# 1/128 Spindrift Size Reference



## Aurora-brat (Oct 23, 2002)

I hope Frank doesn't mind but I have taken the liberty of carving a foam Spindrift in 1/128 scale (4 1/2 inches long) so that folks can get a feel for its size in comparison to the Aurora/Polar Lights kit and the Moebius 1/128 Flying Sub. Since this forthcoming kit has generated such heated discussion here on the Moebius forum, I thought it would be a good idea for folks to actually see what size this kit will be. If this is unacceptable, I ask that the moderators remove this posting.

Here is the 1/128 Spindrift with the 1/128 Flying Sub



















And here it is with the Aurora 1/64 Spindrift



















I hope this helps everyone get a sense of the size this new kit will be.

Tory


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## Paulbo (Sep 16, 2004)

I won't comment on the size at this point (I need to look into it a bit more), but your sculpting job is flipping excellent!


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

^ I'll second that! Nicely done Tory!

I'm probably in the minority, but I'm fine with a 4.5" long Spindrift; in fact, I prefer it to a larger version. I'm very limited on storage and display space, so it'll be nice for a change to see a Moebius kit on the shelves that I _can_ buy.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Looks fine by me.


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## jbond (Aug 29, 2002)

As Doc Brown would say, "Please excuse the crudity of this model..."


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## jimkirk (May 27, 2010)

I am just finishing off the Polar Lights Spindrift and have no desire to do another Spindrift especially one so small.
I already have enough unbuilt kits waiting.
Now that my latest Arcade restoration is pretty much done I can finish the Spindrift and move on to the Space Pod.


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## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

That is a pretty incredible carved foam version of the Spindrift.

Would you be willing to explain how you created it? Some kind of heated wire cutter? Was it be hand or some kind of CAD prototyping system?


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## Aurora-brat (Oct 23, 2002)

jbond said:


> As Doc Brown would say, "Please excuse the crudity of this model..."


LOL! Yeah..."I didn't have time to paint it or build it to scale"!

Xenodyssey, thanks. Not much to explain. The material is an expanded urethane foam, similar to "balsa foam". It is a very dusty and unpleasant material to work with, but is very easy to carve and shape. I simply scaled a set of Spindrift drawings to 4 1/2 inches, printed them out and used them as a template to cut a top and side view into the foam using a band saw. The rest was shaped by hand using a file and sandpaper. In all it took about an hour to do.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Remember the miniature had a tear drop shaped top bubble, not a dome as in the Aurora kit.


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## RSN (Jul 29, 2008)

That size looks GREAT to me! Looking forward to building a couple!!! Thanks again Frank!!!


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## Aurora-brat (Oct 23, 2002)

djnick66 said:


> Remember the miniature had a tear drop shaped top bubble, not a dome as in the Aurora kit.


Whoops! You're correct, I messed up.

Rest assured Moebius' kit will be correct.


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

Aurora-brat said:


> . . . The material is an expanded urethane foam, similar to "balsa foam". It is a very dusty and unpleasant material to work with, but is very easy to carve and shape. I simply scaled a set of Spindrift drawings to 4 1/2 inches, printed them out and used them as a template to cut a top and side view into the foam using a band saw. The rest was shaped by hand using a file and sandpaper. In all it took about an hour to do.


Well, you're a talented whittler. There's no way I could carve anything like that in a day or a week!

And I think the baby Spindrift will sell surprisingly well. It's a great scale for dioramas, and still big enough for an interior with figures.


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

That is a very amazing 'quick and dirty' foam Spindrift! Man, I bet the ST:TNG production staff wish you had been there back in the day! Being able to knock out a foam shape that really nails the look in an hour or so? Most impressive!

It's nice to see Spindrift and the FS next to each other like that. I recall in my callow youth I had assumed IA had 'repurposed' the FS Exterior set 'nosepiece' to build the Spindrift but as time wore on I realized how silly that was but now I see these models and...wow, they sure could have, couldn't they? If, say, the front 1/4 of the Flying Sub had been built for establishing shots or other actor interaction, you can almost see how they might have taken that and extended it...

yeah, yeah, "same designer, same IA, of course it looks similar" I get it. I'm just thinking back.


