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Description
Moonraker Space Shuttle Gift Set
James Bond 007 Moonraker – Roger Moore
After the success of Star Wars (where’s he going with this?), the Sci-Fi themed Moonraker was bumped up the schedule of Bond films to ride the huge wave of Science Fiction movies that followed during the next decade. Released in 1979, and after a slow start it went on to be the most successful 007 film until 1995’s Goldeneye. The film’s premise was based upon the fictional manufacturer of the Space Shuttle, Drax Industries pinching a shuttle whilst it was on loan to the British to give 007 the impetus to go gallivanting around the world and beyond to track down the shuttle, then upon finding out that Hugo Drax intended to kill almost everyone on earth to start his master race in the rubble, shipping the intended progenitors to his space station on a fleet of Space Shuttles that he had built in secret. Why did he need to steal one? Because one of his developed a serious fault during production, of course! Mr Bond and his new friend Miss Goodhead end up closely escaping incineration and take the last of the fleet of shuttles up to the space station, causing chaos when they get there, switching off the cloaking device that resulted in the US Marines coming up in their own shuttle that just happened to be ready in order to engage in a massive laser fight in their space suits outside the station. The station was destroyed along with the poisonous chemical that was intended to kill everyone, although Drax escaped into custody, whilst Mr Bond took possession of Moonraker 5, getting caught up to his usual tricks when M called to congratulate him on a successful mission, even though he’d spent most of the film being captured and lurching from one disaster to another, including a boat race through Venice.
The Moonraker Shuttles were simply re-badged NASA Space Shuttle models, and although the shuttle had yet to leave the earth’s atmosphere, its design had already been established, and Enterprise had been seen since in publicity during the mid-70s. The Shuttle needs little in the way of introduction, flying from 1981 to 2011, carrying out 135 missions, but with two sad losses. The Challenger exploding during lift-off due to faulty O-rings on the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), the Columbia being lost due to damage to its wing leading edge on lift-off, that led to its break-up on return to earth during the difficult re-entry phase, bringing two painful reminders that human space exploration is a dangerous exploit. All crew members were lost in both instances, and will never be forgotten.
The Kit
The kit originated in 1978, and the initial boxing shows the simplified layout of the heat-resistant black tiles that it uses to deflect the hot plasma of re-entry. It was reboxed in 1979 as a Moonraker edition with Roger Moore in a silver space suit prominently on the cover, and has been reboxed numerous times in the intervening decades as the NASA shuttle. The kit arrives in a modest end-opening box, and inside are four sprues of white styrene, a clear sprue, two sheets of decals, and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour, with profiles for painting and decaling on the rear pages. There is also an A3 poster inside the booklet, a thumbnail of which can be seen on the box top, plus a set of six thumb-pots of acrylic paint, a 12.5ml bottle of Contacta Professional glue with needle applicator, and a #2 paintbrush. Detail is as you would expect from a kit of this age, and you must bear in mind that it was designed and tooled before the operational shuttles were built and flown, so there may be some minor issues with shape and detail when compared to an operational shuttle, but as the film was made in 1978 for release the next year, it should be close. Where this kit benefits from previous incarnations is in the decals, which includes a full sheet of decals that depict the heat-resistant tiles on the underside, which although they started life as a black shade, they gradually weathered out to a chalky grey, and newer replacement tiles appeared much darker by comparison.
Specifications
Skill Level
3
Age Recommendation
10
Individual Parts
76
This product is supplied unassembled
