicom _Back to the Future_ car _toy_.


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## The-Nightsky (May 10, 2005)

Looks great Phil.Keep us posted!


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## Boxster (Aug 11, 2005)

Hey Philip,

Your smaller Spinner looks like one I have which I bought about 13-15 ago. The casting was gawd-awful and its heavy dark brown resin piece of junk with plenty of pin holes and lots of air bubbles BUT seems like your Spinner's rear end are with 4 jet exhuast. Mine do not those but everything looks identical. And your kit's resin even look good. Mine sucks and most of the puttied air bubbles have since came off. I have to refilled all the air bubbles again. I remembered being told this kit were made in the UK yet instruction was Japanese.

As I was not allowed to inspect the kit before I buy. I paid up app $65 for it, opened it inside my car and were really disappointed. I didn't go to that shop again. I admit that I was pretty desperate to own a Spinner too and until today, I cannot build that piece of crap. Mine do not come with decals but an instruction which has since been disintegrated.

I still have the original box but the photo on the white box is just a lousy black and white photocopy of that single issue Blade Runner magazine's centerfold poster.

However, this unknown version of the Spinner is actually far more accurate than the Anubis/MiM's which I nearly bought from a jerk-of-a seller. Looks like you are about done with your Spinner. Mine will probably take months if I want to finish it, yes, its that bad! 

I am also waiting to see how accurate and how expensive the new 24" Spinner from Comet Miniature is coming. Should be another kit too expensive to buy.

B


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

I think just about everybody on the board has a "sight-unseen" garage kit horror story, sorry to hear your's wasn't well cast. Which country are you in? I think since it's based on a semi-readily available toy there could be more than one version out there.

I put my first coat of Duplicolor blue on today, it's coming along pretty fast. I got a few ideas I want to try out on it, but want to see how they turn out before posting any pictures and embarrassing myself!

I wasn't aware the Anubis was inaccurate, but even if it is, it's still one of the coolest and best executed resin kits I've ever owned.

I still can't get over how it's hollow _and_ a one piece body so intricately cast. Can anybody simply explain "roto casting"?


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Working out the size and placement of the custom decals with cheap sticker paper:


















Speaking of which, anybody got a decent online source for decal paper? I'm paying $2.99 a sheet at the local hobby store.


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## Boxster (Aug 11, 2005)

Hi, sorry for not getting back earlier as I am doing more building nowadays but I screw around in SSM forum pretty much till recently (to build models). I am based in asia and I bought that piece of crap in singapore. I nearly throw this crap away so many times but because I know with some HARD work plus scratch building some parts/areas, I can bring it to life but I wish I know how to post pics in here. You will probably say the same things I did. 

Say, where did you get the templates for the decals? Anyway, its way too early to ask because everytime I wanted to work on mine, I just put it away after a couple of minutes holding it.

Keep the pics coming in!

B


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

I used the links on the first page of the thread for most of the designs. Or more accurately, my much more tech-saavy wife did.

I'm sure this is old new to many of the more experienced scratch-builders, but this is a great site for fonts for custom markings:

http://simplythebest.net/fonts/scifi_fonts_2.html

Most of the lettering is in "Space Dock Stencil", which looks pretty close to me. I think it's used in _Trek_ and the _Alien_ movies as well.
There's some great stuff in the "movie font" section as well for nameplates and displays.


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## The-Nightsky (May 10, 2005)

Thanks for the link Scott! Keep up the good work and keep the pics coming


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## Boxster (Aug 11, 2005)

Hey thanks for the link! Took out mine tonight and put it away again, hehheh! Will dip the chuck of crap into thinner to melt off any putty to restart again...but later.

B


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

I think the decals are pretty much worked out, Blade Runner fans can let me know if I missed or goofed anything:




























They should look(and stick) a lot better on real decal paper!


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

And the mask come off!

