EDIT -- added some clearer pics -- Robot is an all-metal figure I threw in...not quite finished painting him. Still haven't added the red/yellow thingies.


Additional note: the decal on BACK of pod was problematic as it was too large to fit properly, so I ended up cutting off the last set of numbers and adding it separately, but if I had it to do again, I would also cut off the J2-A decal and push it up a little closer to USA and then add in the serial number beneath it....so be careful when placing the back decal -- you may want to cut the USA with r/w/b stripes, the J2-A and the serial number BEFORE you place them on and plan ahead to make sure everything aligns and you have ample room for all three pieces.

============================================


Just about finished this up -- still have to add the yellow and red thingies that are on either side of the thing-a-majig that sticks off the side.

Others have posted their pics which have been inspiring -- the attention to detail you guys have is amazing. Mine is pretty much a straight build from the box, but I did make an effort to get colors as close as possible, which is challenging because there appear to be subtle differences between the full-size Pod used on set and the special effects filming miniature. A good friend passed along photos of the filming miniature, so I went by these mostly.

A few tips for those that may not have started building yours yet -- make sure you have configuration of landing gear BEFORE you put all those tiny pins in. I must have redone mine three times -- I thought I had configuration correct, then second-guessed myself, then realized I had it right to begin with. WHY I didn't recheck my reference photos is beyond me. Anyways, it's a major pain in the butt the have to pull the pins out and redo it, so make sure you have it correct at the start -- make sure the center landing struts on the two side landing gears have the larger diameter tube/shock absorber thing closer to the POD body rather than closer to the landing gear pad. This may seem like an obvious thing, but it wasn't to me.

ALSO, be very careful when assembling the final details -- I managed to pop my front window out when I was gluing some other exterior detail in place and was pressing against window with my thumb, and POP!! If you thought those clear windows were tough to put in when you had the interior assembly OUTSIDE of the pod body, try gluing one in when the interior is INSIDE the pod body. Unless you have a hand the size of a GI JOE doll, it is not a simple task. I ended up setting window in place WITHOUT any glue and then using a toothpick to draw a bead of ELMERS glue along the bottom rim. It dries clear and appears to be holding window in place. I was afraid to try using normal model glue or super glue as any shifting of the window when settling it into place would risk smearing glue on exposed window surfaces, and nothing ruins a model quicker than smudged up windows streaked with glue gunk.

As for paints, I used Tamaiya (sp?) spray paints for the orange and silver (I think they only make two oranges -- regular orange, which is what I used and bright orange) and bare metal silver for body. I used some kind of Tamaiya metallic grey for exterior detail parts and then tan for interior and an assortment of Tamaiya acrylics and even some Testors enamels I had on hand for control panel details. I like Tamaiya spray paints as they typically go on smoothly. I sealed exterior with tamiaya clear to seal up the decals...it has a slight gloss, so I might hit it with dullcoat or Krylon matte finish....not sure yet as this may be tought o do witht he windows -- I have used masking on this model so much I don't know if I'm up for yet another round, so I may just leave it as is.

I am starting on Chariot next. again, I will build straight from box (using the vinyl templates from culttvman) -- but I have really enjoyed seeing how everyone else has been building theirs -- especially the people who make extra efforts to add in the smallest details like microphones and side drawer covers and seat cushions, etc etc.

Your Pod looks great Ted!!:thumbsup:
Good job on the colors, and figureing it all out. I have been reading everyones differant tips and techniques also, and I also like to hear everyones build problems/sticky points, as it gives me ideas, and problems to look for, as well as several differant views on how to deal with them.
Keep up the good work, even in the dark!!(power was also out for a while here in southern Ky. too):)
Ron:devil:

NIIIIICE..
I'd like to see an outdoor photo (when the weather settles over there in KY)

It's a great kit, but I'd lobby for more of the "pins" be included if it's ever retooled.

those suckers will take a swan dive off of the work table and are near impossible to find in shag carpeting:(

Elmers is a good subsitute for the testors clear canopy glue in this instance plus if you do get some on the outside of the window, you can clean it off. If you get it on the inside, tho, there will be sadness.

