# The Man From Planet X



## John May (Nov 16, 2004)

Here is what I am working on now. :thumbsup:


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## gomontoya (Apr 3, 2004)

Looks like time well spent. Look forward to seeing more.

David


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Excellent start!


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## falcondesigns (Oct 30, 2002)

I love it.


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

What everybody else has said, John. May (clever, hah?) I ask what figure you used for the alien? He pretty much determines the scale of your model, the final results of which I'm sure we're all anxious to see. :thumbsup:


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## starduster (Feb 12, 2006)

Very nicely done, I'm waiting for the model The Man from Planet X from Geometric but I'm not sure what scale it is, and I'd like to include the space craft as well, what material did you use for the space craft ? is this going to be part of a diorama ? Karl


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## rhinooctopus (May 22, 2011)

*Man From Planet X*

John,
The figure looks like the one released in VERY LIMITED ADDITION by The Brennschluss Group. Am I right? I built one for a friend way back when and have one of my own...yet to build it. (I'll submit a photo of my build-up when I find the photo)
WOW! Your ship will be one big "hummer"! Anxious to see it completed! Are you planning to do a "moors" terrain base for it?

Phil K


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## John May (Nov 16, 2004)

Yes the figure is from the The Brennschluss Group, came out in 1991 or 92?
The ship will be in scale to the figure.


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## rhinooctopus (May 22, 2011)

*Man From Planet X*

As promised, here is a photo of the Brennnschluss Group "Man From Planet X" kit I built for a friend. It's a pretty easy build, but the vacu-form "helmet" was a bit of a pain.


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## IanWilkinson (Apr 23, 2010)

Wow i love this scratch build!.. never seen the kit before - cant wait to see more WIP shots!


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

rhinooctopus said:


> As promised, here is a photo of the Brennnschluss Group "Man From Planet X" kit...


Yeah, but what scale is it? Or barring that, how tall is the figure?


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## rhinooctopus (May 22, 2011)

Mark McGovern said:


> Yeah, but what scale is it? Or barring that, how tall is the figure?


Maybe 1/6th scale. The figure (model) is around 12" high w/o the base.

Phil K


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Thanks, Phil. The movie Man wasn't very tall, so I'm not sure that the usual scale convention - that a scale figure is assumed to represent a six-foot-tall human(oid) - would apply. On the other hand, 1/6 scale is pretty easy to work with when you're converting measurements.

...And on the third hand, it's John May's model, so it can be any scale he wants!


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## starduster (Feb 12, 2006)

That's the one I just ordered from Megahobby they're having Geomertic make it, I'm thinking if adding lights like the movie had is it a hollow cast ? nice job on the models thanks for posting. Karl


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## bizzarobrian (Oct 4, 2009)

starduster said:


> Very nicely done, I'm waiting for the model The Man from Planet X from Geometric but I'm not sure what scale it is, and I'd like to include the space craft as well, what material did you use for the space craft ? is this going to be part of a diorama ? Karl


I want that too but I`ll be revamping it to look more accurate.The control box looks too big.Not sure what the helmet is made of.


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## bizzarobrian (Oct 4, 2009)

rhinooctopus said:


> As promised, here is a photo of the Brennnschluss Group "Man From Planet X" kit I built for a friend. It's a pretty easy build, but the vacu-form "helmet" was a bit of a pain.


Nice build & paint!!


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## bizzarobrian (Oct 4, 2009)

John May said:


> Here is what I am working on now. :thumbsup:


I`m a big fan of this film & the scale looks good.


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## bizzarobrian (Oct 4, 2009)

John May said:


> Here is what I am working on now. :thumbsup:


Is there a helmet for the figure?


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## Stoney-VA (Oct 19, 2011)

You can see a great deal of difference between the Brennnschluss Group and the Geometric models.


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## starduster (Feb 12, 2006)

OK, this one looks like the one from megahobby, I'm wondering if this is a hollow cast, thanks for the photos. Karl


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## doc3d (Mar 9, 2010)

*I'm the "Brennschluss Group"*

Dunno who John May is, but I love the ship plus spaceman project! Nice work man! 

I'm the guy who sculpted and issued this kit back in the early 1990s. My main resin claim to fame is that Terry (Webb) included a nice photo of it in the 2nd edition of The Garage Kit That Ate My Wallet.

To anticipate a question, the molds are long gone. In fact, my son snagged the last partial kit.

I'd be pleased if someone recast the thing! I'd like one myself!

Some background...

