# Is the Leif Erickson spaceship going to be reissued?



## BatToys (Feb 4, 2002)

I had this kit in the sixties and it had lights. I'm pretty sure this spaceship was called the Leif Erickson.


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## Steve244 (Jul 22, 2001)

with a bit of work, this










could be made into a fair representation of this:










link

^ that's a great link by the way. Even has JohnP's Leif.


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## swhite228 (Dec 31, 2003)

BatToys said:


> I had this kit in the sixties and it had lights. I'm pretty sure this spaceship was called the Leif Erickson.



Word is they don't have any idea where the molds went, or even if they still exist.

The kit you had was put out by AMT using a Matt Jeffers unused Enterprise design. AMT included a record called the "Sounds of Space" in with the kit, and a small bug eyed shuttle.

Later on they reworked the kit a little removeing the red engines and the shuttle legs, then releasing it as "The UFO Mystery Ship"

As AMT doesn't exist , and the molds are MIA, and there is some question as to who ownes the rights I doubt you'll ever see this one reissued any time soon.


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## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

And besides late last year? RC2 announced they would discontinue all plastic kits by the end of 2007. And for the past 25 years RC2 has owned AMT.


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## fluke (Feb 27, 2001)

*QUESTION OF THE CENTURY!!*

*Why the HECK has this kit NOT been reversed engineered or done in slightly larger scale?? It's only the GRAIL of a all Sci-Fi kits! *

*WHY??!!??*


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## spe130 (Apr 13, 2004)

They did?


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## BatToys (Feb 4, 2002)

I would buy it if it was reissued in SuperSize scale with red lights and but not necessary the paper record.

Star Trek fans would buy it because of the connection.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Connection shmenection, I'd buy just 'cause I've always liked the ship.


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## BatToys (Feb 4, 2002)

John P said:


> Connection shmenection, I'd buy just 'cause I've always liked the ship.


Yes but the Star Trek connection would let companies know it's a) Profitable and b) no Parmount license involved.


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## Dave Hussey (Nov 20, 1998)

I'd certainly by a nice styrene rendition of this kit.

Sign me up.

Huzz


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

Dave Hussey said:


> I'd certainly by a nice styrene rendition of this kit.
> 
> Sign me up.
> 
> Huzz


 :thumbsup: Me too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :woohoo:


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## iamweasel (Aug 14, 2000)

That is actually a pretty cool ship, I wouldnt mind having one or two myself.


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## yamahog (Nov 19, 1998)

I dunno about the Leif Ericson spaceship getting repopped, but the molds for the Henry Darrow Space Bubble, and the Cameron Mitchell Astro Trac still exist.


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## fluke (Feb 27, 2001)

I built that kit in the fourth grade '74'

My mommy was the housekeeping Manager at a Holiday Inn and it was left in a room. It was the Glow version bagged w/ no box....I had no idea what it was other than I thought it was a cool kit. 

Those were the days....before the World wide Web, Advanced-Moderlers-Syndrome and girls.....life was simple.


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## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

Here in Portland we have our own Leif Erickson, an off road bike path in northwest Portland that runs through forrest park.


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## xsavoie (Jun 29, 1999)

Should it be issued in glow or non glow.


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## fluke (Feb 27, 2001)

I'm thinking Glow....that way both versions can be made. If you don't want it to glow.....build it in the dark!  

Seriously....that way it could be painted or not! easy ....no brainer.


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## BlackbirdCD (Oct 31, 2003)

About four years ago I called up the folks at AMT/ERTL about this very thing. I had several conversations with the head of operations in the plastic mold department. Basically it was do-able, IF they could find the molds. 

They wanted me to buy a minimum number of copies, which included packaging. At the outset it seemed fine, but the minimum number was more than I felt I could sell. Plus after six months they would retain the rights to release the ship themselves, so if I hadn't sold my run they easily could murder me - leaving me with a bunch of the things in storage.

This setup is something they did frequently for small runs of their older model car kits. I'd never heard of this practice, but apparantly it goes on behind the scenes.

Unfortunately they never found the molds. They didn't even know that this model kit existed in their catalog. I had to send them images of the instructions so they could see that YES, INEED AMT ONCE MADE THIS KIT.

At this point anyone could probably re-pop the thing and nobody at RC2 would ever notice. But it would require what was said earlier - reverse engineer an existing model.


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## BlackbirdCD (Oct 31, 2003)

I ended up just buying one on eBay.


