SCALE MODEL NEWS

WE ARE VERY sad to learn of the death of professional model maker Bill Pearson. Mat Irvine: A special-effects model maker extraordinaire, Bill Pearson is probably best known for being a model-shop supervisor for such movie classics as Alien (1979), Flash Gordon (1980), and Outland (1981). Bill was a member of the BBC Visual Effects Department for two years or so in the early 1980s, which is when I got to know him. While he was at BBC VFX he worked on a variety of programmes, including The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Doctor Who, and Blake’s 7. Later, Bill worked on Gerry Anderson’s Space Precinct (1994), The James Bond movie Die Another Day (2002), Gravity (2013), Duncan Jones’ Moon (2009), and the Red Dwarf series. The photos (below) are shown courtesy of, and copyright  The Prop Gallery  and Mat Irvine . Bill Pearson ( below ) seen in the early 1980s, while working for the BBC Visual Effects Department. Here, he is working on Supereme Commandeer Servalan’s spac...

Mat Irvine: Here’s a blast from the past with a reissue of the first Alien kit ever issued, a 1:8 scale science-fiction monster from MPC, now produced by Round 2 LLC. The original promo line for the 1979 movie ran: ‘In space, no one can hear you scream…’ Maybe with this kit, it could be: ‘In space, no one can hear you model…’ Certainly, director Ridley Scott’s horror-cum-science-fiction movie was a blockbuster, and still has the power to shock more than 30 years later. Over the years there have been a number of model kits from Alien and its sequels, but this Round 2 reissue is based on the very first Alien kit, made by MPC in 1979, initially when the company was still part of General Mills. Now Round 2 LLC, current owner of MPC, has reissued the kit almost as it was, more than 30 years ago. You get a near-identical box (old one, left above) complete with classic MPC logo, containing a set of parts moulded in the original colours - 22 of them in black styrene, with a further, trans...

Mat Irvine: It’s perhaps a slightly odd decision for Hasegawa to model a spaceprobe that is more than 35 years old… but let us be pleased the company did, as it is a very interesting kit for any space enthusiast. Two Voyager craft were launched in 1977, their mission to study the outer gas giant planets of the Solar System. Initially these were just Jupiter and Saturn, but Voyager 2 was redirected in mid-flight to go on to encounter Uranus and Neptune as well. Currently the Voyagers are the most travelled objects to leave planet Earth, with Voyager 1 now some 18.5 billion km (12bn miles) from the Sun, far beyond the planets in the distant area known as the heliosphere. Just over 80 parts make up the Hasegawa kit, which measures some 325mm (13in) to the end of the magnetometer boom. The components are supplied on two black plastic runners, plus one in white and one gold-plated for the onboard ‘Golden Record’ message disc carried by each craft ‘just in case’ a future civili...

Spring Fair report from David Jefferis: Another trade show that’s running this week is the UK’s Spring Fair, held at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Birmingham. While not quite as massive as the Nuremberg Toy Fair, Spring Fair is still a major footslogger that attracts more than 70,000 visitors. It’s a mega-roundup of 300,000 offered products, ranging from goodies like coffeemakers and cooking gadgets, to art prints and jewellery. And neatly stirred into the mix are halls dedicated to toys and games, aka collectibles, hobbies, and models. Ready-builts to the front Companies I had expected to see were there - Hornby, Maisto, Revell, among them - plus distributors like Amerang and A.B. Gee. But the real eye-opener was the quality of the ready-made collectibles on offer. Seriously, if you don’t have time, skill, or interest to build a model from scratch, then you still have the chance - and usually at highly competitive prices - to build a display collection that need be second to n...