The buck was sculpted from wax, with the usual bits and pieces of things recycled for the detailing. The helmet, which as someone noted, was a pain to assemble, but about the only way to get the head sized right was to make a two part vacform mold (the material used was K&S butyrate). I see Geometric sort of knocked off the kit, but made the head WAY TOO SMALL! Looks silly, like he was attacked by head shrinkers... :drunk:

Re scale, I stated 1/6 scale, but that's sort of inaccurate. The guy who played the spaceman in the movie was small, closer to five feet than six feet tall-- Bob Burns has part of the costume and knows part of the story (I gave Bob a kit. At the time I was a Research Consultant for a show on the SciFi Channel, and we did a fair amount of jabbering back and forth). The never identified Planet X-man was played by a guy about the size of a jockey. About ten years ago I ran into Bill Schallert in my travels, and we spent a fair amount of time going over what he remembered about the making of the movie (Schallert played the evil Dr. Mears) and even he didn't know who played the spaceman. In the kit's instructions I included a color scheme, which to the best of my knowledge was accurate, though the film was shot in b/w and as far as I know there were never any color stills. Wade Williams also has bits of the original costume, so I'm told.

A few kits were released with the chest pack cast in translucent urethane. It also had a tube cast up one leg that came out in the center of the chest for wiring that went to a battery pack concealed in the base. Two yellow leds were supplied with it, one aimed under his chin and the other behind the illuminated part of the chest pack (both leds were hidden by the painted area of the chest pack, so no fx lighting hardware was visible).

The base was sculpted by Crinon. JL may still be ticked at me because I'd hoped for a better distribution of bucks. Alas the project was scrapped early on-- only about twenty of them made it out the door. My research indicated that the film was public domain. Then Ted Turner released a perfectly restored print... maybe it was part of that big MGM, etc. deal. Dunno... Anyway not wishing to butt heads with Ted, I killed the project at that point and destroyed the molds.

Bummer, 'eh? BTW Brennschluss means "burnout" in German. Amen to that!!!


Doc


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## rhinooctopus (May 22, 2011)

*Man From Planet X*

doc,

Thanks again for producing this wonderful kit! I feel very fortunate to have one of the "20" castings made...and building another. The one I built for my friend is now in the hands of Wade Williams. My friend lives close to Wade (in Kansas City, MO) and has been to his local theater(s) AND the theater Wade has in his home.
John May, how is the "space ship project" coming along?

Phil K


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## doc3d (Mar 9, 2010)

*Planet X Man head transplant?*

First, Phil, thanks for the kind words about the kit.

Somewhere I recall seeing one of the test casts of the spaceman head kicking around my shop. If the Geometric kit is to the same scale as mine, which it appears to be, one could do a head transplant if I made a short run of them. This would correct the proportions. Assuming I can find it to cast a few. No promises, but it would sure solve the worst aspect of the Geo model. Also, disregarding size, in my not so humble opinion I think my head captures the Planet X-man's character much better than the Geo version.

I've never seen a Geometric kit, but I'd guess they shrank the head so they could get it into a one piece helmet. Better to get the head-- probably the most important feature of the spaceman-- right, and hassle with a two part vacform helmet. Maybe one could use a Dremel and a wafer thin slicer and split the Geo helmet-- assuming again it's one piece. If it's already vertically split, well then... never mind!

Another suggested Geometric fix is to do new "rubber" helmet air-or whatever it is he breathes-hose tubing that's smaller-- e.g. closer to scale. The way I made mine was to wind a coil of copper wire (so it resembles a ball point pen spring, but leave uncoiled pull lengths on each side of the coil), put the coil inside an appropriate diameter/length of shrink tubing (standard electrical stuff available at Radio Shack), slightly pull the ends to expand the coil a bit, then heat the shrink tube so it shrinks and forms the ribbing that makes the hose look cool. At this point, you can keep the copper core inside (so it won't flatten or collapse when bent) and then bend your new spacesuit hose to any contour you like. It will retain your desired contour. Neat, 'eh? I did this for the kit, then RTV molded and cast the contoured hose in resin. No need to do that if you're just making one, just use the one you made and leave the copper wire in. If you pull the ends and straighten the wire, it can be removed, which will leave you with a straight section of open ribbed hose. A handy technique for scratch building.

Doc


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## starduster (Feb 12, 2006)

Nice job with the Man from Planet X and the space ship, I lit my Man from Planet X model from Geometric Design although I had a few problems with the helmets I had to build from scratch a new chest box from styrene sheet and add interior details and LED's as with the helmet LED. the air line had to be re done as well for the wiring to be installed to the helmet light, it was a long process but I think well worth it, my build is documented in the CH workbench section if anyone's interested, I'd build a spaceship but I don't have room fro an in scale ship with this figure's size, please post photos of your WIP, thanks for sharing. Karl


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## doc3d (Mar 9, 2010)

*Another idea re the helmet problem*

I'm in the process of building a vacuum chamber, something absolutely essential for clear cast resin, which made me think of the following option:

A possible way to fix the helmet problem is to paint a head, with a rigid coil attached to it for the in-helmet antenna wire, then hang it all upside down in a clear cast helmet mold. Pour the resin and run up the vacuum. Demold and polish the surface. This way the helmet would be clear, and without seams.

The only possible issue is that a clear convex casting becomes a lens, which makes this untried technique-- at least by me-- something with the potential to cause more problems that it cures. E.g. distortion, etc. 

Just an idea.


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