# Photos of My 1/48 ANSA Icarus Spaceship



## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

Fellow Modelers,

This is Monsters-In-Motion’s 1/48 scale ANSA Icarus spaceship from the movie “The Planet of the Apes”. This kit was made up of only a few resin parts but was a difficult build because of the poor fit between the upper and lower hull halves. I ended up replacing the lower hull half with two (left and right) thin pieces of carefully cut styrene. The kit included a “Lake Powell” water base and I chose to mount the ship on a 1/4” metal rod above the water. The water section of the base was coated with Future to give it a wet look. I did not have good references when I built the kit so I made (at least) two mistakes. First, the anti-glare sections around the cockpit should have been painted be a dark green instead of black. Also, the gold nose and white body colors should be separated with thin blue and red stripes instead of a single black stripe. The full size mockup used in the Lake Powell scenes may have had a light gray nose cone, but the six foot miniature seen going under the water had a gold nose. My model was given several light coats of Future to produce a semi-gloss finish. This ship has a very simple shape, but I have always thought it was a really attractive, clean design.

P. Gore


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

Final Icarus photos...


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## ModelKitBuilder (Jul 17, 2009)

Phillip1 said:


> Fellow Modelers,
> 
> This is Monsters-In-Motion’s 1/48 scale ANSA Icarus spaceship from the movie “The Planet of the Apes”. This kit was made up of only a few resin parts but was a difficult build because of the poor fit between the upper and lower hull halves. I ended up replacing the lower hull half with two (left and right) thin pieces of carefully cut styrene. The kit included a “Lake Powell” water base and I chose to mount the ship on a 1/4” metal rod above the water. The water section of the base was coated with Future to give it a wet look. I did not have good references when I built the kit so I made (at least) two mistakes. First, the anti-glare sections around the cockpit should have been painted be a dark green instead of black. Also, the gold nose and white body colors should be separated with thin blue and red stripes instead of a single black stripe. The full size mockup used in the Lake Powell scenes may have had a light gray nose cone, but the six foot miniature seen going under the water had a gold nose. My model was given several light coats of Future to produce a semi-gloss finish. This ship has a very simple shape, but I have always thought it was a really attractive, clean design.
> 
> P. Gore


I think you did a very nice job! :thumbsup:

Check out my YouTube video of a Wilco Models Icarus that I built:





I have part 1 of how I made it by clicking *HERE*.

Part 2 is *HERE*.


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## Carson Dyle (May 7, 2003)

Sweet model; thanks for posting.

The nose cone on the full scale mock-up was gold as well, albeit a very pale gold.

I keep hoping someone will produce an accurate kit of this iconic ship (preferably based on the full scale version as opposed to the FX miniature), but so far it hasn't happened. Pity, because it's a terrific design.


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## abu625 (Jul 4, 2002)

Very impressive build. I'm always amazed by clean, simple paint jobs. They're a lot harder to do than "weathered" models -- No place to hide the mistakes!


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## SPQR (Jul 12, 2010)

nice job truely! by the way I think I have discovered how Dr.Milo,Cornelius and Dr.Zira escaped with Col.Taylors Icarus!


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Nicely done! I've always liked the design of the ship as well, but I have difficulty reconciling the fact that it leaves no room whatsoever for any form of propulsion system. I've seen one or two build-ups where the modeler used paint effects below the waterline to imply there's more ship beneath the surface of the lake. Regardless, I'd love it if someone were to produce a good styrene kit of the Icarus.



SPQR said:


> by the way I think I have discovered how Dr.Milo,Cornelius and Dr.Zira escaped with Col.Taylors Icarus!


Easy. The studio wanted to wring more money out of the franchise.


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## Bobj812 (Jun 15, 2009)

Very nicely done! I've always liked this ship, ever since I saw the movie at the drive in as a wee lad.


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

This looks great. I love how it's not "crashed", yet. Nice idea. Seems like you always see it in the water. The water effects are in sync with the clean build, but still look realistic. That must be a hard balance. My first instinct would be to "dirty up' the water/land areas, which would not go with the flavor of the clean build idea. 

All elements go together nicely, but are very real. Fantastic! 

Anymore, I look at a build and love it. But now I'm always asking myself WHY I love it. I suppose I'll actually learn something!! HA! In any case great job!


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

How did you get the black areas to have that grainy, flecked look on the cockpit and rear areas? I like it a lot.


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

Thanks for the compliments. The "black areas" were highlighted with drybrushing Model Master dark ghost gray. This helped to break up the color and bring out all of the hard edges.

P. Gore


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

Great paint job and build up! I've saved your pics as reference material! :thumbsup:


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