Flying Saucer from "Plan 9 from Outer Space" (1959)

Scale: 1/48
Initial Release: 2019
Medium: Styrene
Kit Rarity: 1

About the Design

In Tim Burton's 1994 movie "Ed Wood," the eponymous no-budget film director creates the "flying saucers" for his sci-fi/horror opus "Plan 9 from Outer Space" by gluing a bunch of pie plates together and hanging them from strings.

In fact, the creation of the "Plan 9" saucers were even more prosaic than that. Instead of using pie plates, Woods' "special effects" team simply drove to their nearest hobby store (This was the late 1950s, when there used to be hobby stores) and purchased a half dozen "Flying Saucer" models made by Lindberg Line. They removed the rocket engines, spray-painted models -- including the clear plastic domes -- silver and -- voila! -- an alien invasion force!

About the Kit

Released in 2019, Polar Lights' "Plan 9 Flying Saucer" was mere a creative repackaging of the original Lindberg Flying Saucer that had been re-released several times since its original debut in 1954, most recently by saucer-crazy Atlantis Models. 

The kits contained all the original pieces from the original Lindberg release -- including the engines and little alien pilot -- plus a lobby-card inspired "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" background for display!

As these kits were actually used in Wood's "Plan 9," they can be considered 100% "screen accurate."