‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ IN DETAIL - GREAT DETAIL

MAT IRVINE REPORTS

Ask any film enthusiast, and probably many non-enthusiasts, to name the best science-fiction movie of all time, and you will probably get 9 out of 10 voting for Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. For all those fans - and for space modellers too - comes the new book, 2001: The Lost Science by Adam K. Johnson.

About the book

Adam Johnson - also the driving force behind specialist model outfit AJA Models - has compiled and written the most detailed reference book on the movie so far, full title 2001: The Lost Science - the Frederick I. Ordway III Collection. With much material supplied by Dr Fred Ordway (more on him below), a great deal of the content has never been published before. Its 112 pages are full of detailed original plans (of which there were originally 2,400!), many of them painstakingly digitally enhanced, as the original blueprints have long-since faded. Examples of the ‘before’ and ‘after’ process are shown in the introduction.

Other 2001 books
Considering 2001’s reputation, there has not been all that much produced on the movie in general, let alone technical specifics, certainly nothing compared to the oceans of material on Star Wars, Star Trek, or even Doctor Who. Science writer Piers Bizony covered the ‘making of’ in his excellent book Filming the Future, Jerome Agel compiled The Making of Kubrick’s 2001, while Arthur C. Clarke came up with The Lost Worlds of 2001, though this was primarily about alternate storylines. So 2001: The Lost Science is an important addition to the genre, and is gaining great reviews.

Details of the spheroid Aries moonship (right) and photographs (left) from the movie set, many not previously published.

About the movie

The immense care taken with 2001’s technical details were mostly down to the Producer-Director Stanley Kubrick. Besides co-operating on the writing side with the famed author Arthur C. Clarke, he also involved two respected space engineers, Harry Lange and Frederick I. Ordway III. Both Harry and Fred had worked with NASA and various aerospace companies, and their task was to put elements of the Kubrick-Clarke script into visual form. Even if you didn’t understand the ending - frankly, many didn’t then and still don’t now - the movie looked stunning from start to finish, and paid ultimate attention to detail, especially where the hardware was concerned. 

Details of the Orion spaceplane, a classic shuttle-type design that remains one of the best-looking movie spacecraft ever seen on screen.

Soft-sell hardware

The nice thing about seeing 2001 is that the hardware is mostly ‘just there’, no real play is made of it. The Orion spaceliner, Aries lunar shuttle, Moonbus - each gets a few minutes at most, and as the movie segues into the ‘modern era’ after the apes, a quartet of orbital weapon platforms occupy only a few seconds. 

These pages detail the orbital weapon platforms seen briefly in the movie. They were really there as props for the movie’s sketched-in political background of great international tension. 

Kits and more kits

Besides well-known 2001 kits from Airfix, Aurora, and Moebius Models, Adam Johnson’s AJA Models produces highly-detailed resin models, including those orbital weapons, the Aries lunar shuttle, even a booster set for the Orion spaceplane. We’ll be looking at these in a separate article. 

Dr Fred Ordway, photographed in 2008 in Washington, DC, outside the Cosmos Club, a social watering hole for people distinguished in science, literature and the arts.

Summation

2001: The Lost Science is not a cheap buy at $49.95 USD (£31.14 GBP) but if you have even a passing interest in this classic science-fiction movie, it makes a fascinating read. If you are a keen space modeller, then the book turns into a must-have - the level of detail revealed in the pages makes it possible, perhaps for the first time, to make a truly accurate scale model. 

Harry Lange, photographed in 1992 at the special celebrations for Arthur C. Clarke held in Minehead, UK. He is holding the space helmet worn in the movie by Keir Dullea, playing the role of Dave Bowman. Harry sadly died in May 2008. 

Buy 2001: The Lost Science direct from the publisher, Apogee Prime, and also receive a 2001 documentary DVD.

Also available from AJA Models here.

2001 kits available from Amazon here.

STAR TREK USS ENTERPRISE AT WONDERFEST 2012

REPORT BY MAT IRVINE:

Here I continue my review of the 2012 WonderFest science-fiction and fantasy show, held at the end of May in Louisville, Kentucky - and take a close look at the test shot (above) of the huge 1:350 scale USS Enterprise due for release soon.

The large scale means that the bridge of the Enterprise is clearly visible (above). 

Main runners (below) for the kit.

 

Mighty starship

Jamie Hood of Round-2 showed off the upcoming Star Trek USS Enterprise. This is the original version from the first series, and ‘the best’ as Scotty might maintain, “No bloody A, B C, or D…” The kit is made to a massive 1:350 scale, and stretches some 813 mm (32 in) long. Five moulding colours are involved: two shades of grey and three transparent tints. The Enterprise will be sold under the Polar Lights name, and should be available in October.

You even get a tiny Galileo shuttlecraft, seen below next to a business card.

Munsters at home

Frank Winspur and Dave Metzner of Moebius Models had test shots of several of new kits, such as the Bride of Frankenstein, the Cylon from BattleStar Galactica, and an HO (1:87 scale) model of 1313 Mockingbird Lane (below) perhaps better known as the home of The Munsters! 

