# What if Aurora made the Jupiter 2?



## toyroy (Jul 17, 2005)

The letters to Aurora thread got me speculating about what an Aurora Jupiter 2 kit would have been like, if the Aurora guys had liked the Jupiter 2. 

I think it would have been 8"-10" in diameter, molded in silver grey, with only upper level interior detail. And, no landing gear. But, some pretty cool box art, and a display accessory, in the form of a crashsite-style hatch ramp, with the _Lost in Space_ logo on it. $1.00, at your local hobby shop. Also available as a cereal premium, for two box tops, and $.50.


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## xsavoie (Jun 29, 1999)

Probably more than $1.00 if interior details would have been added.Most likely the same price as the Spindrift or Moonbus.This kit would have deserved great detailing and Aurora would probably have aimed that way.I can't understand why Aurora never released it,judging by the popularity of that show and the reruns.


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

I think they would have gone with the option of building the model with retracted or extended landing legs. Working retractable gear would probably have been too complicated for a small-scale kit. And it would have had a single-level interior — Polar Lights shouldn't have tried to squeeze the lower-level living quarters into their 12" Jupiter 2, IMO. That space could only be used by midgets!


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## toyroy (Jul 17, 2005)

xsavoie said:


> ...This kit would have deserved great detailing and Aurora would probably have aimed that way...


I figure the level of interior detail would be consistent with their flying sub and Spindrift models.




xsavoie said:


> ...I can't understand why Aurora never released it,judging by the popularity of that show and the reruns.


That one's easy: the Aurora guy(s) didn't like the Jupiter 2.


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## toyroy (Jul 17, 2005)

scotpens said:


> I think they would have gone with the option of building the model with retracted or extended landing legs...


Why I guessed Aurora would have left off the landing gear completely, is because they did not offer alternate parts on their other Irwin Allen kits. For instance, they could have made the Seaview with parts for either nose style. 


scotpens said:


> ...Polar Lights shouldn't have tried to squeeze the lower-level living quarters into their 12" Jupiter 2, IMO...


No argument, here! I hate the fattened PL lower hull, and there's just no way to fix the kit part. Also, I would certainly have preferred retractable landing gear. Minimally, all it would take, is to provide hinges for the gear legs.


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## Robert Hargrave (Dec 4, 2003)

toyroy said:


> No argument, here! I hate the fattened PL lower hull, and there's just no way to fix the kit part. Also, I would certainly have preferred retractable landing gear. Minimally, all it would take, is to provide hinges for the gear legs.


No way to fix it, but a good looking lower level can be built that stands out and equals the upper level, see attached photos.  
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/9249/j232yy5.jpg
http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/1563/j231bu3.jpg


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## toyroy (Jul 17, 2005)

Robert Hargrave said:


> No way to fix it, but a good looking lower level can be built that stands out and equals the upper level...


You did a great job, Robert! :thumbsup: 

Parenthetically, I can easily build a lower hull, using my conic-section cardstock techniques.


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## terryr (Feb 11, 2001)

I see it on an alien landscape base, with a stand that looked like the landing legs. A tiny robot is included.


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## toyroy (Jul 17, 2005)

terryr said:


> I see it on an alien landscape base, with a stand that looked like the landing legs. A tiny robot is included.


That's a really good idea, but did Aurora make any display bases that big?


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

xsavoie said:


> I can't understand why Aurora never released it,judging by the popularity of that show and the reruns.


Just a guess, but they may have pegged _The Invaders_ as their one shot at a "flying saucer". To the average 10 year-old modeler on an allowance, one flying saucer looked pretty much like the other.


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## toyroy (Jul 17, 2005)

Zorro said:


> Just a guess, but they may have pegged _The Invaders_ as their one shot at a "flying saucer". To the average 10 year-old modeler on an allowance, one flying saucer looked pretty much like the other.


Aurora really missed out, as did model-building fans, because of their "saucer" thinking.


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## terryr (Feb 11, 2001)

That's 'circular thinking' at its worst. 
The J2 did lots of stuff on screen. The Invader ship landed and took off. Nice choice, Aurora management.


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## flyingfrets (Oct 19, 2001)

IIRC, Aurora did in fact seriously consider a Jupiter 2 kit but in the end, their marketing people came to the conclusion that the design was too simplistic to be very popular.