All and all a darn fine job, you should be mighty proud!

Can't wait to see how you tackle the Chariot

Thanks for the feedback -- those tiny pins just about did me in!! I must have stooped down fifty seven times to pick them up off the floor after they slipped out of my big meaty fingers!!

The other thing that would have been nice would hasve been to have the ORANGE parts of the kit molded as separate parts...but I imagine this would have driven up kit cost.

I am a modeler of modest talent, but I do make an effort to get it as good as my meager talents allow. My worst enemy is PATIENCE. I tend to want to do everything right away, which, as everyone here likely knows, is not the best way to build anything. If it weren't for my kids demanding my attention, this Pod would have turned out a lot worse...so there's something to be said for building just a little bit each day or every other day. :)

The other thing I often wrestle with is how much time/detail to put into a model. Everything I build ends up on a shelf in my tv room in the basement, where I have a few shelving units to display the various sci-fi props, models and toys I collect. I recall the painstaking detail I spent paitning the interior of the PL Jupiter 2, and then laugh when I think about how seldomly I actually take the roof off to peak inside.

I am NOT knocking those of you who add all the finer details to your models -- in fact, it amazes me and inspires me to at least take a little extra time building mine. And if there is a particular ship I am REALLY in love with (liek the TOS Enterprise or Firefly ship) I will take extra time on details as they are important to me. But I do reach a point where I debate how much time/effort I want to invest in building a model, as it will typically just end up on the shelf only to be seen by me when i decide I wanna go watch a flick on my big screen TV.

so, I guess I vascillate on attention to detail given my mood, phase of the moon, etc. But I will say that I have truly enjoyed reading this forum and find everyone's tips EXTREMELY helpful, whether they are seasoned model makers or just average joe geeks like me who still have a nostalgic love of the spacecraft, robots and ray guns from our beloved childhood TV shows.

Absolutely right Ted!!:)
It seems that patience is also my worst enemy! It is so hard not to just do it! We all have a vision of what we remember from the shows as the important details to us, and it seems sometimes that is the problem!
You can see in your mind how the kit should look to you, and so, you just want to do it. Then we see the aftermarket parts start showing up (after you are already half way thru the build), and its "DOH!", why didn't I wait?
I useually tend to try to get 2 kits of the models that I really love (like the Pod, and Chariot(and I am still looking for a 2nd PL-J2 to make in a "in flight" configuration)), then I do a "out of the box" type build, changeing things only slightly to suit myself, on the first kit. Then I will go all out on the next one. I have my PL Jupiter 2 still not finished, because I got an EXTREMELY nice fusion core/bubble light set that I can add up to 12 other LED's to for lighting everything inside. So, I keep changeing my mind on how much to do, what all to light, etc. And it is only because I love the ship so much I really want to do it just "right". DUH! I need to just build the damn thing and get it over with!! LOL!!(but, I am still getting other add on stuff like new seats, decals, astrogator,etc.)
It really is funny!:D
(And yes, it sure is fun to pick up a tiny,tiny,tiny part in the tweezers, get it lined up with trembling fingers, and slowly start to put it in place(while trying to see what you are doing thru magnifying reading glasses because you just can't see it up close like you used too), and right as you begin to place the part, one of the kids starts yelling "DAD"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!):woohoo:
SHINEY!!!
LOL!!!!!! What a bunch of old farts we are!!
Keep up the good work!!
Ron:devil:

To be fair, there are several duplicate parts in the kit. There are four extra pins, a couple extra attach brackets, and even a duplicate probe for the NGS scanner (whatever NGS means).

john,
I saw the extra brackets, but I don't remember there being extra pins.

I know for a fact that there were one or two extra short pins in mine, because when I took the X-acto blade to one of the pins, it "pinged" off into the stratosphere and landed somewhere on my basement floor. I'll probably step on it years from now when I go digging into my storage boxes looking for some Gumby toys for my kids to play with.

At any rate, despite losing one short pin, I had enough to complete my kit with perhaps a spare that I didn't lose.