Dressed-up ladies

Jimmy Flintstone’s kits range from car bodies to human bodies, mostly of the female kind, and the items he bought to WonderFest tended to lean towards the latter. However, some are, shall we say, for the more discerning and open-minded modelmaker. So, because WonderFest was a family show, some of the ladies had to be ‘dressed’ for the occasion. Jimmy is seen (below) peering from under his Rat Fink sign. 

Full-size heads

Some dealers had full-size objects on show, usually just the heads of famous science-fiction, fantasy and horror characters, as full bodies would be a tad impractical. Dale Morton displayed an excellent range of fantasy heads, while the ex-GEOmetric George Stephenson also deals with full-size horror and fantasy heads, these marketed under his BlackHeart company name.

Popular pirates

Pete Vetri and Rick Delfavero of Atlantis Models, part of Mega-Hobbies based in Long Island, NY, were at the show. Atlantis Models has already reissued some classic Aurora kits, both from the original moulds and re-tooling. One new one shown at WonderFest was Blackbeard the Pirate (above). With Sinbad featuring in a new TV series, and Pirates of the Caribbean still being so popular, ‘pirates’ are obviously the new ‘aliens’, ‘dinosaurs’, ‘Star Wars characters’ or whatever you reckon the last popular phase was! 

General view of the main dealer room at WonderFest 2012.

The Round-2 stand, primarily Polar Lights, but also including AMT and MPC.

Moebius Bride of Frankenstein.

Moebius reproduction of the Aurora Forgotten Prisoner at left, Cylon at right.

Part of Jimmy Flintstone’s display showed a mix of science-fiction, fantasy and horror figure busts, and ladies that were mainly busts.

Dale Morton of Dale Morton Studios, sharing the limelight with one of his creations.

George Stephenson’s BlackHeart company stand, with full-size figure heads including Mr Hyde (top left) and Terminator (top right). George himself is at left.

The Atlantis Models reissue of Aurora’s Blackbeard the Pirate.

Unpainted test shot of Blackbeard. Do you think there's a resemblance to another pirate, maybe a certain Captain Jack Sparrow? Well, that answer’s up to you...

Rick and Pete of MegaHobbies/Atlantis, with the Blackbeard (or Jack?) figure.

THE WONDER OF WONDERFEST

SMN EVENTER BY MAT IRVINE

Each year sees the Crown Plaza Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, transformed into WonderFest - an event that presents all that’s wonderful in science-fiction, fantasy and horror model-making. WonderFest 2013 was held a couple of months ago, over the weekend of May 25-27, and your occasional SMN writer attended the show as a first-time guest. 

CultTVMan invite

All this was down to an old friend, Steve Iverson (on his stand above) who runs the CultTVMan website, who had been suggesting for a few years that I should, “Come over for the event”, and this year decided to sponsor me - so there was no argument!

Mat Irvine (above) preparing one of his talks during the SciFi University session (below).

SciFi University

I’ve attended many UK science-fiction conventions and also a number of model shows in both the UK and US, but WonderFest is a unique mix of both convention and model show. I arrived for the Friday session, which featured the SciFi University (above), a joint venture by CultTVMan and Federation Models, the latter run by Tracy Brownfield. 

Skills improvement

For this, around 30 keen modellers wanted to expand their skills, and so with a number of Iron Man kits - donated by Moebius Models - the morning and afternoon were spent painting the parts, then fitting LED lighting supplied by Paul Bodensiek of ParaGrafix. I and a few others, including Jim James, an ex-pat living in Florida, made our way round, talking with the builders, making the odd suggestion and generally putting in our two pence worth - though, given the location, I should say “two cents worth…”

Wait here please

The main events started on the Saturday with dealer rooms being the initial focus for attendees, who patiently stood in line down the corridor - until the doors were opened, when the rush started!  

Meeting a mastermind

Dealers and displays, of which there were almost 100, covered the whole range of WonderFest interests, so we are talking science-fiction, fantasy and horror, with many figures, but a good smattering of craft and other models appeared as well. I met up again with George Stephenson, after many years. George was the mastermind behind GEOmetric, though that was some time ago, and I hadn’t seen George for well over a decade. He’s now creating 1:1 scale figure heads for his company BlackHeart.

More faces

Fellow space modeller Jay Chladek was there, as was Rob Schmitt of Iwata Airbrushes, Larry Thompson of Pegasus Hobbies, and Frank Winspur and Dave Metzner of Moebius Models. Jamie Hood of Round 2 was showing the company’s latest - and one of the largest - creations, the 1:350 scale original Star Trek USS Enterprise. Another guest I was pleased to meet was Eric Chu (above), who had worked on designs for the new series of Battlestar Galactica.

Original Ghost Buster

A special guest was Bob Burns (above left) who besides having taken over, to a certain extent, the mantle of the late Forrest J. Ackerman, with his collection of movie memorabilia, was also an actor in his own right. However, for one of his premier roles, he spent the whole time inside a gorilla suit, playing ‘Tracy’ from ‘The Ghost Busters’. And here, yes, the style of wording is correct, as we are talking about the original TV series, not the better-known movies. If you can locate a DVD of the show, its blend of absolute chaos is not to be missed - rather like The Three Stooges colliding with The Goodies, with a bits of Scooby-Doo and Rentaghost thrown in for good measure!

