# Glow in the Dark Interplanetary UFO



## KenNetzel (Mar 31, 1999)

I was at Monsters in Motion yesterday, and they are advertising for this October a reissue of the glow in the dark Interplanetary UFO Mystry Ship from the old Star Trek line of Model Kits. They also had an ad for a reissue of the classic Spock and three headed Snake kit. I don't know for sure who is putting these out, but I believe it's AMT. http://www.monstersinmotion.com:80/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/13046:thumbsup:


----------



## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Right you are... AMT is repopping the Spock and the UFO kit and you can pre order it right now...right here http://www.culttvmanshop.com/shop/product.php?productid=16932&cat=263&page=1
$18.00 for Spock and $16.00 for the UFO...can't kick at those prices :thumbsup:
Mcdee


----------



## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Wish they would do the 1975 Romulan Bird of Prey kit. There's an oldie I'd like to see!


----------



## WarpCore Breach (Apr 27, 2005)

Madcap, the Romulan ship not that great of a kit. It needs to be retooled into the beautiful and graceful ship it should be instead of this slab-sided beast!  It really only looks good from a distance.

Still, if you don't have one, I think I can see why it would be desirable. Between my large AMT one and the old SFSM ship, the SFSM one is far superior!


----------



## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

Great news! Thanks for passing it on Ken; the Glow Interplanetary UFO is a space ship kit I would actually get round to building! 

The Spock reissue is surprising; the original AMT Spock kit appears on ebay almost every week, there are often two of them at the same time in a single week, but it always sells for quite a high price, even though there is evidently a large number of unbuilt 'mint' specimens out there. It is strange that such an exciting kit was bought in large numbers in the 1970's but was apparently no built by many of the buyers. 

I wouldn't expect any model manufacturer to plan its output according to what sells well on ebay, but AMT has been slow, in my opinion, to reissue the Spock kit when there has always been a great deal of interest in the Spock kit on ebay.


----------



## The-Nightsky (May 10, 2005)

I too want an affordableTOS Romulan Ship,I know its waaaaay off but I love it and That kit was a lost childhood treasure


----------



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

If they reissue the Bird of Prey, hopefully they will redo the awful and largely worthless decals for the bottom of the ship...


----------



## Mitchellmania (Feb 14, 2002)

There's some awesome kits coming out this year!!


----------



## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

djnick66 said:


> If they reissue the Bird of Prey, hopefully they will redo the awful and largely worthless decals for the bottom of the ship...


Or - you could grab a JT Grahics replacement set from Federation Models: http://www.federationmodels.com/decals/jt_graphics/default.htm (scroll down aways).

BTW, these reissues are coming out courtesy of Tom Lowe, who has snapped up a whole slew of old model manufacturers. I just checked and the Models section of his site is down, but the header shows the AMT, MPC, and Polar Lights logos. So you know that great days are ahead! 

Mark McG.


----------



## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Cro-Magnon Man said:


> I wouldn't expect any model manufacturer to plan its output according to what sells well on ebay, but AMT has been slow, in my opinion, to reissue the Spock kit when there has always been a great deal of interest in the Spock kit on ebay.


Part of the problem (as I understand it) is that the original molds were altered when they reissued the Motion Picture version of the kit. Reverse engineering molds is an expensive venture, and I'm quite sure AMT believed they might not recover their expenditures. Tom Lowe, on the other hand, has a pretty good idea of which models are in demand and which kits we modelers would like to see reissued, and he seems to be more willing to take an "educated" risk on kits like these.


----------



## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Cro Magnon Man said:


> The Spock reissue is ... strange that such an exciting kit was bought in large numbers in the 1970's but was apparently no built by many of the buyers.


Not really considering that many people also bought the "Bridge of The Enterprise" kit and didn't build it either....including me with the re-issue. That kit was also a "Hot Seller" in it's day.

Maybe one day soon, I'll get my act together and build the Bridge, but I'd also like a second one to back date it to the Christpher Pike era where they had th little TV screens in the War of The World style pods and the Bridge itself was all black and silver. Another version would be the Mirror Universe bridge with the "stabbed Earth" logo on the door and the High Backed Captain's Chair.

Also, does anyone make additional figures for the bridge? Worth looking into!


----------



## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

MadCap Romanian said:


> Also, does anyone make additional figures for the bridge? Worth looking into!


One that I know of, roughly the correct scale:
http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=AESGF129


----------



## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

That's Kool...but for $51.00, I think I might have to say that I'm not that big of a Star Trek fan!


----------



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Its $37 not $51, but its also 1/32 scale and much smaller than the figures in the Enterprise Bridge set. For what its worth, Andrea metal figures are excellent quality.


----------



## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Well, he's on SALE for $37, but the original price was $51.99...which is still out of my league. That's Warhammer prices!


----------



## ClubTepes (Jul 31, 2002)

I can't wait for this one.

If any has one of these, I'm looking for a pretty accurate length of the kit.

Does anyone know it?