If Aurora had issued a J2 kit, I think it would've been over simplified to the point that it only vaguely might've resembled the ship we saw on TV every week (as great as the PL model was, we all remember those "parkbench" seats...a limitation of current molding technology...imagine that kit with 30 years less tech involved).

If they'd attempted something on the order of the kit Polar brought us, I think it would've left most of us frustrated. How many of us spent more than a year on our Polar kits?

But for the "cool memories" factor, yeah, I wish they'd done it!


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## terryr (Feb 11, 2001)

If I'd had one it would have been doing a lot of crash landings into stuff.


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## AZbuilder (Jul 16, 1999)

Flyingfrets is right in pointing out if Aurora did the J2 it would have been real simple. Does anybody remember the Mattel Switch and Go "Lost in Space" set, It had a out of scale Chariot that ran on a plastic tube track and fired missles and the J2 was a two piece saucer shaped piece of styrofoam with a rudimentary interior with plastic figures representing the Robinson Family and Robot. It is possible Aurora would have done something similar to this maybe a bit better than what Mattel did.

AZbuilder
John


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## Robert Hargrave (Dec 4, 2003)

AZbuilder said:


> Does anybody remember the Mattel Switch and Go "Lost in Space" set, It had a out of scale Chariot that ran on a plastic tube track and fired missles and the J2 was a two piece saucer shaped piece of styrofoam with a rudimentary interior with plastic figures representing the Robinson Family and Robot. AZbuilder John


Hey I had one of those as a kid, and I had lots of fun with it, I'd use Lego pieces to make the control panels look more interesting. then one winter day I set it down near a space heater and went outside to play in the snow, came back to a melted glob of foam  Snif, snif, I think I need a hug...


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## A Taylor (Jan 1, 1970)

flyingfrets said:


> If Aurora had issued a J2 kit, I think it would've been over simplified to the point that it only vaguely might've resembled the ship we saw on TV every week (as great as the PL model was, we all remember those "parkbench" seats...a limitation of current molding technology...imagine that kit with 30 years less tech involved).


I disregard your reality and replace it with my own!
Actually, an Aurora J2 might have been just as detailed (or more so) than the PL version. It almost certainly would have had no lower level, but look at the amount of detail in the Flying Sub and Spindrift kits they released. Not that they were particularly accurate, of course - but both had more detailed seats than PL's J2.
AT


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## AZbuilder (Jul 16, 1999)

> but look at the amount of detail in the Flying Sub and Spindrift kits they released.


 You are correct that the kits had detail, but the interior was inaccurate such as no fusion core display in the rear cabin of the flying sub as well as a bed, no floor panels, the overall shape of the exterior was off. The interior of the Spindrift was inaccurate as well. I mean only 4 seats instead of 6 in the passanger cabin and the cockpit was incorrect and dont get me started on the passanger cabin hull but over all a good effort on Auroras part on just producing these kits given the tooling of the time we bought and built these kits and thought they were really cool kits and did not really care that they were inaccurate untill we got older and improved our modeling skill and the aftermarket kits started popping up and we are now able to recreate more accurate versions of the kits we built as kids.

AZbuilder
John Davis


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## MightyMax (Jan 21, 2000)

One Word


MOONBUS!


Max Bryant


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## john guard (Dec 31, 2001)

was i the only one who used 2 pie tins and tape to make a J-2 as a kid??


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## Seaview (Feb 18, 2004)

I've always fantasized that Aurora would've made the kit as a diorama, with a 5" diameter upper and lower hull, minimal interior (control panel and cockpit seats), and an alien planet base with ramp, tables, force field generator and HO scaled figures.
The ship, sans landing gear, would fit ("do not cement!") into a lower hull shaped "crater", so the average 10-year-old builder could either display the ship as a landed camp site or pick it up and "whooooosh!" it around the room.
Well, anyway, that's what I would've created had I been one of the designers at Aurora in 1966. :wave:


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## Krel (Jun 7, 2000)

AZbuilder said:


> as no fusion core display in the rear cabin of the flying sub as well as a bed, no floor panels,
> 
> AZbuilder
> John Davis


 The flying sub set did have a bunk....usually. It was like all other Irwin Allen vehicles, the interior was.....malleable. I agree that no nuclear reactor wall, the fs was nuclear powered, was missed, but for the floors, they would have had to used clear plastic, and such a large piece would have been a problem back then, maybe even now. Maybe they could have used decals?

