Marixan 1/72 resin SkyDiver from the series UFO

by Mike Dunn

In 1969, Gerry Anderson launched the television programme UFO onto an unsuspecting and unwary public. Used to his marionettes in such programmes as SuperCar and Thunderbirds, no-one knew what to make of this all-actor dramatic show, set in the far-off 1980s, where the Earth is threatened by alien Unidentified Flying Objects - UFOs - whose occupants abduct humans for spare part surgery!!!! Only one organisation can stop this threat - a threat so secret that no-one must know. And so the world governments form Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation. While based in a secret location in the UK, SHADO has bases and operatives everywhere - including the Moon, Earth's first line of defence. And if this line is breached? Then the ocean-prowling fleet of submarines equipped with supersonic attack aircraft come into their own – the fleet of SkyDivers

Good quality kits of this show are rare, as the US market couldn't understand it at all – resulting in the 2nd series of UFO mutating into the poorer (in my eyes) Space:1999. This kit is a large one, making a model aprox. 19 inches in length. It is a garage multi-media kit, but don't worry, it is well designed, with the only non-resin part being the white-metal periscope; all the rest of the kit is cast resin. There are two main aspects to this kit - the main submarine body, and the forward supersonic fighter (launched via the same principles as the Polaris and Trident missile systems), and so I will treat them as separate areas, especially as they are not permanently attached to each other, but can be displayed separately.

First, the submarine body. This comes as a single hollow piece, originally a top and bottom half which have been assembled by the kit manufacturer. The join line on my kit is a little rough, but will sand down without too much attention. Scribed lines have come out good, again requiring minimum attention. Raised and depressed detailing is OK; however, the ballast tanks detailing is excellent. Overall, the body is in good condition; there are some air bubbles, but nothing larger than a pinhead; easily repaired. The only flaw with the body is the resin thickness. Looking down from the open neck, there are a number of very thin walls, as well as a large amount of resin in the stern, making this a stern-heavy vessel. More on this later.

Moving to the attachments for the body, you get two engines with top fins, two side fins (joined by a thin strip of resin), two engine nozzles (again joined by a thin strip), the conning tower, and the bow piece. Le's take these as they come. Because of the engine detailing, these are a right and a left assembly. Apart from being reversed, they are identical in detailing - the work of a good model-maker. Think of a rounded rectangle 1" square and 2 1/2" long with a vertical fin - that's about it. There is a square projection forward, allowing the engine to mate to the main body, and a side slot, allowing the side fins to mate with the engine. The only air bubbles are on the forward mating side, and will be hidden. Each part has two large bubbles here; looking at them, I would have assumed that they were to assist in the location of the engine onto the body - however, no matching lugs are visible.

The side fins are again well cast, but on examining the fit between the engine and the fin, some care and attention will be required. There is a notch cut into the mating side, which would appear to go around a projecting detail in the engine ­ however, the slot in the engine is just below this detail. While not impossible, care on detaching the two fins, and the clean-up of the mating side, will be paramount here.

The two engine nozzles are just that. again, there is a small hole on the rear of the engine, but no matching lug on the nozzle. However, as the rear of the part is where the resin was cast from, a lug can easily be made at clean-up.

Moving to the conning tower, this is a one-piece hollow cast. The only area where the resin is thin is the floor of the indented top entry - all other areas are a decent thickness. Detailing is OK, with some air bubbles, especially on the rear vertical - however, as there is a slight thickness of flashing here, this will clean up.

The last resin piece for the body is the flat bow piece. This is the mating section where Sky and Diver come together. As such, the bow of the body is rounded off, with two mini-tubes for the insertion of the end of Sky's missile pods. The water-tight hatch between the two parts has the first side here, and is well detailed. Again, minor air bubbles spoil this part slightly, but will be easily fixed. The last piece is the white metal periscope. This is well-cast, and will require minor clean-up before it can be mated at the rear of the conning tower.

Over to Sky, the supersonic aircraft. This consists of the main body (solid cast), the tail-fin, the rear hatch and the two rocket pods. Let's start with the main body. Apart from the large casting lug at the rear, this is a well-made piece. Surface scribing is good, as are the raised and indented mouldings. There are some air bubbles, but nothing major.

Sky's mate to Diver's hatch is well-detailed, and again will need only minor attention - unlike the site it is to sit on. This lug is easily an inch cubic, and will need careful grinding with a Dremel to get anywhere near a flat surface.

Moving backwards to the tail fin, this is again well-cast, apart from one air bubble spoiling the rear vertical. Easily fixed with some putty, and a little time. All other detailing has come out well, and will require little time on clean-up.

The last two pieces are the missile pods. For what appears at first glance to be two identical pieces, these will need attention to the opposite ends. The first has several large air bubbles in the end assembly, but is quite clean elsewhere. The other has the reverse - a lot of small bubbles in the missile launching nooks forward, but is clean everywhere else.

As you would expect from a limited run garage kit, the instructions are pretty basic. After saying that, though, there are not that many parts, and the majority of the fits are self-explanatory. Where information is required, it is given, e.g. the best way to fit the pods to Sky.

The painting guide is again basic - being mainly a metallic olive green, all you really need to know is where this differs, and this is shown on four painting diagrams. Also listed is a recommended colour mix for the main colour, as well as the list of the other three colours.

Lastly, you have a small decal sheet, nothing to get excited about - it has the SKYDIVER name (which really should have been in two parts, seeing as they are two models) in two sizes, nine 1s, SHADO twice, DANGER twice and one INTAKE. A number of extra ones are missing, but will really only be missed by anally-retentive UFO fans - so I noticed the omissions immediately! There are no guides for the location of the decals - you will have to use reference photos to identify them correctly. However, just search for Gerry Anderson on the Internet, and you will come across a lot of sites relating to UFO!

So, I obviously like this kit - but what are its weak points? As mentioned, there are some thin walls. You will need to be careful while assembling the kit because of this, and also on how you display it - keep it away from prying fingers. Another reason for careful displaying is the mate between Sky and Diver - the rear of Sky's rocket pods fit into the two recesses on the front of Diver, holding both pieces together, as does the mating hatches between the pods. A nice touch, but could result in a lot of damage if dropped. Also, some areas of the detailing are incorrect - the studio model of Sky 1 shows several blisters under the canopy - these are recesses in the kit. Again, these details can be corrected using reference shots of the studio models - just be careful to use the same model through-out, as the hero version of Sky 1 differed from the smaller versions in several key areas.

One part I haven't mentioned as yet - the real reason that Diver is a hollow shell with rear weight and a solid Sky 1. It's not just to help balance out the model when fully assembled and connected, although it serves this purpose. No, the real reason is that it has been designed with one eye on making it a real vessel . . . radio control! Yes, seriously! I talked to the designer when I bought the kit, and will be consulting him again when I get around to building her, as I'd like to have her functional.

As you can imagine, building Skydiver to sail under power will involve a lot more work, not least drilling out and sealing two hidden propulsion units, but will be well worth the extra effort.

Available from Comet Miniatures, London for £115