People at WonderFest

The photos here concentrate on the people at WonderFest. Future articles will cover dealer stands, the model competition, and some of the other ‘interesting events’ over a very full weekend. I thought the event was excellent - if you get the chance to go, go! 

Space modeller, Jay Chladek (left) with Bob Koenn. Bob worked on all the Shuttle missions, mainly inspecting the Orbiters when they returned from space.

You never know who you’ll meet at WonderFest, Here, Jango Fett bumps into Bossk.

One of the Show’s organisers, Lee Staton, glances through one of Mat’s books. Lee was the mastermind behind Icarus Models, though that was quite a few years ago. 

Rick Delfavero, (right) of MegaHobbies was present. His business partner Pete Vetri was also there, though he managed not to be in this photo!

Rob Schmitt on the Iwata Airbrushes stand.

Dave Metzner of Moebius Models (left) with Jimmy Flintstone - of his own ‘Productions’.

Mat Irvine and Steve Iverson. 

More visitors from another planet…

Dave Metzner, Frank Winspur (of Moebius Models) and Steve Iverson.

George Stephenson and his latest project, 1:1 scale heads, though I presume Godzilla isn’t actually lifesize.

Tracy Brownfield of Federation Models and friend. Er, Tracy’s on the right.

INCOMING - STAR TREK FANS STAND BY FOR NEW MOVIE COLLECTIBLES

SMN REPORT:

The collectibles industry is on the march, aiming to sign up for tie-ins to the next Star Trek movie. The 2009 Star Trek reboot by director J.J. Abrams breathed new life into the franchise, so it’s great to hear that licensing deals are already slotting into place.

Countdown for liftoff

Hot on the trail for new Trek stuff is Mattel (famed for its Hot Wheels line) and the big M has now signed with CBS Consumer Products to make and market a new range of die-cast Star Trek models. These will take off next year, in time for the next movie, presently targeted for worldwide release in May 2013.

More models please

Mattel and CBS have worked together before, as a similar deal was signed between the two for the 2009 sci-fi film. The new set of miniatures will include the starship USS Enterprise (of course!) and hopefully others besides. Of course, we’d love the range to include all sorts of stuff, including shuttles, space stations, and much more besides - but we’ll probably have to wait a while before the injection-kit manufacturers produce high-end detail products. Still, we can wish.

What happened to that Corvette?

Here’s a bunch of trailers for J.J. Abrams movie, released in May 2009 - it looks as good now as it did before release, and don’t forget to crank up your speakers, as the sound track is excellent. Let’s hope the Corvette-over-the-cliff sequence was cgi - those classic wheels are just too tasty to go the way of Wile E. Coyote!

Coming soon

Meantime, there are a gazillion Star Trek kits and collectibles out there, so maybe we’re not so badly cared for, after all. And we’ll be reporting very soon on a simply amazing build of the Polar Lights/Round 2 USS Enterprise to 1:350 scale, so keep watching this space.

Star Trek stuff (and some sneaky Star Wars items) here.

SPACEX LAUNCHES DRAGON TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

SMN REPORT:

News that the US company SpaceX successfully launched its Dragon space capsule, which is now on course for a test rendezvous with the ISS International Space Station makes us smile. And of course, it opens the door to the model-making wish-list.

Elon Musk of SpaceX with the Falcon 9 launcher that carried Dragon to orbit.

BIG, BIGGER, BIGGEST

We’re waiting for an injection kit of the Dragon capsule, or even a ready-built will do. Both preferably in two scales: 1:72 and 1:48. The smaller scale can include the Falcon 9 booster, the bigger one with detailed inside features - in both cargo and future crewed versions please, complete with a lineup of seven scale astronauts, in seated positions and a standing set too. There's more - let's be honest and say we’d also like to see a superdetail 1:24 cutaway kit. Come on, Revell - or more logically kit-maker Dragon, as the real thing’s your namesake.

QUESTION OF SIZE

Wish list over, we think these scale comparisons are absolutely fascinating, especially the one (above) that includes the Federation Starship Enterprise. Oh yes, and there's the Skylon, an ongoing UK project that's based not too far from the newly-relocated SMN Towers. Excellent graphics here, courtesy astrochemist Markus Hammonds, link below.

DRAGON FLIGHT PROFILE

Meantime, the Dragon capsule (below) has its electricity-generating solar panels spread, and is slowly overhauling the ISS, with close encounter scheduled for May 24. If all goes well with test manoeuvres, Dragon will be captured by the Space Station’s robotic arm, and brought in for docking - then the ISS crew will be able to unload half a tonne of cargo onboard the Dragon. Two weeks after that, Dragon will detach, targeting a parachute splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. 

More on SpaceX and Dragon here.

Flying scale rockets here.

Non-flying rocket kits here.

Markus Hammonds here.