INCOMING: SECRET SOVIET LUNAR SPACECRAFT TO 1:48 SCALE

A detailed 1:48 scale kit of the one-man Soviet LK Lunar Lander, built to beat NASA to the Moon in the heady Space Race days of the 1960s.

ROBOT PLANE RETURNS FROM ORBIT - AND A 1:48 SCALE VERSION LANDS ON YOUR WORKTOP

DAVID JEFFERIS REPORTS:

The X-37B mini-Space Shuttle made a landing recently, after a record-breaking orbital flight lasting nearly 15 months. Its missions are US Air Force secrets, but the appearance is less so - and with this latest 1:48 scale kit, you can add a state-of-the-art robotic spacecraft to your display shelf.

ALIENS BEWARE! ‘AVATAR’ HELICOPTER GUNSHIP KIT FROM FANTASTIC PLASTIC

SMN Report:

The team at Fantastic Plastic (FP) are really in the groove with the ever-increasing range of science fact and fiction kits, choices ranging from NASA aerospace projects to giant starships from science-fiction movies. And the latter is where this latest FP kit comes from - it’s a fictional twin-rotor helicopter that featured in the 2009 box-office smash Avatar from ace director James Cameron, of Titanic fame.

NASA DODGE CHARGER SUPERCAR - BUILT FOR TALKING DOWN ER-2 RESEARCH JET

Weekend read from Mat Irvine:

Here’s an intriguing, and relatively quick, conversion for anyone interested - as I am - in both cars and space. Here the car is a 1:24 scale Lindberg Dodge Charger, while the space connection is actually an aircraft, a Lockheed Martin ER-2 flown by NASA on high-altitude flights on Earth resources and other research missions. I’ll come to the Charger kit shortly, but first some background information.

NUCLEAR SPACE BOMBER FROM FANTASTIC PLASTIC

In the wake of this week’s cancellation of the ‘Back to the Moon’ Constellation Program by US President Obama, kit company Fantastic Plastic’s 1:288 scale model of the 1960s-era Project Orion nuclear spacecraft is particularly interesting. Think of a 4000-tonne spacecraft propelled not by chemical rockets, but by massive pulse waves from a string of nuclear bombs blasting away behind the stern. Yes, it was a serious proposal that could have enabled a trip to Pluto and back in less than a year.

The military also had ideas for the concept, the Project Orion Battleship (POB), which would lurk in lunar orbit and then, if World War III broke out, would have hurled waves of nuclear missiles at Soviet targets. However, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963 put paid to the whole idea of nukes in space, civil or military, but nearly half a century later, Project Orion is still a popular subject for space enthusiasts.

The Fantastic Plastic POB kit ought to satisfy some of that ‘What if?’ curiosity. It's a 95-component multimedia kit, created in CAD by Scott Lowther, and cast by Mana Studios. The completed model measures 305 mm (12 in) long, and has 12 functioning pulse-wave engine pistons, plus a range of interior features that include a trio of five-inch guns, six howitzers and two winged landing craft. Decals are by specialist supplier JBOT.

We reckon that if the Avatar planet Pandora had an Orion battleship attacking the natives, there’d have been no contest! The kit is available from Fantastic Plastic at $150.00 USD plus shipping.

Visit Fantastic Plastic here.

Visit JBOT here.