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## Moebius (Mar 15, 2007)

I'm sure that's about correct. Basically what we were going for, a companion piece to the mini FS-1. Looks cool to me, nice job!


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Frank, you should offer one that's also a computer mouse. As a companion piece to the Seaview USB stick.


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

John P said:


> Frank, you should offer one that's also a computer mouse. As a companion piece to the Seaview USB stick.


Oh, no, no...the pointy front? the tail? ow!

However, a rotocast rubber squeeky toy...now THAT would be crazy. 

Or Nerf foam! "Look out! it's a big blue glowing time...thingie!" *FLING*

no? no. ok. I'll go sit in the corner...


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## OzyMandias (Dec 29, 2004)

Wow! Can you ever whittle!!! Excellent job and a great way to show the pigeon pair as they will be. I was good with the scale to begin with, I'm even 'good-er' now. 

Thanks for taking the time to make that spectacular model and showing us the pics! :thumbsup:


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## Aurora-brat (Oct 23, 2002)

Moebius said:


> I'm sure that's about correct. Basically what we were going for, a companion piece to the mini FS-1. Looks cool to me, nice job!


Thanks Frank, glad you approve. And again thank you for creating a brandy new kit of this Sci-Fi classic. It seems by the reactions here on the forum it is going to be a big seller!

Hey here is something you folks might find interesting. The Aurora Spindrift in the photos I took for comparison is the model used for the box top photos on the 1976 Aurora re-issue of the kit. I got it from a good friend and commercial photographer here in NYC who did a lot of work for Aurora back in the day. He had it lying around his studio and gave it to me back in the '90s. I only recently discovered it was the model used on that box when I came across some photos of the box on line. The incorrect striping colors were the dead give away.

So I have in my possession an obscure piece of Aurora history!


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## idMonster (Jun 18, 2003)

Aurora-brat said:


> ...Hey here is something you folks might find interesting. The Aurora Spindrift in the photos I took for comparison is the model used for the box top photos on the 1976 Aurora re-issue of the kit.... The incorrect striping colors were the dead give away.


Ahhh, you confused me when you said box-top photos of the re-issue kit since that box art was a painting (and I actually know the guy that painted it). Your model, though, definitely appears to be the one they used on the side panels to show the built-up model - wrong striping, silver airline logo and all.

See the reissue box here:
http://www.irwinallengallery.com/giants/collectibles/aurora1975

BTW - great job on the little Spindrift!

Gordon


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

I love the paint job on the Aurora kit. But that is a beautiful job of sculpting! For me, the smaller things are, the harder they are to make. But I've been working on a "studio scale" master for over a year now (well, not for six months of that year, to be honest), and getting those shapes is the most difficult bit of modelling I've attempted so far, especially the recessed front end. Seeing yours is going to drive me back to it. Very nice job.
Having read the comments about "if we had known then what we know now about the Jupiter 2 model, we would never have done it" makes me suspect that Moebius is being very careful and wise before committing to possible larger scale Spindrifts. Doing the research and getting the shapes right is 80% of producing a model. Given the evangelical rabidity of Spindrift fans debating earlier vs later blueprints, blueprints vs studio miniature, studio miniature vs full size set, and scale [is the studio scale miniature 1/12 (as matches the little people), 1/16 (as matches the blueprints), or 1/24 (as matches the hatch)? - okay maybe the scale issue is just me] is enough to give anyone pause. 1/128 make a whole lot of sense as a first Spindrift.


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## Aurora-brat (Oct 23, 2002)

idMonster said:


> (and I actually know the guy that painted it).
> Gordon


You know John Amendola? Aurora commissioned John to paint _*ALL*_ of the '76 Sci-Fi re-issues, in my opinion some of the nicest renditions of these vehicles ever painted. I especially loved his treatment of the Ragnarok!

I have one of John's airliner paintings, a 737 in PSA livery. Not the cover art, but the profile used on the side panels. To this day I will stare at it and admire his treatment of the polished aluminum panels. The man is an artistic genius.


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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)

Aurora-brat said:


> You know John Amendola? Aurora commissioned John to paint _*ALL*_ of the '76 Sci-Fi re-issues, in my opinion some of the nicest renditions of these vehicles ever painted. I especially loved his treatment of the Ragnarok!
> 
> I have one of John's airliner paintings, a 737 in PSA livery. Not the cover art, but the profile used on the side panels. To this day I will stare at it and admire his treatment of the polished aluminum panels. The man is an artistic genius.


