Glencoe 1/300 Nuclear Powered Space Station

Back in the late 1940s and the 1950s, it was pretty much expected that space stations would be some form of wheel and so powered as to maintain a spin that provides the inhabitants with at or near 1 standard gravity. As we have seen so far, this sort of construct has not been viable with current space stations being combinations of various cylinders and growing as needed. Probably the main reason for this is money as it is far less expensive to develop a station using the current methods that by building a large wheel as was initially envisioned. Perhaps in the future this will be the norm, but it certainly won't be soon.

This is a reissue of the 1958 Strombecker kit. Glencoe bought the model catalogue of several older kit makers such as Strombecker and ITC to name a couple. The kit is molded in a bright yellow (undoubtedly to assist in painting). The molds for this have not been restored at all and all of the plastic surfaces show signs of the pitting in the steel molds. In some cases it is minimal while it others it is quite obvious. Also typical of older kits is that many of the parts have departed the sprues.

The kit is not complex, but will require some effort to complete. The main circle is divided into three sections each with an upper and lower half. There is a center section to the wheel with three tubular spokes. Before joining the upper and lower halves, thread needs to be run between the outer ring and the hub. There are slots in hub and outer ring to accept the thread. One will need to ensure that all the slots are opened all the way prior to building. Once finished there is an upper and lower section to the hub that will need to be assembled. The kit does include a nice display stand.

Instructions are well drawn and one is provided with generic paint information. A drawing provides both color and decal placement. The small decal sheet is nicely done by Scalemaster and should still be viable even after all these years.

There is really quite a following of modelers who like these older sci-fi kits and so it isn't surprising that this kit is currently being offered at prices several times higher than the initial Glencoe SRP. Still, if you have one laying about your stash, it will make into a neat model.

April 2023 

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