You can walk into any good hobby store anytime and pick up a model of a P-51 or a Tiger tank. The same can’t be said for real space or real space conjecture subjects. With them, it’s a case of buy them when they come available, you never know when they’ll come around again, if ever, and build them when you can. As such, these are my thoughts just looking in the box on Monarch’s new kit of the MK-1 Moon Suit.
The MK-1 Moon Suit prototype the Monarch kit was based on first appeared to the general public on the cover of Life Magazine in 1962. The suit looked for all the world like someone had taken an old ringer washing machine and stuffed some guy into it with holes for his arms, legs and head. For the Apollo program it would have been completely useless. You’d never get someone in the suit into the Lunar Module, much less get him out. Despite that, I still thought it looked cool and desired a replica. In the last half of the 1960’s Mattel featured a suit like the prototype to go with their Major Matt Mason astronaut figure. I so much wanted one but my meager allowance could not afford it. Today thanks to Monarch Models and the adult “Super Power” of having money I now own a scale replica of this unusual piece of hardware.
The kits box was square and much larger than I expected. There are six individually bagged sprues, two white (the bulk of the body as well as head and hands etc.) one black (the arms and legs) one grey (antennas and other assorted bits) one off white (the base) and one clear (the faceplate). The clear sprue, was double bagged, a nice bit of extra protection. There is also a US flag and a decal for the body of the suit. In total there are about 50 pieces to the kit. The instructions are fairly straight forward. As for the fit, I can’t say, I don’t open parts bags until I’m actually working on the kit, less chance of having something go astray. Hopefully the fit won’t be too bad, the arms and legs are corrugated which would make filling and sanding a bit of a chore. I’m seeing that Monarch only made 5000 of these kits so I was very happy to get my hands on one. I was also happy to be able to buy from a Canadian company. At $100.00 some might find it a bit pricy, but I did get free shipping from Sunward. If you’re interested in concept space subjects from the 50‘s or 60’s don’t let this one pass you by.
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