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## starmanmm (Mar 19, 2000)

Selling those kits would not have been any problem for you!

Too bad the molds are MIA, but maybe some new and up and coming model company may consider it???


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## BlackbirdCD (Oct 31, 2003)

I wasn't sure, at the time, that I could move thousands of copies within six months.


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## fluke (Feb 27, 2001)

starmanmm said:


> maybe some new and up and coming model company may consider it???


Golly...you mike *MOEBIUS Models*??

I know Moebius has plenty of work to keep them busy for a while...but I wonder if a person 'donated' a kit to be used...if that would make things better....thats IF Frank did not already own one.

I and plenty of other people would not think twice about a 'pre-sale' to get things going....but I bet that is something that a company like Moebius would like to steer away from for good reasons.

Still that would be cool.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

It would have to be the complete as-issued original, with the clear red parts for the lightable engines. The UFO release didn't have the engine parts.


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## Dave Hussey (Nov 20, 1998)

Well, I had no problem in pre-ordering the Voyager from Moebius and I'd be equally eager to have this kit.

I had one as a kid of twelve, but it was the glow version and the copy I built had been opened in the store and some of the interior detail bits were missing. I remember getting it for half price for that reason. I'd love to have another!

Huzz


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

1/350 plz.


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## Dave Hussey (Nov 20, 1998)

Or, add more detail to the interior opening bay area.

Huzz


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## KenNetzel (Mar 31, 1999)

I had this kit as the Lief Erickson, and still have the UFO version. Years ago, I took it apart, and reassembled it lighting it up. I know it's a no no by today's standards, but it was fun doing. I did the engines as close to the originals as my memory would allow, using Christmas light covers. This is my result.


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## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

I had the one molded in glow plastic back in the 70s.


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## Aurora-brat (Oct 23, 2002)

*I love this kit!*

Boy does this one take me back to my childhood. I'll never forget how I came to know of its existance. 

I was walking home from school, I must have been in third or fourth grade, when I came accross some plastic parts of a model that apparently had met with a fircracker. There were shards of plastic everywhere, but some of the parts were large enough for me to realise that it used to be a pretty cool spaceship model. I spent the better part of the afternoon gathering up as much of the debris as I could, went home and tried - unsuccessfully - to rebuild it. However I did get enough of it together to know what it looked like, and searched for an unbilt kit over the next decade, never finding one. 

A few years ago, I was talking with a friend when I mentioned this "mystery" spaceship kit. He knew right away what I was talking about, and had two in his collection. One original and one glow in the dark UFO kit. He sold me the UFO version and kept the original for himself. I haven't built it yet, but had plan on detailing the crap out of it when I do.:thumbsup: 

I sure wouldn't mind having a spare!


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## SAL9000 (Nov 13, 2006)

I'm joining the thread late. I had the glow-in-the-dark version. I have no idea who bought it for me or where I got it but seeing the box reminded me of how much I really loved that model. Fun to build an looked really cool. Oh! my long lost models! Where are you? 

Lost forever (along with many neurons) are:
Lancaster bomber (the first model I ever built)
Concord
Uboat (don't recall the number)
USS Enterprise (Aircraft carrier)
USS Enterprise (Kirk's)
Flying Sub
2001 Orion (Aurora)
Thunderbirds (4 F16 fighters -- I think)
Moonbase Alpha
Battlestar Galactica (Viper and Cylon Raider too)
and dozens more I can't even remember.

(sigh)

--Jim


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## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

swhite228 said:


> Word is they don't have any idea where the molds went, or even if they still exist.
> 
> The kit you had was put out by AMT using a Matt Jeffers unused Enterprise design. AMT included a record called the "Sounds of Space" in with the kit, and a small bug eyed shuttle.
> 
> ...


What Matt Jeffries design are you talking about?


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## ssgt-cheese (May 31, 2000)

irishtrek said:


> What Matt Jeffries design are you talking about?


Scroll down about a 1/3 of the page, look in the blueprint section. 

http://www.projectrho.com/SSC/model.html

Mike


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Anybody that has the UFO version can get resin casts of the engine parts (and the shutle, if you lost it) at Federation Models. I did.


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## =bg= (Apr 2, 2007)

heh...i remember, ah, _blowing my up _ with firecrackers.


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

I ended up doing the same thing with my ufo glow kit. I wonder what the fascination with model kits and fire crackers were back then  I lost a few cool kits that way.


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