[toyroy]

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.

 

[xsavoie]

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.

 

[scotpens]

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!

 

[toyroy]

...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.

...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.

 

[toyroy]

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.

...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.

 

[Robert Hargrave]

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

 

[toyroy]

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.

 

[terryr]

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

 

[toyroy]

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?

 

[Zorro]

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.

 

[toyroy]

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.

 

[terryr]

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.

 

[flyingfrets]

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!

 

[terryr]

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

 

[AZbuilder]

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

 

[Robert Hargrave]

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...

 

[A Taylor]

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

 

[AZbuilder]

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

 

[MightyMax]

One Word


MOONBUS!


Max Bryant

 

[john guard]

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