Man , I would love a large Poster of those Paintings! The Spindrift for sure:thumbsup:


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## idMonster (Jun 18, 2003)

Aurora-brat said:


> You know John Amendola? Aurora commissioned John to paint _*ALL*_ of the '76 Sci-Fi re-issues, in my opinion some of the nicest renditions of these vehicles ever painted. I especially loved his treatment of the Ragnarok!
> 
> I have one of John's airliner paintings, a 737 in PSA livery. Not the cover art, but the profile used on the side panels. To this day I will stare at it and admire his treatment of the polished aluminum panels. The man is an artistic genius.


I've known John since 1980 when he would come into the hobby shop I worked at then. He frequently attends Seattle IPMS meetings and drops in at a hobby shop owned by my friend Emil ( http://www.skywaymodel.com ) from time to time.

He's a great guy, friendly and knowledable and, of course, as you said, an artistic genius.

He doesn't have any particular affection for his Aurora Sci-Fi work - they were just commissions to him. His great love is aviation, and specifically, the aircraft from his youth.

He's pretty much retired now, not from painting, thank God, just from commission painting. These days he only paints what he wants to paint 

This is a picture of John standing in front of a restored B-17:
http://www.seattleworldcruiser.org/images/index/AmendolaB17LogoLarge.jpg

It came from this site which deals with a rather interesting project for those interested in 1920's aviation:
http://www.seattleworldcruiser.org/

Gordon


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## fortress (Apr 1, 2006)

Moebius said:


> I'm sure that's about correct. Basically what we were going for, a companion piece to the mini FS-1. Looks cool to me, nice job!


Ahhh! Nice concept Moebius, any plans of going further with more
mini kit subjects? I think a mini J2, Moonbus, or BGS and BGS Vipers
would be a killer.

fortress


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## Seaview (Feb 18, 2004)

The one thing that has always amused me about the 1975 Spindrift re-issue cover painting was the addition of 2 astronaught figures in the dome.


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

Seaview said:


> The one thing that has always amused me about the 1975 Spindrift re-issue cover painting was the addition of 2 astronaught figures in the dome.


Hey, at least it's a USE for the dome!

For the life of me I can't figure out what the heck that's there for! AFAIR nobody slid back a cover and poked their head up to see what's going on, it's not a control blister for a remote turret or anything, there's no obvious nav equipment poking up, just a glowing hex sheet similar to what's on the giant 'intakes'. That's got to really muck up the aerodynamics...um..what there is, that is. 

And then the spinning thingie aft of the dome? 

argh.


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## Krel (Jun 7, 2000)

Like the mini FS, this will make a dandy Christmas ornament. Now if they will only do a 1/128 scale J2 to complete the set.

David.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Steve H said:


> "Look out! it's a big blue glowing time...thingie!"


Sounds more like the TARDIS.


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## charonjr (Mar 27, 2000)

The "spinning thingie aft of the dome" is an antenna.


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## Aurora-brat (Oct 23, 2002)

Krel said:


> Like the mini FS, this will make a dandy Christmas ornament. Now if they will only do a 1/128 scale J2 to complete the set.
> 
> David.


If someone will direct me to where I can find some accurate J2 drawings I can hack one out of foam and photograph it with the 1/128 FS1 and Spindrift for size comparison!:thumbsup:


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## Mitchellmania (Feb 14, 2002)

I'm going to buy it!


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## Paulbo (Sep 16, 2004)

You can try PMing Ron Gross - his drawings are about as accurate as you're going to get.


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

scotpens said:


> And I think the baby Spindrift will sell surprisingly well. It's a great scale for dioramas, and still big enough for an interior with figures.


Exactly what I was thinking! I already have a diorama planned out for my baby FS... now I wonder if I can incorporate the Spindrift into it....


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## Aurora-brat (Oct 23, 2002)

Paulbo said:


> You can try PMing Ron Gross - his drawings are about as accurate as you're going to get.


Ron was kind enough to supply me some drawings of the Jupiter 2 so give me a day or so and I'll show you all what a 1/128 version of the J2 looks like compared to the FS1 and Spindrift.

This is fun!


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