Moebius 1/128 Flying Sub

Irwin Allen produced some of the cheesiest science fiction TV shows known to man. They all featured improbable plots and some less than cutting edge special effects. But we did not care and slavishly tuned in each week to see these technicolor television events.

One of his best known was 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea', based on a rather good movie of the same name and with the same submarine,Seaview, as shown in the movie. As the episodes progressed, more 'stuff' was added to spark interest and allow for plot expansion. One of the neater bits of hardware was the Flying Sub, and subject of this kit. It allowed the characters to move beyond the normal confines of the submarine, where they would, of course, get themselves in perilous positions.

Recently, Moebius released a very large scale Seaview that included, among other things, a Flying Sub, diving bell and mini-sub. While many appreciated the kit, it is expensive and one that is beyond the means of many of us. Same thing with a large scale flying sub.

Falling on the heels of the 1/24 'Lost in Space' robot, Moebius has decided to box the Flying sub, diving bell and mini-sub separately. I am assuming that this kit is in the standard 1/128 sci-fi scale--(Alert, sarcasm detected). That makes for a small, but quite nice little kit or to be precise, trio of kits. The molding is fairly good with some flash and some light sink areas on the lower hull. There is darn little to any of these kit, though all come with display stands, which is appreciated. None of the kits are complex with the Flying Sub itself having less than a dozen parts, including the two piece display stand.

In a cost-saving move, the instructions are printed on the back of the box with exploded drawings to show where the bits fit. The construction sequence instructions are identical to what is in the big kit. As a result, there is no mention at all of the color interior insert for the Flying Sub and a few references to things that are not included in the box. Most of us should be able to figure out how to put this piece in, but it would have been nice to have had something about it in the instructions. All paints are Testors and even here, there painting guide does not match the box art. For example, the black fins, black body reinforcements and the steel upper (and presumably lower) circular areas are not called out. In other words, one gets full parts color info, but no detail stuff.