As for the LONG pins, there may only be what is required to build the kit.

that's right. I remember now. I put one of the "extra" pins in the center hinge of the back door even tho the hinge was only decorative. that would have left one additional which I'm sure went AWOL.

still, more woulda been nice

(why is there no "whiney baby" smile?):freak:

when I took the X-acto blade to one of the pins, it "pinged" off into the stratospherea good 'ol sprue cutter will solve that issue every time. They don't cost much at all. I wouldn't know what to do without mine, anymore.

This place is great for hobby tools:
http://www.widgetsupply.com

Here are the flush (sprue) cutters:
http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/CTGY/pliers-cut-flush

I can personally vouch for the Fiscars brand.

a good 'ol sprue cutter will solve that issue every time. They don't cost much at all. I wouldn't know what to do without mine, anymore.

This place is great for hobby tools:
http://www.widgetsupply.com

Here are the flush (sprue) cutters:
http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/CTGY/pliers-cut-flush


A good alternative is the "Nipper" from Ace Hardware. The cost is about the same, but these tend to last a little longer ... I mean that the cutting edge stays sharp longer.

Dan

Here are a few more pics that I couldn't fit in my original post at top of page.

Ted,
Better and better..

couple of nits, tho (you knew I couldn't resist)

have you finished the kit? 'cuz it looks like you're missing those yellow and red bits that go on the outside above the 5-way thruster on the drivers side. they attach to the bumped out structure.

your windows look clear as glass. are they in fact , there?

spankin' good work!:thumbsup:

Our power was still out last night, so I decided to just take pics of the model as is -- so no, I haven't yet added the yellow and red thingies -- perhaps the easiest part of the whole kit, but I just didn't have it in me to search in the basement for the paint! :) I'll get them on tonite! LOL!

Thanks for the kind words on the build -- as I have stated before, I think it's a pretty good build up of the kit out of box, but it does not compare to some of the builds I've seen posted -- you guys do amazing work -- but I posted my pics to help the "average joe" see what the kit looks like when built by, well, average joes.

I also like to point out potential problems with the kit -- one I encountered was the fit of the main hull assembly -- the fit is tight, and I really struggled when gluing the front piece to the assembled pod -- no matter how hard I pushed them together, there was still a noticeable gap. I even used super glue gel for this and held it in place for several minutes -- still a small gap. This MAY be remedied by holding in place longer OR using a different glue OR just accepting the small gap and filling it with putty -- but this would require patience AND some careful touch up painting -- but I've seen others on this forum who did it and it looked great.

As I decided not to put a lighting kit in mine, I decided that I would live with the small seams -- when I build models I often base how much effort I put into hiding seams and such on how many "extras" I plan on adding -- so if I dropped $$$ on a lighting kit, or took time to buy the cheaper LEDS and figure out how to cram it all in, THEN I would go the extra mile and make sure seams were also covered -- does this make sense? It's kind of "in for a penny, in for a pound" philosophy. The one additional thing I want to do is get the planet base that was previewed elsewhere in this forum and should hopefully be available soon from culttvman. Having that base harkens back to the Aurora days...although I have also admired some of the scratch built bases I've seen.

Up next -- the Chariot -- I'll be sure to post pics as I get that going, but it will also be a straight build from the box, the only embellishment I have planned is the vinyl templates for the orange interior stripes and the masking to help paint the silver supports.

Oh yeah -- one more thing -- my windows are indeed there -- they come across more clear than in person, though. Up close you can see a little smudge or two. :)

To clarify my paint scheme (as it isn't always obvious from the photos) -- I used a darker metallic color for:

the hatch door
the front sensors
the top hatch thingy and top sensor
the two side protrusions on the main hull
the bottom fusion core and thruster on very bottom
the square side indents that the thrusters attach to

I'm not sure if this 100% cannon to the filming model or full-size pod, but from studying the photos more than my retinas could bear, I BELIEVE that all of these pieces were indeed a darker metallic color...but they don't always show up that way in pics. Not sure if I nailed all the front scanners exactly, but I'm happy with it.

As for the inside control panels, I think I got things about 75% correct -- I would have aimed for 100%, but after realizing how seldomly I look inside the inetrior of my Jupiter 2 model, I decided 75% was good enough.