----------



## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

C.T.,

My olde buildup is packed away in the basement and I'm on the second floor at the computer. So I'll take the fiftysomething's way out and direct you to this cool site: http://www.projectrho.com/leifstub.html. I'm pretty sure the kit's size is in there somewhere. Offhand, I recall that the scale is calculated to be 1/500.

Let me know what you find out at the IPMS/Warren show.

Mark McG.


----------



## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

I clicked the link and got this page Mark.










Now why can't the model kit manufacturers make box art that looks like that anymore?


----------



## phantom11 (Jul 12, 2007)

Had this one when I was a kid and always thought it was cool. Got a pre-order in for one and can't wait to build it again, but this time, more like the Leif Ericson version. Btw, here's a link to a site that will tell you just about everything you'd ever want to know about the ship:

http://frank.bol.ucla.edu/le.html#boximages


----------



## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

Great link, phantom11, very informative.


----------



## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Awesome link! I didn't know Priesser had 1/500 scale figures! In fact, I didn't know 1/500 scale figures even existed! Those are figures you don't want to accidently loose by sneezing!


----------



## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

Yeah, and imagine painting the eyebrows and pupils on those figures!


----------



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I have some 1/700 figures from Eduard and they come pre painted... very nice. I recall some discussion about the UFO scale. Its probably a made up scale. The bridge and hull are smallll something like 1/1000-1/2000 but then the little shuttle craft is more like 1/144


----------



## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

deej,

Check out the web sites from the links that have been posted above. On one of them you'll find a pretty convincing argument for the _Leif Ericson_ being 1/500 scale. But if you're building the Interplanetary UFO, without knowing how big the aliens that crew it are, there's no telling what scale it is for certain.

Mark McG.


----------



## ClubTepes (Jul 31, 2002)

Mark McGovern said:


> C.T.,
> 
> My olde buildup is packed away in the basement and I'm on the second floor at the computer. So I'll take the fiftysomething's way out and direct you to this cool site: http://www.projectrho.com/leifstub.html. I'm pretty sure the kit's size is in there somewhere. Offhand, I recall that the scale is calculated to be 1/500.
> 
> ...


Thanks Mark.

I've seen that site before, and on that whole site, I don't think they say what the length of the kit is.

I think I did see something somewhere else, that the kit length is 13in. Twice the size of the 6.5in. 1/1000 alliance kit.

Anyone lnow if thats the case?


----------



## fluke (Feb 27, 2001)

Mark :wave: You crack me up! The size of the Aliens! FAR OUT! :thumbsup:
Good point.

I'm just glad I get a chance to build it again without spending a week or two pay for it on ebay.

Whats this about a conversion kit...does it come with clear parts as well?

As stated earlier...yes what a year for kits!


----------



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

The kit has no clear parts. The original issue had the engine "turbines" in clear red, as the kit was light-up. That was the Leif Ericcson issue. Originally it was an Earth ship, not an alien craft. The common reissue as the UFO lacks the transparent red parts and a few other details, sadly.


----------



## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

ClubTepes said:


> I think I did see something somewhere else, that the kit length is 13in. Twice the size of the 6.5in. 1/1000 alliance kit.


Again, sadly, me upstairs, model and ruler in basement. But 13" seems right, as I recall that the _Lief Ericson_/Interplanetary UFO is smaller than the 18" TOS _Enterprise. _Plus, the 13" length jibes with a 1/500 scale ship being twice as long as the 1/1000 scale Alliance model. Ain't math fun? 


djnick66 said:


> The common reissue as the UFO lacks the transparent red parts and a few other details, sadly.


Yes, but - Our Heroes at Federation Models have resin engine replacements: http://www.federationmodels.com/products/federation_models/. Scroll down the page a bit to find 'em. Go down a bit farther, and you'll find a resin replacement Scout Ship. F.M. also carries the JT Graphics replacement decals. Now all you need is the UFO kit!

Mark McG.


----------



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Sadly the nicely done resin Leif Ericcson engines aren't in clear resin so they are useless if you want to light the model...


----------



## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Not useless, necessarily - just different from the original issue.

Mark McG.


----------



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Well they are usless if you want them to light up like the original issue. The LE kit also had some round balls and antennas on top of the "sail" area not in the glow kit. I remember as a kid my frind Mark who was older than me, had the LE kit, and I had the later glow version.


----------



## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

deej,

I dunno if I'm older than you, but my name is Mark and I'd like to think we could be called friends (or at least, if you found me bleeding in a ditch, you wouldn't hock my wallet...). Anyhoo, I also had the original _Lief Ericson _issue. Not only was there a sphere on top of the sail, there was an optional nose cannon, plus three out-sized engines for the scout ship, all chromed parts.

Now, I perfectly well understand the desire to build a model as it originally appeared; I've done the same with the Aurora monster models. If you want to build the _Lief Ericson_, you may have to content yourself with the aftermarket parts that are available and scratchbuild those that aren't. But I suspect that some enterprising soul will forestall that necessity with a lighting kit and more aftermarket parts - that's frequently the case with Sci-Fi vehicles.

Mark McG.


----------

