Reprospace 1/32 Lunar Rover

 previewed by Andreas Gordes

The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) or lunar rover was a type of surface exploration rover used on the Moon during the Apollo program. It is also known by its popular nickname of moon buggy. Three of the Apollo missions took LRVs to the Moon.

Like many scale modelers I also collect slot cars that complement my 1:32 kits. In November 2007 a slot car of the moon rover appeared, great for real space modeler! The slot car was released with rare information and limited to 3.000 pieces. Here is all information printed on the boxing (in brackets my assumptions):

lunar_roving_vehicle (probably the name of the product which makes it hard to find it)

Apollo XV

limited and numbered of 3.000 units (they are not numbered).

Also there is some information about the rover: Made 1970 Boeing and General Motors. Maximum velocity 14 km/h (8,6 stat.miles per hour). Pilots Dave Scott Apollo XV, John Young Apollo XVI, Gene Cernan Apollo XVII.

Editor's Note: I've seen this advertised and it is one of those things that will appeal to some, but most who actually like to run slot cars will leave it alone. I mean, what would you race it against? It is fully functional as a slot car though it is, understandably, rather slow due to low grip tires. Apparently it is a sidewinder layout due to the large gear housing on the right rear.

As you'd expect from most slot cars, fine detail and total fidelity to scale has been compromised somewhat to provide something that won't fall to pieces if one does decide to run it. As the set includes astronaut figures, I'm assuming that most of these will go to collectors.

If you see one get one! The model shows much better than on the pictures I provided. I paid 67,- Euros at www.slot-and-cars.de in Landshut/Germany.

June 2009

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.