As for the vehicle exterior, and interiors not matching, Aurora was was trying to fit an interior that matches the set with the exterior design, when most of the vehicle sets did not have interiors, as the interior set was larger than the exterior vehicle mock-up. The one exception that I can think of was the flying sub, Aurora had to add a room to make the model fit the design. A first for Irwin Allen. :lol:

Aurora was not alone in this, AMT had to find a way to fit an interior, simple as they made it into a vehicle design that was not suppose to be that large. Matt Jefferies designed the shuttle craft to be a small vehicle, but either JR, or the network wanted a larger interior than the vehicle was designed for. It has caused may headaches for model builders over the decades.

When they had an exterior and interior that matched they could do a good job. As MightyMax said, look at the moonbus, not totally accurate, but a very nice kit.

My personal opinion on the J2 is that it would have be made where you could build it either landing legs up, or down, and only with an upper level.

David.


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## Zathros (Dec 21, 2000)

john guard said:


> was i the only one who used 2 pie tins and tape to make a J-2 as a kid??


no, youre not..I did it too..lol..


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## NTRPRZ (Feb 23, 1999)

*Jupiter II*

I used a couple of my Mom's coffee saucers glued together, and then used Instant Papier Mache to build up the rest. I even used half of a fuel tank from an old Gemini kit as the upper dome.
Problem was I couldn't do a very good job on the viewport.
It's long, long gone, but I've got a BW Polaroid of it around here somewhere...

Jeff


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## AZbuilder (Jul 16, 1999)

I too did the pie tin method for my early J2 with cut out windows and hatch and flung it around like a frisbee, it did not fly too well  

AZbuilder
John Davis


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## toyroy (Jul 17, 2005)

Seaview said:


> I've always fantasized that Aurora would've made the kit...with a 5" diameter upper and lower hull...


Why so small?


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## toyroy (Jul 17, 2005)

I built _The Invaders_ UFO so long ago, I've forgotten: were the hull sections one piece(like the PL Jupiter 2), or in parts? This mainly would have affected the size and shape of the kit box.


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## toyroy (Jul 17, 2005)

john guard said:


> was i the only one who used 2 pie tins and tape to make a J-2 as a kid??


I did that, and also one made from shirt cardboard.


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## Seaview (Feb 18, 2004)

toyroy said:


> Why so small?



A couple of reasons; 1) This would keep the kit with base about the same size as the other "diorama" style kits Aurora made at the time (LOTG Snake Scene, Cyclops & Chariot, Dick Tracy Moonship, the re-issue Seaview base),
2) It would keep the retail price to under $5 (a typical 2 weeks allowance, if any), 3) The ship would be about the same size as the Invader's UFO, Flying Sub and Spindrift (not the same scale, but comparable), and most excitingly, 4) So the kid (or the 48 year old I would eventually grow into) could take it with him on family road trips to the beach or the desert and play "whooooshhhhh!" with it for repeated crash landings in the sand (of course)! :tongue:


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

toyroy said:


> I built _The Invaders_ UFO so long ago, I've forgotten: were the hull sections one piece(like the PL Jupiter 2), or in parts? This mainly would have affected the size and shape of the kit box.


The Aurora Invaders UFO kit was molded in three major sections: the main hull piece, the bottom, and a removeable top (the original issue had the option of either an opaque or clear plastic top to view the interior).

For more information on UFO kit


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

http://www.inpayne.com/models/ufo_invaders.html


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## toyroy (Jul 17, 2005)

Seaview said:


> ...So the kid...could take it with him on family road trips to the beach or the desert and play "whooooshhhhh!" with it for repeated crash landings in the sand...


We gotta make a J2 Frisbee...um..."flying scale model"!


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## toyroy (Jul 17, 2005)

scotpens said:


> The Aurora Invaders UFO kit was molded in three major sections: the main hull piece, the bottom, and a removeable top (the original issue had the option of either an opaque or clear plastic top to view the interior).
> 
> For more information on UFO kit


Scotpens, Thanks much, for the link. I hadn't remembered Aurora including figures in their kits. So, the J2 would have had the Robinson party; cool! :thumbsup:


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