I am curious to hear from others how you decide to go the full 100% on something -- especially when you know you will hardly ever see the detail. Is it because YOU will know if it's right or not? Or is it more the pleasure you get from the process of making it 100%, whether anybody else ever sees the detail or not? or some reason I haven't thought of?

Ted,
I ran into the same question myself when I built a Seaview.

why make all of that detail look good when you will only see a fraction of it?

the short answer is because I'll know its there, even if nobody else does. and there's fun to be had in showing it off.

console yourself with the fact that the only thing you will ever build that is totally 100% accurate is something you've designed yourself and you will sleep better at night.

all that being said, two things make me want to go whole hog on a build.

1) my fondness for the subject
2) how much care was put into the kit by the maker of the kit (how easy they made it to light etc...)

these aren't the only rules, but they are the main ones.

I try to generally do it all in a way that is 100% to me. I will paint details that are actually covered by other things on the model sometimes, and will never be seen, just because I now they are there!! LOL!!! Probably pretty anal, but I always try to do the best that I can, and consider the details(viewable or not) as just a part of the build. I find that better than doing it, and then after it is all together realising that a detail I did not do, is VERY visible, and in a place where it is now imopossible to get to and redo or touch-up.:cry:
I quess it is the "I know it is there" thing you spoke of!!:p
Your build looks great, and the most important thing is that you are happy with it.
It is always great when someone else walks past your shelf of models, and says"whoa!, That looks awesome", but it is equally great when you look at it and say the same thing!
I have kits that I spent an incredible amount of time building, and I did what I considered uber-detailing, and I always see one someone else did that makes you think "darn-it, I should have done that too".
So, I think as long as you are happy with your work, how much does someone elses opinion really mean anyway??
It does look good, so you should be proud of a Job Well Done!:thumbsup:
Ron:devil:

I'm sort of in the same boat -- I tend to do extra detailing on a model of something I truly love and when the model itself lends itself to such detailing/lighting, etc. In the case of the SPACE POD, it was a vehicle I wanted, but not a "must have" for me, like the Jupiter 2 ship was....which is why I only took the build on my kit as far as I did.

The one thing that perhaps sets me apart from most modelers on this board is that I think I often would be just as happy if someone would release a TOY of the item.

For instance, I built several SPACE:1999 Eagles in my day, but was delighted to buy the 12-inch Product Enterprise version that came preassembled and pre-painted.

I was also happy to buy the UFO Interceptor and UFO from the UFO series.

I built a resin Batmobile, which took some time for me, and now I see the Hot Wheels version, which would have made me just as happy -- perhaps more so as it would have saved me a lot of eye strain and ulcers over painting the pin striping and details.

That said, let me also say that I do take joy in the actual "building" process, but over the years, it has become harder for me to do so because of other time demands and, quite frankly, my hand is not as steady as it used to be and my eyes are going, too -- I have to take off my glasses for any close-up work.

So, I suppose my point is, when I was between 10 and 20, I truly enjoyed the "process" of building model kits, but nowadays, I tend to favor pre-built versions of the props/spacecraft/robots/vehicles I love if they aren't too expensive -- I do NOT go in for a lot of these studio scale pre-built & painted models coming out because I simply can't afford dropping $300 to $900 a pop on such things. I was excited when I heard that PE was going to release a line of Irwin Allen LIS vehicles (Jupiter 2, Pod, Chariot) only to see it canceled. So I picked up the moebius models because it looks like this may be it for quite some time.

While building them at my age (46) is still fun and a sort of ZEN like experience in some ways, I'm somewhat ashamed to say that I would quickly have foregone the model kits in favor of a pre-built version, had one been made for under $75.

Hope this makes sense -- seems like I rambled on a bit. I truly love models and this forum, but it seems like it gets harder and harder for me to find the time to work on them.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, I'm still gonna get the MONSTER SCENES kits coming out because those were another childhood favorite -- I didn't even paint mine -- just snapped them together and played with them. I think this time around, I mayt actually paint them. :)

I just finished tis kit, too. Overall it went together very well, except it did need some tweaking & extra encouragement during final hull assembly.