Sometimes you find reference photos in the strangest places!

Jaruemalak

Well-Known Member
I posted this over in the Hobby Talk Sci-Fi Model forum, and I thought it would be appropriate here as well.


My favorite 1950's "rocket ship" was first used in the movie "Flight To Mars", and then used again in "World Without End". Stock footage was used in "Queen of Outer Space."

I've always wanted a model of that ship, and I'd really like to make a studio scale model. Trouble is, how do I find out how big the studio model was? Well, I found scenes of the actual studio model in a strange place... a Bowery Boys movie! In the movie "Paris Playboys", the characters Sach and Slip (Huntz Hall and Leo Gorcey) put their own "rocket fuel" into the model and make it fly around the room. Here are a few stills.

ParisPlayboys01.jpg


ParisPlayboys02.jpg


ParisPlayboys03.jpg


ParisPlayboys04.jpg


ParisPlayboys05.jpg


Taking into account comparisons to the characters bodys, etc., so far, I'm figuring 2 1/2 feet tall for a studio scale model. The funnel sticking out of the middle of the rocket in photo 3 looks exactly like an old aluminum kitchen funnel my mother had, which was 2 1/2 inches wide at the top.

(If anyone has any other, more accurate info, PLEASE let me know!)
 
This is a beautiful model because it is so simple and smooth!! Nice to see something different!!:):thumbsup I would like to build this as well, does the model have a name?

That's a damn near elegant shape if I ever saw one!!

Regards,
Michael
 
This is a beautiful model because it is so simple and smooth!! Nice to see something different!!:):thumbsup I would like to build this as well, does the model have a name?
Regards,
Michael

I'll have to re-watch Flight to Mars and Queen of Outer Space to figure out what it was called in those films (if anything), but in World Without End, it was Rocket XRM. It is a beautiful model - Flight to Mars has some of the best shots of the wings and such. I'll try to copy some and post them as well.
 
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