Moebius 1/72 Ranger

Interstellar is a 2014 epic science fiction film directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Caine. The film features a crew of astronauts who travel through a wormhole in search of a new home for humanity. Brothers Christopher and Jonathan Nolan wrote the screenplay, which has its origins in a script Jonathan developed in 2007. Christopher Nolan produced the film with his wife Emma Thomas through their production company Syncopy and with Lynda Obst through Lynda Obst Productions. Caltech theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, whose work inspired the film, was an executive producer and acted as scientific consultant. Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, and Legendary Pictures co-financed the film.

Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema shot the movie on 35 mm (in anamorphic format) and IMAX 70 mm film. Filming commenced in late 2013 in Alberta, Iceland and Los Angeles. The film utilized extensive practical and miniature effects, while Double Negative created additional digital effects.

Interstellar premiered on October 26, 2014 in Los Angeles. In North America, it was released on film stock, expanding to venues using digital projectors. The film was successful at the box office with a worldwide gross of over $672 million, and received positive reviews from critics, who gave particular praise to the film's scientific accuracy; science fiction themes; musical score; visual effects; and the performances of McConaughey, Hathaway, Chastain, and Mackenzie Foy. It received several awards and nominations. At the 87th Academy Awards the film won the Best Visual Effects award and was also nominated for Best Original Score, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Production Design.

I have a fondness for movie-themed sci-fi kits and when I saw this at the LHS, I immediately picked it up. Aside from the large rotary space station, this vehicle plays quite prominently in the film. Neat thing is that a full scale version was built for filming so there were detailed plans available to Moebius when it came to making this kit.

As in most sci-fi kits, there are not a ton of parts. The upper and lower hull comprise the largest pieces and to this fit the  landing gear and the engine thruster pieces. In fact, the instructions have to assemble these items first. The fuslage has large panels that fit to the upper section prior to attaching the lower fuselage. There is no interior and no clear pieces.

Though not movable, there is a wing assembly that fits close to the hull. Alignment of the forward landing gear is so important that additional diagrams are provided to ensure that these are properly installed. Included in the kit is a launch module with two Ranger craft that is designed to fit atop a 1/144 Saturn V kit.

Instructions are well done and it appears that much of the build time will be taken with painting the kit. Despite being basically black and white, all the window areas will require gloss black while the wing and the area around the hull are black as well. The instructions include paper masks so you can properly do the area around the rear landing thrusters. A small decal sheet is included for the few markings that go on the vehicle. None are supplied for the launch module assembly.

Add this one to a growing number of movie based kits that Moebius has been producing over the years. It is not inexpensive as these things go, but that is as much because they are unable to do variants and the cost of licensing fees as anything else. The kit is nicely molded and if these sorts of things attract you, I can easily recommend it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_%28film%29

August 2015 

Thanks to me for picking this one up.

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