Movie Mania! The Plan 9 Saucer

 

For today's post, I'm doing the kind of thing I've really wanted to do with this blog. Last week, I poste my review of Plan 9 From Outer Space. This time, I'm back with a piece of  movie memorabilia I didn't know I had. As  covered in my review, stories around the movie described its flying saucer "effects" as pie plates, hub caps or (per the book I read) paper plates. In fact, the film used a commercial model kit. When I first saw clips of Plan 9 quite recently, I almost immediately realized something else: By complete coincidence, I owned one. So here's some pics of a model that made movie history.

Per the box this came in, the model was originally issued by Lindberg around 1954. Since Plan 9 was filmed in 1956, a much later date can certainly be ruled out. The models shown in the movie had the original cockpit bubbles either replaced or painted over, evidently to indicate a large enough scale to reconcile with scenes in the ship interior. The two nacelles were also left out, perhaps simply to appear less terrestrial. At least three models appear to have been used, and one was undoubtedly set on fire for the dramatic crash at the end. (Talk about practical...) It is worth further note that the model is quite large, at close to 7 inches in diameter, which helps account for why they worked as well as they did on film. Here's one more photo of the model with a Kenner Millennium Falcon and the Spiff ship for reference.

As for my story, I ordered this model online around 2010, in part because it very vaguely looked like my still-lost Spiff ship. It was a 2009 reissue from Atlantis, one of several over the years. Because of my iffy eye-hand coordination, I assembled the model without glue or any paint. Some of the molding was rough at the edges, particularly on the nacelles. I held onto the box, as I usually do, which in this case was worth it for the vintage art. Here's pics of the box and instruction sheet.

Reminder: If your model doesn't look like this,  you failed and Mom and Dad will get divorced because of you.

It will be evident from the artwork that the model was meant to come with an alien pilot, and I certainly didn't forget about him. When I first assembled the ship, the pilot guy was the one thing that didn't sit securely without glue. I also decided he didn't look right in placement or proportion to the cockpit and just wasn't that interesting. Still, I didn't throw him out, and when I fished out the box, sure enough, there he was. Here's few more pics of him. Note just how small he is compared to the detailing on the box!

All in all, this was a nice little acquisition. It would have been cheap, though I'm sure whatever I spent was a major expense compared to whatever money I had. It's easy on the eyes, easy to lose track of, but not something you forget entirely. Not a bad run for a model first produced over 60 years ago. With that, I wrap this up. More to come!