Fantastic Plastic - Science Fiction

For decades, Science Fiction has been the primary source for many Fantastic Plastic model kits. But it was not always so. Although science-fiction subjects were all the rage in the 1950s, virtually all of the kits produced during that era were drawn from designs created by legitimate aerospace experts, not Hollywood art directors. (Even the Man in Space kits that were branded by Walt Disney were, in fact, Werner von Braun designs.)

This all changed in the 1960s when Aurora purchased the license for a number of Irwin Allen designs, beginning with the SSRN Seaview from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964-69) and ending with the Spindrift from Land of the Giants (1969-71). The runaway success of Star Wars in 1977 finally brought sci-fi, and sci-fi modeling, into the mainstream.

The 1980s saw the entry of so-called "garage kit" companies into the sci-fi modeling field. Such resin kit makers as Lunar Models and Herb Deeks were followed by dozens of home-grown resin kit makers who brought new levels of craftsmanship, quality and sophistication to the hobby. Following the turn of the Millennium, specialty injection-kit makers like Polar Lights, Moebius and Pegasus were bringing both classic and contemporary science fiction subjects to the market, ushering in a new Golden Age of fantastic modeling.

AMT/Ertl "U.S.S. Enterprise" from "Star Trek" (1966-69)

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