Ever since Playing Mantis' Polar Lights division started repressing rare old Aurora model kits a few years ago, Baby Boomer model collectors have salivated as each previously-hard-to-find kit was announced. First there was the Robot from LOST IN SPACE, then the never-before-released Jupiter II, then a new Robby the Robot from FORBIDDEN PLANET and repops of the old Addar PLANET OF THE APES kits (which were originally made by crafstmen who'd left Aurora). This year Polar Lights is really making older fans' dreams come true by reissuing some of the rarest and most sought-after Aurora TV kits. The Seaview from VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA came earlier this year, and now Polar is unleashing models from the last Irwin Allen TV show of the '60s, LAND OF THE GIANTS.
First on deck is the "suborbital spacecraft" SPINDRIFT, which is accidentally flung with a load of passengers and crewmembers onto a planet (or parallel universe) where human beings loom sixty feet tall. Unlike the Jupiter II or the Seaview from Allen's other shows, the Spindrift spent more time onscreen as a standing set piece than as a miniature in action. The original miniature was about three feet long and was shown in a crash-landing sequence in the show's pilot episode; thereafter the miniature was used only in a couple of episodes in which giants picked it up and lugged it around. As a full-size set piece it was more fanciful and impressive than the disc-shaped Jupiter II from LOST IN SPACE: the design combined aspects of the Flying Sub from VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (in its Chinook Salmon-shaped nose), the Jupiter II and the Proteus minisub from the 1966 movie FANTASTIC VOYAGE (the Spindrift featured a similar rudder fin that bisected the rear hull and an upper bubble top like the Proteus and Jupiter II).
Aurora reissued the Spindrift just once, along with the Seaview and Flying Sub, in 1975, just before the company folded. All three kits had new artwork but the Spindrift was particularly difficult to find and may have been made in smaller numbers. Later Monogram acquired the rights and molds to the Flying Sub and reissued it several times, but the Seaview and Spindrift have never been reissued until now. The Spindrift was probably the best of all three kits: Aurora's beloved Seaview kit was incorrect in its detail and proportions, and the Flying Sub (while boasting a superbly detailed and fairly accurate interior) also sacrificed detail and scale contours for ease of assembly. The Spindrift, however, is overall quite accurate in its exterior outline and details and also features an extremely impressive interior with figures and even a sliding door on the side of the ship to reveal an inner corridor.
Small ship, big snack.
© 2002 Polar Lights
Polar's engineers have actually improved the part fit of the kitit's so good you can actually snap the main elements of the hull together without glue and create an almost seamless dry fit. The outer hull is molded in a dark, salmon orange-red while the interior is molded in a minty light green, just like the '60s original. Polar also faithfully reproduced the original Aurora box art that shows the assembled kit in a makeshift diorama, sitting in a setting of tall grass and rocks much like the standing set of the TV series. The only glaring inaccuracy of the original kit was in the reproduction of the upper bubble dome: on the actual miniature this was a teardrop shaped oval, while the model sports an oval superstructure but a perfectly circular clear dome. That's a toughie to fix, but the overall appearance is still attractive in a kind of '60s Flash Gordon way.
In September Polar Lights will release the second LAND OF THE GIANTS rarity, the legendary Snake Diorama that shows characters from the show battling a giant snake with a safety pin. Bring it on!
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