This model was kitbashed from two original science fiction kits produced by Pegasus Models in 2009 (see images below). It represents a concept for a Mars exploration mission. The lower vehicle contains the landing engines, labs and living quarters for the 2-year mission. The upper vehicle is the return-to-orbit rocket. Markings on the vehicles include the 12 logos of real aerospace firms representing the prime contractors of the design, the logos of 4 international space agencies, and the flags of the US, Russia, Japan, and the EU. The rocket separates (note low-budget special effect images below), and a hatch near its exhaust (an intentional homage to '50s B-movies) mates with one in the lander's collar. The crew is loading up experiment packages on a remote controlled utility cart. The people are N-scale railroad figures with a thick coat of gap-filling superglue to fill them out, and painted like spacesuits. The rover is a tiny Japanese "capsule toy" of the Thunderbirds' rescue vehicle from the Fireflash episode. They are mounted to the foamcore base with straightpins glued into their feet. The base is an 11" square of foamcore. I first gave it a thin coat of white glue and sprinkled baby powder all over it. When dry, I spray-primed it. When that dried, I scraped off the powder, which left an interesting ground texture behind. I then put more areas of white glue around the corners and sprinkled driveway gravel on it. Painting followed with many layers of washes and dry-brushing. Click on any of the detail pictures below to enlarge them. Use your "back" button to return to the main page.

Pegasus UFO Kit	Pegasus "Apollo 27" Kit