trekriffic
Sr Member
The Spindrift is the suborbital transport featured in the 1960's Irwin Allen TV show "Land of the Giants".
Like most of the vehicles in shows created by Irwin Allen (the Seaview and Jupiter II) the Spindrift's interior is much too spacious to fit inside its exterior, this is referred to in sci-fi circles as the Tardis effect in homage to the time traveling police box from "Doctor Who".
This is my build of the Polar Lights repop of the old Aurora model kit...

Box Art by Steve J, on Flickr
At just over 10 inches long, it's the larger of the two styrene plastic kits currently on the market - the other kit is produced by Moebius Models and is half the size.
The kit included two pilot figures and a stewardess but not the 5 passengers.
The kit figures were also too large for the scale of the ship so I decided to make them and the passengers from scratch using Caesar Miniatures Modern Urban Resisters vinyl figures. I ended up making new, more screen accurate seats as well.
Some of my bashed together crew and passengers...

Four Completed Figures by Steve J, on Flickr
A view of the passenger compartment...

Light Test by Steve J, on Flickr
Pilots...

Steve Burton at the Controls by Steve J, on Flickr
I also bought aftermarket decals for the exterior and interior as well as an accessory kit with engine grills and rear wall cast with open holes for lighting. This kit also included a teardrop shaped top dome to replace the inaccurate kit provided round dome...

Aftermarket Decals by Steve J, on Flickr

Aftermarket Engine Grills by Steve J, on Flickr
Lastly, I added my own LED based lighting system to go along with the Tenacontrols engine flasher board I purchased separately.
Anyway, here are the finished pics...

Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr

Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr

Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr

Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr

Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr

Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr

Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr

Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr

Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr
To view more in-progress and finished pics check out my album here...
www.flickr.com
Like most of the vehicles in shows created by Irwin Allen (the Seaview and Jupiter II) the Spindrift's interior is much too spacious to fit inside its exterior, this is referred to in sci-fi circles as the Tardis effect in homage to the time traveling police box from "Doctor Who".
This is my build of the Polar Lights repop of the old Aurora model kit...
Box Art by Steve J, on Flickr
At just over 10 inches long, it's the larger of the two styrene plastic kits currently on the market - the other kit is produced by Moebius Models and is half the size.
The kit included two pilot figures and a stewardess but not the 5 passengers.
The kit figures were also too large for the scale of the ship so I decided to make them and the passengers from scratch using Caesar Miniatures Modern Urban Resisters vinyl figures. I ended up making new, more screen accurate seats as well.
Some of my bashed together crew and passengers...
Four Completed Figures by Steve J, on Flickr
A view of the passenger compartment...
Light Test by Steve J, on Flickr
Pilots...
Steve Burton at the Controls by Steve J, on Flickr
I also bought aftermarket decals for the exterior and interior as well as an accessory kit with engine grills and rear wall cast with open holes for lighting. This kit also included a teardrop shaped top dome to replace the inaccurate kit provided round dome...
Aftermarket Decals by Steve J, on Flickr
Aftermarket Engine Grills by Steve J, on Flickr
Lastly, I added my own LED based lighting system to go along with the Tenacontrols engine flasher board I purchased separately.
Anyway, here are the finished pics...
Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr
Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr
Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr
Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr
Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr
Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr
Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr
Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr
Spindrift from Land of the Giants - Finished by Steve J, on Flickr
To view more in-progress and finished pics check out my album here...

Spindrift by Polar Lights
My build of the 2002 Polar Lights Spindrift model kit from the "Land of the Giants" TV series. The kit is a re-release of the original 1968 Aurora Models kit. Moebius Models makes a smaller version of this suborbital transport.