One note, as you can see on the lights on the two "pods" at the front, liquid mask stood up very to both the lacquer paint and wet sanding under a sink spray. I've read others post stating liquid mask dissolves with water, personally I find you only have to keep it dry till you primer it, after that casual rinsing won't affect it at all. I think the paint makes it tougher, but those four lights were rinsed off at least four times. Their curves made them hard to mask with tape. I was worried about the lacquer reacting with the liquid mask, but no problem!

Almost ready for lighting and decals!


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## Daikaiju1 (Apr 26, 2005)

Thats a sweet lookin' Spinner, Phillip!
Also, is that the Bandai UFO Interceptor in the shots? I have one on order that is coming from Italy this week.

Keep posting pics please!


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

> Also, is that the Bandai UFO Interceptor in the shots? I have one on order that is coming from Italy this week.


No, that's a 70's Dinky metal Interceptor I recently found at a flea market for a few bucks, I stripped the inaccurate green paint off with Easy-off and redid it in Boyds white primer. I got a aftermarket resin nose missle on the way.

I have the Bandai one too, there's a picture of my build-up in my photo album. It's a fun little kit!


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## Daikaiju1 (Apr 26, 2005)

Great idea for the dinky interceptor!, I'd like to try it myself but for time...
I have the Product Enterprise set which is a very nice die cast version. Waiting on my Bandai one from tha e place in the mail.


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Here's how I worked out a cheap flashing lightbar. I snipped the opaque resin light domes off the top of the one piece lightbar. Then I added 4 LEDS from a random flashing floral light set I bought at Michaels for $3.99 including hearing aid batteries! I snipped the wires after marking all eight, and drilled four holes to run the wiring to to the bottom of the car. I had to put a grove in the back of the lightbar with a file to get them to fit flush. Then I masked the top half of the LEDs with tape and sprayed the whole thing the basecoat color. I still got a lot of work to finish before I can hook them up to see how they look lit!


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Here's how the decals came out. Making custom decals wasn't near as difficult as I thought, I printed these myself with a laserjet instead of going to Kinko's. I lightly misted them with Krylon acrylic gloss clearcoat after printing them to prevent the ink from smearing/running. After letting them dry over night I brushed them with Microscale liquid decal film and then let that dry.

They work pretty well, but print up lots of spares because they are a lot more fragile than production decals. The colors are bit more subdued than in production decals as well. But for a first effort they look great, any decal making tips would be appreciated!


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

And here's how the lightbar worked out. The red, blue and yellow lights flash randomly very similiarly to the one's in the actual film. The LEDS look much brighter in person!

She's pretty much finished other than mounting her on her stand, I'm pretty happy with how it came out. And it's good practice for the big one!


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

I got lucky, I found a two dollar unfinished wood circular "momento box" at Michaels, I drilled a hole thru the top, ran the wires for the four lights thru the top, and viola', my battery pack and spare wiring is out of sight!

I stole an idea I saw on a military diorama base, I didn't sand and primer the wood, I just hit it with three light coats of gloss black. Just the grain shows gloss against a matte black color, I think it gives it an interesting textured look.

I'm pretty happy with the results. I also learned it's darn hard to photo randomly flashing lights when they're lit!

One down, three more spinners to go!


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## Boxster (Aug 11, 2005)

HEY!!! Well done, well done! 

I picked up my Spinner and put it away ... again! Yours is the first I saw being built. This being same Spinner kit I mean.

Great decals you created too!

B


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## Neo-uk (May 6, 2007)

I know where that Spinner kit was from


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## Buc (Jan 20, 1999)

...so share! need to add that small unknown one to my Blade Runner page!

Buc


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## Neo-uk (May 6, 2007)

Well I pick mine up at a uk model show years ago I think it was only about 25-35 quid. It was originally hollow vinyl (mine is) and designed so it could be built as-is or fitted to a RC car base, I think the make for the RC base was Tam-Tech ? (anyone heard of them) It was made by a company called General Products. 
Here's some pictures I took of the instructions.




























There you go


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## moonbus01 (Jun 4, 2010)

An rc spinner? now that's coolernhell!!


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